If he was born how could he exist before he existed? If he didn’t exist then he is not eternal. What you need to do NEED to do, is take a serious look at Joseph Smith. I can point you to outright lies made by Joseph Smith to the Church:
Joseph Smith is provably a liar. Toward the end of Smith’s life people began to learn of his polygamy, which he kept hidden. William Law was Joseph Smith’s second counselor in the church’s First Presidency. He filed suit against Joseph Smith for living ``in an open state of adultery’’ with 19-year-old Maria Lawrence.
In 1844, Joseph Smith already had at least 33 wives
http://www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/insacred.htm#chart
Joseph Smith falsely denied he was a polygamist:
What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one.
I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers. I labored with these apostates myself until I was out of all manner of patience; and then I sent my brother Hyrum, whom they virtually kicked out of doors.
Here is a link to the actual sermon where he falsely denied polygamy in response to the accusations:
http://www.boap.org/LDS/History/History_of_the_Church/Vol_VI
Do a find for: “Address of the Prophet—His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo.”
Similarly I can show you that the Book of Mormon was written by a man, not God, and is false prophecy because incorrect.
You don’t need the Holy Spirit to escape a cult. God (the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, who existed before “In the beginning” — the real eternal God), God gave you a mind. You can blinker yourself to all evidence or you can find the truth and believe in Christ. “In the beginning was the word . . .” The beginning being “the beginning,” not an intermediate point in an a eternal universe that creates God.
Basically, your theology is “There is not a beginning, but there was a universe and it created God, but was not God . . .”
That theology was created by a proven liar.
I’m back for a few minutes - I was shocked to notice I spent 4 1/2 hours responding to you guys this afternoon - which is one reason why I’ve discontinued apologetics - there’s not enough days responding to recycled arguments.
Joseph Smith a liar? Sure he lied, but his fallibility does not invalidate his prophetic mantle anymore than Peter’s repeated lies invalidated his. The prophet Samuel even murdered a bound prisoner - he chopped him to pieces and yet, presumably, you still believe he was a genuine prophet.
I have my own mind - I can determine for myself the credibility of Joseph Smith’s cosmology and I also can evaluate the Book of Mormon’s literary merit, even without receiving an answered prayer. Heck, if Harold Bloom, a secular Jew and America’s greatest literary critic can; as an author and analyst, I can do likewise. My conclusion is in accord with his - simply unrivaled.