Posted on 02/27/2011 10:12:07 PM PST by delacoert
Someone has said, "The unexamined life isn't worth living and the unexamined faith isn't worth believing." There is a lot of truth in that short adage. In fact, the Holy Scriptures (II Tim. 3:15) themselves call upon us to prove (examine, test, try) ourselves (II Cor. 13:5; Gal. 6:4), all things (I Thess. 5:21) and others (I John 4:1). With so many far-fetched religious notions floating around, the Christian must be willing and able to put to the test the religious beliefs of others.
We believe the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (a.k.a. the Mormons) is the originator and promoter of many outlandish heresies. As such, we intend to put them to the test. In doing so, we are complying with their own second prophet, Brigham Young, who said: "Take up the bible, compare the religion of the Latter-Day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test."1
The Latter-Day Saints propagate several false doctrines relative to God. Among these is the belief that God has a body of flesh and bone, that He (God) was once a man, and that men (male Mormons) may one day become gods. First, Doctrine and Covenants, one of the four sacred volumes of Mormonism declares, "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones..."2 Yet, in stark contrast to that, Jesus once said, "God is a spirit..." (John 4:24). Furthermore, following His resurrection, Jesus made this declaration to His disciples: "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 14:39). Put in syllogistic fashion, the Bible argument looks like this:
Major premise: God is a Spirit.
Minor premise: A spirit hath not flesh and bones.
Conclusion: God hath not flesh and bones.
Brethren, there are no two ways about it, the doctrine that says God has a flesh and bone body is heresy.
Second, as astounding as it may appear, Mormonism claims that God was once a man. In a sermon delivered in 1844 Joseph Smith said:
"I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away the veil. God was once a man like us and dwelt on earth, the same as Jesus Christ did."3
On the other hand, the bible teaches that "God is not a man that He should lie" (Num. 23:19). Moses declared in Psalm 90:2 that God is from everlasting to everlasting. God Himself said, "I am the Lord, I change not" (Mal. 3:6). Simply put, God has always existed as God.
Third, Mormon heresy contends that men may become gods. "According to Mormon doctrine, man is working through a four-step process: 1) he is originally an intelligence; 2) then he is fashioned as preexistent spirit being; 3) next he is able to come to earth and inhabit a body when human sexual intercourse provides a residence, and finally, 4) man continues the process on earth of working toward exaltation or godhead."4 This is known as the doctrine of "eternal progression." In the previously mentioned holy book of Mormonism,Doctrine and Covenants, we read the following:
"Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them."5
An oft-quoted statement, from within Mormonism, attributed to Lorenzo Snow, the fifth president of LDS says: "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become."6
However, the Scriptures say nothing whatsoever about men becoming gods. The fact that human beings were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26f) and are expected to conform to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29) doesn't lend itself at all to the heresy of "eternal progression." The one true and living God of the Bible says, "I am the first and I am the last; and besides me there is no God" (Isa. 44:6).
Yet another heresy of the Latter-Day Saints church is their contention that the Bible is not wholly reliable and that it is certainly not the final revelation from God. In The Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith said:
"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."7
The above statements imply that the Bible is not the only or final revelation from God. And notice that no qualifier ("as far as it is translated correctly") is placed after the Book of Mormon as it is after the Bible. Of course, it is well known that Mormons accept four books as scripture, as being from God: the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price. Furthermore, the Book of Mormon also denies that the Bible is God's final revelation to man.
"Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words;
neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written."8
The truth is that Latter-Day Saints believe the bible is inferior to their other books of "scripture." And this cannot be successfully denied. On the one hand they claim, "The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible." And then on the other hand the Book of Mormon demeans the very Bible it is supposedly comparable with. In the Mormon book of 1 Nephi 13:28 we read:
"Wherefore, thou seest that after the book [Bible] hath gone through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which the book of the Lamb of God."
However, there is another side to the story. The Bible makes some remarkable claims of its own. The Bible says it is God-breathed [theopneustos, "inspired"] in II Timothy 3:16. It says it furnishes man unto every good work (II Tim. 3:17). It contains all things that pertain to life and godliness (II Pet. 1:3). And it says that the faith (body of doctrine) has been once for all time delivered to the saints (Jude 3). We believe the Bible is the unique and inspired word of God. And that it is the sole authority in life and religion for people today. The Bible warns about adding to or taking away from its teaching (Deut. 4:2; Prov. 3:6; Rev. 22:18f). The Book of Mormon,Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price add to and/or take away from the Bible, the very word of God. By simply comparing some basic doctrines of Mormonism from the writings of Joseph Smith with some basic doctrines of Christianity found in the Bible, it is clearly evident that Joseph Smith was a fraud and his writings fraudulent.
A final heresy to be briefly reviewed is the Mormon stance on baptism. At the outset it is only fair to say that the Mormons are correct in their assessment that baptism is immersion, not sprinkling or pouring. This of course does not mean that we believe immersion into the Mormon church makes one a New Testament Christian. It does not. (See Acts 19:1-7 for an example of some who were baptized, they believed, for the remission of sins, but who were not Christians until taught correctly and were immersed.)
One of the most outrageous and yet intriguing doctrines of Mormonism is their belief in and practice of "baptism for the dead." Mormon writer Bruce McConkie offers this assessment of the deed:
"Indeed, so invarying is the eternal law which states, "Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5), that this holy baptismal ordinance must be performed vicariously for accountable persons who departed this life unbaptized but who would have complied with the law had the privilege been afforded them. Hence we have the doctrine of baptism for the dead."9
The practice of baptism for the dead is defended on the basis of a misinterpretation of two passages from the New Testament. The first being I Corinthians 15:29 which says, "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?" The second passage is I Peter 3:19 which declares, "[Christ] went and preached unto the spirits in prison." It is interesting to me that this is one of the few practices that Mormons attempt to defend using the Bible. And even then must twists the scriptures to get their desired interpretation. We admit that on an emotional level the baptism for the dead doctrine really sounds appealing. But it must be noted and hopefully realized that the Mormon practice of baptism for the dead is just not grounded in Scripture.
In I Corinthians 15 Paul is not discussing baptism at all, but rather the bodily resurrection. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit Paul appeals to some [the "they" of verse 29] who perhaps were practicing vicarious baptism. The point being, why would one practice such while at the same time denying the bodily resurrection of the dead? It should be remembered that Paul no where endorses the practice. He is simply illustrating the inconsistency between what some were saying and what they were practicing. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the zealous promoter of many outlandish heresies. These are but a few. And to be forewarned of some of their errors is to be forearmed (Eph. 6:10-12). In the final analysis, the issue is one of authority. Our firm belief is that the Bible and it alone is God's authoritative message for man today.
Who says we haven’t?
Now about those egg rolls...
I am a seeker of truth; however, the moromon church and its links don’t provide truth
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