An Examination of Mormon Texts

1
An Examination of Mormon Texts

• Problem Issues to Discuss When Speaking with
  Mormons
• Jude 3-4
• Galatians 16-9

2
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.

3
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

4
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 932
• 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.

5
Background Information

• The Book of Mormon (1830)
• Doctrines and Covenants (1833)
• DC 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

6
Background Information

• The Joseph Smith Translation (1867)
• DC 4560-61
• 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.

7
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).

8
Moroni 104

• 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.

9
First Thessalonians 521

• Test all things hold fast what is good.

10
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

11
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.

12
Problem 1

• The Old Testament
• Genesis 499-10 Isaiah 714 Micah 52
  Zechariah 69-15 Daniel 244 Genesis 3 Amos
  811 Malachi 44-6 Luke 1-3
• The New Testament
• Matthew 1-2 Luke 1-3 John 11-18 Matthew.
  121 Luke 1910 1 Corinthians 151-9 Acts
  19-11 John 1613 1 Thessalonians 413-18 2
  Peter 310-13 Hebrews 916-22 1 Timothy 25
  Heb. 81-6 911-15 Hebrews 11-2 Matthew 2435

13
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.

14
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.

15
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?

16
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.

17
Problem 1

• Ether 1020
• And they built a great city by the narrow neck
  of land, by the place where the sea divides the
  land.
• Alma 2232
• And, now, it was only the distance of a day and
  a halfs 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.

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19
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 Mormon could not have happened in the
  Americas.

20
Problem 1

• Why is this a problem?
• The Americas is the only place the events in the
  Book of Mormon could have happened.
• An account of the former inhabitants of this
  continent (Joseph Smith- History, 134).
• Smith was in up-state New York at the time.
• The Hill Cumorah is in up-state New York.

21
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.

22
Problem 1

• Why is this a problem?
• 1 Nephi 1825
• 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.

23
Problem 1

• Why is this a problem?
• 3 Nephi 322
• 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.

24
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.

25
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.

26
Problem 1

• Why is this a problem?
• Ether 79
• 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 514
• 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 .

27
Problem 1

• Why is this a problem?
• Helaman 114
• 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.

28
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.

29
Problem 1

• Why is this a problem?
• Heading of Alma 11
• Nephite coinage set forth.
• 1 Nephi 92-4 (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).

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32
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33
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34
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.

35
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 2128 and Ether 41
• 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 1118, 21, 32 1330 201

36
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.

37
Problem 2

• It claims to be holy scripture.
• It opens with that claim (1 Nephi 11).
• Because it is so unreliable, it couldnt possibly
  be written by the same God who gave us the Bible.
• 1 John 319-20 Job 3716 Psalm 1475
  Revelation 196 Psalm 1397-12

38
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