I have been involved in Apologetics for many years. One of the things I have failed to do is discuss matters of different types of Theology. So in addition to my other projects, one thing I have decided by the grace of God to infiltrate into my research is sound reporting on other religious movements.
I suppose we should start with cultish religions that have come out of Christianity. We can proceed from there and then move towards larger religious movements. Today what I want to talk about is Mormonism.
It will be of keen interest to readers to keep in mind Galatians 1:8 when discoursing about the Mormons. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
These are strong words. Lets talk about the Mormons now. This movement was begun by Joseph Smith Jr., who began the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. At the age of around 15, he allegedly received a vision that became the foundation of this church. He declared "My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the most vital importance to the entire world. No man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he can not enter the Kingdom of God." Thus with this one dogmatic assertion here, Joseph Smith declared everybody to be wrong as it pertained to Yeshua. The Mormons thus, claim they are the restored church of Yeshua.
The four works of vital importance to the Mormons are the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. The alleged "prophet's" words are also a source of authority.
The Mormons tend to be more reliant on the Book of Mormon, and their other books than the Bible however. It is not foreign to ask of a Mormon whether they have read the Bible, and for this answer to be no.
Now we have to keep in mind Deuteronomy 13 when we're discussing any prophet. This declares "1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you. " Shall we purge the evil from amongst Joseph Smith? Let us see.
What does the Mormon doctrine teach with accord of its traditions vs. what the Bible teaches? One of the Mormon's doctrines is Baptism for the Dead. But, this is an addition to scripture. This is never mentioned anywhere in either the Tanakh or the Brit Hadashah. We have already gone over the dangers of adding to scripture. The Mormon basis for using this is in fact, no basis at all. 1 Corinthains 15: 28When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
What the context is talking about here has to do with the resurrection of Yeshua. That is the subject. Paul is not condoning the belief that people should be baptized for the dead when this is read in context. In fact, Paul is merely stating that those who are baptized with the resurrection of Yeshua have done so in vain (Judaism and Christianity are both wrong and we can all go home and enjoy our day). See what Paul states earlier in this passage for the context - 1 Corinthians 15:14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. Thus Baptism for the dead, as according to the Biblical basis for doing so, seems to be done if taken in a literal sense, in vanity.
Celestial Marriage is also an addition to the scripture. This is taught in the book Doctrine and Covenants."
The Book of Mormon's foundational level is predicated on Yeshua going to the original inhabitants of America after his resurrection. But again, nothing is mentioned about this in scripture. As a matter of fact, this took place in Galilee. This is another addition to scripture.
Now it is within the nature of a Mormon to point this particular scrpture out - 16And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
This comes from the KJV. We will touch base on this later, and why I am not a fan of this particular version of the Bible. (One point I have alluded to is the change of the name of Ya'akov to James as the brother of Yeshua). Nevertheless, an earlier translation from the Wycleffe version declares " 11 I am a good shepherd; a good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.
12 But an hired hind, and that is not the shepherd, whose be not the sheep his own [whose the sheep be not his own], seeth a wolf coming, and he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf snatcheth, and scattereth the sheep.
13 And the hired hind fleeth, for he is an hired hind, and it pertaineth not to him of the sheep.
14 I am a good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.
15 As the Father hath known me, I know the Father; and I put my life for my sheep.
16 [And] I have other sheep, that be not of this fold, and it behooveth me to bring them together, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be made one fold and one shepherd. " Even in the KJV, there is not an issue when this verse is taken in its context. There are Jewish believers of the flock, and there are non-Jewish believers of the flock. In its context, that is what this means. It goes back to Numbers 15:13-16. Continuing further.
The Pearl of Great Price contains the first 6 chapters of Genesis and the Book of Abraham, which has been proven to be a fraudulent Egyptian Papyrus from an Archaeological perspective.
The Living Prophet, or the head of the church is said to be "more vital to us than the standard works." Here we can also see manipulation of thought by the ward teachers of 1945. "Any Latter-Day Saint who denounces or opposes, whether actively or otherwise, any plan or doctrine advocated by the prophets, seers, and revelators of the church is cultivating the spirit of apostasy....Lucier....wins a great victory when he can get members of the church to speak against their leaders and to do their own thinking....When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan, it is God's plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give directions, it should mark the end of the controversy."
Ah, but obviously, a Torah observant Jew would draw exception to this if he followed the entirety of the Torah. Exodus 23:2 declares " 2 "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd," This would also be so if the leaders were wrong.
Secondly, the Bible encourages us to think for ourselves, but not to follow apostasy that turns away from what the Bible declares...such as Colossians 2:8 " 8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." It also encourages us in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 "21Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22Avoid every kind of evil." By setting up these standards, we are creating philosophy that opposes the will of God.
We have seen two strikes against the Mormon faith, but lets continue for the sake of discussion. This gets even more interesting.
What does Joseph Smith state? "I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away the veil so that you may see. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for certainty the character of God and to know that we may converse with him as one man with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself the father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ did. Here then is eternal life-to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priest to God, the same as all Gods have done before you (The King Follett Discourse pp8-10)."
Whats the problem with this? A small...tiny problem when we read Alma 11:26-29 of the Book of Mormon. "And Zeezrom said unto him: "Thou sayest that there is a true and living God?" And Amulek said :"Yea there is a true and living God." Now Zeezrom said :"Is there more than one God?" And he answered, "No!"
The plural discoursed by Joseph Smith "all Gods" refutes this. We therefore have a contradiction within the very sources of the Mormon doctrine.
Another rather problematic area for the Book of Mormon is Archaeological discoveries, which we should have a slew of them by now if the Book of Mormon were true.
Some of these are:
1) None of the cities have been located.
2) No names have been found in the New World Inscriptions.
3) Nothing has corresponded to Joseph Smith's ideology of "reformed Egyptian" since nothing has been located in America that has been written in Egyptian.
4) No ancient extracts of the Book of Mormon have been found
5) No artifacts have been found which demonstrate the Book of Mormon to be true. Furthermore, nothing from the Americas has demonstrated that the ancient inhabitants held to Jewish or Christian beliefs.
These are all unexplained problems, which extend to the point that scholars of the Mormon faith have twisted their own scriptures to leave traditional understandings behind Mormonism.
Other contradictions include 1 Nephi 2:5-8 which states that there is a river called Laman which emptied into the Red Sea, but this has never been discovered, no river has ever emptied into the Red Sea from Arabia. Alma 7:10 declares that Yeshua would be born in Jerusalem, but the Bible clearly confirms it would be Bethlehem.
However with these problems alone it is easy to see that the Mormons have their share of problems and contradictions to work with. Our God is not the author of confusion, and as such, these resources do not appear to be coming from God.
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