MORMONISM

ANYONE CONSIDERING JOINING SHOULD 1st SEARCH THE WEB FOR THESE EX-MORMONS REASONING/REASONS FOR LEAVING - SOME VERY LONG TERM Members ABOVE ALL, QUESTION:

WHY WOULD EX-MEMBERS EXIST

 

The condoned acts of RELIGIOUS MURDER thru Old Testament is well mirrored in the Mormon bible

the powers of these scribes reflect well in Mormon's bible

In the Old Testament account of Balaam [referred to later in Rev 2] God does the killing without man's help

- the Mormons' bible, relatively new, enlightens us as to how scribes can create the right to kill in the name of God.

- So early in their bible, 1Nephi 4:11-19, the scribes sanction bloodshed. God tells Nephi to behead Laban [murder - God could have delivered an instant heart attack]. Nephi does as commanded - no different than the bloodshed done with Joshua's genocide/democide/gendercide, after his takeover from Moses in the Old Testament 

- both create a murderous 'GOD OF WAR' so soon in their bibles

 

The originator of the Mormon empire, Joseph Smith, originally wrote his bible containing over 9000 grammatical errors

Ask a Mormon door knocker, 'If the Mormon Bible is truly Heavenly inspired, why does your bible, like the doctrines of the Jehovah Witnesses, constantly change - WHY WAS YOUR BIBLE NOT FAULTLESS FROM THE BEGINNING

 

 

Mormonism began with Joseph Smith Jr. [born Dec. 23, 1805, in Vermont]. Joseph Smith Jr.  was disturbed by all the different denominations of Christianity, wondering which was true.

Supposedly, in 1820, age 14, he went into the woods to pray concerning his mixed-up feelings; & supposedly God & Christ appeared & told him not to join any of the denominational churches - to create his own.

3 years later, on Sept. 21, 1823, supposedly an angel called Moroni [the son of Mormon - leader of the Nephites living in the Americas] appeared to him & told him that he had been chosen to translate the book of Mormon [compiled by Moroni's father about the 4th century]. One must wonder how Smith was able to distinguish whether this was an angel of Heaven or of Satan, or even Satan's self. After all, an angel, good or evil, would have held millions of years experiences in conniving. Fact is that an angel from God would not confuse mankind & therefore would do Heavenly bidding without being known as an angel. Only an angel from hell would announce it is from God!

The book was written on golden plates [hidden close to where Joseph lived in Palmyra, New York] then re-written on brass plates after the golden plates got lost? Obviously they were not protected by God. For such plates to have existed, they had to have been of a very significant size - lose them? Imagine not remembering where you lost an obviously great many heavy golden plates.

Native female DNA

Joseph said that on Sept. 22, 1827 he received the plates & Moroni instructed him to begin the translation process [finally published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon]. Joseph claimed that during this translation process, John the Baptist appeared to him & ordained him to accomplish the divine work of restoring the real church by preaching the real gospel which had been lost.

 

FALSE PROPHET

There are many proofs that Joseph Smith was a false prophet, but Mormons will not accept them. Mormons trust a 'testimony' that Mormonism is the restored church & Joseph Smith its true prophet. 
SOCRATES TAUGHT HIS STUDENTS TO PURSUE TRUTH, QUESTION & ANALYZE ALL BELIEFS ONE HOLDS DEAR:

IF A BELIEF PASSED THE TEST OF EVIDENCE, DEDUCTION, & LOGIC, IT SHOULD BE KEPT

IF NOT, IT SHOULD NOT ONLY BE DISCARDED, BUT THE STUDENT MUST ALSO THEN QUESTION WHY ONE WAS LED TO BELIEVE THE ERRONEOUS BELIEF TO BEGIN WITH

If it could be proven that Joseph Smith was a false prophet, then Mormonism is a false religion.

Joseph Smith claimed that an angel appeared to him & revealed the location of some golden plates on which was written the account of the ancient people of the Americas.

Joseph Smith later translated those plates into what is now known as the Book of Mormon.

This translation was supposedly done by the power of God through special means - which would make one wonder why there was over 9,000 grammatical error?

Joseph Smith being the Lord's chosen instrument, became the prophet of the Mormon church, held the office of Seer. A Seer, according to the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 8:13, & can translate records that are untranslatable. Hence, Joseph Smith was able to translate the golden plates into the Book of Mormon.

But his Seer abilities did not stop there.
In July of 1835, an Irishman named Michael Chandler brought an exhibit of four Egyptian mummies & papyri to Kirtland Ohio, then the home of the Mormons. The papyri contained Egyptian hieroglyphics. [In 1835 hieroglyphics were unreadable].
As Prophet & Seer of the Church, Joseph Smith was given permission to look at the papyri scrolls in the exhibit & to everyone's shock, revealed that "one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt" (History of the Church, Vol. 2: 236. July 1835).

The Church bought the exhibit for $2400. Joseph finished the translation of the Book of Abraham some time later, but the book of Joseph was never translated. The papyri were lost soon afterwards & thought to have been destroyed in a fire in Chicago in 1871. There was, therefore, no way to validate Joseph's translation. 

But in October of 1880 The Pearl of Great Price, a collection of writings, which contained the copied book of Abraham, was recognized as scripture by the Mormon Church.

If the papyri were re-discovered & translated it would either prove or disprove the abilities of Joseph as a prophet of God. The Papyri were found.

To every one's surprise, in 1966 the papyri were rediscovered in one of the vault rooms of the New York's metropolitan Museum of Art. The Deseret News of Salt Lake City on Nov. 27, 1967 acknowledged the rediscovery of the papyri. On the back of the papyri were "drawings of a temple & maps of the Kirtland, Ohio area." There could be no doubt that this was the original document from which Joseph Smith translated the book of Abraham.

With the papyri rediscovered & Egyptian hieroglyphics decipherable since the late 1800's, it would then be an easy task of translating the papyri & proving once & for all that Joseph Smith was a prophet with the gift of "Seer" as he & the Mormon church have claimed. This would then prove the truth of the Book of Mormon & the Book of Abraham & would vindicate Joseph Smith as a true prophet of God.

What do the Experts say?

Joseph Smith copied three drawings from the Egyptian scrolls, labeled them Facsimile No. 1, No. 2, & No. 3, & incorporated them into the Book of Abraham with explanations of what they were.

Egyptologists have viewed the drawings & found Joseph Smith's interpretation of them to be wrong.

But, the Mormons, in defense of the sacred book, maintained that the Facsimiles alone were not sufficient to prove that Joseph Smith was erring in his translating abilities. With the rediscovery of the papyri, not only were they the same drawings as in the scrolls, but so was the text from which Joseph Smith made his translation.

It was now possible to absolutely determine the accuracy of Smith's translating abilities.

Facsimile No. 1

Joseph Smith said that Facsimile No. 1 was of a bird as the "Angel of the Lord" with "Abraham fastened upon an altar," "being offered up as a sacrifice by a false priest. The pots under the altar were various gods "Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmackrah, Korash, Pharaoh," etc.
In reality, this is "an embalming scene showing the deceased lying on a lion-couch."

In the original papyri, this drawing is attached to hieroglyphics [figure A below] from which Joseph derived the beginning of the book of Abraham which begins with the words, "In the Land of the Chaldeans, at the residence of my father, I, Abraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence"(1:1).

In reality, the hieroglyphics translate as, "Osiris shall be conveyed into the Great Pool of Khons -- & likewise Osiris Hor, justified, born to Tikhebyt, justified -- after his arms have been placed on his heart & the Breathing permit (which [Isis] made & has writing on its inside & outside) has been wrapped in royal linen & placed under his left arm near his heart; the rest of the mummy-bandages should be wrapped over it. The man for whom this book was copied will breath forever & ever as the bas of the gods do."
"It is the opening portion of an Egyptian Shait en Sensen, or Book of Breathings . . . a late funerary text that grew out of the earlier & more complex Book of the Dead." "This particular scroll was prepared (as determined by handwriting, spelling, content, etc.) sometime during the late Ptolemaic or early Roman period (circa 50 B.C. to A.D. 50)."

Figure A


Figure A is a professional reconstruction of the original (Figure B). Note the hieroglyphics on the right side from which Joseph Smith began his translation of the Book of Abraham.

In actuality, it "depicts the mythical embalming & resurrection of Osiris, Egyptian god of the underworld. Osiris was slain by his jealous brother Set, who cut up his body into 16 pieces & scattered them....The jackal-headed god Anubis is shown embalming the body of Osiris on the traditional lion-headed couch so that he might come back to life..."

Figure B


Figure B (to the right) shows a reprint of the actual papyrus used by Joseph Smith
Note the areas where the Papyrus has been lost. It is in these that Joseph Smith "finished" the drawing resulting in Facsimile No. 1.
His restoration, according to Egyptologists, reveals a complete lack of understanding of Egyptian practice & theology.

Facsimile No. 2

As is explained by Joseph Smith & included in the Pearl of Great Price, the second drawing contains different scenes which Joseph Smith interpreted. They vary: "Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God." "Stands next to Kolob, called by the Egyptians Oliblish, which is the next grand governing creation near to the celestial or the place where God resides." "God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power & authority." "...this is one of the governing planets also, & is said by the Egyptians to be the Sun, & to borrow its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand Key..."
But again scholarship disagrees with Joseph's rendition. 'It is actually a rather common funerary amulet termed a hypocephalus, so-called because it was placed under (hypo) a mummy's head (cephalus). Its purpose was to magically keep the deceased warm & to protect the body from desecration by grave robbers."

Facsimile No. 3     

According to Smith, this drawing shows 'Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh's throne, by the politeness of the king, with a crown upon his head, representing the Priesthood...King Pharaoh, whose name is given in the characters above his head...Signifies Abraham in Egypt...Olimlah, a slave belonging to the prince...'
But this is not what the Egyptologists say is the meaning of the Facsimile No. 3 is.
Instead, it shows, "the deceased being led before Osiris, god of the dead, & behind the enthroned Osiris stands his wife Isis."

 

It should be quite obvious that present scholarship has revealed that Joseph Smith did not translate the Book of Abraham by the power of God as he had claimed.

It follows that if he did not translate the Book of Abraham by the power of God, then it would be very easy to conclude that he did not translate the Book of Mormon by the power of God either.

When Joseph first gave his translation, hieroglyphics were undecipherable. Today they are.

He was safe in saying anything he wanted to & there would be no way of proving him wrong. But with the resurfacing of the same papyri he used to do his Book of Abraham translation, & the fact that he did not in any way do it correctly, should be proof enough that Joseph Smith lied about his abilities from God.

He has been shown to be a false prophet.

to repeat, obviously Egyptologists have revealed that Joseph Smith did not translate the Book of Abraham by the power of God as he had claimed & thus, nor did he translate the Book of Mormon by the power of God - & as such, if such an angel as Moroni existed, it could only have come from Satan.

Joseph Smith also made the following false prophesy about the United States [obviously it never happened] - History of the Church, vol. 5, p. 394, May 1843

 The Mormon's doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LSD] twists its official doctrines so that  they appear Christian - what underlies is far from Christian in meaning.  Following are some of its teachings throughout the years, documented from Mormon writers.

In the Mormon plan of salvation there needed to be a savior: Jesus was a spirit in heaven - so for Jesus to be born on earth Brigham Young  related that God the Father had sex with Mary [his spirit daughter] Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, p. 218, 1857; vol. 8, p. 115.  This  incest is disputed amongst many Mormons & not always 'officially' taught & believed.  Nevertheless, Young, the 2nd prophet of the Mormon church taught it

Jesus got married & had children

The true gospel was lost from the earth. Mormonism is its restoration, Articles of Faith, by James Talmage, p. 182-185

There is no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith as a prophet of God, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, p. 188

The book of Mormon is more correct than the Bible, History of the Church, 4:461

If it had not been for Joseph Smith & the restoration, there would be no salvation.  There is no salvation [the context is the full gospel including exaltation to Godhood] outside the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormon Doctrine, p. 670.

There are many gods, Mormon Doctrine, p. 163

There is a mother god, Articles of Faith, by James Talmage, p. 443

God used to be a man on another planet, Mormon Doctrine, p. 321.  Joseph Smith,  Times & Seasons, Vol 5, pp. 613-614; Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol 2, p. 345, Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p. 333

After you become a good Mormon, you have the potential of becoming a god, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pages 345-347, 354

God the Father had a Father, Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 476; Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, vol. 5, p. 19; Milton Hunter, First Council of the Seventy, Gospel through the Ages, p. 104-105

God resides near a star called Kolob, Pearl of Great Price, pages 34-35; Mormon Doctrine, p. 428

God the Father has a body of flesh & bones, Doctrine & Covenants, 130:22

God is in the form of a man, Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 3

God is married to his goddess wife & has spirit children, Mormon Doctrine p. 516

We were first begotten as spirit children in heaven & then born naturally on earth, Journal of Discourse, Vol. 4, p. 218

The first spirit to be born in heaven was Jesus, Mormon Doctrine, page 129

The Devil was born as a spirit after Jesus "in the morning of pre-existence," Mormon Doctrine, page 192

Jesus & Satan are spirit brothers & we were all born as siblings in heaven to them both, Mormon Doctrine, p. 163

A plan of salvation was needed for the people of earth so Jesus offered a plan to the father & Satan offered a plan to the father but Jesus' plan was accepted. In effect the Devil wanted to be the Savior of all Mankind & to "deny men their agency & to dethrone god." Mormon Doctrine, page 193; Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, page 8

Jesus' sacrifice was not able to cleanse us from all our sins, [murder & repeated adultery are exceptions], Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p. 247, 1856

Good works are necessary for salvation, Articles of Faith, p. 92

Practice of baptizing each other in place of non-Mormons who are now dead - their belief is that in the afterlife, the "newly baptized" person will be able to enter into a higher level of Mormon heaven, Baptism for the dead, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. II, p. 141

There are three levels of heaven: telestial, terrestrial, & celestial, Mormon Doctrine, p. 348

The Holy Ghost is a male personage, A Marvelous Work & A Wonder, by Le Grand Richards, Salt Lake City, 1956, page 118; Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, page 179 


Mormonism demands:

pay a full 10% tithe to the Mormon church

follow various laws & ordinances of the church  [At this point, they receive a temple recommend whereupon, the Mormon is allowed to enter their sacred temples in order to go through  set of secret rituals: baptism for the dead, celestial marriage, & various oaths of secrecy & commitment].

4 secret handshakes are taught so the believing Mormon, upon entering the third level of Mormon heaven, can shake hands with God in a certain pattern. This celestial ritual is for the purpose of permitting entrance into the highest level of heaven;  & exaltation to godhood awaits those who achieve this level - then, he [maybe she] will be permitted to have his own planet & be a god of his own world;  thus the Mormon system will be expanded to other planets. I kid you not!

 

Joseph Smith said "that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, & the keystone of our religion, & a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book" [History of the Church, Vol. 4, page 461]. Allegedly it was translated by the power of God. Nevertheless, it has some 4,000 changes in it. Some are mere spelling corrections, but others are significant changes. Why is this so if the book of Mormon was translated accurately by the hand of God? Why would the Mormon Church continue to change the work even after Joseph Smith's death?

The Book of Mormon presents problems that cannot be explained away.

1 Ne. 1:2, etc., states that Hebrews who left Jerusalem & came to the Americas spoke Egyptian.

It is a known fact that Hebrews spoke Hebrew, & their records were kept in Hebrew. Egyptians were their enemies. It is as absurd to think that Hebrews would have written their sacred history in Egyptian as to think that American History would have been written in Russian

In Mormon 9:32, 34, it states that the language was "reformed Egyptian" & that no other people knew their language.

There is no known language called "reformed Egyptian"

1 Ne. 18:1 talks about ample timber that Jews used to make a ship.

There is not ample timber in that area. It was a desert; it still is a desert.

1 Ne. 2:6-9 mentions a river named Laman that flows into the Red Sea.

There is no river there & there has not been since the Pleistocene era.

Botanical problems are many in the Book of Mormon. Wheat, barley, olives, etc., are mentioned,

none of these were in the Americas at that time. North America had no cows, asses, horses, oxen, etc. Europeans brought them many hundreds of years later. North America had no lions, leopards, nor sheep at that time. Honey bees were brought here by Europeans much later.

Ether 9:18, 19, lists domestic cattle, cows & oxen as separate species!

Again they did not even exist in the Americas at that time.

The Book of Mormon also mentions swine as being useful to man.

Maybe, but Jews would not think of swine as being useful or good; swine were forbidden, unclean animals to the Jews.

Ether 9:30-34 talks about poisonous snakes driving sheep to the south. The Book of Mormon tells that the people ate the snake-killed animals, all of them! (v. 34).

Jewish people could not have eaten animals that were killed that way, since Mosaic law forbids it!

Chickens& dogs did not exist here at that time either.

3 Ne. 20:16 and 21:12 talk about lions as "beasts of the forests."

Lions do not live in forests or jungles, & they never lived in the Americas.

No silk and wool clothing [nor moths] existed, as 1 Ne. 13:7; Alma 4:6; Ether 9:17 and 10:24 indicate, at that time either.

Butter is also mentioned, but could not possibly exist, since no milk-producing animals were found in the Americas at that time.

Ether 15:30-31 says that after Shiz was beheaded, he raised up & struggled for breath?

In Ether, chapter 6, we learn that furious winds propelled the barges to the promised land for 344 days!

Even if the winds were not "furious," but, for example, blew only 10 miles per hour, the distance traveled in 344 days would have been 82,560 miles, or more than three times around the world.

When Lehi left Jerusalem, according to the Book of Mormon, his group consisted of fewer than 20 people. Yet 19 years later the people had so prospered & multiplied in the promised land that they built a temple which "manner of construction was like unto the temple of Solomon: & the workmanship thereof was exceeding fine" [2. Ne. 5:16].

Looking at what the Bible says about the construction of Solomon's temple, we find that it took thirty thousand Israelites, a hundred & fifty thousand hewers of stone & carriers, three thousand three hundred supervisors [I Kings 5:13-16 & 1Kings 6] & about seven years to build it.  How many people could Lehi have had in his group after 19 years?

The book further tells that in less than 30 years after arriving on this continent, they had multiplied so rapidly that they even divided into two great nations.

Even the most rapid human reproduction could only have a few dozen in that brief time, & most of them still would be children & about one-third older people.

Not only did they divide into "two great nations," but throughout the book, about every three or four years, they had devastating wars that killed thousands (i.e., Alma 28:2).

Starting after the first 19 years or so, Laman & Lemuel, c/w their descendants & followers (!) turned dark skinned because of their disobedience (2 Ne. 5:21). According to the Book of Mormon, dark skin color was a curse from God!

This change of skin color is happening throughout the book.

In 2 Ne. 30:6 we read that if Lamanites accepted the true gospel, they became "white & delightsome" - since 1981 reprinting of the Book of Mormon, they also become "pure" -  but if they left this true gospel, they became "dark & loathsome again."

People's skin color does not change if they believe or do not believe!

The Book of Mormon teaches that Indians originated from these Jewish settlers.

Indians are distinctly Mongoloid - they have the "Mongoloid" blue spot, specific blood traits, & their facial features are of typical Asian origin, not Semitic at all.

In Ether 7:8, 9, we read of steel & breakable windows 

Steel was not even developed until about 1400 years later.

At the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni tells about a great battle that took place on the Hill Cumorah. Over two hundred thousand people, armed to their teeth, were killed on that hill. The story tells about their weapons, breastplates, helmets, swords, etc.

Nothing has ever been found on that hill or anywhere else in this continent, as a matter of fact. Metal, helmets, swords, etc., do not disappear in a mere 1400 years. Before the LDS Church purchased the Hill Cumorah, it was literally dug full of holes & even caves, but nothing was ever found.

Some missionaries are still using slide presentations of ruins from Mexico & South America, implying that they prove the Book of Mormon.

They are from an entirely different time period. They are ruins of idol worshipers who offered human sacrifices.

Latest Mormon Bible version at http://www.ld.org