A Christian Looks at Mormonism b

Introduction
1. Who are the Mormons?
2. Who was Joseph Smith?
3. Why are the members of this Church called Mormons?
4. Do Mormons consider Smith to be a martyr?
5. Why did Joseph found his Church?
6. Some facts surrounding Smith's claim to a true heavenly vision
7. Could Smith have been a true prophet from God?
8. What were the Golden Plates?
9. What was the writing on the Plates?
10. Who else saw the plates besides Smith?
11. What happened to the Golden Plates?
12. How were the Golden Plates translated?
13. What is the Book of Mormon all about?
14. What difficulties does the Book of Mormon contain?
15. What other sacred books do the Mormons possess?
16. Don't the LDS accept and use the Christian Bible?
17. Do the LDS consider the Book of Mormon to be superior to the Christian Bible?
18. How does the Book of Abraham cast serious doubts on the claims of Smith?
19. Is Mormonism Christian?
20. What do the Mormons believe about God?
21. Who is this god assigned to our earth?
22. What do Mormons believe about the Trinity?
23. What do Mormons believe about Jesus Christ?
24. What do Mormons believe about the Holy Ghost?
25. What do Mormons believe about man?
26. What do Mormons believe about pre-existence?
27. How did the LDS position against the Negro originate?
28. What is the Mormon doctrine concerning the Negro and the priesthood?
29. Then the Mormon Church claims a priesthood?
30. Why do the Mormons practice a baptism for the dead?
31. Does not St. Paul mention baptism for the dead?
32. What is the word of wisdom?
33. Does the Mormon Church believe in polygamy?
34. Does the Bible contradict Smith's teaching on polygamy?
35. Do Mormons believe that Jesus Christ was married?
36. LDS claim that it is absolutely essential that the true Church of Christ have today Twelve Apostles
37. What about John the Apostle?
38. Could the Mormon Church be the "true church" of Christ?
39. What did Jesus have to say concerning His Church?
40. Hasn't the LDS Church undergone its own great apostasy?
41. Why are the Mormons so successful in making converts?
42. Is Joseph Smith more important than Jesus Christ?
Conclusion

The origin of this booklet was this way. Two delightful, young Mormon missionaries came to my door and asked if they might talk to me about their religion. They were very kind and gracious and so the meeting was a most pleasant one. During our conversation I turned down their offer to take a course of instructions with a view towards joining the Mormon Church.

In the first place I was quite satisfied with my present religious position. Secondly I had little desire to know about Mormonism. As they were leaving they again invited me to study their beliefs. I did not accept the offer until two years later when I had a long talk with two more of these missionaries. So impressed was I with their zeal and conviction that I began a study of this Church. Some of my friends asked me to publish the results of my research so that other Christians could share in them.

In order to be as fair as possible, I went to the writings of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, other Mormon scholars as well as the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, the Christian Bible and some non-Mormon works which were very scholarly and fair.* Not even half way through my studies, which had me consulting with more missionaries, Mormon Bishops, Instructors and Mormons from all walks of life, I knew I could never embrace Mormonism.

Twenty five thousand young men of the Mormon Church are out in the world going from door to door seeking converts. They invite an investigation of their beliefs. This I have done with the utmost sincerity and with a desire to get at the truth.

I have no quarrel with Joseph Smith, Brigham Young or the Mormon people as persons. Many Mormons live beautiful lives with a strong ethical code and put to shame many a Christian. What I am mainly concerned about is the theological structure of the Mormon Church, and as prophets, what Smith and Young actually taught.

I have covered most of the main teachings of the Church and have arranged the material in a question and answer style in order to present the matter as simply as possible to the reader who knows nothing or very little about Mormonism.

All Bible quotations are from the King James Version since this is the only English translation the Mormons will accept.

*Of the 180 references in this work: 100 are from authoritative or scholarly Mormon sources, 65 from the Bible and 15 from non-Mormon works.

They are a religious group which claims almost four million members. Their Church was established in 1830 in New York State. The official title they use is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The headquarters is in Salt Lake City, Utah.

He was the founder of the Mormon Church. He was born of poor, farming parents in Sharon, Vermont, December 23, 1805. An enraged mob shot him to death in Carthage, Illinois, June 27, 1844.

"Mormon" was the name of a prophet who supposedly lived on the American continent in ancient times. It is claimed that he compiled a set of records about his own people under the title Book of Mormon. Members of Joseph Smith's church are unofficially known as Mormons. It is a nickname which is almost universally used in referring to them and their Church. They don't mind the name at all. The Letters, L.D.S., Latter Day Saints, are also used when referring to this group.

"the willing acceptance of death from the hands of wicked men rather than to forsake Christ and his gospel."
(Mormon Doctrine by Bruce McConkie 1966 p. 469)

I don't think it is an unfair question to ask how this definition of martyrdom can be applied to Smith's death since he went down in a hail of bullets as he fired his own six-shooter at his enemies, killing two and wounding one. It seems he was quite unwilling to give up his life in defense of his religious teachings. (History of the Church 1973 ed. Vol. 6, pp. 618-620 Vol. 7, p. 102)

Smith brought destruction upon himself when in revenge he ordered a printing press destroyed. It was owned by Mormons who opposed his teaching on polygamy and that there were many gods. Smith's death was indeed murder and entirely wrong, but he was not a "martyr."

The circumstances surrounding his death were far different from that of the deacon Stephen (Acts of Apostles 7: 59-60) who was the first martyr for Christ. There we read how he WILLINGLY and CALMLY gave up his life for his belief in Jesus and cried out forgiveness for his persecutors as they were killing him.

Mormons do not believe that Smith founded their church. He is looked upon as the instrument God chose to reestablish His church here on earth. The LDS theory is that Christ did found His church in Palestine but it fell away from His teachings (The Great or Total Apostasy, the Mormons call it) sometime after 100 A.D. Thus God had to take His church back to the other world. Not until 1830 was it officially restored to mankind through Smith.

Joseph's story is that he went into the woods when he was only fourteen years old to pray and to ask for divine guidance since he was troubled by all the religious unrest in his area. He claimed two "heavenly personages" visited him while he was praying: God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Joseph asked them which church he ought to join. Jesus replied that he join none of them for they were all wrong; that all their doctrines were corrupt and an abomination in His eyes. (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith 1968 ed. 2:19)

Three years later, on the night of September 21, 1823, while praying in his room, Smith said an angel appeared telling him that God had chosen him for a special work to do. The angel revealed the existence and whereabouts of a set of golden plates which Joseph was to unearth and translate into the Book of Mormon. This activity was to lead to the establishment or restoration of the true Church of Christ on earth after an absence of some 1,500 years - so the LDS believe. (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith 1968 ed. 2: 33-35, 50)

A. Smith's two visions came to him while he was alone. We only have his word for them. We are asked to believe that he was telling the truth. That Smith would tell the truth is obviously of great importance to an outsider inquiring about Mormonism.

A serious difficulty here is that three years after the supposed visits (1826) Joseph was brought to trial by his neighbors for being "a disorderly person and an imposter." The charge was that he was a "glass-looker" and that he fraudulently used a peep-stone (something like a crystal ball) to ascertain where hidden treasures lay buried on people's property. After due process the Court found Joseph guilty of the charges. This court proceeding and his conviction were denied by Joseph himself and the Mormon authorities for 140 years until a Wesley Walters discovered the original court-cost bill of the Judge, Albert Neeley. Its authenticity has been proven, and is now accepted by Mormon historians. Judge Neeley's bill is reproduced in the back of this booklet. [See Judge Neeley's trial bill]

In connection with the above trial another difficulty arises for the inquirer. According to the Court Record Joseph was digging for buried treasures and using a peep-stone in a hat to find such booty in 1826. He claimed that in 1823 an angel from heaven revealed to him the existence of a set of golden plates. So for three years he already knew about the plates buried in the ground. He also claimed the angel told him that he could not remove the plates from their burial place for four years until 1827. (Read Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith 2:29-53)

In his Writings, Joseph described what a marvelous spiritual experience he underwent at the visit of the angel and at hearing that God had chosen him for an important religious work. How then, could Joseph continue digging in the ground looking for buried treasure with the use of an occultic device (the peep-stone in the hat), when such activities eventually led to his conviction by a legitimate court for fraud? [See notes for Q 6-A]

B. Smith stated that his telling of the visit of the Father and the Son to him created a great sensation in his own town and throughout the surrounding countryside. He wrote:

"Men of high standing would take notice of me sufficient to excite the public mind against me and create hot persecution."
(Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith 2:22 and 25)

From Joseph's own description then, we get the picture of a young, innocent lad who is the center of a great religious controversy involving important people, and who suddenly finds himself the "talk of the town."

Yet in the town in which Joseph lived, the records show that no newspaper for that year carried any reports of Joseph's vision or of any notoriety or persecution he said he received as a result of telling about the visit of God to him. Now any inquirer would find this strange for a newspaper when such news was supposed to be the talk of the entire area!

C. In 1853 Smith's mother, Lucy, had printed her own version of the founding of the Mormon Church. In it she mentions her son's first vision but only by quoting from Joseph's own History of the Church. What is strange here is that in Lucy's first earlier handwritten draft, she never mentions the vision at all, a vision which according to her son received wide publicity at the time it happened, and today is considered by Mormons to be the foundation for the existence of the Mormon Church!

D. During the 1830's Smith's all important vision was not given general circulation. References to it do not appear in Mormon, non-Mormon, or even anti-Mormon publications. In fact most Mormons knew little, if anything about it. Again this is indeed strange to an outsider since the vision is so utterly important. (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 1966 pp. 30-34)

E. Joseph Smith drew up three hand-written accounts of that first vision in the woods, and all three accounts of this single happening differ in a very fundamental detail.

In one description only one person appeared, the Lord, and Joseph was sixteen years old at the time. In another account many angels appeared and Joseph was fourteen years old. In the third account, Joseph claimed only two persons visited him, the Father and the Son. (Read Mormonism, Shadow or Reality? by the Tanners pp. 143-152 for the documentary evidence)

Any serious inquirer into Mormonism would have to take such contradictions seriously. Inaccuracies of lesser details related to the vision are indeed admissible as any fair-minded person would agree, but not such glaring contradictions concerning the very nature of the vision itself. If the Father and the Son, two persons, and only these two, had appeared to Joseph (as he later finally settled upon), why his confusion of mind as to who really did visit him from heaven?

F. The Mormon Church's first historian, Oliver Cowdery, wrote a history of the Church with the assistance of Joseph Smith himself. Cowdery does write of a vision Smith had but makes no mention about the appearance of the Father and the Son. Instead he writes that Joseph went into the woods to pray, desiring to know if God really existed. Then a messenger from heaven appeared to tell him his sins were forgiven. Now to an outsider this omission of the vision as Joseph understood it is difficult to accept since Smith assisted Cowdery in the writing of the first history of the Church. How could Cowdery have been permitted to write a different version of what happened in the woods?

G. Joseph claimed that it was in the Spring of 1820 that he received his first vision, and at that time there was a great religious revival going on in his home town and the surrounding area, saturating the countryside with much religious fervor and excitement. Scholars, however, have been unable to find any evidence of a revival for that year in Smith's home town of Palmyra, New York. Neither could a Mormon research team discover any valid evidence to prove that Smith's testimony was correct. (New Light on Mormon Origins From the Palmyra NY Revival by Wesley Walters 1976)

A. The main biblical rule for ascertaining a true prophet from a false one is that the prophet's teaching must agree with known revelation, that is, with what was already handed down by God as absolutely essential for belief. (Deuteronomy 13: 1-5 II Timothy 4: 3-5)

Jesus was very careful to abide by this rule. He assured His listeners (Matthew 5: 17) that His mission on earth was not to destroy the basic truths of the Jewish religion, for example, the existence of a one, true immaterial God, not made of flesh and bones like man.

Even Paul to the Galatians (1: 7-9) warns his new Christian converts not to accept another gospel opposed to what he preached even if an angel from heaven were to preach it.

Now Joseph Smith taught doctrines which Jesus and Paul did not teach as part of true, Old Testament belief as well as true Christianity: the doctrine of many gods made up of flesh and bone, polygamy, and the pre-existence of souls. How then, could Joseph have been a true prophet from God since he violated this fundamental requisite for a genuine prophet?

B. Joseph also made some predictions about the future. In 1835 he predicted that in his own lifetime there would be a great gathering in Western Missouri of all the Mormon faithful before a new, huge Temple which was to be built for the event. Such a happening never came to pass. (Doctrine & Covenants Sec. 84: 1-6)

LDS say that Joseph predicted the United States Civil War. Yet thousands of Americans in 1832 already knew the war was coming just from their intelligent analysis of the current political situation over slavery and the theory of the State's rights. What is far more serious to the outsider here is that in connection with this prophecy Joseph predicted that the War would draw Great Britain and other nations into the conflict thereby causing great destruction and famine. Yet this never came to pass. (Doctrine & Covenants Sec. 87)

In 1835 Joseph prophesied the coming of the Lord in 1891 to end the kingdom of earth. This never occurred either. (History of the Church Vol. 2, p. 182)

To the sincere inquirer into Mormonism such predictions and their non-fulfillment is a serious difficulty. Joseph claimed the predictions came from God and he prefaced the information with such phrases as "Thus sayeth the Lord, " "The word of the Lord is..." (Deuteronomy 18: 22)

C. Finally, it is difficult to accept the Mormon belief that Joseph was a true prophet of God and presumably the last to be heard from, when for the true Christian it is very clearly stated in the New Testament that Jesus Christ is the last of a long line of prophets from God.

"God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things."
(Epistle to the Hebrews 1: 1)

Therefore I respectfully submit that Joseph Smith could not have been a true prophet from God.

They were, according to Smith, thin, about eight inches square and bound together with three big rings. A strange writing was engraved on them. Along with the plates, which were in a stone box, were a sword and breastplate to which were fastened two magic stones called Urim and Thummim. Smith said these two stones were to be used to translate into English the writing on the plates.

No one knows to this day. Joseph called the writing Reformed Egyptian. We have only Smith's word for the authenticity of such a language.

That there ever were a set of golden plates from God which Smith dug out of the earth seems very doubtful. Here are some facts one must consider before making a decision as to their actual existence.

A. Smith's mother, Lucy, never saw the plates for Joseph warned her that to look at them meant instant death.

B. Emma, Smith's wife, claimed she "saw" the plates but they were covered by a cloth.

C. Martin Harris, who was Joseph's secretary in the writing down of the translation, never got the chance to really see the plates although the two men worked in the same room. Joseph gave Harris the same warning: that the wrath of God would strike him down if he tried to see the plates.

D. Joseph claimed that one day he received a revelation from God that he must have three witnesses to prove the authenticity of the plates. (Doctrine & Covenants Sec. 5). Joseph chose Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris and David Whitmer. He took the three men out into the woods where supposedly an angel showed them the plates.

E. Martin Harris was later questioned by a lawyer: "Did you see the plates with your bodily eyes?" Harris replied: "I did not see them as I do that pencil case, yet I saw them with the eyes of faith." (The Confusion of Tongues, Chas. W. Ferguson p. 371)

All three men told different stories as to what actually happened in the woods. All three later quarreled with Smith and left the church. Joseph described them as liars, forgerers, slander-bearers and thieves. Joseph even claimed that in July of 1828 he had received a revelation from God in which the Almighty described Martin Harris as wicked. (Doctrine & Covenants Sec. 3)

Joseph's assessment of the integrity of the three divinely appointed witnesses comes as a great surprise to a sincere inquirer. It is only fair to ask the following questions: How could God have chosen men of such evil character and reputation? Since Smith is supposed to be a true prophet of God, his evaluation of them had to be correct. How then could anyone take their testimony to the plates as trustworthy? Why is it that the three could not agree as to what actually took place in the woods? If they had been given a truly divine sign with the actual appearance to them of an angel from heaven, how could they have doubted Smith from that moment on? Cowdery and Harris were supposed to have returned to the Church. David Whitmer remained out. He claimed that he also was a true prophet from God and rejected Smith's later revelations. (Read Mormonism, Shadow or Reality? the Tanners, pp. 52-59 for a careful documentation on the witnesses)

F. Next Joseph produced eight more witnesses although there is no evidence that he did so with divine approval. Perhaps he was worried about the unreliability of the first three of whom he had such a low opinion. Of these eight witnesses, four of them were Whitmers, relatives of the David Whitmer, one of the three original witnesses. The fifth witness was Hiram Page who had married a Whitmer daughter. The last three were Joseph's own father and two brothers.

This is surely too close a family circle to impress an honest investigator looking for impartiality among a group of witnesses. When Our Lord arose from the dead, the Bible states He appeared to many different people and at different times and places. Jesus offered sufficient and reasonable proof that He was alive again.

G. These eight witnesses stated they saw the plates. Were they the very same set of plates the first witnesses saw? If Martin Harris who was divinely chosen to see the plates had to admit that he did not see them with his bodily eyes but only with the "eyes of faith", just how then did the other eight who were not chosen by divine revelation "see" the plates? Of the eight, five, the Whitmers and Page, turned against Smith and left the Church.

H. Lastly, in a sermon delivered by President and Prophet Brigham Young in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, June 5, 1859 the claim for the actual existence of a set of gold plates from God is further weakened:

"Some of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, who handled the plates and conversed with the angels of God, were afterwards LEFT TO DOUBT AND TO DISBELIEVE THEY HAD EVER SEEN AN ANGEL. One of the Quorum of Twelve, a young man FULL OF FAITH and good works, prayed and the vision of his mind was opened, and the angel of God came and laid the plates before him, AND HE SAW AND HANDLED THEM, and SAW THE ANGEL, and CONVERSED with him as he would one of his friends; but after apostacy, and has continued to contend this work. There are hundreds in a similar condition."
(Journal of Discourses Vol. 7 p. 164)

From the above facts an impartial investigator can only conclude that the evidence for the actual existence of a set of golden plates from God is just too weak to merit a reasonable acceptance of Joseph Smith's claim for them.

The story is that Smith returned the plates to an angel who took them back to heaven. As a Christian I can only wonder why (and reasonably so) the All-Wise God did not leave the plates behind so that their existence and authenticity of writing on them could be established beyond a reasonable doubt. In I Corinthians 15: 6-8 Paul writes that Jesus after His rising from the dead appeared not only to the Twelve and other workers, but to more than five hundred of his followers. Why did God maintain such secrecy about the golden plates?

A. Martin Harris took down the translation as Joseph gave it to him. A blanket flung across a rope divided the room where the two men worked.

B. According to David Whitmer this is how the translation was done. Joseph would place a seer-stone into a hat, and putting his face into the hat, drew it tightly around his face to exclude the light. In the darkness a spiritual light would shine. The writing would appear on something like parchment. The English translation was given beneath the strange writing, or the Reformed Egyptian as Smith called it. (An Address to All Believers in Christ by David Whitmer)

C. Martin Harris confirmed the use of the seer-stone. He said sentences would appear and were read by Joseph, and Martin would write them down. This means then that Smith never did translate the strange writing. God simply supplied the English and Joseph dictated what he saw to Harris. The Golden Plates were not used at all! No mention is made of the Urim and Thummim, the two magic stones found in the stone box along with the plates. Joseph said these had to be used to translate the plates. Smith claimed he did not use them for the first one hundred and sixteen pages of the Book of Mormon. After Harris lost these pages, Joseph simply used a seer-stone he found in a well. What happened to the Urim and Thummim? Mormon authorities believe they were taken back to the next world by an angel.

A. The Book of Mormon contains fifteen books arranged exactly like the Christian Bible: I and II Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omri, Words of Mormon, Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, III and IV Nephi, Mormon, Ether and Moroni.

B. The Book claims to be a history of two ancient Christian civilizations which existed on the American continents. The forerunners of the first of these civilizations left the tower of Babel in 2,250 B.C. and came to Central America. The second group is supposed to have left Jerusalem around 600 B.C., crossed the Pacific Ocean and landed in South America (Peru). The Book of Mormon gives us the highlights of these two ancient civilizations.

C. The first group, the Jaredites, were destroyed as a result of corruption and apostasy. The second group were good Jews, their leader being Lehi. This group divided into two warring factions: the Nephites and Lamanites. Constant warfare between the two nations eventually brought them the same fate as the Jaredites.

D. The Book of Mormon also describes how Jesus visited the American continent immediately after His Ascension, revealed Himself to the Nephites, preached the gospel to them, instituted baptism, the communion service, the priesthood and other ordinances. Thus Jesus set up His true church a second time here on the American continent - so the book claims.

E. The Nephites were annihilated by the Lamanites in a great battle near the hill Cumorah at Palmyra, New York about 385 A.D. Mormon, the last great Nephite leader of his people, gave the golden plates containing the history of his people, to his son, Moroni, who buried them in the ground a short time later. There they remained until Smith was told by the angel to unearth them. [See Q 13 Notes]

I have read the Book of Mormon twice and it is difficult reading. It is quite dull. I did get a better understanding of it the second time around. The book does not reach the literary and dramatic heights of the Christian Bible. The religious theme running throughout the work is the problem of good and evil and repentance. Its story is that of a people who thrive materially, become proud, fall away from God and sin, repent and convert. There are difficulties with the work, serious enough to cast a reasonable doubt upon its authenticity as a book from God equal to the Christian Bible. Here are just a few:

A. It has been estimated that almost ten percent of the Book of Mormon is a direct quote or paraphrase from the King James translation of the Bible.

"About one-eighteenth of the Book is taken directly from the Bible: about three hundred passages - namely large portions of Isaiah, the entire sermon on the Mount (according to Matthew), and a few verses from St. Paul." (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge Vol. 8 p. 12)

King James Bible		The Book of Mormon
"the same yesterday, and today and forever". (Hebrews 13:8)		"the same yesterday, today and forever." (II Nephi 27:23)
"Work out your own salvation with fear". (Phil. 2:12)		"Work out your salvation with fear". (Alma 34:37)
"O wretched man that I am". (Romans 7:24)		"O wretched man that I am". (II Nephi 4:17)
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again". (John 3:7)		"Marvel not that all mankind must be born again". (Mosiah 27:25)
"There standeth one among you whom ye know not". (John 1:26)		"There standeth one among you whom you know not". (I Nephi 10:8)
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end". (Rev. 21:6)		"I am the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end". (III Nephi 9:18)

The only reasonable explanation for these parallels and hundreds more is that the Book of Mormon is not a translation of a set of ancient gold plates but a literary work of modern times. It was written long after the King James version was made in London in 1611 A.D.

B. Again, how could a translation directly given to Smith by an all-intelligent God contain the following glaring errors: the existence of the cow, ox, ass and horse on the American continent around 600 B.C. when the Nephites arrive. Scholars are certain that such animals did not exist at that time in the Americas. The Book of Mormon also describes the use of the mariner's compass which was unknown in those days. (See: Encyclopedia Brittanica ed. 1974 Vol. 4, p. 1039 "Mariner's Compass" and Vol. 8 p. 1088 "Horse")

C. Joseph Smith declared that the Book of Mormon contained the fullness of the gospel message from heaven, yet no where in the Book did I find their doctrines of celestial marriage, baptism for the dead, the Adam-God and universal salvation.

D. The Book of Mormon also contains a number of absurdities. Here is just one of them:

"Now immediately when the judge had been murdered: he being stabbed by his brother, by a garb of secrecy: and he fled and the servants ran and told the people, raising the cry of murder among them." (Helaman (9:6)

E. None of the acceptable masters in the fields of history, ethnology, archaeology and Bible studies thinks the Book of Mormon is worth any serious study. For example, in the field of archaeology, Mormon experts have not been able to find, after years of searching, scientific evidence to verify the contents of the Book of Mormon such as language (Reformed Egyptian), cities and names of prominent people. I have not met one LDS who is aware of this fact. Mormon missionaries and one Mormon Bishop told me that the Book of Mormon has been proven true by archaeological evidence. The Mormon scholar, Bruce McConkie, writes:

"Since its (the Book of Mormon) publication many archaeological discoveries have been made, particularly in Central and South America, which bear out the known facts relative to the ancient book of Mormon civilizations."
(Mormon Doctrine 1966 p. 99)

"The statement that the Book of Mormon has already been proved by archeology is misleading." (Newsletter, University Archaeological Society, BYU Jan. 1960)

"The bare facts of the matter are that NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, HAS EVER SHOWN UP IN ANY NEW WORLD EXCAVATION which would suggest to a dispassionate observer that the Book of Mormon, as claimed by Joseph Smith, is a historical document relating to the history of early migrants to our hemisphere."
(Dialogue, Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 8, No. 2 1973)

F. The Bureau of American Ethnology (scientific study of the races of people) of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C. simply ignores the Book of Mormon as of any value in this particular field. The sciences of anthropology and archaeology will not accept the testimony of the Book that the American Indians are of Jewish ancestry. The Indians are considered to be mongoloids and most scientists hold that such people came to the Americas by crossing the Beiring Straits and not by sailing from Palestine.

G. These are just a few of the many difficulties one encounters in a serious study of the Book of Mormon. Yet, Smith supposedly a true prophet from God, could categorically state:

"The Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on earth and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book."
(History of the Church Vol. 4, p. 461) [See Q 14-G Notes]

Besides the Book of Mormon, there are two other works: Doctrines and Covenants (D & C) which contains all the revelations Smith said he had received from God and the Pearl of Great Price, a title embracing the Book of Moses, Book of Abraham, Selected Writings of Smith, and the Articles of Faith, a summary of Mormon beliefs. [See Q 15 Notes]

Yes they do, but only the King James Version, and only in so far as this Version is "correctly translated", which really means that whenever the King James Version disagrees with Mormonism, it is not "correctly translated".

17. DO THE LDS CONSIDER THE BOOK OF MORMON TO BE SUPERIOR TO THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE?

A. I have met Mormons who say yes and no. Usually it is claimed that the two books are equally revered. Yet here are two quotations worth noting:

"Almost all of the doctrines of the gospel are taught in the Book of Mormon with much greater clarity and perfection than those same doctrines are revealed in the Bible. Anyone who will place in parallel columns the teaching of these two great books...will find conclusive proof of the SUPERIORITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON TEACHINGS".
(Mormon Doctrine, McConkie 1966 p. 99)

"The Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book."
(History of the Church Vol. 4, p. 461)

Joseph Smith made this statement and also claimed that the Book of Mormon contained the fullness of the everlasting gospel. He never made these remarks about the Christian Bible.

B. Smith stated that there were many errors in the translation of the Bible. With the help of divine revelations he claimed he received, he proceeded to retranslate the Scriptures. In this work he not only changed many passages he even added new material! Mormons claim his work was never finished but Joseph said he did complete it. Even if Smith did not finish the translation, the Mormon Church has had even more "prophets" since then who presumably could have done so. Today this work is known to the LDS as the Inspired Version of the King James Version of the Bible. Thus that portion of the Bible that Smith retranslated would have to be the most correct and truest part of the Word of God that man now has. Yet the Utah Church never uses it. One reason the missionaries give is that they do not wish to confuse prospective converts whom they visit. This is hardly a good excuse since it is God's very own translation and the latest.

18. HOW DOES THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM CAST SERIOUS DOUBTS ON THE CLAIMS OF SMITH?

The Book of Abraham is a very small work which is included in their fourth Scripture, Pearl of Great Price.

A. In 1833 a traveling salesman and showman, Michael Chandler, visited Smith's hometown of Kirtland, Ohio, exhibiting Egyptian mummies and other curios. Smith bought from him an ancient roll of papyrus. After examining it, Joseph immediately declared that he had in his possession a document written by the hand of Abraham himself some four thousand years ago. With no trouble at all he proceeded to translate the strange Egyptian symbols on the papyrus. Joseph called the work the Book of Abraham and it is still published by the LDS as part of their divine, sacred books along with three facsimiles of drawings taken from the papyrus.

B. The Mormons consider the Book of Abraham a most sacred work. In it are contained the doctrines of polytheism (many gods) and the curse and inferiority of the black man.

C. The Book of Abraham proved to be a disastrous blunder by Smith. Joseph is considered by all devout Mormons to have been sent to earth by God as a great Prophet, Seer and Revelator. The word "Seer" to the Mormons means that Smith was given the power to translate ancient records written in languages long since lost to the mind of man. Joseph using this divine power as Seer, produced his translation of the Book of Abraham as a divine communication from God.

D. Dr. James H. Breasted, world reknown expert in Egyptology, wrote a devastating assessment of the Book of Abraham.

"...these three facsimiles of Egyptian documents in the 'Pearl of Great Price' depict the most common objects in the mortuary religion of Egypt. Joseph Smith's interpretation of them as part of a unique revelation through Abraham, very clearly demonstrates that he was totally unacquainted with the significance of these documents and absolutely ignorant of the simplest facts of Egyptian writing and civilization."
(Mormonism, Shadow or Reality? a quote pp. 299-300)

Thus according to Dr. Breasted the Book of Abraham is a fraud, having nothing to do with Abraham, a plurality of gods and a divine curse on the Negro. The papyrus simply has to do with Egyptian funeral rites! [See Q 18 Notes]

A. The Mormon Church in the ordinary sense cannot be classified as Christian unless one wanted to twist the term until it did not mean anything anymore.

B. There are certain basics to true Christianity such as the One God, the Trinity, Creation, Jesus Christ, Redemption and Resurrection doctrines which one will find among Eastern Christians and the Western as well. Mormonism has brought into Christianity elements that come from another source.

C. Actually when one begins a study of the history and doctrines of Mormonism, the presupposition is that Mormonism is a unified system of doctrine. But in fact it is a hybrid of so many aspects, some from Christianity, some from the fantasy of Joseph Smith, and some aspects directly contrary to Christianity (pre-existence of souls, polygamy, a divine curse on the Negro).

I must also alert the reader to a fact that I only painfully discovered in my discussions with Mormon missionaries. The missionaries use the same terminology as Christians do but with a different meaning entirely. For example: The Mormon will say Jesus is "Lord". So would the true Christian. Yet to the LDS this statement means that Jesus is just one of many lords or gods and not the one, true, incarnated God of orthodox Christianity.

I will now move on to examine some of the major doctrines of the Mormon Church and compare them with the Bible.

A. Joseph Smith taught that there are many gods with bodies made up of flesh and bone like man. He also taught that the gods were once mortal men.

"I will preach on the plurality of gods...many men say there is one God...the heads of the Gods appointed one God for us...that is pertaining to us.
"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens."
(Teachings of the Prophet, Joseph Smith 1974 pp. 345-346 & 370-372)

"How many gods there are I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not gods and worlds."
(Discourses of Brigham Young 1954 pp. 22 & 23)

B. Smith, supposedly a true prophet from God, and one who would not lie nor be deceived in what he taught, teaches that there are many gods and one of them has been assigned by the council of the gods to be the god of this earth. It is with this God that mankind must deal. This means that when Christians meet with Mormons to offer up a prayer to God the Father, all in the group are not praying to the same God!

C. Smith's doctrine on the plurality of gods and their materiality directly contradicts the Bible of the Christians. One of the great revelations of the Old Testament religion given to mankind is that there is only one, true God and no one else besides Him, and that He is entirely without matter, totally invisible.

D. True, the Old Testament represents this one, true, invisible God in a visible human form by the use of what Bible experts call anthropomorphisms. This is a big word but it is the term used to designate the way the Jews solved the problem of how to relate to their God they could not see. The ancient Jews simply talked about Him and described his actions among them in human terms. There simply was no other way. For example we read in Exodus 33:11 "Yahweh would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend." LDS scholars insist on taking such words literally. If this were correct, then God has feathers and wings as Psalm 91 describes Him.

E. The following Biblical texts attest quite clearly to the complete immateriality of God and His unique oneness.

Isaiah 31:3 "The Egyptians are men, not God, and their horses flesh, not spirit." (Here Isaiah intends to show that man is flesh and his nature is not like God who is totally immaterial)

Isaiah 44:6 "Thus sayeth the Lord the King of Israel...I am the first and I am the last; and besides me there is no God."

Isaiah 46:9 "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me."

I Cor. 8:4 "We know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one." (Yet Smith taught that the heads of the gods appointed one god for this earth)

I Tim. 1:17 "now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory forever and ever."

F. Amazingly Mormon belief in many gods is clearly contradicted by their own Book of Mormon:

Alma 11: 28-29 "Now Zeezrom said: 'Is there more than one God?' and he answered 'No'".

G. In front of the Book of Mormon there is the testimony of the three witnesses to the existence of the gold plates, and the last sentence of their statement reads:

"And the honor be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, WHICH IS ONE GOD."

Yet Joseph could contradict this statement of the three witnesses with these words:

A. The god of this earth and the only one with whom we humans have to deal with is Adam. Here is what Brigham Young taught as doctrine:

"Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner. 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 Arch-angel, 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 pp. 50-51)

B. Young maintained this teaching of the Adam-God and leading Mormon authorities of the time and for years after understood perfectly what their Prophet meant. Heber C. Kimball, the First Councilor to Brigham Young, preached:

"I have learned by experience that there is but one God that pertains to this people, and He is the God that pertains to this earth- THE FIRST MAN."
(Journal of Discourses Vol. 4 p. 1)

C. Brigham Young himself made it quite clear that what he taught was Scripture for all Mormons and therefore to be believed as true.

"I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men that they may not call Scripture."
(Journal of Discourses Vol. 13, p. 95)

The above remark by Young was preached on January 2, 1870 - eighteen years after he first taught the doctrine of the Adam-God.

"...you have heard the teachings and instructions of President Young, and his instructions are the word of God to us."
(Journal of Discourses Vol. 4 p. 2)

E. Some Mormons were shocked by Young's proclamation of the Adam-God doctrine. In 1873, twenty one years after his first public announcement, President Young commented on this disbelief:

"How much unbelief exists in the minds of the Latter Day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which I REVEALED TO THEM, AND WHICH GOD REVEALED TO ME - namely that Adam is OUR FATHER AND GOD."
(Deseret News, June 18, 1873)

F. The Mormon scholar B. H. Roberts thought that Mormons should not be ashamed of this doctrine. He wrote:

"Some of the sectarian ministers are saying that we "Mormons" are ashamed of the DOCTRINE announced by Brigham Young to the effect THAT ADAM WILL THUS BE THE GOD OF THIS WORLD. No, friends it is not that we are ashamed of that DOCTRINE..."
(Mormon Doctrine of Deity, p. 42)

"Some persons say that Brigham Young does not give revelations as did Joseph Smith. But let me tell you, that Brigham's voice HAS BEEN THE VOICE OF GOD FROM THE TIME HE WAS CHOSEN TO PRESIDE, AND EVEN BEFORE. Who that has heard him speak, or that has read his testimonies, or that is acquainted with his instructions, does not know THAT GOD IS WITH HIM?"
(Journal of Discourses Vol. 8 p. 234)

A. They deny the Christian belief in the Trinity. For them there are three distinct persons, each a separate God, as their founder Joseph Smith taught.

"I will preach on the plurality of gods. Many men say there is one God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and they are truly one God. I say this is a strange God...three in one and one in three..."
(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith 1974 p. 372)

B. Mormon doctrine again reveals how contradictory it is, for Smith's teaching on the plurality of gods is not contained in the Book of Mormon. In fact the Book upholds the Christian belief in the Trinity.

"And now behold this is the doctrine of Christ and the only one true doctrine of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost WHICH IS ONE GOD without end."
(II Nephi 31:21)

C. Now either the Book of Mormon is in error, a book Smith claimed to be the most correct of any on this earth because it was translated by the direct power of God and contained the fullness of the everlasting gospel, or the so-called Prophet of God is in error. Such is the Mormon dilemma.

A. The LDS deny the Christian belief concerning Jesus. For them Christ is "a" god, just one of millions of such gods. Mormons do however, honor Him as being "first-born" of the many pre-existent spirits.

B. Since Mormons believe that mortal man can attain the same godhood that Jesus has, there is no radical difference between Jesus and man on this earth. The difference is rather one of timing and degree since Christ has already attained His godhood and progressed far along in it. The divinity of Jesus is not unique by LDS standards.

C. Jesus was married to several women and the marriage feast at Cana in Galilee was His own wedding reception. This doctrine is not openly taught today, but it was very popular among Mormons during Brigham Young's time and during the polygamy period. Why is it not being taught today?

D. Mormons call Jesus savior since He died on the cross for the sins of mankind. Yet Mormon doctrine limits the complete saving power of Jesus' blood. Brigham Young taught:

"It is true that the blood of the Son of God was shed for sins...committed by men. Yet men can commit sins which it (the blood of Christ) can never remit."
(Journal of Discourses Vol. 4 pp. 53-54)

Joseph Fielding Smith, Tenth President and Prophet of the LDS Church also stated that same doctrine:

"Are you aware that there are certain sins that man may commit for which the atoning blood of Christ does not avail?...If then he would be saved he must make sacrifice of his own life to atone - as far as in his power lies - for that sin, for the blood of Christ alone under certain circumstances will not avail."
(Doctrine of Salvation pp. 133-134)

E. Now such teaching is clearly contradicted by the Christian Bible which teaches that the blood of Christ was all-sufficient. Christ's sacrifice of His life on the cross was not an imperfect act.

"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people FROM THEIR SINS."
(Matthew 1:21)

"...and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from ALL sin."
(I John 1:7)

"Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood."
(Revelations 1:5)

F. Jesus is also, according to LDS doctrine, the product of the physical union of God the Father with the Virgin Mary. Brigham Young taught:

"When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness..."
(Journal of Discourses Vol. 1 pp. 50-51)

"Now remember from this time forth and forever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost."
(Journal of Discourses Vol. 1 p. 51)

"Our Father in heaven is the Father of Jesus Christ both in spirit and IN THE FLESH...He (Christ) was not born without the aid of man, and that man was God."
(Doctrines of Salvation 1959 Vol. 1 p. 18)

No Christian worthy of the name could possibly accept the teachings of these two prophets, successors to Joseph Smith. The Christ of Mormonism is not the Christ of the true Christian.

G. In connection with this matter, I recently read the 1975 edition of Leo Rosten's RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. The section on the LDS Church has a question on page 189. "Do Mormons Believe in the Virgin Birth?" Answer: "Yes. The Latter Day Saints accept the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ." Well, if Mormons do so today, their doctrine has changed. They have rejected a clear teaching of the prophets supposedly sent to them by God, and who cannot lie or be in error in doctrine.

H. Now the Prophet Brigham Young taught that there was nothing miraculous about the birth of Jesus. He explains it this way:

"The birth of the Savior was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of a natural action. He partook of flesh and blood - was begotten by the Father, as we were of our Fathers."
(Journal of Discourses Vol. 8 p. 115)

"In relation to the way in which I look upon the works of God and his creatures I will say that I was naturally begotten; so was my father, and also my Savior Jesus Christ. According to the scriptures, he is the first begotten of his father IN THE FLESH and there was NOTHING UNNATURAL ABOUT IT."
(Journal of Discourse Vol. 8 p. 211)

"God the Father is a perfected, glorified, holy Man, an immortal personage. And Christ born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real and literal sense THAT ANY MORTAL SON IS BORN TO A MORTAL FATHER."
(Mormon Doctrine 1969 p. 742)

LDS would answer that it is indeed miraculous that the Father now in a state of godhood would condescend to come down to Mary and have relations with her.

Here we have another example of the Mormon use of traditional Christian terms, "miraculous conception", with a very different meaning. The Mormons can do this since almost all non-Mormons would not know what Brigham Young and Mormon scholars actually taught about Christ's birth.

The Mormon reply then in Mr. Rosten's book is at worse an untruth, unless LDS have rejected a clear teaching of their Prophet. At best the answer is surely ambiguous.

"I am inclined to think from some things in the revelations that there is such a being as a personal Holy Ghost, BUT IT IS NOT SET FORTH AS A POSITIVE FACT, and the Lord has never given me any revelation upon the subject, and consequently I cannot fully make up my mind one way or the other."
(Journal of Discourses Vol. 2 p. 338)

B. This statement by Pratt was made in 1855, twelve years after the Prophet Joseph Smith had clearly taught that there was a Holy Ghost:

"The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit."

Orson Pratt's mind should have been made up the moment Joseph made public the revelation from heaven that the Holy Ghost did in fact exist. He surely believed that Smith could not lie or be misled.

C. Mormon doctrine is that the Holy Ghost does not have a body of flesh and bones, yet it is a major teaching of the Church that it is absolutely essential to have a body for that progression leading to godhood. Joseph Fielding Smith clearly emphasizes this teaching by considering the punishment given to the devils:

"The punishment of Satan and the third of the hosts of heaven who followed him, was that they were denied the privilege of being born into this world AND RECEIVING MORTAL BODIES. They did not keep their first estate and were denied the opportunity OF ETERNAL PROGRESSION."
(Doctrines of Salvation Vol. 1 p. 65)

D. The Mormon theologian Parley Pratt makes a distinction between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit.

"This leads to an investigation of that substance called the Holy Spirit...There are several of these subtle, invisible substances but little understood as yet by man, and their existence is only demonstrated by their effects. Some of them are recognized under the several terms, electricity, galvanism, magnetism, animal magnetism, spiritual magnetism, essence, spirit, etc.

The purest, most refined and subtle of all these substances and the one least understood, or even recognized by the less informed among mankind, is that substance called the Holy Spirit. This substance, like all others, is one of the elements of material or physical existence, and therefore subject to the necessary laws which govern all matter...

Jesus Christ was filled with a DIVINE FLUID called the Holy Spirit by which he comprehended and spoke the truth in power and authority and by which he controlled the elements and imparted health and life to those who were prepared to partake of the same."

For Pratt then the Holy Spirit is a fluid-like substance distinct from the Holy Ghost.

E. Bruce McConkie, a living Apostle and certainly considered by Mormons as a reliable source of Mormon doctrine, continues the distinction between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost based on personage but does not refer to the Holy Spirit as a divine fluid.

"This is the Spirit which the Lord is withholding from wicked persons in the world, not the Holy Ghost which the world never had."
(Mormon Doctrine 1966 p. 753)

F. Pratt published his book Key to the Science of Theology in 1855. For the next 110 years his work was accepted in the Church as Mormon doctrine until in a Ninth Edition (1965) his teaching on the Holy Spirit as a divine fluid and his defense of polygamy as a divinely revealed eternal law of God were deleted. This is still so in the 1973 edition I have.

G. In the first edition of Doctrine and Covenants in 1835 it was taught as doctrine that there were ONLY TWO PERSONS IN THE GOD-HEAD, FATHER AND SON, and that the HOLY SPIRIT WAS THE MIND of these two persons. Mormon authorities have removed this teaching in modern editions of this sacred work.
(Doctrines &Covenants 1835 ed. p. 52, 53, 55, 57, 58)

H. The above changes I have noted make the following by Hugh Nibley, Mormon scholar at Brigham Young University, completely false:

"Joseph Smith's teachings are so well knit and perfectly logical that they have never had to undergo the slightest change of alteration during a century in which every other Church in Christendom has continually revamped its doctrines...The Gospel as the Mormons know it sprang full-grown from the words of Joseph Smith. It has never BEEN WORKED OVER OR TOUCHED UP IN ANY WAY AND IS FREE FROM REVISIONS AND ALTERATIONS."
(No, Ma'am, That's Not History pp. 57-58, 61-62)

I. The word "ghost" is the English (Middle English, 10th and 11th centuries A.D.) translation for the New Testament Greek word "pneuma" and the Latin "spiritus" as any good lexicon will point out.

For the true Christian, Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit designate one and the same person. The New Testament states that the Holy Spirit is true God, a real, Divine Person distinct from the Father and the Son yet one in essence and nature with them, sharing equally all the attributes of divinity such as fullness of knowledge, holiness and power.

A. Man is eternal, that is he existed in some way before the gods organized him into a pre-existent form in the spirit world.

"Now, the Lord has shown me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was."
(Book of Abraham 3:22)

"Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made..."
(Doctrine & Covenants 93:29)

"The mind or intelligence which man possesses is co-equal (co-eternal) with God himself...the intelligence of spirits had no beginning. I might with boldness proclaim from the housetops that God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all."
(Teachings of Prophet Joseph Smith 1974 pp. 354-355)

B. Man is sent down to earth to progress step by step towards becoming a god with the same divinity god the Father (the god-Father assigned to this earth) now has. For the Mormons Joseph Smith has gone through his earthly progression so that at this moment he is a god ruling over some planet in the spirit world.

C. Since god the Father (the Mormon god) was once a mortal man who progressed to godhood, there is no essential difference between him and any other mortal human being here below. Everyone has a chance to be a god. The Mormon view of man's nature and destiny reveals what a sharply inferior concept they have of true divinity, a divinity the real Christian assigns only to the One, Supreme Deity Whom he worships and considers vastly different from himself. The entire First Chapter of Genesis in the Christian Bible speaks of one God Who creates things and man out of nothing.

A. This is a major teaching in the LDS Church. Man's spirit existed eternally in the spirit world long before it was sent to earth to dwell in a body of flesh and bone. The type of existence a man has here on earth is a reflection of his worthiness or lack of it in his pre-existent life. The Mormon doctrine of pre-existence helps to understand their position on the Negro.

"There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is that we once had an estate before we came here and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given to us there. Those who were faithful in all things there, received greater blessing here, and those who were not faithful received less."
(Doctrines of Salvation Vol. 1 p. 61 J. Fielding Smith)

B. According to J. Fielding Smith the Negro was cursed by the gods for having done evil in his pre-existent life. Just what the Negro did which was terrible is unknown Mormons say, and cannot be known down here since no one coming to this planet from the spirit world has any recollection of what he or she did in that world.

C. Presumably then, if one is white-skinned, born into a Mormon family and faithfully follows the LDS Church's teachings and ordinances, such a person lived a very good life and was highly favored by the gods before coming to earth.

D. Mormons claim that their doctrine of pre-existence is clearly proven in the Christian Bible. I did not find this to be so. They point especially to two texts neither of which give conclusive evidence for such an important LDS teaching. Here they are:

The English word "formed" as found in this King James translation is from the Hebrew verb meaning "to create", that is, to bring into existence what had not existed before. The meaning then to the ancient Hebrew would be that at one time Jeremiah never existed. How then could God have known intellectually a man who did not yet exist?

What is the meaning of "I knew thee"? The Hebrew word of "knew" can also have the meaning of "to dedicate", "to appoint" and not just intellectual knowledge.

Therefore the meaning would be that long before God decided to bring a certain individual person into existence, He had in mind that such a person would be appointed to do a special work for Him.

In the Bible, for God "to know" someone means that He appoints, chooses, predestines. However, for man to know God implies an intimate knowledge of Him based on an experience of God and not just an intellectual awareness that He exists. (See Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Leo-Defour p. 259 under title "know")

"Thus shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

The LDS ask how the spirit can return to God if it had never been there before? The LDS have made the correct answer to this question difficult by taking the sentence out of its entire context and trying to force a meaning into it that is not there.

The theme of the entire passage, verses 1-4 has to do with growing old and eventually dying. The body simply returns to dust at death, and since God is the source of all life, He takes back the life-breath (the soul) He created for the person in order that he might remain alive on earth.

The word "return" cannot conclusively imply that the spirit had a previous existence in another world. God gave life to man for the first time and now He takes it back (it "returns").

Thus these two passages from Scripture do not permit us to conclude to a pre-existence of all human souls in a spirit world before the appearance on this earth in a body.

E. The Mormon Church has received from its founder as a revelation from God an opinion of some ancient Hindu and Greek philosophers who taught that the human soul had an existence before its union with the body, and that it is imprisoned in the body for sins committed in its previous life.

F. Finally it is absurd for an intelligent soul to continue its existence on earth yet having absolutely no memory of its previous doings, discoveries and aspirations. It is also irrational to have souls punished for unknown crimes in such a way that they can neither correct their faults nor acknowledge the justice of the penalty. Strange indeed is the Mormon belief in pre-existence as a major teaching of the restored church of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself never taught it or ordered His Apostles to do so.

A. The Bible tells us that Cain was cursed by God for killing his brother Abel, but does not state the nature of this curse. Joseph Smith claimed that God revealed to him the nature of the curse: that of a black skin. Smith taught that all Negroes are descendants of Cain.

B. Jerald and Sandra Tanner, in their monumental, documented study of Mormonism, have reasonably shown that the LDS stand against the Negro is not based on any divine curse, but is rooted in the prejudice against the black man which existed in the early days of the Mormon Church. (Mormonism, Shadow or Reality pp. 275-279)

C. The LDS anti-Negro stand directly opposes the clear command of Jesus to His Apostles:

"Go ye therefore and teach ALL nations (black, white, red, brown)...baptizing them...and teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded you."
(Matthew 28: 19-20)

"God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean."
(Acts 10:28)

"Then Peter opened his mouth and said, 'Of a truth I perceive that God is no respector of persons. But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted by him.'"
(Acts 10:34)

"...and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake his goodness, and he denieth none that come unto him, BLACK AND WHITE, bond and free, male and female; and he remembered the heathen, and ALL ARE ALIKE TO GOD, both Jew and Gentile."
(II Nephi 26:33)

E. I most respectfully submit that either the Book of Mormon which Smith stated was from God and the most correct book on earth, is in error concerning a major LDS teaching, or Joseph lied or was misled into thinking that he had received a divine revelation about a curse on the black man.

F. Sterling M. McMurrin, Mormon scholar and philosopher, told a gathering of the N.A.A.C.P. in a speech March 8, 1960 in Salt Lake City, that the Mormon teaching on the Negro is "not only nonsense but immoral."

Yet N. Eldon Tanner, one time Counselor to one of the Presidents of the Church stated:

"The Church has no intention of changing its doctrines on the Negro...it is a law of God."
(Seattle Magazine December 1969)

G. If the LDS doctrine of the Negro is a law of God (or the Mormon god) then according