Power Point: The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ? 1.16 Mb

Notes to accompany MORMONISM (The Churchof Jesus Christof the Latter Day Saints)

 

Founder:  Joseph Smith  (1805 – 1844)

 

HISTORY:

 

Joseph Smith

 

Born in Vermont, 1805, raised in rural New YorkState.

 

Not known for holding a regular job

 

Turned to scamming people.  Was a religious charlatan.

 

Divining, dousing  treasure hunting

 

Arrested and convicted of scamming people out of money for finding treasure

 

Used ?magic stones? to find buried treasure.

 

Dreamed about a large ancient buried treasure near PalmyraNew Yorkand got a number
of people to pay to support his treasure hunt.

 

When he could not make sufficient money from treasure hunting, turned to religious
pseudo-Christian scams, much like supposed faith healers today.

 

In 1823, Joseph Smith said he was visited by an angel named Moroni, who told
him of an ancient record containing God’s dealings with the former inhabitants
of the American continent.

 

Claimed to have a vision and to receive a direct commission from The Father
and the Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Claimed to have found golden tablets buried under ground in 1927 on which was
inscribed in a kind of Egyptian writing (which never existed) the Book of Mormon.

 

Translated them by putting his head inside a hat and holding the same magic
rocks which he now called the Urim and the Thummim ( he used to search for buried
treasure.

 

Never produced these supposed golden tablets for the public.

His translation complete, Joseph had one further use of the golden plates. To
assure skeptics that the plates did, indeed, exist, he showed them to several
trusted witnesses, who signed statements affirming that they had beheld the
plates. In preparation for viewing the plates, the chosen witnesses prayed for
several hours. After lengthy praying, one witness reported that he saw only
an empty box. Joseph sent him out for additional prayer, after which the golden
plates were fully visible to the witness.

Joseph later announced that he had returned the plates to the angel who had
first led him to them. The angel took them off to eternity

 

 

Book of Mormon is a grade B historical fantasy novel with many passages stolen
directly from the Old Testament, especially from Isaiah.  Written is pseudo King James
English. 

 

Original version had thousands of grammar and spelling errors.

 

Every single original witness to the golden tablets, including Joseph Smith?s
first wife eventually left the Mormon cult.

 

Mormon movement grew rapidly, moved to Kirtland, Ohio; Independence, Missou
riand Far West, Missouri. Finally it would find a resting place in Nauvoo, Illino
isbetween 1839-1944.  Joseph Smith became Mayor.  Took on a number of other wives, including stealing
wives from some other leaders in the movement.

 

Sidney Rigdon became sort of his right hand man on teaching of Mormonism.

 

Rigdon  a major figure in the Restoration Movement, under leadership of Alexander
Campbell.

 

Into speaking in tongues, other gifts, left Disciples of Christ movement  g  became
part of Mormonism.

 

Rigdon?s influence:  repentance and baptism for forgiveness of sins part of Mormonism.

 

Persecution at Nauvoo, Ilbecame intense, Smith arrested, killed in a shootout
at a jail in nearby CarthageIllinois.

 

Movement scattered, many moved to IndependenceMissouri, others followed Brigham
young to Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

MORMON SCRIPTURES

 

A. THE BOOK OF MORMON

 

Supposedly translated from ?Reformed Egyptian? (Mormon 9:32)

 

Mormon 8:18  ?Don?t demand to see the plates or you will be killed.?

 

Originally published in 1830.

 

Went through several early editions.  The original is not generally available.

 

A grade B religious fantasy about a group of Jews who crossed the Atlantic ocean
in a cubic shaped boat with one hole in the bottom, one in the top and no windows.!

 

Another ?lost tribe? of Jews migrated as well to New Worldaround 600 BC.

 

The apparent scene of the book of Mormon is Central America.

 

Describes many tribes, wars in which over two million soldiers are killed and
large cities, none of which exist.

 

No archaeological discovery supports any of the events in the Book of Mormon.

Book of Mormon has cows and horses in Central Americawhen there were none. (Enos 1:21). 
Silk in the New Worldin 600 BC (Ether 7:9)  Even elephants (Eth 9:19).

 

Baptism in the name of Jesus for forgiveness taught in 600 BC!

 

Jesus came and preached to these people after being resurrected (3 Nephi 9).

 

Many of the really strange Mormon doctrines are not found in the Book of Mormon

 

B. PEARLOF GREAT PRICE

I.   Articles of Faith. (Smith)

 

II. The Doctrine and the Covenants (Smith, Brigham Young and others)

 

Mormons believe in progressive revelation.  The Pearl of Great Price can be added to.

 

Here is where the strange doctrines of Mormonism are found.

 

C. THE BIBLE (so long as it is properly interpreted by the Mormon priesthood)

 

TEACHINGS OF MORMONISM

 

Scriptures to bear in mind:  Galatians 1:6-9, 2 Thess 2:5-12, 1 John 2:18-23

 

 

The original church completely fell away with the death of the original apostles.  T
here was no legitimate church for about 1700 years.
Joseph Smith is a prophet of God.  He did not work miracles in the same sense that
Jesus did.  He was not deity per se, but Mormonism makes a slim distinction between
humans and deity.
The Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are three separate gods.  Mormonism
is a polytheistic religion. Joseph Smith declared, "I will preach on the plurality
of Gods. I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ
a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was
a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages
and three Gods" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 370).

Jesus and Satan were once ?brothers? Jesus, according to Milton Hunter of the
LDS First Council of the Seventy, is the brother of Lucifer. "The appointment
of Jesus to be the Savior of the world was contested by one of the other sons
of God. He was called Lucifer, son of the morning. Haughty, ambitious, and covetous
of power and glory, this spirit-brother of Jesus desperately tried to become the
Savior of mankind" (The Gospel Through the Ages, p. 15).

 

Truly spiritual people can become gods as well, eventually having their own
world to be the god of. MAN’S DESTINY: As Lorenzo Snow, fifth prophet of the
LDS Church exclaimed, "As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be"
(Ensign, February 1982, pp. 39-40). This means that every worthy male, according
to the standards of Mormonism, will become a god and rule over their own planet.
But what about the women? That question was answered by Joseph Fielding Smith,
tenth prophet of the Church, when he spoke of Man’s salvation or exaltation
as it is called in Mormonism.

"The Father has promised us that through our faithfulness we shall be blessed
with the fullness of his kingdom. In other words we will have the privilege
of becoming like him. To become like him we must have all the powers of godhood;
thus a man and his wife when glorified will have spirit children who eventually
will go on an earth like this one we are on and pass through the same kind of
experiences, being subject to mortal conditions, and if faithful, then they
also will receive the fullness of exaltation and partake of the same blessings. There
is no end to this development; it will go on forever. We will become gods and
have jurisdiction over world, and these world will be peopled by our own offspring.
We will have an endless eternity for this" (Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 2, 48).

In April, Joseph Smith preaches perhaps his most famous sermon. "God himself
was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder
heavens!…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…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 himself
did…Here, then is eternal life…you have got learn how to be Gods yourselves,…the
same as all Gods have done before you" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp.
345-46). (See 1829, 1842a, 1844c, d.)

When our father Adam came into the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial
body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize
this world. He is Michael, the Archangel, the Ancient of Days! about whom holy
men have written and spoken – He is our Father and our God, and the only God
with whom we have to do" (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, p. 50

 
Faith, repentance, water immersion baptism, holy spirit baptism.
Polygamy.  Taught and practiced by Smith, even with married women. Officially
denounced in 1890. Mormon apostle and later counselor to Brigham Young in Church’s
First Presidency Jedediah M. Grant quotes with approval pagan philosopher Celsus,
"The grand reason why the gentiles and philosophers of his school persecuted
Jesus Christ, was because he had so many wives; there were Elizabeth, and Mary,
and a host of others that followed him." He goes on to say, "The grand reason
of the burst of public sentiment in anathemas upon Christ and his disciples, causing
crucifixion, was evidently based upon polygamy, according to the testimony of
the philosophers who rose in that age. A belief in the plurality of wives caused
the persecution of Jesus and his followers. We might almost think they were ‘Mormons’"
(Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, p. 345-46; see 1854c, 1963a).
Blacks and especially Indians are degenerate humans.  Mormon 5:15  ?Indians are dark filthy
and loathsome.? 1 Neph 11:13 ?dark people are sinful.? 2 Nephi 5:21 Dark skin
is loathsome.  Those who marry dark skinned are cursed.  The doctrine of  racism was officially
renounced in the 1980?s.
A group of 12 ?apostles? receive modern-day revelation.
Baptism for dead people.
Modern-day priesthood of Melchizedek.

 

HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE WITH A MORMON

Their belief is based on emotion, not on rational knowledge.

 

?All I know is that Joseph Smith is a prophet and the Book of Mormon is the
Word of God.?

 

Showing ?proof? that the book of Mormon is not inspired may not help.

 

You might be surprised that they may be more outwardly righteous than you would
expect.

 

Get them to make a clear statement that the Bible is the Word of God, and begin
studying the Bible.

 

 

The Word of God

 

What books are identified as the words of God ?  2 Nephi 29:13

 

            ?..words of the Jews?    The Bible

            ?   words of the lost tribes of Israel?    Lost books?

            ??words of the Nephites?        Book of Mormon

 

 

What does ??they both shall be established in one? mean?    1 Nephi 13:41

 

 

 

 

What are the ?Plain and precious things? that were taken from the Bible?  1 Nephi
13:28

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do the Bible and the Book of Mormon have to be in harmony with each other?

 

 

 

 

 

What are the two sticks in Ezekiel 37:15-22

 

 

 

 

What version of the Bible do you accept as the inspired word of God?

 

 

 

 

Does God?s word in the Book of Mormon ever contradict God?s word in the Bible?

 

 

 

Would there ever be any reason to reject the Bible as God?s word?

 

 

Infinite and Eternal Atonement

Alma 34:14 / Hebrews 10:1

 

Atonement Shadow

Atonement applied

 

Book of Mormon

 

Mosiah 16:14               (148 BC)

2 Nephi 25:24-27         (545 BC)

Alma 33:19-22               (74 BC)

Mosiah 12:31-13:28     (148 BC)

Alma 25:15                    (77 BC)

 

 

The Old Testament

 

Genesis 12:3             (1500 BC)

Numbers 21:4-9       (1500 BC)

Isaiah 53:4-7              (701 BC)

Exodus 12:1             (1500 BC)

Leviticus 4               (1500 BC)

 

(Hebrews 10:1, Galatians 3:24)

 

Book of Mormon

 

Mosiah 4:2,3             (124 BC)

Jacob 4:11                 (421 BC)

Jarom 1:11                (399 BC)

Jacob 7                       (421 BC)

Alma 7:14                    (83 BC)

 

 

The New Testament

 

Galatians 3:8             (AD 49)

John 3:14, 12:32   (AD 85-90)

1 Peter 2:21-25           (AD 64)

1 Corinthians 5:7       (AD 54)

Hebrews 9             (AD 60-69)

 

(Galatians 3:19,23, Colossians 2:14)

 

 

The Mystery

 

Ephesians 1:9,10 The mystery?.to be put into effect when the times have reached
their fulfillment.

 

Ephesians 3:3-5 The mystery?.which was not make known to men in other generations

 

Ephesians 3:6 The mystery?.the gospel?.the promise in Christ Jesus

 

Ephesians 3:9 The mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God.

 

 

The Plan of Redemption

Atonement in Christ before the foundation of the world

 

 

 

            Law of Moses                          1500-400 BC                   Ne
w Testament

 

 

Leviticus 16              Animal Sacrifices                                            
                           Hebrews 9:11-14

Exodus 20:8              Keep the Sabbath                                             
                         Colossians 2:14-16

                                                               

                Book of Mormon

 

Jarom 1:5,11              Law of Moses / Sabbath                  399 BC                  
                             

2 Nephi 25:24-27      Belief in Christ                                   545 BC            
    Jn 3:16               Belief                              

Mosiah 4:2               Atonement Applied                          124 BC             
   Rom 3:25        Atonement

Alma 7:14                  Baptism for Remission of Sin            83 BC        
        Acts 2:38          Baptism

Alma 46:15                Christian                                        
       73 BC                Acts 11:26      Christian

               

 

 

What arrangement did God make for atonement under the Law of Moses?

 

 

What did the Nephites command in regard to atonement?

 

 

What event fulfilled the Law of Moses?

 

 

 

MT

SINAI
 

 

 

       The Patriarchs                              Law of Moses          New Testament

 

 

                Adam / Eve                           Ex 20 Ten Commandments           2Co 3:6
              Spirit of Law

                Cain / Abel                            Nu 3:10 Temple/ Priesthood        
               2Pet 2:5             All Believers

                Noah / Ark                            Animal sacrifices                 
                         Heb 10:8-10    Crucifixion

 

 

 

 

Were those under the Law of Moses required to build an ark?  Yes / No

 

Was Noah required to offer animal sacrifice for sin?  Yes / No

 

Are Christians required to keep the Law of Moses?  Yes / No

 

Were those under the Law of Moses required to accept the Atonement of Christ?  Yes
/ No