Joseph Smith: Creator of the Fourth Abrahamic Faith; Mormonism

Joseph Smith Jr. was born December 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vermont. It is interesting that Brigham Young and John Humphrey Noyes, founder of the Oneida Community in upstate New York, also were born in Vermont. Joseph Smith Sr. lost considerable money in speculative business ventures putting the family in near poverty and resulting in seven moves in the first fourteen years of Joseph Smith’s life. Around the year 1815 his family settled in Palmyra New York, just north of the finger lakes, and not far from the Oneida Free Community. He was limited in education and training, had little interest in farming or other types of work, and his interests moved into the spiritual and mystical realms. He spent a fair amount of time searching for buried treasure claiming miraculous powers but not succeeding.

In his autobiography “The Pearl of Great Price”, Joseph Smith relates that he became disturbed by the religious squabbles among Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians in the community and indeed in his own family. He elected to follow advice he had found in James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” In the spring of 1820 Smith went to the woods to pray and to seek God. In his words he was sized by a “great power that left him speechless and in darkness.” He called on God for deliverance and then saw a great light over his head and heard a voice saying “This is my beloved son, hear him.” His next visit occurred three years later on September 21, 1823 when he was visited by an Angel named Maroni who directed him to a nearby hill where he would find a hidden book written on gold plates along with information on how to translate the inscribed words. The translated book became the Book of Mormon.

In 1829 Smith and his friend baptized each other and were visited, in his account, by John the Baptist who conferred on them both the Priesthood of Aaron. Later that year, although the date is uncertain, they were visited by the Apostles Peter, James and John who conferred on them both the both the Priesthood of Melchizedek, the King of Salem (Jerusalem) who lived during the time of the patriarch Abraham. As described in the Doctrines and Covenants of the Mormon Church Smith continued to receive revelations from God until his death.

In 1830 Joseph Smith established his Church in upstate New York and called it initially the Church of Christ. Later he moved his Church to Kirtland, Ohio, then Caldwell County, Missouri and in 1839 to Nauvoo Illinois. As a result of events that happened in Nauvoo, to be discussed below, he was arrested, moved to a jail in the county seat, Carthage where he and his brother Hyrum were assassinated by an angry mob.

In 1830 Smith was directed by an encounter with the angel Moroni to a location near Palimyra, New York on a hill subsequently named Cumorah where he found golden plates These plates were miraculously translated by Smith which revealed that it was the Book of Mormon that had been inscribed on these plates. Only a small handful of Smith’s followers were allowed to see the plates. Smith published his translation in 1830 and the angel Moroni subsequently took the plates back.

The Book of Mormon describes the migration by boat of several Jewish tribes from what we now call Israel to what we now call the New World of North and South America 600 years before Christ. Two of these tribes were named the Nephites and the Lamanites. The Lamanites are described as marked by God with a darker skin color to identify their state of wickedness. After Christ’s resurrection he visited the New World and the Nephites and the Lamanites subsequently had several centuries of peaceful co-existence and cooperation. This ended with a massive battle on the hill Cumorah in which the Nephites were destroyed by the Lamanites. Mormons believe that American Indians are descendants of the Lamanites. In the Book of Ether, one of the books in the Book of Mormon, a people described as the Jaredites are described. Thes people were present at the Tower of Babel when human language was confounded but they fortunately escaped such confounding of their language. Approximately 2500 years before Christ the Jaredites by barge migrated to the New World. They grew to a civilization of two million people before they destroyed themselves by their own behavior just prior to the arrival of the Nephites and Lamanites.

This all is, of course, a fabulous fable for which there is not even minimally convincing archeological, anthropological or historical evidence. However to say it is a creative fable written by an individual with an exceptionally imaginative mind would be an understatement. History of Mormonism

The organizational meeting of the Church of Christ, the forerunner of what became the Mormon Church was held April 6, 1830. Smith and Cowdery met with a small number of their followers. A lay ministry was ordained with a priesthood and offices of deacon, teacher, and elder. Smith and Cowdery were ordained as Apostles of Jesus Christ and as first and second elders respectively. In 1831 the Church moved to Kirtland. Ohio and its name was changed to the Church of Latter Day Saints. Sidney Rigdon, a prominent restorationist minister and follower of Alexander Campbell converted to Mormonism, joined Smith’s nascent Church and brought a large number of “Cambellites” along with him. The Church of Latter Day Saints doubled in size. A Mormon temple was built in Kirtland. At that time a second Mormon gathering place was established in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. Smith declared that the “City of Zion” would be built at that site. Construction was started but the temple was never built.

By 1837 the Church in Kirtland was unraveling with apostasy among the leadership and members and major financial irregularities in a bank Smith established. Smith, Rigdon and some of their followers fled from Kirtland to Missouri in the middle of the night. Dissenters in Kirtland reestablished the original Church of Christ and took possession of the temple. In 1836 the Mormon legislature had established the town of Far West, in Caldwell County as a place for Mormons to settle and so they did immediately. In 1838 Smith and Rigdon moved to Far West and had to struggle for Church leadership with Mormons already there and in Independence. Church leaders Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and William Wines Phelps were excommunicated by Smith and eventually fled Far West under threats for their lives. Cowdery and Whitmer were two of the three who claimed they had seen the golden plates. The Mormon Church now again under the leadership of Joseph Smith was reestablished and renamed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, its present name.

In Far West Smith organized a paramilitary organization called the Danites, named in honor of the Jewish tribe of Dan of which Sampson was a member. Its role was to enforce religious conformity and protect the Mormons against the non Mormons. Secret instruction given the Captains of the Danites are described by Smith as follows:

“Know ye not, brethren, that it will soon be your privilege to take !your respective companies and go out on a scout on the borders of the settlements, and take to yourselves spoils of the goods of the ungodly Gentiles? for it is written, the riches of the Gentiles shall be 'consecrated to my people, the house of Israel; and thus you will waste away the Gentiles by robbing and plundering them of their property; and in this way we will build up the kingdom of God, and roll forth the little stone that Daniel saw cut out of the mountain without hands, and roll forth until it filled the whole earth. For this is the very way that God destines to build up His kingdom in the last days. If any of us should be recognized, who can harm us? for we will stand by each other and defend one another in all things. . . . I would swear a lie to clear any of you; and if this would not do, I would put them or him under the sand as Moses did the Egyptian; and in this way we will consecrate much unto the Lord.” This militancy, combined with claims of almost universal authority by Smith and Rigdon and the behavior of the Mormon settlers in Missouri led to much resentment on the part of the non-Mormons, now called “Gentiles”. In fact the Church militancy led Thomas B. Marsh, President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles to break with Smith and to establish his own Church the Church of Jesus Christ, the Lambs Wife. President Governor Boggs of Missouri issued an order that the Mormons should be exterminated and driven from Missouri. Among other things this led to a brutal and bloody attack by 200 Missouri militiamen on a Mormon settlement at Haun’s Hill. Many Mormons were killed. The fighting in Caldwell county became so intense that it is referred to as the Mormon Wars. It took 2500 Missouri militiamen to put down the rebellion. Governor Boggs ordered that Smith should be executed for treason. This outrageous order fortunately was never obeyed but the charge of treason remained. Smith and other Church leaders were arrested and imprisoned in a jail in Liberty, Missouri. They were allowed to escape and moved to an area in Illinois on the Mississippi river across from Iowa. Smith named his new town Nauvoo.

The Mormons regrouped in 1840 and by 1844 Nauvoo was the second most populous city in the State of Illinois. Joseph Smith’s vision of a Kingdom of God under his leadership came to full flowering in Nauvoo. Nauvoo had received a charter from the State Legislature allowing them to raise a well organized militia. Joseph became the Mayor, Chief Justice of the Nauvoo Municipal court and Lieutenant General and Commander of the Nauvoo militia. This militia contained close to 3000 troops compared with 8500 troops in the United States Army at that time.

In 1842 Smith established a new Anointed Council for the Church, a select group of individuals who received their endowments directly from Smith. In 1844, three months before his death Smith established the ultra-secret Council of Fifty which promptly named him King, Priest and ruler over Israel on earth. Smith had now been practicing plural marriage, i.e. polygamy, for some time but he now authorized plural marriage for all Mormons. This is remarkable because plural marriage is explicitly condemned and declared to be an abomination in the Book of Mormon (Book of Jacob 2: 24, 27). He also instituted baptism for the dead.

Smith declared in a public sermon on May 12, 1844 “I calculate to be one of the instruments of setting up the Kingdom of Daniel by the word of the Lord, and I intend to lay a foundation to revolutionize the world”. These events and others led to the development of a strong dissenting movement led by William Law, one of the previous strongest supporters of Smith. On Sunday May 26, 1844 Smith gave a public response to the dissenters:

“God is in the still small voice. In all these affidavits, indictments, it is all of the devil——all corruption. Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on the top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole Church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet. You know my daily walk and conversation. I am in the bosom of a virtuous and good people. How I do love to hear the wolves howl! In this statement he also denied plural marriages when the fact is he had anywhere from 30 -50 wives at that time.

The dissenters established an opposition newspaper the Nauvoo Expositor. The paper criticized the developing theocracy and autocracy in Nauvoo, and also criticized the newly established doctrine of plural marriage to which they took great exception. Smith ordered the Expositor’s printing presses destroyed and for this he was arrested by order of Governor Ford of Illinois. Smith was subsequently imprisoned in the jail at Carthage, the county seat. Unfortunately but not by design Joseph Smith was not provided with adequate protection by the governor’s forces and on June 27, 1844 he was murdered in his cell along with his brother Hyrum.

After the death of Smith, on April 5, 1845 Brigham Young became President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. On April 6, 1844 under Young’s leadership the Twelve Apostles issued the following declaration. For its audacity and scope it should be read in full: PROCLAMATION

OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST, OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. To all the King's of the World; To the President of the United States of America; To the Governors of the several States; And to the Rulers and People of all Nations: GREETING: KNOW YE:—— THAT the kingdom of God has come: as has been predicted by ancient prophets, and prayed for in all ages; even that kingdom which shall fill the whole earth, and shall stand for ever. The great Eloheem Jehovah has been pleased once more to speak from the heavens: and also to commune with man upon the earth, by means of open visions, and by the ministration of HOLY MESSENGERS. By this means the great and eternal High Priesthood, after the Order of his Son, even the Apostleship, has been restored; or, returned to the earth. This High Priesthood, or Apostleship, holds the keys of the kingdom of God, and power to bind on earth that which shall be bound in heaven; and to loose on earth that which shall be loosed in heaven. And, in fine, to do, and to administer in all things pertaining to the ordinances, organization, government and direction of the kingdom of God.

The proclamation continues for a dozen pages of unbelievable claims and assertions.

What is discussed here briefly is the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Church teaches that after the death of Jesus there was a Great Apostasy. In its own words: Following the death of Jesus Christ, wicked people persecuted and killed many Church members, and other Church members drifted from the principles taught by Jesus Christ and His Apostles. The Apostles were killed and the priesthood authority including the keys to direct and receive revelation for the Church was taken from the earth Because the Church was no longer led by priesthood authority and revelation, error crept into Church teachings. Good people and much truth remained, but the gospel as established by Jesus Christ was lost. This necessitated a Restoration of the Church which took place starting in 1820 with the first vision of Joseph Smith Jr, followed by Smith’’s discovery of the golden plates and the inscribed Book of Mormon, and many subsequent revelations claimed by Joseph Smith. The Priesthood authority (first Aaronic then Melchisedek) was conferred on Joseph Smith by Christ’’s Apostles Peter James and John. As a result Smith now claimed to possess the Fullness of the Gospel. Joseph Smith clearly was a Bible scholar, otherwise he would never have known about Melchizedek, a rather obscure figure in the Bible. The Priesthood of Mechizedek is mentioned only in three books of the Bible; Genesis, Psalms and Hebrews. In Genesis 14 Abram, after rescuing Lot in battle, is blessed by Melchizedek, king of Salem ( Jerusalem), who is described as a "priest of God Most High." In return Abram gives King Melchizedek a tenth of his spoils of battle. In Psalm 110 the psalmist states that his personal lord has been made by the Lord on High a "priest forever in the order of Melchizedek." The unknown author of Hebrews in chapters 6-7 identifies Jesus as a "priest forever in the order of Melchizedek." Further this author claims that the Melchizedek Priesthood is superior to the Aaronic or Levitical Priesthood by virtue of Abram giving Melchizedek a tenth of his spoils of battle, thus implying the superiority of Christianity over Judaism. Obviously Hebrews makes quite different theological points than does Joseph Smith.

On April 6, 1844 in the King Follett Discourse Joseph Smith described his view of the nature of God (Journal of Discourses vol 6):

God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret. If the vail was rent to-day, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible,-I say, if you were to see him to-day, you would see him like a man in form-like yourselves, in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image, and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked, and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another. In order to understand the subject of the dead, for the consolation of those who mourn for the loss of their friends, it is necessary that we should understand the character and being of God, and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity, I will refute that idea, and will take away and do away the vail, so that you may see. These are incomprehensible ideas to some; but they are simple. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and 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; and I will show it from the Bible. I wish I was in a suitable place to tell it, and that I had the trump of an archangel, so that I could tell the story in such a manner that persecution would cease for ever. What did Jesus say? (Mark it, Elder Rigdon.) The Scriptures inform us that Jesus said, "As the Father hath power in himself, even so hath the Son power"-to do what? Why, what the Father did. The answer is obvious-in a manner, to lay down his body and take up again. Jesus, what are you going to do? To lay down my life, as my Father did, and take it up again. Do you believe it? If you do not believe it, you do not believe the Bible. The Scriptures say it, and I defy all the learning and wisdom and all the combined powers of earth and hell together to refute it.

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,-namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one,-from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming his name, is not trifling with you or me. In 1857, at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City Brigham Young said this: I want to tell you, each and every one of you, that you are well acquainted with God our heavenly Father, or the great Eloheim. You are all well acquainted with Him, for there is not a soul of you but what has lived in His house and dwelt with Him year after year; and yet you are seeking to become acquainted with Him, when the fact is, you have merely forgotten what you did know. I told you a little last Sabbath about forgetting things. There is not a person here to-day but what is a son or a daughter of that Being. In the spirit world their spirits were first begotten and brought forth, and they lived there with their parents for ages before they came here. This, perhaps, is hard for many to believe, but it is the greatest nonsense in the world not to believe it. If you do not believe it, cease to call Him Father; and when you pray, pray to some other character. Young also said this: Now to the facts in the case; all the difference between Jesus Christ and any other man that ever lived on the earth, from the days of Adam until now, is simply this, the Father, after He had once been in the flesh, and lived as we live, obtained His exaltation, attained to thrones, gained the ascendancy over principalities and powers, and had the knowledge and power to create-to bring forth and organize the elements upon natural principles. This He did after His ascension, or His glory, or His eternity, and was actually classed with the Gods, with the beings who create, with those who have kept the celestial law while in the flesh, and again obtained their bodies. Then He was prepared to commence the work of creation, as the Scriptures teach. It is all here in the Bible; I am not telling you a word but what is contained in that book. Things were first created spiritually; the Father actually begat the spirits, and they were brought forth and lived with Him. Then He commenced the work of creating earthly tabernacles, precisely as He had been created in this flesh himself, by partaking of the course material that was organized and composed this earth, until His system was charged with it, consequently the tabernacles of His children were organized from the coarse materials of this earth. This is the origin of the Mormon concept of great numbers of spirit babies, sired by God, that oblige Mormon women to provide earthly bodies for.

In Mormon theology God the Father and God the Son, i.e. Jesus Christ, are two distinct persons each with glorified perfect bodies of flesh and blood. The body of God looks human in appearance but is perfect beyond description. Christ is the Jehovah of the Old Testament and created the world. God is the father of Jesus’’ spirit body but also is the literal father of Jesus’’ physical body. Mormons believe in the physical resurrection of Christ and that after his resurrection his spirit and physical bodies reunited and he is the living head of the Church. Mormons believe that in the Great Apostasy the Priesthood of Christ was lost. In fact, at the time of Christ’’s resurrection there was no Priesthood connected to or associated with Christ or any of his Apostles or followers.

Although Mormon theology contains some elements of Christianity it is not Christian theology nor does it reflect Christian understandings of the nature of God and Christ. In addition nor does it reflect Christian history. Indeed it is diametrically opposed to what is known historically about Christianity. Joseph Smith said to his followers ““Ye are the children of Israel and of the seed of Abraham.”” Mormonism can best be understood as a fourth Abrahamic faith.

Joseph Smith and Muhammed each claimed to be the last, not merely the latest, but the last Prophet of God. Each created a Holy Book to support his claim and a new religion to implement his claim in the world. In creating the Koran Muhammed plagiarized extensively from the Old Testament of the Bible. In fact of the twenty five Prophets of Islam twenty two are in the Bible including Adam, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Joseph, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus. In creating the Book of Mormon Joseph Smith also borrowed extensively from the Bible. But in addition he wrote an incredible fable of the migration of Jewish tribes to the New World 600 years before Christ. Muhammed and Joseph Smith each believed that his religion would one day control the entire world. from them every fingertip.’’

In the words of David Bigler, author of the book The Forgotten Kingdom; The Mormon Theocracy in the American West 1847-1896 (Utah State University Press, 1998) the grandiose goals of the Mormons were as follows: "Accepting any suffering or hardship, its people set out to accomplish an incredibly ambitious and confrontational purpose. This was to sweep away all other nations of the world and make ready for the coming of the Lord, and to do this within their own lifetimes. ““For the destiny of the Mormon kingdom was to roll forth to world dominion, to prevail over the kingdoms of the earth, as a condition of Christ’’s return to inaugurate his millennial reign.”” "

Both Muhammed and Joseph Smith claimed to have been visited by Angels. In the case of Muhammed it was the Angel Gabriel who, not coincidentally was the Angel in the Gospel of Luke who told Mary of the coming birth of Jesus. In the case of Smith it was the Angel Moroni who in the Book of Mormon had been a member of one of the Jewish tribes that had come to the New World so many years before Christ.

Islam and Mormonism both experienced succession crises on the death of the founder. In Islam the succession went to Abu Bakr a close follower of Muhammed and not to a family member Ali, husband of Fatima Muhammed’’s daughter. This led to the split in Islam to the Sunni and Shia traditions. In the case of Joseph Smith the succession went to a close follower of Smith, Brigham Young, and not to Smith’s son Joseph Smith III. The Church split into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The latter movement in 2001 became the Community of Christ a Christian denomination.

Joseph Smith was well aware of the life of Muhammed and the ““Sword of Islam.”” In a sworn affidavit a close follower of Smith,Thomas B. Marsh, made the following comments:

“The Prophet inculcates the notion, and it is believed by every true Mormon, that Smith's prophecies are superior to the laws of the land. I have heard the Prophet say that he would yet tread down his enemies, and walk over their dead bodies; and if he was not let alone, he would be a second Mohammed to this generation, and that he would make it one gore of blood from the Rocky mountains to the Atlantic ocean; that like Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was, 'the Alcoran or the Sword.' So should it be eventually with us, 'Joseph Smith or the Sword.'

In 1847 Brigham Young moved with his followers to what is now known as Utah, then part of Mexico, established his Kingdom of God on earth and named it Deseret. He claimed land from the Rocky Mountains in present day Colorado to the Sierra Nevada in California. The violence associated with the Mormon Church disappeared after this fifty year theocracy in Utah, from 1847 -1896. The better part of this period was characterized by violence and rebellion against federal officials and indeed against the authority of the United States government. In 1857 President Buchanan sent federal troops to Utah to put done the rebellion against the United States government. In May,1862 the War Department of the United States government ordered a regiment of troops from California under the command or Colonel Connor to Utah territory to protect the overland mail route. General Halleck, commanding officer of the U.S. army in Washington D.C issued the following order to Connor: "all arms and military munitions intended for use against the authority of the United States are liable for seizure." Coming just three years after the remnants of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre had been viewed by U.S. troops, it is clear that this order was directed at the Mormon rebellion and not protecting the overland mail route. Colonel Connor, soon to become General Connor, established his camp on the heights above Salt Lake City with his guns trained on the city below. Brigham Young ordered his Navoo Legion to bring canon in to protect the city and his house. Fortunately Connor's guns and Young's cannon trained on each other were never fired. In 1896 the Mormon Church gave up polygamy and made other concessions in its political and theological structures in order to became a State in the United States of America.

When someone sees something as personal, isn’t it up to that person to process what you say, and then they determine how they react to it?

Like your constant use of “anti’s”. You don’t see that as a slam, but it most definitely comes across as one. Many “anti’s” would retort in response that they aren’t “anti’s”; they are Christians.

I would have no problem with the "Christians" promoting Christianity, I would applaud there efforts, and Being a Christian, would join in.

Anti's on the other hand spend lots of time trying to refute our stated beliefs, culling our doctrine for "Gotchas" and saying things designed to destroy faith.

The negative Connotation for Anti is well earned by them, and since it is a Group, like Mormons they are as powerless to keep people from denigrating them by Group.

Often on these threads the “saints” complain about being called Mormon and it is their processing of the emotional connotation that makes them claim it is a derogatory term.

I have never complained about Being called a Mormon, it is an honor to be called after John, or Michael, or Mormon, or any great and righteous man. I have complained when the Nagging Nabobs of Negativity attack my religion, and thus me but the RM says it's OK so what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Please note that I have been called many names on this very thread and have not pinged the Mods, I am bigger than that. (OK, so I need to lose weight, don't tell my wife I admitted that.)

When in fact, most Americans only know the term Mormon as in a member of the Mormon church... and they don’t know that you’d prefer to be called a “Latter-Day Saint”.

I don't have a problem with the nick name, however, I would want to to translate it my way in to any foreign languages, thank you.

It appears that you want to have it both ways. You want to determine what is derogatory for you and not let another determine that for themselves.

Actually, I would rather that no one here be allowed to denigrate my church, and would be willing to give up the ability to denegate anti's. The Mods wisely have decided that would be unenforceable, and have taken the position that individual denigration of Freepers is forbidden.

I find this a satisfactory solution since as in all compromise everyone is a little unhappy.

AS for Anti's not liking the truthful fact that they are portrayed as only being opposed, well change the perception by changing behavior. (good luck with that...)

I Said: Those who seek salvation must do so according to God's dictates, and not according to their own understanding.

You Said: Where is it written that God gave Smith -- and effectively discounted Christ's finished work on the cross,

Bzzt Wrong!

You Said: little passwords to pass on to people to get them past the angels etc and get into heaven?

(Uh oh, somebody doesn't know their Bible very well, and surprise, it's not the Mormon!)

Rev. 3:12-13

12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Rev 2:17

17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Our white plastic temple recommends are the stone, and in the temple you receive your new name. It's Biblical, It's in there twice while Atonement is only in there once.

You Said: Where is it written in the scriptures that Christ said "after me comes another, one greater than I" who will give you the secret passwords, because I don't have them"

Rev 3:21&22

21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Joseph is not greater than Jesus, but he was greater than any Anti I have ever met.

The apostles talked about Future prophets, where do you say they are?

Most anti's never study these scriptures for they don't understand them, we on the other hand understand the Bible better than the anti's, because as the Bible says "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches" and the Anti's seem to have a tin ear for they have not the Spirit to lead them and interpret the scriptures for them, thus they are left to stumble and Grope after knowledge that they rejected when truth was offered to them.

“culling our doctrine for “Gotchas” and saying things designed to destroy faith.”

I consider it more an attempt to cut out the cancerous part of an otherwise healthy body. Had Joseph Smith never existed, would you be an atheist? I don’t think so, I think you would have been a Christian. So we are by no means trying to destroy faith, only cut out a false faith that we view as cancerous.

Here’s your problem DU, to be a Mormon you must effectively condemn the rest of us to hell. Otherwise, if the Old and New Testament were sufficient, what need would there be for Joseph Smith [except to introduce inconsequential polygamy and baptism of the dead]? In other words, you believe the rest of us are failed Mormons (not failed Christians).

If the Joseph Smith myth collapses, you are left with traditional Christianity, so the only reason you would defend the JS fabrications is if you thought traditional Christianity was insufficient to get a human to heaven. Therefore you aren’t really a Christian, you are a Joseph Smithian.

I Said: “I am not confused, anyone who mocks a testimony of God is mocking God.”

You Said: “I have had a revelation direct from God himself, that your testimony was not a testimony of God. If the person making a testimony is so deluded they have taken it upon themselves to claim to talk directly with God, then you certainly aren’t mocking God to point out they are a False Prophet.

A) I could have this post pulled for this on line, I'm not petty enough to.
B) I never claimed to talk to God, I claimed God talked to me, (Though I guess praying is talking to God, isn't it...)

I Said: “I have seen some of your bizarre hallucination posts, (ahem) and i will not bother posting about them, but so you won’t keep asking to be called a bigot:

You are a Bigot * 1000... Happy?”

You Said: Yes I am happy, because once again you prove how vacuous that term is.

I agree Bigot is a nonsense term to use in a religion forum, It looked like you wanted someone to call you a bigot, I try to oblige whenever I can...

You Said: The seed of my “bizarre hallucination posts” is always something bizarre itself. I am at root a satirist,

Please do not tempt your fellow freepers to go into your ancestry.

You Said: I take something irrational someone has said and expand it till it bursts of its own absurdity. I mock that which mocks itself, and you are quite the easy target.

Funny, I thought the same of you.

I Said: I received answers about Both, the answer to the Book of Mormon prayer was a vocal answer from God while I was alone in my room”

You Said: What are the voices telling you about the Superbowl is what I want to know?

I don't really follow sports anymore, I gave them up for Free republic (can't commit 100% to more than one thing...)

You Said: And why are the voices of God that I hear not equal to the voices you hear?

Someone who says they are writing satire and then complains that they are not getting taken seriously is not in full touch with reality.

You Said: I guess that’s cause you are soooo special. Perhaps those special God talks you have can be used to tell the rest of us what is right and wrong, since we obviously aren’t hearing the same commands you do.

Actually, it is probably because of my autism and not being very in touch with emotion, that said, I don't want to tell anyone right and wrong, I just want people to ask God, why is that a problem for the Antis?

I Said: “culling our doctrine for “Gotchas” and saying things designed to destroy faith.”

You Said: I consider it more an attempt to cut out the cancerous part of an otherwise healthy body. Had Joseph Smith never existed, would you be an atheist? I don’t think so, I think you would have been a Christian. So we are by no means trying to destroy faith, only cut out a false faith that we view as cancerous.

Actually, if Mormonism never existed, I would probably be Buddhist, the philosophy is great, the logic is irrefutable, and Christianity has way to many contradictions without the Book of Mormon to add it's testimony and clear up some things.

But hey, that's just my opinion of what i would do, I am sure many here are convinced they know far better than I what I would do for they are "Christians"

You Said: Here’s your problem DU,

Right here Most anti's would be screaming bloody murder and asking for my post to be pulled, LOL Antis are such pansies about that., well, go on

You Said: to be a Mormon you must effectively condemn the rest of us to hell.

Bzzt Wrong Again!

Mormon "Hell" or outer darkness is reserved for those who know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the savior, and then rebel against him any way. Please do not take this the "Wrong way" you just don't qualify, and frankly, neither do I.

You Said: Otherwise, if the Old and New Testament were sufficient, what need would there be for Joseph Smith [except to introduce inconsequential polygamy and baptism of the dead]? In other words, you believe the rest of us are failed Mormons (not failed Christians).

Actually, you have to try to fail, and Antis who are not Ex Mormons are not "Failed Mormons", Ex Mormons are "Failed Momrons" simply because they no longer are Mormon, even if they don't go anti.

You Said: If the Joseph Smith myth collapses, you are left with traditional Christianity, so the only reason you would defend the JS fabrications is if you thought traditional Christianity was insufficient to get a human to heaven. Therefore you aren’t really a Christian, you are a Joseph Smithian.

That was an amazing exercise in building theory on theory to arrive at a conclusion of unmistakably questionable accuracy.

I am a christian for I believe in Jesus Christ. Period. I also believe Joseph Smith was a prophet who served Jesus Christ and did his bidding. Traditional Christianity is not magic, it's tradition, traditional Buddhism is not magic it's tradition.

It boils down to this, was there a falling away as was predicted in the Bible? 2 Thes. 2:3

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

My logic on this is simple:
If there was no falling away, then the Catholic church is still the True church of God and all protestants will be damned to hell right along side the Mormons.

IF there was a falling away, then reform is not enough, for once the authority to act in God's name is lost, regaining it takes God or angels he has sent giving it to men to restore it to the earth. The protestant churches do not claim such an event, thus they are not God's church.

Either there was, or there was not fall, and in either case the protestants are wrong. The catholics in my opinion, have way too many unexplained inconsistencies, like the Nicene creed suddenly appearing in 325 AD when the Apostles never said half of what they are assuming in the Council of Nicea.

Either which way, I tell you of a truth, if you do manage in destroying my testimony of The Book of Mormon you will also have destroyed the credibility of the testimony I bear of Jesus Christ.

Let me give you an example, IF you have a Born again and you manage to convince them that the Bible is a sinful book, they will cease to believe in Jesus Christ.
Similarly, if you convince a Mormon that the Book of Mormon isn't true, and that is how they received their testimony of Jesus, you have just created yet another Atheist. I don't think the antis have thought this approach through.

Either which way, I tell you of a truth, if you do manage in destroying my testimony of The Book of Mormon you will also have destroyed the credibility of the testimony I bear of Jesus Christ.

But if the faith you have in the person you identify as Jesus Christ is not the real Jesus Christ, then you have been set on the path to the truth.

Admittedly when I discovered the fraud that Mormonism was, I was devastated and for a season I became an Atheist. But God led me to a saving faith in the Real Jesus Christ (not the spirit brother of Lucifer, but the Creator [not organizer] of the Universe and the One True and Living God Almighty who became man (not the man who became a God).

"If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" Mat 6:23.

My testimony is that the light that was in me when I was a Mormon was darkness. I was blind, but now I see.

The fact is that you have faith in "A Jesus Christ" but I don't believe you have a faith in "THE Jesus Christ". The Mormon Jesus Christ is a wholly different being than the Jesus Christ of True Biblical Christianity.

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