Agglomeration

As I do on my main apologetics blog, I like to post a collection of links to articles which my readers should find of interest. When it comes to Mormonism, I can’t help but link to articles on an excellent site which exposes the false teachings of that belief system. I usually have links to other sites also, so this won’t be totally a promotion of Life After Ministry — but very close! So let’s get started.

Would you like a crash course on Mormonism in order to converse with the “missionary” at your door?

Mormonism is rife with contractions in their teachings, and they know it but don’t want to acknowledge it. They often will hide these past contradictions, especially to their young people.  They often defy the rest of humanity as they contradict themselves. I could give evidence after evidence showing LDS contradictions, but let’s just look at this last one, concerning the term “only begotten.” 

The LDS history is also rife with false prophecies; here’s one I hadn’t previously heard of.

Mormons always claim they don’t attack Christians and therefore we shouldn’t “attack” (i.e. expose) them. Those who have read this blog know that I have listed many times and places where Mormons denigrate Christianity and really attack it.  I found this older article which gives more great examples refuting this lie of Mormonism.

If the Mormons ever studied archaeology they would learn that the whole origin of their religion, and the claims of the Book of Mormon, just don’t have anything about them which is part of reality.

More evidence proving Joseph Smith’s “first vision” was totally fabricated.

The truth about Joseph Smith’s “martyrdom” is that he died in a gun battle, not as a martyr.

Another anachronism proving the lie of Mormonism.

About those witnesses to the Book of Mormon—their “evidence" couldn’t even stand up in court.

Four reasons to reject LDS restoration claims.

It still all comes down to sex for salvation.

Did you know that God was wrong to give Adam just one wife? Well according to Mormonism, monogamy degenerates humanity.  Actually, many studies have shown that polygamy degenerates humanity.  Just look at how it degrades women!

Well, now we’ll end this edition with two items currently in the news: 

The LDS is trying to re-invent their racist past but a printing error brings it out! I guess the Book of Mormon is now wrong and that the racial curse is just a theory.

Brigham Young University is now allowing same-sex couples to participate in a ballroom dance competition. This is giving tacit approval to homosexual relationships, contrary to God’s commands against homosexuality.

The Mormon Claims About Poor Transmission Are False

One of the lies by Joseph Smith was about the Bible and why no one could trust it.  The following is recorded in the History of the Church 6:57:

I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors.

In the previous article I posted, by Bill McKeever of Mormonism Research Ministry, McKeever addressed these claims.  However, on the issue of transmission of the Scriptures through history, it is important to note that, contrary to LDS claims, we have plenty of evidence demonstrating how very little has changed from the earliest manuscripts to the latest ones.  The transmission has been very accurate.

Mormonism Research Ministry recently published the article, “What a charred lump of a 2,000-year-old scroll can tell us about Mormonism.”  Written by Sharon Lindbloom, the article definitely destroys the LDS claims against the accuracy of the Bible.

In June of 1843 Mormonism’s founder, the Prophet Joseph Smith, told his followers,

“There are many things in the Bible which do not, as they now stand, accord with the revelations of the Holy Ghost to me.” (Jo­seph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 310. See also History of the Church 5:425)

Four months later, in another sermon, Joseph Smith explained,

“I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors.” (History of the Church 6:57)

This view of a corrupted Bible has been accepted and perpetuated throughout the history of Mormonism. The Church’s 8th Article of Faith (written by Joseph Smith) clearly states that Mormons believe the Bible to be the Word of God–with a caveat: “as far as it is translated correctly.” An LDS scholar clarified,

“Here the word trans­lated appears to be used in a broader sense to mean transmitted, which would include not only translation of languages but also copying, editing, deleting from, and adding to documents. The Bible has undergone a much more serious change than merely translation from one language to another.” (BYU Professor Robert J. Matthews, A Bible! A Bible!, 72. Italics in original).

So, throughout the history of the Mormon Church members have been told that when Joseph Smith’s teachings deviate from biblical doctrine, it is because the text of the Bible has been carelessly transcribed and deliberately falsified (for a refutation of Smith’s assertion see “The Joseph Smith Translation: Inspired by Whom?”). Therefore, an article published this week by the Associated Press is of interest to those concerned with Mormonism.

On Wednesday (21 September 2016) journalist Daniel Estrin reported,

“The charred lump of a 2,000-year-old scroll sat in an Israeli archaeologist’s storeroom for decades, too brittle to open. Now, new imaging technology has revealed what was written inside: the earliest evidence of a biblical text in its standardized form.”

Through the use of digital technology, researchers were able to unwrap (“virtual unwrapping”) the brittle scroll and read the ancient text, finding passages from the book of Leviticus.

“The text discovered in the charred Ein Gedi scroll is ‘100 percent identical’ to the version of the Book of Leviticus that has been in use for centuries, said Dead Sea Scroll scholar Emmanuel Tov from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who participated in the study.

“‘This is quite amazing for us,’ he said. ‘In 2,000 years, this text has not changed.’”

Continue reading at Mormonism Research Ministry.

Random Articles from Mormonism Research Ministry

I’ve been sort of busy with so many other things these past few weeks (such as with my apologetics blog) that I’ve not had a chance to post articles here.  I have, however, been collecting links to good articles which expose the Mormon Church for the fraud that it is.

Now, I know anyone can to to Mormonism Research Ministry’s web site or their blog site and read search for various articles, but to save time I want to point out specific subjects of interest so as to get more people informed for countering the false teachings of the LDS.

A story I had never before heard or read is “The Transfiguration of Brigham Young.”  The myths that the LDS develop can be quite amusing.  But then, the whole church is built on myths and lies.

There is not one bit of evidence from history or archaeology to verify the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.  Nothing.  But facts have never stood in the way of Mormons.

More information about Joseph Smith’s use of a “seer stone.”  (Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry also has a short article on this topic.)

Mormons abuse the Bible (of course) to “prove” they are the one and only true Christian church.  A commenter on a blog I follow posted a list of items which if any other church fulfilled he would leave the LDS, but the list he gave was all done by abusing Scripture so as to fit only the LDS.  This article on Mormon Coffee has a similar list, which the blog addresses as to why they are abusing the Bible.

One of the earlier articles I wrote for this blog was “The Non-Virgin Virgin Mary of Mormonism.”  This article pretty much summed up all the teachings from various Mormon leaders about how Mary had sexual intercourse with “God the Father” in order to provide normal conception for Jesus.  Mormon Coffee posted a short article about the same topic, ending with a link to the same article I used as my reference.

One of the things I’ve pointed out in LDS teaching is their need to be humble for salvation, and yet the humility they are required to demonstrate is something really unattainable.  Just when are they “sufficiently humble”?

Mormons will always press you to read the Book of Mormon and the pray about it to receive a testimony as to its veracity.  If you don’t come to the right conclusion, it is because of YOUR lack of faith, YOUR lack of sincerity, etc.  It is NEVER, according to the Mormons, due to the fraudulent nature of the BOM.  Excellent article about this issue can be found here.

Book of Mormon vs Archaeology

The following is the text of the tract, Testing the Book of Mormon, produced by the Utah Lighthouse Ministry, who gave me their gracious permission to publish it here.

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Some members of the Mormon Church have made fantastic claims about archaeologists using the Book of Mormon. For example, one letter written by a prominent Mormon, dated May 3, 1936, maintained that the Book of Mormon was used by "the government to unravel the problem of the aborigines.… it was 1920 before the Smithsonian Institute officially recognized the Book of Mormon as a record of any value.… it is true that the Book of Mormon has been the guide to almost all of the major discoveries.... This record is...recognized by all advanced students in the field.” (Mormonism—Shadow or Reality?, Tanners, p.97)

Because of many false statements disseminated by members of the Mormon Church, such as the one cited above, the Smithsonian Institution has been forced to publish a statement concerning these matters. The four-page statement begins with a denial of the claims put forth by Mormon enthusiasts:

”1.The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon in any way as a scientific guide. Smithsonian archeologists see no direct connection between the archeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book." ("Statement Regarding The Book of Mormon," Smithsonian Institution, Spring 1986)

In 1973, Michael Coe, one of the best known authorities on archaeology of the New World, wrote an article for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1973. After telling of the Mormon belief in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, he frankly stated: 

"Let me now state uncategorically that as far as I know there is not one professionally trained archaeologist, who is not a Mormon, who sees any scientific justification for believing the foregoing to be true,... nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever shown up in any New World excavation which would suggest to a dispassionate observer that the Book of Mormon... is a historical document relating to the history of early migrants to our hemisphere." (pp.42, 46)

Some Mormon scholars are beginning to publicly admit that archaeology does not furnish any significant evidence for the Book of Mormon. Dee F. Green, who at one time served as editor of the University Archaeological Society Newsletter, published at the church’s Brigham Young University, made it plain that archaeological evidence did not prove the Book of Mormon: 

"The first myth we need to eliminate is that Book of Mormon archaeology exists…. If one is to study Book of Mormon archaeology, then one must have a corpus of data with which to deal. We do not. The Book of Mormon is really there so one can have Book of Mormon studies, and archaeology is really there so one can study archaeology, but the two are not wed. At least they are not wed in reality since no Book of Mormon location is known with reference to modern topography. Biblical archaeology can be studied because we do know where Jerusalem and Jericho were and are, but we do not know where Zarahemla and Bountiful (nor any other location for that matter) were or are. It would seem then that a concentration on geography should be the first order of business, but we have already seen that twenty years of such an approach has left us empty-handed." (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1969, pp. 77-78)

Thomas Stuart Ferguson was one of the most noted defenders of Book of Mormon archaeology. Mr. Ferguson planned the New World Archaeological Foundation which he hoped would prove The Book of Mormon through archaeological research. The Mormon Church granted hundreds of thousands of dollars to this organization, but in the end, Thomas Stuart Ferguson admitted that although the Foundation made some important contributions to New World archaeology, all his work with regard to the Book of Mormon was in vain. He admitted, in fact, that he had wasted twenty-five years of his life trying to prove the Book of Mormon. In 1975 Ferguson prepared a 29-page paper in which he wrote:   "I'm afraid that up to this point, I must agree with Dee Green, who has told us that to date there is no Book-of-Mormon geography." In a letter to Mr. & Mrs. H.W. Lawrence, dated Feb. 20, 1976, Thomas Stuart Ferguson plainly stated: "…you can’t set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere - because it is fictional and will never meet the requirements of the dirt-archeology.”

Dr. Ray T. Matheny, professor of Anthropology at the church’s Brigham Young University, admitted that he has a difficult time reconciling New World archaeology with the Book of Mormon:

"I really have difficulty in finding issue or quarrel with those opening chapters of the Book of Mormon [i. e., the first 7 chapters which only relate to Lehi and his family around the area of Jerusalem]. But thereafter it doesn't seem like a translation to me.... And the terminologies and the language used and the methods of explaining and putting things down are 19th century literary concepts and cultural experiences one would expect Joseph Smith and his colleagues would experience. And for that reason I call it transliteration, and I’d rather not call it a translation after the 7th chapter. And I have real difficulty in trying to relate these cultural concepts as I've briefly discussed here with archeological findings that I'm aware of….

"If I were doing this cold like John Carlson is here, I would say in evaluating the Book of Mormon that it had no place in the New World whatsoever. I would have to look for the place of the Book of Mormon events to have taken place in the Old World. It just doesn't seem to fit anything that he has been taught in his discipline, nor I in my discipline in anthropology, history; there seems to be no place for it. It seems misplaced. It seems like there are anachronisms. It seems like the items are out of time and place, and trying to put them into the New World. And I think there’s a great difficulty here for we Mormons in understanding what this book is all about." ("Book of Mormon Archeology," Response by Professor Ray T. Matheny, Sunstone Symposium, August 25, 1984, typed copy transcribed from a tape-recording, pp. 30-31)

Three years after speaking at this symposium, Dr. Matheny wrote a letter in which he made it clear that there was still no Book of Mormon archaeology:

"While some people choose to make claims for the Book of Mormon through archaeological evidences, to me they are made prematurely, and without sufficient knowledge.

"I do not support the books written on this subject including The Messiah in Ancient America, or any other. I believe that the authors are making cases out of too little evidence and do not adequately address the problems that archaeology and the Book of Mormon present. I would feel terribly embarrassed if anyone sent a copy of any book written on the subject to the National Museum of Natural History - Smithsonian Institution, or other authority, making claims that cannot as yet be substantiated.… there are very severe problems in this field in trying to make correlations with the scriptures. Speculation, such as practiced so far by Mormon authors has not given church members credibility." (Letter by Ray T. Matheny, dated Dec. 17, 1987)

While there is no archaeological evidence to support the Book of Mormon’s claim that there were Nephites in the New World, the existence of the Israelites in the Holy Land is verified by a great deal of evidence. The "earliest archaeological reference to the people of Israel" is a stele of the Egyptian ruler Merneptah, dated about 1220 B.C. Many ancient inscriptions mentioning the Israelites have been found, and some inscriptions even give the names of kings or other people mentioned in the Bible. The New Testament mentions a number of rulers that are known to have lived around the time of Christ. The fact that the Jews were in Palestine at the time the Bible indicates is proven by hundreds of ancient Hebrew inscriptions. Portions of every book of the Old Testament, except for the book Esther, have also been found in the manuscripts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. When we turn to the Book of Mormon, however, we are unable to find any evidence at all that the Nephites ever existed. 

Go to Smithsonian Letter

COPIES OF THIS TRACT FREE AT THE UTAH LIGHTHOUSE MINISTRY BOOKSTORE
Mailing Charge: 30 copies for $1.00 - 100 copies for $3.00

For more information on the Book of Mormon and many other subjects see the book Major Problems of Mormonism available from Utah lighthouse Ministry.