Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
The Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and Why They are Wrong
The Latter Day Saints (LDS) or Mormons
The worst thing about the LDS religion is that they are taught that it is a sin to question their leaders teachings. Their leaders could tell them that Jesus is actually a smurf who came from Neptune and saves souls to the music of disco tunes and they would simply accept it as the truth. And if they don't accept it, they are sinning. So basically, the truth is not what is important. You aren't saved through truth. You are saved through believing what you are told. I honestly cannot think of anything I find more wrong than that way of thinking.
Man is inherently evil. Anything that man gets hold of, he corrupts with time. Whether it is sports, politics, business, whatever you can imagine, if it is left in the hands of man, it will end up corrupted. Even religion. Right now I would say there is no single religion that has everything right. There is a right religion, but that religion will have some beliefs that are not right, because man has been in control of it. So to believe everything the leaders of a religion tell you simply because they say so, is nothing short of ridiculous.
I can go on and on for why it is wrong to just trust any human to always give you the perfect truth when the book they support is filled with mistakes. Logic doesn't help here too much, so I will go right to the quick with it all.
The Book of Mormon has had thousands of corrections made to it through the years. If it was the perfect scripture of God given to Russell by God and translated by God and checked by God, how were there so many misspelled words, grammar mistakes, words used out of the wrong eras, plagiarism and simply put, bad writing in it?
A few examples....
The Book of Mormon (BM) uses words like "Thee, thou, ye and many others one would find in the King James Version of the Bible. If the golden plates God gave to Russell were from long before the Bible and translated exactly, they would not be written in the same style as the KJV Bible. However, if Russell was a false prophet and wrote the book of Mormon himself, it would stand to reason it would use much of the same style as the KJV Bible he carried as well as words of his own era.
To make it worse, although the BM was supposedly written on Gold plates 1,200 to 2,000 years before the KJV Bible was written, nearly 1/8 of the BM is word for word copies of the KJV.
Why would they have so much of the same scriptures? Would God just repeat Himself? Well, that would be funny since all of the italicized words in the KJV (which Russell thought were words that were not in the original transcripts) were removed from the BM. Which is a mistake. Its hard to believe God would not repeat his own words exactly, but repeat the translation of the KJV Bible with all of the italicized words removed.
These following phrases in the New Testament were also used in the BM. Since the BM was supposed to be written long before the New Testament, I am unsure how this is possible...
1. "oh wretched man that I am" --- Romans 7:24 / 2 Nephi 4:17
2. "earthquake, rocks rent" --- Matt 27:51 / 1 Nephi 12:14
3. "old serpent, which is the devil" --- Rev 20:2 / 2 Nephi 2:18
4. "one faith, one baptism" --- Ephesians 4:5 / Mosiah 18:21
5. "One man perish" --- John 11:50 / 1 Nephi 4:13
The BM uses the word "Christ" throughout it. Christ is a Greek word that wouldn't have been used in such an ancient book.
There is also a direct contradiction between the Bible and the BM as the BM has Jesus being accepted and the Bible has his own people rejecting him.
Forget the one book right now. What about Joseph Russell himself? He is supposed to be a great prophet of God. The Bible speaks about how to test whether a prophet is of God or not....
Deuteronomy 18:20-21
20 'But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' 21 "And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?' 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
Basically the entire Mormon faith is built upon Joseph Russell being a great Prophet. So it comes down to two possibilities. Either Russell received a book from God that was filled with plagiarism and errors, or he wrote his own book riddled with mistakes, misspelled words and plagiarism. Either way this speaks volumes to his failing the test for Prophets.
Mormons believe it is through your works you ascend to become a God. If one uses simple logic, they find this simply does not work. If God was once a man and had flesh and bones and ascended to become a God, and another God had made him, who made the first God? Are you telling me man has no beginning and we have always been around? There was no beginning to the universe? Even though science has pretty much proven the universe had a beginning? God never having a beginning because he is God? I can accept that possibility. Man never having a beginning? No way. The universe never having a beginning? Nope. Logically there had to be a beginning for the universe and man at one time or another. Science has all but proven the big bang theory is fact. The expansion of the universe coincides with the fact that it all comes from one point in space at one point in time. Whatever created that big bang had to be God. It could not possibly have been man when there was no universe for man to exist in yet. That would mean there is one God who never had a beginning and would be above all other Gods.
If there is one God above all others, why would He have wanted man to ascend to be his equal? Once again, this just does not add up to simple logic. Especially when he states he is a Jealous God and will have no other Gods before him.
And of course we can do a full circle right back to the simple fact that LDS leaders tell the members that it is a sin to question their teachings. If nothing else, this alone would tell me it is a false religion. Because if a religion is a true correct religion, it does not fear the truth. It wont tell people not to question their teachings. It will tell people to put them to the test because they will be confident that the truth will lead back to them.
Any religion that does not want its members thinking for themselves is a religion to stay away from.
As a last note:
From the Book of Mormons
Mosiah 27:24-26 on page 201
“For, say he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit. And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, man and women, all nations, kindreds, tongue and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; and thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.”
This sure sounds like it says you are saved through being Born Again and not by your good works. Now show me where in the Book of Mormons it says otherwise. Not from the KJV which you don't agree with being translated right, but through your book of Mormons, where does it say otherwise?
Return to Religions and their Fatal Flaws
Return to One God Logic Articles
The worst thing about the LDS religion is that they are taught that it is a sin to question their leaders teachings. Their leaders could tell them that Jesus is actually a smurf who came from Neptune and saves souls to the music of disco tunes and they would simply accept it as the truth. And if they don't accept it, they are sinning. So basically, the truth is not what is important. You aren't saved through truth. You are saved through believing what you are told. I honestly cannot think of anything I find more wrong than that way of thinking.
Man is inherently evil. Anything that man gets hold of, he corrupts with time. Whether it is sports, politics, business, whatever you can imagine, if it is left in the hands of man, it will end up corrupted. Even religion. Right now I would say there is no single religion that has everything right. There is a right religion, but that religion will have some beliefs that are not right, because man has been in control of it. So to believe everything the leaders of a religion tell you simply because they say so, is nothing short of ridiculous.
I can go on and on for why it is wrong to just trust any human to always give you the perfect truth when the book they support is filled with mistakes. Logic doesn't help here too much, so I will go right to the quick with it all.
The Book of Mormon has had thousands of corrections made to it through the years. If it was the perfect scripture of God given to Russell by God and translated by God and checked by God, how were there so many misspelled words, grammar mistakes, words used out of the wrong eras, plagiarism and simply put, bad writing in it?
A few examples....
The Book of Mormon (BM) uses words like "Thee, thou, ye and many others one would find in the King James Version of the Bible. If the golden plates God gave to Russell were from long before the Bible and translated exactly, they would not be written in the same style as the KJV Bible. However, if Russell was a false prophet and wrote the book of Mormon himself, it would stand to reason it would use much of the same style as the KJV Bible he carried as well as words of his own era.
To make it worse, although the BM was supposedly written on Gold plates 1,200 to 2,000 years before the KJV Bible was written, nearly 1/8 of the BM is word for word copies of the KJV.
Why would they have so much of the same scriptures? Would God just repeat Himself? Well, that would be funny since all of the italicized words in the KJV (which Russell thought were words that were not in the original transcripts) were removed from the BM. Which is a mistake. Its hard to believe God would not repeat his own words exactly, but repeat the translation of the KJV Bible with all of the italicized words removed.
These following phrases in the New Testament were also used in the BM. Since the BM was supposed to be written long before the New Testament, I am unsure how this is possible...
1. "oh wretched man that I am" --- Romans 7:24 / 2 Nephi 4:17
2. "earthquake, rocks rent" --- Matt 27:51 / 1 Nephi 12:14
3. "old serpent, which is the devil" --- Rev 20:2 / 2 Nephi 2:18
4. "one faith, one baptism" --- Ephesians 4:5 / Mosiah 18:21
5. "One man perish" --- John 11:50 / 1 Nephi 4:13
The BM uses the word "Christ" throughout it. Christ is a Greek word that wouldn't have been used in such an ancient book.
There is also a direct contradiction between the Bible and the BM as the BM has Jesus being accepted and the Bible has his own people rejecting him.
Forget the one book right now. What about Joseph Russell himself? He is supposed to be a great prophet of God. The Bible speaks about how to test whether a prophet is of God or not....
Deuteronomy 18:20-21
20 'But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' 21 "And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?' 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
Basically the entire Mormon faith is built upon Joseph Russell being a great Prophet. So it comes down to two possibilities. Either Russell received a book from God that was filled with plagiarism and errors, or he wrote his own book riddled with mistakes, misspelled words and plagiarism. Either way this speaks volumes to his failing the test for Prophets.
Mormons believe it is through your works you ascend to become a God. If one uses simple logic, they find this simply does not work. If God was once a man and had flesh and bones and ascended to become a God, and another God had made him, who made the first God? Are you telling me man has no beginning and we have always been around? There was no beginning to the universe? Even though science has pretty much proven the universe had a beginning? God never having a beginning because he is God? I can accept that possibility. Man never having a beginning? No way. The universe never having a beginning? Nope. Logically there had to be a beginning for the universe and man at one time or another. Science has all but proven the big bang theory is fact. The expansion of the universe coincides with the fact that it all comes from one point in space at one point in time. Whatever created that big bang had to be God. It could not possibly have been man when there was no universe for man to exist in yet. That would mean there is one God who never had a beginning and would be above all other Gods.
If there is one God above all others, why would He have wanted man to ascend to be his equal? Once again, this just does not add up to simple logic. Especially when he states he is a Jealous God and will have no other Gods before him.
And of course we can do a full circle right back to the simple fact that LDS leaders tell the members that it is a sin to question their teachings. If nothing else, this alone would tell me it is a false religion. Because if a religion is a true correct religion, it does not fear the truth. It wont tell people not to question their teachings. It will tell people to put them to the test because they will be confident that the truth will lead back to them.
Any religion that does not want its members thinking for themselves is a religion to stay away from.
As a last note:
From the Book of Mormons
Mosiah 27:24-26 on page 201
“For, say he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit. And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, man and women, all nations, kindreds, tongue and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; and thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.”
This sure sounds like it says you are saved through being Born Again and not by your good works. Now show me where in the Book of Mormons it says otherwise. Not from the KJV which you don't agree with being translated right, but through your book of Mormons, where does it say otherwise?
Return to Religions and their Fatal Flaws
Return to One God Logic Articles
