Drawing the Line for Mormons: A Closer Look at the LDS Church

Catholic Exchange ^ | October 17, 2005 | Mary Kochan

[NYer]

Mormons want you to believe that they are "Christians" and that their church, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," is just another Christian denomination. Mormons themselves believe that they are Christians and that their church is the only true church. There is even a move among Mormons to shorten the name of their church to simply "The Church of Jesus Christ."

In This Article...
America's Lost Tribe
Jesus: Brother of Lucifer?
When Talking to a Mormon

America's Lost Tribe

Their founder, Joseph Smith, claimed to have been told in a vision regarding the Christian churches that God "forbade me to join with any of them" and "all their creeds were an abomination in his sight." It is hence Mormons (not Christians) who established, from the beginning of their group, an antagonistic relationship with those Christian groups already in existence. In recent years Mormons have sought to downplay this antagonism, and that testimony of Joseph Smith has received a new whitewashing in the current Newsweek cover story "The Mormon Odyssey" which relates the story like this: "God and Jesus appeared and delivered a startling message: he shouldn't join any of the churches of the world, for they had long ago fallen away from Christ's true Gospel."

In one sense clearly, Mormons are Christian. If you were going to categorize Mormons according to world-religion criteria, you would have to say they are Christians. World religions are the major belief systems found around the world that frame a tradition of enough cultural richness to support a civilization. The major world religions are Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism and Islam. Clearly Mormonism fits into the broad "Christian" category. And so would many other groups whose relationship with the wider Christian world is antagonistic: Jehovah's Witnesses, Branch Davidians, Oneness Pentecostals, etc.

It may be that in the not-too-distant future, we will have to categorize Mormonism as a separate world religion. It is the fifth-largest religious group now in the US, having just passed the Lutherans, and the LDS are experiencing rapid expansion in other countries. In many ways its development parallels that of Islam. Both religions were founded by prophets who claimed to have been visited by an angel. They borrow heavily from Judaism and Christianity, yet reject their central tenets. Both rely upon strange revisions of history. The Koran identifies Mary, the mother of Jesus, with Miriam the sister of Moses, who lived over fourteen centuries earlier. The Book of Mormon makes numerous claims regarding the peoples of the Americas (including the idea that the American Indians descended from a lost tribe of ancient Israelites) that have been refuted by history, archeology and anthropology. Both Islam and Mormonism claim that where their sacred writings contradict the Bible, the Christian and Jewish scriptures have been corrupted.

It might be argued that Mormons have the right to say that they are "Christians" and no one should deny what they say about themselves. It is possible, however, for us to respect their right to call themselves whatever they wish without feeling compelled to validate that claim ourselves. This is complicated by the fact that to many Catholics, Mormonism seems no more strange than the Baptist faith, or that of any other Protestant denomination. In part this is because Mormons themselves generally use the language and terminology common to (especially Protestant) Christians. In their initial approach to you, they will do all they can to hide or gloss over the distinctive beliefs of their church. Statements of Mormon belief sound so much like statements of the Christian faith that many Catholics and Protestants are quite willing to recognize Mormons as "Christians," not merely in the world-religion sense, but in the sense in which we Catholics recognize Protestant Christians as our "separated brethren." This is a serious error with two major consequences.

First, Christians (including Catholics) are misled into the Mormon church where they are indoctrinated in a religion which rejects the central doctrines of the Christian faith, resulting in them bringing their children up as non-Christians. Second, Christians embrace Mormons as fellow Christians instead of evangelizing them.

In order to protect Christians from this deception and to help Mormons learn the truth, we must understand how Mormon doctrine differs from the historic Christian faith that we share with Protestants. To do this, we will examine first what Mormons say, then how they define the terms they are using and how that differs from the Christian faith. Finally we provide a biblical, Christian response and suggestions for how to discuss these things with a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The Central Question: Who is God?

What Mormons will say they believe about God:

1. We believe in God the Father who is the Father of Jesus Christ.
   
2. We worship God the Father and pray to him in Jesus's name.
   
3. Jesus is our Savior.

Why the Mormon God the Father is not the Christian God the Father:

1. "God the Father" to a Mormon is not God the Father, first Person of the Holy Trinity, Whom Christians confess. He is one of many gods.
   
2. The Mormon worships God the Father because He is the god of this planet, but other planets have other gods equal to or even greater than God the Father.
   
3. The Mormon "God the Father" had a father and was once a man on a planet who worshipped his own Father God. He was subsequently exalted to godhood. He has a physical, human body.
   
4. It is the hope of the male Mormon to progress to the point where he too will be a god like God the Father and be ruling over his own planet.
   
5. The Mormons have a saying: "What man is, God once was; what God is, man will become." This is polytheism.

Christian answer:

1. The God of the Bible is the Creator and God of all the universe, of all worlds, not just our planet. He made the heavens and the earth; there is no other God; there never has been any other God, nor will there ever be another. (Gn 1:1; Is 43;10; 44:6, 8, 24)
2. God the Father was never a man.
3. You will never be God.
4. True Christianity, like Judaism, is monotheistic. As our creed states "We believe in one God."

Jesus: Brother of Lucifer?

Why the Mormon Jesus is not the Christian Jesus:

1. The Mormon Jesus is the spirit-brother of Lucifer (Satan). They were both born in heaven by God the Father's union with one of his many spirit wives.
2. According to Mormon teaching, when it was time for Jesus to come down to earth, God the Father sent down one of his spirit wives from heaven to be born as a woman, Mary. Then he came down and had physical, marital relations with her in order for her to give birth to a human body inhabited by Jesus coming from heaven. This is a denial of the Virgin Birth.

Christian answer:

1. Since God the Father does not have a physical human body, He did not impregnate Mary by a physical union (2 Chr 6:18; Jn 4:24).
   
2. Jesus became incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary (Mt 1:23; Lk 2:30-35).
3. God the Father does not have a wife or wives in heaven.
   
4. Jesus is the eternally-begotten Son of God, one in being with the Father (Jn 1:1-18).
   
5. He is not the older brother of Lucifer.
6. He is the older brother, as well as Lord and God, of those born again by water and Spirit, God's adopted children (Jn 3:3-17; Rom 8:14-17, 29).

Why the Mormon doctrine of man is not the Christian doctrine of man:

1. According to Mormonism, all human beings existed as spirit children of God and his wife in heaven before coming to earth.
   
2. They grow to spirit "adulthood" serving God (even fighting in heavenly battles), and are then sent to earth to be babies of human parents.
   
3. The earthly life is their opportunity to become gods themselves, like their heavenly Father, by "obeying the laws of the Gospel" just as the god of this planet once did.

Christian answer:

1. There is no biblical support for the idea that human beings were spirit children of God in heaven before coming to earth.
   
2. Jesus was unique in being a human being with a pre-human existence (Jn 1:18; 3:13, 31; 8:23, 58).
   
3. Jesus took on human nature at the Incarnation. God became man — not the other way around. His human nature was glorified at His Resurrection.
   
4. We will be like God in that we will have the same kind of glorified human nature which Jesus possesses, not in becoming gods and ruling planets ourselves (1 Jn 3:3; Rom 8:22, Phil 3:20-21).
   
5. While heaven is the presence of God with unfettered communion, the distinction between God and creatures remains (Rv 5:13, 14).

What is Salvation?

What Mormons will say they believe about salvation:

1. All are redeemed by the Savior's self-sacrifice, from the consequences of the fall.
   
2. Immortality comes as a free gift, by the grace of God alone, without works.
   
3. Jesus is our Savior.

Why Mormon salvation is not Christian salvation:

1. According to Mormonism, everyone and everything — all of creation — has been redeemed and therefore "saved."
   
2. This salvation gains, for all human beings, a physical resurrection only — not eternal life. Eternal life is not "salvation"; it is "exaltation."
   
3. If you ask a Mormon if he is saved (per Evangelical parlance), he will answer yes.
4. If you ask him if he believes you are saved, he will answer yes. This confuses Christians who do not understand that being "saved" and gaining "eternal life" are not the same thing in Mormon thinking.
   
5. It is further confused by the Mormon distinction between "immortality" (salvation to physical resurrection) and "eternal life" (exaltation to godhood).
6. The Mormons have a saying: "Salvation without exaltation is damnation."
7. Therefore, a Mormon can, with a straight face, tell you he believes you are "saved," while he also believes you are damned.

Christian answer:

1. We define salvation according to what we are saved from. We are saved from sin and from the wages of sin — death.
   
2. To be saved from sin is to be justified and sanctified. To be saved from death is to receive eternal life (Rom 6:22, 23).
   
3. Being saved, justified, sanctified and given eternal life by the grace of God are all things which are interconnected in the Scriptures. There is no biblical basis for separating them (Rom 5).
   
4. Seeking exaltation is contrary to the spirit of Christ. We are rather to humble ourselves, recognize our sinfulness and call upon the Lord for mercy and forgiveness (Js 4:6-10).

Why the Mormon hope is not the Christian hope:

1. It is the hope of the male Mormon to progress to the point where he will be a god like God the Father and be ruling over his own planet. This is "exaltation," and depends upon the Mormon "Plan of Eternal Progression."
2. The hope of Mormon females depends upon their being married, in a temple ceremony, to a Mormon male who achieves exaltation.
3. Mormon women married to non-Mormons ("Gentiles") can arrange for a "temple sealing" (marriage by proxy) to a Mormon male after their death. This is to assure that in eternity they are considered to have been married to and produced their children from a Mormon husband so that they and their children can be exalted.
   
4. Mormon males expect to produce offspring in heaven with their mate(s), offspring who will subsequently be sent to populate their planet and achieve their own exaltation to godhood and so on and so on…

Christian answer:

1. The God of the Bible is the Creator and God of all the universe, of all worlds, not just our planet. He made man for Himself and in His image to be in communion with God and enter into the love of the Holy Trinity.
   
2. When man fell into sin and marred the image of God in his own being, the second person of the Trinity became incarnate — taking human nature to Himself.
   
3. He then did what He could not do in the form of God: He died to save us from sin and death, so that we could come back into communion with God and share the love of the Holy Trinity. Our hope is to be with God, not to be God (Gn 1-3; Phil 2:5-11).

When Talking to a Mormon

Remember that the Mormon is trained to hide the difference between his beliefs and yours and to present himself as a Christian. However, his belief that he is a Christian is sincere, and his efforts to hide the distinctives of the Mormon religion are pursued in his desire to get you to accept Mormon teachings.

Do not allow glib, surface responses to go unchallenged; press the Mormon to define the Christian-sounding words he is using.

Define your own terms also. Draw the contrast for the Mormon. Calmly and clearly insist that what you and he believe about the nature of God, the identity of Jesus, the nature of man, salvation and eternal life are different. To pretend otherwise is dishonest.

Appeal to his honesty and sense of fairness. You might say, "Look, we are not going to get anywhere unless we are honest with each other. Without making any statement about which one of us is right, can't we just acknowledge that we do not worship the same God?" or "Can't we just acknowledge that we do not have the same hope for the future?" Help the Mormon to consider the logical and philosophical problems with the Plan of Eternal Progression.

If God had a Father and He had a Father and so on — then who was the first God? Mormons say it is an "infinite regression." But since there is no way to cross an infinite distance or pass an infinite amount of time, there would be no way to get to "now" and to "us" from an infinite past. Time has to have had a beginning and it did. It began with the creation "of all things seen and unseen" by God. Mormons say that God is omnipotent (almighty, all-powerful), yet they say there are many Gods. There cannot be more than one omnipotent being, so the Mormon conception of God is shrunken and distorted.

A big selling point of the Mormon hope for the future is the idea that families will be together eternally. But if Mormons become Gods of planets and then their children become Gods of other planets — how do the children and parents get together? Can a God leave his planet unattended while he goes to a celestial family reunion? This Mormon selling point would be diminished if we Christians were more vocal about our hope for the "new heavens and new earth" in which we know one another in the all the relationships of our present lives, only in glory (2 Pt 3:13; Rv 21:1).

Welcome the participation of Mormons in causes which we share for the common good: strengthening family life, fighting pornography and abortion, fostering the virtue of patriotism. We honor each Mormon as a person who desires what is genuinely good for himself, his family and his society — and when we share the truths of the Christian faith with him.

[Spiff]

So by the accounts of the witnesses, the plates remained covered during the translation. The Book of Mormon came about because Joseph Smith stuck a rock in his hat, followed it with his face, and spoke the translation for Cowdery to write down. How does the existence of plates fit into this scenario? It does not.

If you lived in the 19th century and you were to translate an entirely foreign language, only possessing a modicum of formal schooling, and you were to rely almost entirely upon the whisperings of the Holy Ghost and unfamiliar tools of divine origin, and it required the utmost concentration and zero distraction and you wanted to get it exactly right, how would you do it? I'm sure that your method would earn the scorn of others too.

Look, if our Heavenly Father wanted this to be easy, He and His son, Jesus Christ, would have appeared to the entire world and would have revealed all of the records that He commanded His prophets to record throughout the ages. But what faith would that require? And if we are not to be proved by our faith, for what purpose do we owe this mortal existence?

[Spiff]

By the way you seem to know all the answers, I could have bet you stayed at a "Quality Inn."

That would be Holiday Inn Express.

But I've got some good news...

...I saved a bundle on my car insurance by switching to Geico.

Groan.

[colorcountry]

"I assert that the Book of Mormon is “another gospel” given by an angel, as spoken of in Galatians 1:6-9. What kind of angel would give another gospel? None other than Satan, who the Bible tells us will masquerade as an angel of light to lead people away from the truth. Joseph Smith was a false prophet. The Book of Mormon is a false gospel. And we must make every effort to show Mormons that the true gospel of Jesus Christ still stands. It is time to abandon the evil doctrines that say we are gods in infancy who must earn our salvation, and return to the truth of the gospel that says we are completely unworthy, but the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We cannot afford to rest our case while there are still people in this world that do not know the truth.

As I've pointed out previously the word Nephilim is used in the Old Testament do designate Fallen Angels. The root of the word is indeed HEBREW not Egyptian as Church leaders will proclaim and it means fallen one. Did a "fallen angel" proclaim the doctrine of the LDS to Joseph Smith?

If you were to question for example how qualified Harriet Miers is for the SCOTUS, would you go to only "pro-harriet" sites or would you also visit the "anti-harriet" sites. Someone who is investigating should look carefully at both sites before they form any opinions. To do otherwise is to invite disaster.

I've been quoting a website. . . here is the link. Please visit http://www.contenderministries.org/mormonism/witnessesontrial.php

[AlaninSA]

Actually, whether the plates existed or not comes into play.

Without them, it comes across - with all due respect - to the non-LDS person as just made up.

[AlaninSA]

If you lived in the 19th century and you were to translate an entirely foreign language...

Correction:

Translate a language that never existed.

[colorcountry]

Exactly...even the 3 witesses said they view the plate "by the spirit," which is NOT to say they actually SAW them.

[Spiff]

Exactly...even the 3 witesses said they view the plate "by the spirit," which is NOT to say they actually SAW them.

You're wrong.

Link

THE TESTIMONY OF THREE WITNESSES

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come: That we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken. And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.

OLIVER COWDERY
DAVID WHITMER
MARTIN HARRIS

Not only did they see the plates and their engravings with their own eyes, but they heard God's voice tell them that the plates had been translated by the gift and power of God and thereby they know that they are true. The Lord commanded them to make a written statement, a testimony or witness of what they saw, what they heard, and to the truthfulness of the translation.

[Logophile]

Translate a language that never existed.

Don't be so sure. See the article "Jewish and Other Semitic Texts Written in Egyptian Characters" for an interesting discussion of "reformed Egyptian."

[colorcountry]

Oh yeah, that's right the revised version of the 3 Witnesses.

How come it is, that the church was able to "rewrite" their testimony a CENTURY after they signed the original? Or was the Church wrong when they published the first...the Chruch was mistaken?

[colorcountry]

HERE IS THE ORIGINAL RENDITION:

“Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come: That we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken. And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declaredit unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.” [emphasis added] OLIVER COWDERY DAVID WHITMER MARTIN HARRIS

[colorcountry]

Ok, my bad....The two renditions are the same.

Now you can see that it's all in the interpretation (which LDS are very good at and the rest of us fail.)

To me hearing voices...and seeing by the power of God not Man, imply a hallucinatory state, not exactly hands-on type of testimony. Even if they (like the 8 witnesses) declared that they hefted (approximated at over 200 lbs.)the plates and examined them....you'd have to be an assayer to determine if they were gold and none of them knew what the supposed "script" was, it could have been anything!


I guess it's all in the "translation" - - get it, I made an obscure joke.

[Logophile]

Am I missing something here? The "original rendition" you provide appears to be the same as the one in the current edition of the Book of Mormon. In particular, the bolded phrases appear the same way; they have not been altered or omitted.

Just to be sure, I copied both versions of the Testimony into MS Word and did a word count (after inserting a space where you had omitted one, between declared and it). Both versions have the same number of words, characters, and spaces.

Perhaps you had another "original rendition" that you had intened to post.

[colorcountry]

You are oh, so correct...I already corrected my mistake. I answered before I had done the same type of comparison.

[Logophile]

You are oh, so correct...I already corrected my mistake. I answered before I had done the same type of comparison.

But do you have another version showing that the Church had re-written the original? And if not, what ever prompted you to make such a charge in the first place?

If you are relying on the various anti-Mormon web sites for your information, you should be aware that many (perhaps most) are unreliable. The professional anti-Mormons—those who make a living "debunking" Mormonism—cannot be trusted to give an accurate account of Mormonism. For example, the site you quoted before about the witnesses to the Book of Mormon contains a number of errors.

[Spiff]

Oh yeah, that's right the revised version of the 3 Witnesses. How come it is, that the church was able to "rewrite" their testimony a CENTURY after they signed the original? Or was the Church wrong when they published the first...the Chruch was mistaken?

Ummm...wrong again.

[AlaninSA]

BYU being a source on "reformed Egyptian?"

No thanks. That's like using Ms Sheehan as a source on foreign policy.

[AlaninSA]

Wrong.

Harris later recanted and, under pressure, admitted that he had seen the plates with "the eyes of faith" under a cloth.

Cowdery (the former school teacher and transcriptionist) and Whitmer later gave out statements that the LDS were "not a true church." Whitmer published a tract that called Joseph Smith a "false prophet."

Spiff, if you're going to bring it, bring it well. A Catholic like me shouldn't know more about your faith than you do.

[SweetCaroline]

BTTT

[Spiff]

Harris later recanted and, under pressure, admitted that he had seen the plates with "the eyes of faith" under a cloth.

Martin Harris never denied his testimony of the Book of Mormon, even after he was excommunicated.

This is from an account of Harris affirming his testimony of the book and the angel that appeared to the 3 witnesses:

“On one occasion several of his old acquaintances made an effort to get him tipsy by treating him to some wine. When they thought he was in a good mood for talk they put the question very carefully to him, ‘Well, now, Martin, we want you to be frank and candid with us in regard to this story of your seeing an angel and the golden plates of the Book of Mormon that are so much talked about. We have always taken you to be an honest good farmer and neighbor of ours but could not believe that you did see an angel. Now, Martin, do you really believe that you did see an angel, when you were awake?’ ‘No,’ said Martin, ‘I do not believe it.’ The crowd were delighted, but soon a different feeling prevailed, as Martin true to his trust, said, ‘Gentlemen, what I have said is true, from the fact that my belief is swallowed up in knowledge; for I want to say to you that as the Lord lives I do know that I stood with the Prophet Joseph Smith in the presence of the angel, and it was the brightness of day.’”

Harris re-joined the Church in 1870. On his deathbed he bore testimony to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and his experience in witnessing it and the angel:

‘The Book of Mormon is no fake. I know what I know. I have seen what I have seen and I have heard what I have heard. I have seen the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon is written. An angel appeared to me and others and testified to the truthfulness of the record, and had I been willing to have perjured myself and sworn falsely to the testimony I now bear I could have been a rich man, but I could not have testified other than I have done and am now doing for these things are true.’

So much for your misinformation about Martin Harris.

Cowdery (the former school teacher and transcriptionist) and Whitmer later gave out statements that the LDS were "not a true church."

Oliver Cowdery, even after being excommunicated from the Church, even testified in a court of law of his experience with the angel and the Book of Mormon:

The opposing counsel thought he would say something that would overwhelm Oliver Cowdery, and in reply to him in his argument he alluded to him as the man that had testified and had written that he had beheld an angel of God, and that angel had shown unto him the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. He supposed, of course, that it would cover him with confusion, because Oliver Cowdery then made no profession of being a “Mormon,” or a Latter-day Saint; but instead of being affected by it in this manner, he arose in the court, and in his reply stated that, whatever his faults and weaknesses might be, the testimony which he had written, and which he had given to the world, was literally true.

Cowdery quit his law practice and rejoined the Church in 1848. He had this to say before that event:

I wrote, with my own pen, the entire Book of Mormon (save a few pages) as it fell from the lips of the Prophet Joseph, as he translated it by the gift and power of God, by the means of the Urim and Thummim, or as it is called by the book, Holy Interpreters. I beheld with my eyes, and handled with my hands, the gold plates from which it was transcribed. I also saw with my eyes and handled with my hands the Holy Interpreters. That book is true. ...It contains the everlasting gospel, and came forth to the children of men in fulfillment of the revelations of John, where he says he saw an angel come with the everlasting gospel to preach to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. It contains principles of salvation; and if you, my hearers, will walk by its light and obey its precepts, you will be saved with an everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God on high.

On his deathbed, Cowdery's last words reaffirmed his testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

So much for your misinformation about Oliver Cowdery.

Whitmer published a tract that called Joseph Smith a "false prophet."

David Whitmer was quoted in no less than 72 interviews after he left the Church concerning his experience with the angel and the plates. He never denied the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

When another misinformed anti-Mormon claimed that Whitmer and the other 3 witness had denied their testimonies, Whitmer published a rebuttal in which he testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. He wrote:

It is recorded in the American Cyclopedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica, that I, David Whitmer, have denied my testimony as one of the Three Witnesses to the divinity of the Book of Mormon: and that the two other witnesses, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, denied their testimony to that book.

I will say once more to all mankind, that I have never at any time denied that testimony or any part thereof. I also testify to the world, that neither Oliver Cowdery nor Martin Harris ever at any time denied their testimony. They both died affirming the truth of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

Further, the Chicago Tribune published the following about Whitmer's deathbed testimony of the Book of Mormon's authenticity and truthfulness:

David Whitmer, the last one of the three witnessed to the truth of the Book of Mormon, is now in a dying condition at his home in Richmond. Last evening he called the family and friends to his bedside, and bore his testimony to the truth of the Book of Mormon and the Bible.

So much for your misinformation about David Whitmer.

Despite leaving the Church or being excommunicated at one time or another, NONE of the three witnesses recanted their testimony. All of them reaffirmed their testimonies on their deathbeds - it was that important to them.

Whatever anti-Mormon site you're quoting is, like the others, spreading information of a highly questionable nature. If it was this WRONG about the testimonies of the three witnesses, it is just as wrong about most other things.

[AlaninSA]

Sorry - not using an "anti-Mormon" website.

I'm using hard-copy books. I have a large collection. There are frequent wandering recruiters from the Mormons, Adventists and Witnesses going through my neigborhood. At a minimum, I hope to save a few of these people when they come to my door.

The Mormon visits have only stepped up now that the absolutely odd-looking temple in Stone Oak went up.