An Examination of Mormon Texts

An Examination of Mormon Texts Problem Issues to Discuss When Speaking with Mormons Jude 3-4 Galatians 1:6-9

Why Discuss Mormonism? • Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the world (US News and World Report). • One-fifth of the US population will be Mormon by 2050. • Many of us know people who practice the Mormon faith at school or work. • They stress “mission work.”

“A Few Things” • This will not be a complete or comprehensive study of the Mormon religion. • This study is not meant to be hurtful or hateful toward those of the Mormon faith. • This study will only look at the facts. • This study is an examination of Mormon texts considered to be inspired of God. • Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, and the JST

Background Information • The Mormon religion began in up-state New York in 1830 with Joseph Smith and the publication of the Book of Mormon. • “The First Vision” (1820) • Smith visited by the angel Moroni. • Mormon 9:32 • “And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.”

Background Information • The Book of Mormon (1830) • Doctrines and Covenants (1833) • D&C 132 • The Pearl of Great Price (1851) • The Book of Abraham (1835) • Selections from The Book of Moses • Selections from Doctrines and Covenants • Joseph Smith- Matthew and JS-History • Articles of Faith

Background Information • The Joseph Smith Translation (1867) • D&C 45:60-61 • “And now, behold, I say unto you, it shall not be given unto you to know any further concerning this chapter, until the New Testament be translated, and in it all these things shall be made known. Wherefore I give unto you that ye may now translate it, that ye may be prepared for the things to come.” • Articles of Faith #8 • “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.”

Background Information • Smith arrested, placed in jail, and later murdered in Carthage, Illinois in 1844. • Brigham Young became the new leader and prophet of the Mormons and led the people from Illinois to Utah. • Journals of Discourses (1854-1886) • History of the Church (1839-1856) • US government outlawed polygamy (1890).

Moroni 10:4 • “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it to you by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

First Thessalonians 5:21 “Test all things; hold fast what is good.”

The Book of Mormon • “Another Testament of Jesus Christ” • Cover of the Book of Mormon • “The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible.” • The first line to the introduction of the Book of Mormon • The Book of Mormon is “the most correct of any book on earth, the keystone of our religion, and a man would get closer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” • History of the Church, vol.4, pg. 461

Problem #1 • It claims to be “another” testament of Jesus. • Testament: • “A tangible proof of something.” • “A simple expression of conviction” • “An act by which a person determines the disposition of his or her property after death.”

Problem #1 • The Old Testament • Genesis 49:9-10; Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2; Zechariah 6:9-15; Daniel 2:44; Genesis 3; Amos 8:11; Malachi 4:4-6; Luke 1-3 • The New Testament • Matthew 1-2; Luke 1-3; John 1:1-18; Matthew. 1:21; Luke 19:10; 1 Corinthians 15:1-9; Acts 1:9-11; John 16:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Peter 3:10-13; Hebrews 9:16-22; 1 Timothy 2:5; Heb. 8:1-6; 9:11-15; Hebrews 1:1-2; Matthew 24:35

Problem #1 • It claims to be “another” testament of Jesus. • Introduction to the Book of Mormon • The account of “two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 606BC, and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jeredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except for the Lamanites, and they are the principle ancestors of the American Indians.”

Problem #1 • It claims to be “another” testament of Jesus. • Introduction to the Book of Mormon • “The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after his resurrection. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.”

Problem #1 • It claims to be “another” testament of Jesus. • A testament must be true. • The Old and New Testaments have been proven true time and time again. • Is the Book of Mormon true?

Problem #1 • Is the Book of Mormon true? • The Book of Mormon is, at best, an unreliable source. • Geography and anthropology do not agree with the Book of Mormon.

Problem #1 • Ether 10:20 • “And they built a great city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land.” • Alma 22:32 • “And, now, it was only the distance of a day and a half’s journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea; and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward.

Problem #1 • Why is this a problem? • DNA evidence proves that no Native Americans possess Semitic DNA until Columbus landed in 1492. • The DNA evidence points towards a mongoloid ancestry. • All anthropological, archaeological, and linguistic evidence denies Mormon claims. • The Book of Mormoncould not have happened in the Americas.

Problem #1 • Why is this a problem? • The Americas is the only place the events in the Book of Mormoncould have happened. • “An account of the former inhabitants of this continent” (Joseph Smith- History, 1:34). • Smith was in up-state New York at the time. • The Hill Cumorah is in up-state New York.

Problem #1 • The Book of Mormon is, at best, an unreliable source. • Geography and anthropology do not agree with the Book of Mormon. • The Book of Mormon claims that certain animals were native to the Americas when they were not.

Problem #1 • Why is this a problem? • 1 Nephi 18:25 • “And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men. And we did find all manner of ore, both gold, and of silver, and of copper.”

Problem #1 • Why is this a problem? • 3 Nephi 3:22 • “And it came to pass in the seventeenth year, in the latter end of the year, the proclamation of Lachoneus had gone forth throughout all the face of the land, and they had taken their horses, and their chariots, and their cattle, and all their flocks, and their herds, and their grain, and all their substance, and did march forth by thousands and tens of thousands, until they all had gone forth to the place which had been appointed that they should gather themselves together, to defend themselves against their enemies.”

Problem #1 • The Book of Mormon is, at best, an unreliable source. • Geography and anthropology do not agree with the Book of Mormon. • The animal life does not agree with what the Book of Mormon claims. • Two Great Battles w/o any evidence.

Problem #1 • Two great battles were fought on the Hill Cumorah (Mormon 6; Ether 15). • Two million people died in the first battle. • Two hundred thousand in the second battle. • Why is this a problem? • There were no horses. • There is no evidence of chariots. • There is no evidence of steel swords and “cimiters.”

Problem #1 • Why is this a problem? • Ether 7:9 • “Wherefore, he came to the hill Ephraim, and he did molten out of the hill, and made swords out of steel for those whom he had drawn away with him…” • 2 Nephi 5:14 • “And I, Nephi, did take the sword of Laban, and after the manner of it did make many swords, lest by any means the people who were now called Lamanites should come upon us and destroy .”

Problem #1 • Why is this a problem? • Helaman 1:14 • “And it came to pass in the forty and first year of the reign of the judges, that the Lamanites had gathered together an innumerable army of men, and armed them with swords, and with cimiters and with bows, and with arrows, and with head-plates, and with breastplates, and with all manner of shields of every kind.”

Problem #1 • The Book of Mormon is, at best, an unreliable source. • Geography and anthropology do not agree with the Book of Mormon. • The animal life does not agree with what the Book of Mormon claims. • Two Great Battles w/o any evidence. • No evidence of billows at that time. • No evidence of coins or writing on metal plates or even the great cities of the BoM.

Problem #1 • Why is this a problem? • Heading of Alma 11 • “Nephite coinage set forth.” • 1 Nephi 9:2-4 (see also Alma 37) • “And now, I have spoken concerning these plates, behold they are not the plates upon which I make a full account of the history of the people; for the plates upon which I make a full account of my people I have given the name Nephi; wherefore they are called the plates of Nephi, after mine own name; and these plates also are called the plates of Nephi.” • The Lord commands him to make plates for special occasions (vs.3). • The reigns of kings, wars, and contentions should also be written on plates (vs.4).

Problem #1 • The Book of Mormon is, at best, an unreliable source. • Geography and anthropology do not agree with the Book of Mormon. • The animal life does not agree with what the Book of Mormon claims. • Two Great Battles w/o any evidence. • No evidence of billows at that time. • No evidence of coins, metal plates, or cities. • All of the changes to the Book of Mormon.

Problem #1 • Why is this a problem? • 4000 changes to “the most correct book.” • King “Benjamin” is changed to King “Mosaiah” • Mosaiah 9, pg. 200 and Ether 1, Pg.546 in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon. • Mosiah 21:28 and Ether 4:1 • Spelling and grammatical errors in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon. • Pgs. 15, 156-157, 204, 270 of the 1830 BoM. • Changes to fundamental Mormon doctrine. • 1 Nephi 11:18, 21, 32; 13:30; 20:1

Problem #1 • It claims to be “another” testament of Jesus. • Testament: • “A tangible proof of something.” • “A simple expression of conviction” • “An act by which a person determines the disposition of his or her property after death.” • The Book of Mormon does not meet the criteria to be a “testament.”

Problem #2 • It claims to be holy scripture. • It opens with that claim (1 Nephi 1:1). • Because it is so unreliable, it couldn’t possibly be written by the same God who gave us the Bible. • 1 John 3:19-20; Job 37:16; Psalm 147:5; Revelation 19:6; Psalm 139:7-12

Problem #3 • It claims that IT is the “keystone” of the one true Church of Jesus Christ. • The Book of Mormon is “the most correct of any book on earth, the keystone of our religion, and a man would get closer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” • A “keystone” is “a central cohesive source of support and stability” (www.worldweb.princeton.edu). • Since the Book of Mormon is so unreliable, the whole religion must be recognized as not being from God

An Examination of Mormon Texts