"For these facts it is evident for all to see that Mormonism strives with great effort to masquerade as the Christian church complete with an exclusive message, infallible prophets, higher revelations for a new dispensation which the Mormons would have us believe began with Joseph Smith, Jr."
"But it is the verdict of both history and Biblical theology that Joseph Smith's religion is a polytheistic nightmare of garbled doctrines draped with the garment of Christian terminology. This fact, if nothing else, brands it as a non-Christian cult system."
Indeed, Mormonism is a maze of conflicting doctrines with a veneer that attracts new converts because it has elements that seems so fascinating when compared to Christianity. Christians call this the seductive component of its doctrine.
The original texts of Mormon doctrine came at a time when Christianity was experiencing the Second Great Awakening. This period may have motivated Joseph Smith and later, Brigham Young to come up with their own spiritual system to out-do their Christian contemporaries who were engaged in the revival movement. Because both were self-educated it is my believe that their limited comprehension of the written word caused them to fail in their interpretation of the King James Bible and its true significance. It was Joseph Smith, Jr. who wrote, The Holy Scriptures, Translated and Corrected by the Spirit of Revelation, by Joseph Smith, Jr. the Seer . The manuscript was published after his death (1844) in 1867. This writing revealed his level of scholarship with the Bible and it showed him as one who played fast and loose with its translation. The text was filled with spelling errors, grammatical mistakes and punctuation errors in keeping with his poor level of education. It also holds many contradictions, omissions and changed meanings. In short, Joseph Smith invented his own version of the Bible to suit his fancy and to titillate the imaginations of new followers.
Brigham Young took over where Joseph Smith left off in false teachings and the practice of polygamy with 52 wives. This is another case where poor education caused him to invent his own doctrine that he claimed was "revealed" to him by God. The primary source for Brigham Young's teachings are his sermons, most of which are recorded verbatim in The Journal of Discourses in 26 volumes. I will not go into detail, but to say that it has all of Young's false teaching and has to this day been swept under the rug as recent as the publication, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young in 1997.
I end, saying that both Joseph Smith Jr and Brigham Young would have given more to the wealth of the Second Great Awakening if they had explored the Bible with the aid of those who had the scholarship, who could read the original Hebrew and Greek texts, and had the true meaning of the Bible written down and for all to understand. They did not. Instead, they showed what happens when men, without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, get into the Bible to use it for their own purposes and not God's purpose.
2 Corinthians 11:12
And I will keep on doing what I am doing
in order to cut the ground from under those
who want an opportunity to be considered equal
with us in the things they boast about.