[Utah Binger]

I await refutation by the Bible scholars

[Cronos]

Given the state of the evidence, we can be fairly certain that when Joseph Smith said matter is eternal, and that God fashioned the earth from pre-existent matter72, he was restoring the earliest Jewish Christian belief.

Is incorrect -- that beleif is a Jain one, not a Christian one. The examples given are also incorrect -- this section quotes 2 Peter But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. to prove it.

This actually states that the earth came out of the water, not that it was MADE from water.

Secondly, this indicates earth as in terra firma, not the planet earth, so Peter is not saying that the planet was made out of a primordial sea.

[Cronos]

Another incorrect section “the Anthropomorphic God” — it conveniently forgets to point out that Christians only viewed Jesus Christ, the third person of the Trinity as anthropomorphic because He was made flesh. God the Father isn’t and was never worshipped in the human form. Ditto for God the Holy Spirit.

[Cronos]

Here's another half-quoted quote twisted to give a different meaning from the section Deification

Justin Martyr actually said But as my discourse is not intended to touch on this point, but to prove to you that the Holy Ghost reproaches men because they were made like God, free from suffering and death, provided that they kept His commandments, and were deemed deserving of the name of His sons, and yet they, becoming like Adam and Eve, work out death for themselves; let the interpretation of the Psalm be held just as you wish, yet thereby it is demonstrated that all men are deemed worthy of becoming “gods,” and of having power to become sons of the Highest; and shall be each by himself judged and condemned like Adam and Eve. Now I have proved at length that Christ is called God.

You can see very clearly that he does not mean a Mormon type Deification. This article quotes it as 'yet thereby it is demonstrated that all men are deemed worthy of becoming gods and of having power to become sons of the Highest' -- giving quite a different meaning...

[Cronos]

In the section unity of the Godhead, another incorrect statement because it was almost universally accepted among Christians before the Nicene Council of 325 A.D. that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were united in will, but separate in rank and glory --> "universally accepted"?? By whom? And what proof do they provide for this? None. On the contrary, the Nicene Creed was passed with 370 and only 7 against. And the only ones "against" were Arians who denied that Jesus was God at all, which is not the Mormon position as I understand it

[Cronos]

Section "Names of God" quotes Mormon doctrine as On the other hand, they have also been used as titles in reference to more than one Divine Person. Both the Father and the Son have been called "Jehovah" or Yahweh (D&C 109:34, 42, 68; D&C 110:3)

It quotes Deuteronomy 32:8-9 from something called the NEB which says When the Most High parcelled out the nations, when he dispersed all mankind, he laid down the boundaries of every people according to the number of the sons of God

which differs from the KJV 8When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. and the NIV 8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel And the Douay-Rheims When the Most High divided the nations: when he separated the sons of Adam, he appointed the bounds of people according to the number of the children of Israel

Catholic and Protestant bibles agree that this is the children of Israel, yet this NEB says "sons of God"

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The article goes on to say Based on this and other passages, some Biblical scholars now conclude that the Israelites originally believed El to be the high God, and Yahweh to be the chief among the "sons of El"-the second God and chief archangel who had special responsibility for Israel
1. This is based on a faulty translation as I showed above
2. It points out SOME Biblical scholars conclude and the reference is to 4, one of which is a pretty self-publicised one (Margaret Barker) -- this does not dismiss their findings of course, but these form a tiny minority opinion
3. It goes on to say that the angel was addressed as Jaoil -- again based on the faulty translation (point 1) and not a convincing argument that Israelites were not monotheists

[Cronos]

going on — one of the links to Yahweh and El reachs a different conclusion than Mormons — viz. that El was the High-god who parcelled peoples out to various sub-gods and Israel was Yahweh’s share. This is not Mormon theology, so quoting it is strange