Apologetic Study: Introduction to Mormon Beliefs

Early History of Mormonism.

As with the Witnesses of Jehovah, Christian Science, Seventh Day Adventistism, etc., the Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, sect originated in the USA. The movement was founded in 1820 by Joseph Smith from Sharon, VA.

Founding Follies

Joseph Smith:

Born on December 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vermont, he was killed in a gun battle in Carthage, Illinois, June 27, 1844. During this gun fight he killed two men and wounded another. Not exactly a martyr for the faith.

Smith claims 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. Then 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 pass and 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)

These "Golden Plates" were said to be written in a language Smith dubbed "Reformed Egyptian". 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.

However, a serious question arises. Can we trust Joseph Smith? Remeber, he was alone during both "visitations" and as such we are lef to take his word that these events actually transpired. Let us consider whether Smith is trustworthy by considering the following facts.

Three years after the second "visitation" (1826), Smith was tried and convicted of fraud involving a "crystal ball" type device called a "peep stone".

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)

The "Golden Plates" were only seen by three other witnesses. Smith took these witnesses out into the woods and alledgedly an angel showed the plates to them. However, all three men later left Smith's new religion

The papyrus that Smith claimed contained the writings of none other than the Patriarch Abraham, was later translated to only be a funeral document:

"...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." [3]

The Book of Mormon contains plagaristic borrowing from the King James Bible. To the point that the same mistranlations found in the original King James Bible found their way into the Book of Mormom.

Brigham Young:

Born into a poor farming family, the 9th of 11 children, on June 1, 1801, in Whitingham, Vermont, he succeeded Joseph Smith after Smith was killed. Young is probably best known as the driving force that lead to the Mormons settling in Utah. He considered himself the equal to Joseph Smith in the establishment of doctrine since he was now the "Prophet" and president of this new religion.

What's in a Name?

"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.

What do Mormons Believe?

We'll now shift our focus on to some of the major tenets of Mormonism.

The Great Apostasy

Smith taught there occurred a great apostasy in the early Church, around 100 A.D., which caused God to withdraw from it's members. This is in direct contradiction to Christ's promise:

"Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt, 16:18)

"And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." (John, 14:16)

"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." (Matt, 28:20)

Polytheism

That he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did. . . . Here, then, is eternal life - to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you" [4]

According to Brigham Young, Adam is the god assigned to our earth:

"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)

Now perhaps you might think that we shouldn't take every utterance from the president and thus current "Prophet" of the Mormons seriously. However, Brigham Young stated otherwise:

"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)

Jesus Visited America?

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.

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.

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.

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. [1]

One would expect that if there did occur this grand battle where "hundres of thousands of men and beasts" perished and left the ground "strewn with weapons and armor", that we would be able to find some archeological evidence to support this claim. Consider that many of the events depicted in the Old Testament many thousands of years ago have been verfied time and again by science. In fact the Mormons have tried for years to find the site of this battle in New York to no avail.

Polygamy

Brigham Young in a sermon printed in the Deseret News in 1862:

"Monogamy, or restrictions to one wife is no part of the economy of heaven among men."

"Why do we believe in and practice polygamy? Because the Lord introduced it to his servants in a revelation given to Joseph Smith, and the Lord's servants have always practiced it. and is that religion popular in heaven? it is the only popular religion there."

"This monogamic system (one wife) has been the fruitful source of prostitution and whoredom throughout Christianity..." (Journal of Discourses Vol. 11 p. 128)

For almost ten years polygamy was practiced in secret, although rumors of it spread among non-Mormons in the area. Yet during all this time the Mormon leaders strongly denied the practice. Then on August 29, 1852 Brigham Young let the truth be told - polygamy had been going on for years.

President Grant threatened to send troops into Utah if the practice was not ended at one. Then on September 24, 1890, the then President of the Church Wilford Woodruff, suspended the practice. Today any Mormon engaged in polygamy is excommunicated from the Church. [1]

Consider that if God had indeed revealed this to Smith and Young, then they would have been in direct disobedience to God's will when they succombed to the threats of President Grant.

Black People are the "Cursed Children of Cain"

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. Mormons believe that the Negro is under a divine curse for having been unfaithful to the Mormon gods in the pre-existent world, and are not entitled to share in the blessings of the Mormon priesthood. Anyone with Negro blood would be prevented from holding the priesthood. The status of the black man in Mormon theology is very serious and dreadful. Brigham Young brought this out in teaching:

"Shall I tell you the law of God with regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty under the law of God is death on the spot. this will always be so." (Journal of Discourses Vol. 10 p. 110)

Just in case you think this is something that was only taught a hundred years ago, in 1969 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)

Baptism of the Dead

On any given day, in more than fifty Mormon temples around the world, thousands of faithful Mormons are baptized vicariously for the dead. Most non-Mormons are dimly aware that the Mormons are interested in genealogy, but they are not sure why. While there is nothing wrong with being interested in genealogy as a hobby, this is far from a hobby for Mormons.

They believe people who have died can be baptized by proxy, thus allowing them the opportunity to become Mormons after their death. The idea behind baptism for the dead is this: God wants each of us to be with him in glory. To effect this, he allows us to accept the Mormon gospel here on earth. If we do not, he sends us to a "spirit prison" until the Mormon gospel has been preached to us there and we convert.

Mormons cite a single biblical passage to support baptizing members on behalf of dead persons, "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?" (1 Cor. 15:29).

Mormons infer that in 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks approvingly of living Christians receiving baptism on behalf of dead non-Christians; however, the context and construction of the verse indicate otherwise. The Greek phrase rendered by the King James Version as "for the dead" is huper ton nekron. This phrase is as ambiguous in Greek as it is in English. The preposition huper has a wide semantic range and can indicate "for the sake of," "on behalf of," "over," "beyond," or "more than." Like the English preposition "for," it does not have a single meaning and does not require the Mormon idea of being baptized in place of the dead. Such a reading would be unlikely given the more plausible interpretations available, and even if huper were taken to mean "in the place of," it doesn't mean Paul endorses the practice.[6]

God has an Address?

According to the fictitious Book of Abraham, God lives with his wife on a planet near the star Kolob (Abraham 3:2-3, 16). There, from a distance, he reigns over the earth. In the end, the God of the LDS church is incompatible with that of traditional, orthodox Christianity. An exalted man who lives on a planet near the star Kolob is a world away from the omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal and unchanging God of Catholicism. This fact is vitally important, for the LDS church and the Catholic Church (in union with Protestant and Orthodox Christianity) have two very different Gods. If one of those Gods is true, the other must necessarily be false - the flickering, phantasm of man's imagination. [7]

References:

[1] A Christian Looks at Mormonism, by William J. Mitchell

[2] Father William G. Most, noted theologian

[3] Mormonism, Shadow or Reality? by Dr. James H. Breasted

[4] Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Press, 1938

[5] "Problems with the Book of Mormon", Catholic Answers

[6] "Mormonism's Baptism for the Dead", Catholic Answers

[7] "Looking for God in all the wrong places... like Kolob", by Brian Paul

Disclaimer: I do not wish to present myself as an expert in either theology, history, or scriptural interpretation. I am merely someone who is attempting to answer the call of Christ. The ultimate authority and interpreter of scripture is our Holy Catholic Church. If at any point I deviate from the teachings of the Church, please correct me, alfredo@nevarez.net, as this is my shortcoming and in no way meant to be an expression of my views superceding those of the Church founded by Jesus Christ.

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Alfredo Nevarez
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