Ten Lies I Told as a Mormon Missionary

The Bible predicts a dreadful fate for liars. For instance, while banished on the island of Patmos, the Apostle John saw that "all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). Similarly, the beloved disciple writes, liars are doomed to an eternity outside of God's presence (Revelation 22:15). Because Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44), lying is extremely serious sin.

As a full-time Mormon missionary from 1975 to 1977, I lied for the church countless times. Like my colleagues in the South Dakota-Rapid City Mission, which served the Dakotas and adjacent areas, I spoke truthfully about my background, but touted many Mormon teachings that contradict the Bible. After my mission ended, however, I examined these doctrines more closely. The harder I tried to reconcile the contradictions, the more evident they became. So, after extensive prayer and study, I resigned my church membership in 1984. Cheated and betrayed, I lacked spiritual life for the next 17 years. But God, knowing those who are His (John 10:14; 2 Timothy 2:19), drew me to Christ (John 6:44) and saved me in 2001. My spiritual emptiness was replaced by the abundant life only the Savior can give (John 10:10). And now, like millions of Christians worldwide, I have everlasting life through my faith in Him (John 3:36; 6:47).

I can't remember all of my missionary lies. Some were small, others grandiose, but all were false and misleading. Here are ten I'll never forget.

1. We're Not Trying to Convert You

Of all my lies, this was the most frequent. I learned it well while in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which was my first assignment. A standard door-to-door proselyting pitch began with, "We represent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Interrupting, many people said they had their own religion. "Oh, we're not trying to convert you," I responded. "We're sharing a message for all faiths."

But Mormon missionaries have one overriding goal, and that's to bring converts into the church. Clearly, this was the purpose of my mission. I didn't trade the Southern California sunshine for the Dakota snow merely to build interfaith relations. My calling was to teach the church-approved missionary lessons and then baptize the people I taught.

2. The Bible is Insufficient

According to their eighth Article of Faith, Mormons accept the Bible as the word of God only when it's translated correctly. How convenient for a missionary. When a non-Mormon's interpretation of scripture differed from mine, I frequently blamed faulty Bible translation. And since I believed the Bible was missing "many plain and precious things," as the Book of Mormon claims in 1 Nephi 13:28-29, I urged prospective converts not to trust it completely.

And yet, Mormon proof texts had few translation problems. Throughout my mission, I used only those Bible verses that steered prospects away from their church and toward Mormonism. But what kind of Christian believes that an all-knowing, all-powerful and all-loving God gave mankind an inadequate version of His word. Actually, the Bible is more than sufficient. With its 66 books, 1,189 chapters and nearly 740,000 words, it's the divine road map to eternal life through Jesus Christ.

3. We're the Only True Christians

For decades, the Mormon Church has tried to blend with mainstream Christianity. Accordingly, during my mission a quarter-century ago, I worked hard to convince prospects that Mormons believe in the biblical Jesus. But Paul warned of deceivers who would lure Christians away from "the simplicity that is in Christ." These false teachers preached "another Jesus" and "another gospel" (2 Corinthians 11: 3-4) and were accursed (see Galatians 1:8-9). How interesting that Paul also cautions against false apostles, such as those in the Mormon Church (2 Corinthians 11:13-14).

So which Jesus and gospel do Mormons preach? While a missionary, I taught that Christ was the firstborn spirit child of the Father in a premortal life. (The remainder of humanity was born as spirits later in this "pre-existence.") But I didn't tell prospects this was a literal birth, the result of literal fathering, as Mormon prophets and apostles have claimed. If asked, I taught that the devil was born as one of God's noble spirit sons during the pre-existence, but had rebelled and started a war in heaven.

Consistent with Mormon doctrine, then, Christ and Satan are spirit brothers. But the Bible teaches that Christ is God (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; John 1:1), that He has always been God (Psalm 90:2), and that He always will be God (Hebrews 13:8). Born into mortality some 2,000 years ago, Jesus is "God... manifest in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16). He is far grander and holier than "our Elder Brother," as Mormons dub Him. Jesus and Satan aren't spirit brothers, and true Christians don't believe such blasphemy.

4. We're the Only True Church

I usually told this lie during the first of seven 30-minute missionary lessons, which presented the Joseph Smith story. According to our script, Smith prayed in 1820 about which church to join. He claimed the Father and Son appeared and told him that all Christian churches of the day were wrong. Smith said he was forbidden to join any of them, that their creeds were abominable and their professors all corrupt. "They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me," the Lord allegedly added. "They teach for doctrines the commandments of men" (Joseph Smith — History, verse 19). In subsequent lessons, I told prospects that Mormonism is the true church God restored through Smith.

But the Bible says such a restoration was unnecessary. Admittedly, there was partial apostasy after Christ's resurrection, but never a complete falling away. In fact, shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church (Matthew 16:18). During my mission, however, I argued that the gates of hell did prevail against Christ's church.

Shortly after renouncing Mormonism, I learned a scriptural death blow to notions of universal apostasy. Addressing Ephesian believers 30 years after the Ascension, the Apostle Paul writes, "Unto [God] be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen" (Ephesians 3:21). God received glory in the Christian church from the time of Paul's writing to the present day, and He will receive such glory throughout all succeeding generations. Therefore, the church must exist from Paul's day throughout eternity. This annihilates Mormon claims of complete apostasy and makes restoration of Christ's church impossible.

5. We Have a Living Prophet

Whether in wintry Winnipeg or the balmy Black Hills of Rapid City, I criticized Christians because their church lacked a living prophet. Mormons claim the true church must have one. My favorite Bible proof text to back this claim was Amos 3:7, which reads, "Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."

When prospective converts remained skeptical of living prophets, I quoted Ephesians 4:11-14, which apparently requires living apostles and prophets until believers unify in the faith and understand Christ completely. However, writing in the past tense, Paul is actually referring to apostles and prophets of Jesus' day. Otherwise, verse 11 would read that the Lord "is giving" or "will give" apostles and prophets. Of course, God did reveal His will through Old Testament prophets, as Amos 3:7 affirms. But for the last 2,000 years, He has spoken to believers through Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2).

The truth about Mormonism's living prophets is further illuminated in Deuteronomy 18:22. "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord," the scripture reads, "if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." Isaiah 8:20 contains a similar warning: "To the law and the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

False prophets who led ancient Israel astray received the death penalty (Deuteronomy 13:1-5; 18:20), and all who profess to be living prophets should consider the consequences. Mormon prophets might appear grandfatherly and sincere, but they're not God's living oracles. Since the Mormon Church was founded in 1830, its prophets have uttered a striking number of false prophecies. (See chapter 14 of Jerald and Sandra Tanner's "The Changing World of Mormonism.")

6. The Book of Mormon is Scripture

Joseph Smith claimed that the Book of Mormon is the most correct book on earth, adding that man would become closer to God by following its precepts than by obeying any other book ("History of the Church," Vol. 4, p. 461). Replace "Book of Mormon" with "the Bible" and Smith would have told the truth.

When teaching missionary lessons, I boldly maintained that the Book of Mormon is scripture. I spent myriad hours convincing prospects that it's a sacred record of Christ's activities in the western hemisphere. Yet many Christians I contacted realized the book "borrows" heavily from the Bible and other sources. And in stark contrast to the Old and New Testaments, virtually no archaeological and anthropological evidence supports the Book of Mormon. Why not? Because it's fiction. When Christians want to read scripture, they turn to the Bible.

7. You're Saved By Works

More than any other Mormon lie, this undermines Christ's atonement, which is the most sacred doctrine of the Bible. Mormons usually equate salvation with resurrection. Likewise, they refer to eternal life as "exaltation." I did both while teaching prospective converts. I relished the church's third Article of Faith, which claims, "through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."

Trying to bridge the doctrinal divide between Mormons and Christians, I emphasized that salvation is by grace "after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23). What classic Mormon double-talk. Unmistakably, the Bible says eternal life is a gift from God (Romans 5:15; 6:23) to those who believe in Christ (John 6:47), call upon Him (Romans 10:13) and receive Him as Lord and Savior (John 1:12). Contrary to Mormon dogma, this gift cannot be awarded meritoriously.

Equally clear is that salvation results from God's grace through each believer's faith, not from obeying a checklist of laws and ordinances (Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5). All who confess Christ and believe in Him from the heart shall be saved (Romans 10:8-13).

Most Mormons know little about imputed righteousness — and neither did I during my mission. Essentially, as Christians know, the Lord credits believers with His perfect righteousness and charges their transgressions to His sinless spiritual "account." Paul explains this doctrine masterfully in Romans 4 and 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

When teaching the Mormon gospel, though, I emphatically denied imputed righteousness, which is the essence of the atonement. I stressed that eternal life is earned by perfect obedience to all gospel laws and ordinances. Yet the Bible says that "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). As the Psalmist writes: "They are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Psalm 14:3; compare Romans 3:10-18).

How many Mormons perfectly obey all gospel laws? None. As the Bible asserts, even the church's current prophet can't keep God's laws thoroughly enough to merit heaven (1 John 1:8). And if he can't, how can anyone else?

8. People Can Become Gods

Given its explosive nature, this tenet was rarely shared with prospective converts. Missionaries try to entice people into Mormonism gradually, and presenting the doctrine of plural gods is seldom the best way. Several contacts learned the concept from their pastors or read about it on their own, but it was new to most prospects.

"Our Father in heaven loves us so much," I often said, parroting our lesson script, "that He provided a plan [Mormonism] for us to become like him." I didn't mention that Mormon godhood includes spirit procreation throughout eternity. Neither did I hint that the Mormon God was formerly a mortal man, had lived on an earth like ours, and had earned salvation through good works. However, such polytheism strips God of glory and sovereignty. No wonder the Bible condemns it so strongly. When discussing plural gods on my mission, I sidestepped Isaiah 44:8 whenever possible. "Is there a God beside me?" the passage reads. "Yea, there is no God; I know not any." Other verses amply testify that only one God exists in the universe (Deuteronomy 4:35, 39; 6:4; Isaiah 43:10-11; 45:21-23).

When confronted with these scriptures as a missionary, I usually countered with, "Those verses mean we worship only one God, that there's only one God to us." And if that failed, I lied further: "The Bible isn't clear on this subject. Fortunately, the Lord told Joseph Smith that mortals can become gods." Smith might have had a revelation, but not from God.

9. You're Born Again By Becoming a Mormon

One of my favorite missionary scriptures was John 3:5. "Verily, verily I say unto you," the Savior explains, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." To Mormon missionaries everywhere, being born of water means baptism into the Mormon Church. Birth of the Spirit refers to the gift of the Holy Ghost, allegedly bestowed after baptism.

Unfortunately, during my mission, I didn't know what it means to be born again. I completely misinterpreted Paul's declaration that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17; compare Galatians 6:15). According to the Bible, believers in Christ are reborn spiritually as sons and daughters of God (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1-2). They experience a complete Christian conversion of mind and heart. Membership in a church organization might foster social activity and fellowship, but it's not spiritual rebirth.

10. Temple Marriage is Required for Eternal Life

I participated in well over 100 Mormon temple ceremonies from 1975 to 1982, including my own marriage in 1977. Based heavily on freemasonry, temple rites are the church's most carefully guarded secrets. And "celestial marriage," which supposedly weds men and women eternally, is probably the most important temple ordinance. While a missionary, I frequently told prospects they needed temple marriage to gain eternal life.

Yet the Lord says marriage between men and women is irrelevant to the hereafter. "The children of this age marry, and are given in marriage," He declares. "But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage… for they are equal unto the angels...." (Luke 20:34-36.)

The Bible does teach eternal marriage, but not the Mormon version. The union is between Christ, the Bridegroom, and His collective body of believers, who are the bride (Matthew 25:1-13; John 3:29; Romans 7:4; 2 Corinthians 11:2).

False Testimony

I close with a few words about "testimony," which is a missionary's emergency cord. When I couldn't rebut an antagonistic statement scripturally, I fell back on my testimony. For instance, while proselyting in Grand Forks, North Dakota, I was once asked where the Bible mentions the secret undergarments Mormons wear. Caught off guard, I admitted that the Bible says nothing about them. I could merely testify that God revealed the need for these garments through living prophets. But my testimony wasn't based on scripture or other hard evidence. Rather, it was founded on personal revelation, which is extremely subjective. Essentially, my testimony was nothing more than a good feeling about the church and its teachings. In Mormon parlance, it was a "burning in the bosom." But burning or not, it wasn't from God.

If you're a Christian, I urge you to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). That faith, the pathway to heaven, is found only in the biblical Jesus (John 14:6). But if you're a Mormon, it's time to prayerfully re-examine your beliefs. Do you know you have everlasting life? No. Can you obey all the commandments perfectly and earn a place in heaven? You can't.

I regret the many lies I told during my Mormon mission. When I received Christ, though, I confessed them (and my other sins) and received His forgiveness (1 John 1:9; Colossians 1:13-14). "He that heareth my word," Christ assures us, "and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24).

Thank you for your response.

As I read through the first half of it, I thought to myself, "Surely sitetest is an intelligent fellow...surely he knows the distinctions between connotative aspects of communication (associations, overtones, concepts linked to certain terms)...
...vs. denotative -- the explicit definition of a word.

IOW, your response flunks miserably in making this proper distinction: On the one hand...

...you gave a very excellent denotative definition of the words and explanation of "conversion" from a solid theological perspective when you said:

Straightforwardly, if I were to be the proximate cause of someone’s coming to the True Church of Jesus Christ, the Holy Catholic Church, and they were to say, “You converted me!”, I'd recoil in horror. I DID NO SUCH THING! If someone is converted, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. If I was somehow involved, that makes me happy, but I want no credit for such a thing. That doesn't mean that there aren't folks that I think are likely candidates for conversion to the true faith.

But then you lambasted the author for being guilty of "pride" simply because he spoke using the word "convert" in a manner that was obviously "connotative":

But perhaps in the case of this author, pride got the better of him, and he actually thought that he was doing the converting, in which case, he may well have been lying on point one.

Come now...you don't really mean to try to convince us that when somebody says to a potential proselyte, "I am not trying to convert you," what he really means is not...
...a connotative expression geared for the listener in terms he understands, but rather...
...he's providing an explicitly theological techically correct definition that really means: "Hey, I am not trying to convert you because only-God-can-convert-you-through-the-power-of-the-Holy-Spirit-based-upon-1-Corinthians-12-3-and-so-I-don't-have-that-ability." [deep breath]

Come on, sitetest...you're really starting to insult our intelligence. A missionary who tells you they are "not trying to convert you" is not giving a quick end-of-commercial denotative caveat spoken so fast you can't understand most of the words...just to "cover himself" and not mislead the person so that the person knows who really does the converting. No, it's a statement made to put the person at ease...a statement GEARED FOR the listener!!!

This author's statement is obviously connotative -- not denotative -- so please, if this is the rabbit trail you're trying to pursue, let's just focus whatever other convos we have on what follows...sheesh.

Thus, knowing how I think about conversion, I can credit that someone else might think in ways about conversion where they could simultaneously see someone as a candidate for conversion, hope for that person's conversion, yet honestly say that they aren't trying to convert the person.

Well, in some cases in the world at-large I agree with you where "I am not trying to convert you" is a truthful expression...Some patient people exist in the world...but for the Mormon missionary...no...sorry...you're exhausting credulity...but perhaps that's because you don't know how Mormon missionaries are trained.

It isn't any lack of candor on my part that I said what I said...In any case, your statement that I "just apparently lacked candidness to go beyond the 'possibly' hesitant expression," is false. You posted a falsehood. Are you now a liar?

I never said you lacked "candor". Not all writers or dictionaries make a distinction between "candor" and "candid," but I do. When I said you "apparently" [Note: you do know don't you that word is linked to the word "appearance"] lacked "candidness," I meant that as a perceived lack of unreserved straightforwardness. That's it. Nothing more. There are LOTS of reasons to NOT be unreservedly straightforward on these threads (not the least of which is time investment)...so commenting upon your hesitancy did not have a moral trailer hitched to it!

And then you accuse me of lying? (When it's not true, that's worse that pointing out somebody's hesitancy & lack of forthrightness). Come on, now. Go back to that initial thread post of yours. What was it? Two lines? And NONE of those words backed up what you meant by the word "possibly?" ???

Do you mean to tell us in that post that you were...
...wildly frank & forthright??
...boldly straightforward???
...unreserved in explaining why it wasn't a lie?

Sorry...I still say that apparently you initially seemed unreservedly straightforward...since I seem to have to dot my "i"s and "t"s w/you, all "apparently" means is by mere "appearance"...and we all know appearances aren't always 1:1 correlation with reality...so I never claimed to have a detailed "scan" of either your "candid rating" OR a "candor rating" or whatever moral assessment you thought I was making about you.

As to the rest of your post...You're making arguments why their theology is false.

With #2, that was only half the case...If you claim one thing PR-wise, and another thing theologically...that is being two-faced...you don't need theological expertise to discern two-faced approaches to something, do you?

I already agree with you that their theology is false, at least where it differs with the objective truth of Catholic faith. Perhaps you're trying to say that the falsity of LDS teaching is so apparent that it can't be sincerely believed. Well, I feel the same way about non-Catholics/non-Orthodox who don't believe that the Eucharist is literally the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, that it is no longer bread and wine, but the Lord, Himself. It's pretty plain what the Bible says, and the Bible doesn't need hundreds of words to say it. Nonetheless, no matter how obvious the truth is (and it is quite obvious), I believe that most non-Catholics/non-Orthodox, in fact, the overwhelming majority who refuse to believe this objective truth are, nonetheless, folks of good will and good faith, and genuinely believe their false beliefs. Sincerely. I don't call them liars for believing what is false, and I don't say that their false beliefs are lies.

I wasn't simply saying "the falsity of LDS teaching is so apparent that it can't be sincerely believed" on these specific points.

I know indeed Mormon theology is "ho hum," but if I had to summarize their approach to "we're the only true church," it's this:

They know to claim this they need to simultaneously believe contradictory things about what Jesus Christ + the apostle Paul has said vs. what Joseph Smith has said. And sometimes it's even Joseph Smith vs. Joseph Smith (they have to embrace one aspect of what he claims & then somehow keep his contradictory teachings at arm's length).

Do you know what that's called? There's a sense of cognitive dissonance there...a failure to react to what should be provocative where they keep part of what their prophet(s) have said at arm's length...not embracing that part, but not publicly rejecting it, either.

You see if Lds just came clean and said, "Hey, we know Joseph Smith taught this. We know it's at direct odds with several things Jesus and Paul said in the Bible. We just choose to believe Smith over the Bible," then that would all be on the up and up. That would match what you've described.

BUT...if you're trying to nab the Christian brand and apply it to yourself...doesn't look good to confess that Joseph Smith trumps Jesus (Matt. 16:18) and the apostle Paul (eph. 3:21). And so, you take contradictory statements that you know are contradictory and claim they are both true.

And then what can they do when Smith contradicts Smith? When that happens, they are forced into a corner to cover up part of what he has said, and they wind up falsely claiming that Smith doesn't contradict Smith. Sorry, but that's a lie.

I suggest you study up on where some religions try to eat their cake and have it, too...where they try to appear "Christian-like" and yet deny key components of Christianity and then pretend like it's all hunky-dory.

You haven't actually made the case yet that anyone is lying.

Here!

Let ME help!

KJV

Galatians 1:6-9

6. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7. Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

ANYBODY???

Like this fine looking fellow???

2 Corinthians 11:12-15

12. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
13. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Like THESE guys??

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/js_h/1/19#19

17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

Ephesians 2:1-2

1. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

1 Corinthians 4:17
For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

1 Corinthians 11:2
Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

2 Thessalonians 2:15
Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

2 Timothy 1:13
Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:14-15
14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15. And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Maybe you should review Lehi's Dream found in 1 Nephi.

Aw heck: read the Whole Thing!

THE FIRST BOOK OF NEPHI
HIS REIGN AND MINISTRY

An account of Lehi and his wife Sariah and his four sons, being called, (beginning at the eldest) Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. The Lord warns Lehi to depart out of the land of Jerusalem, because he prophesieth unto the people concerning their iniquity and they seek to destroy his life. He taketh three days’ journey into the wilderness with his family. Nephi taketh his brethren and returneth to the land of Jerusalem after the record of the Jews. The account of their sufferings. They take the daughters of Ishmael to wife. They take their families and depart into the wilderness. Their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness. The course of their travels. They come to the large waters. Nephi’s brethren rebel against him. He confoundeth them, and buildeth a ship. They call the name of the place Bountiful. They cross the large waters into the promised land, and so forth. This is according to the account of Nephi; or in other words, I, Nephi, wrote this record.

CHAPTER 1

Nephi begins the record of his people—Lehi sees in vision a pillar of fire and reads from a book of prophecy—He praises God, foretells the coming of the Messiah, and prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem—He is persecuted by the Jews. About 600 B.C.

1 I, Nephi, having been ^aborn of ^bgoodly ^cparents, therefore I was ^dtaught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many ^eafflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a ^frecord of my proceedings in my days.

2 Yea, I make a record in the ^alanguage of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.

3 And I know that the record which I make is ^atrue; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge.

4 For it came to pass in the commencement of the ^afirst year of the reign of ^bZedekiah, king of Judah, (my father, Lehi, having dwelt at ^cJerusalem in all his days); and in that same year there came many ^dprophets, prophesying unto the people that they must ^erepent, or the great city ^fJerusalem must be destroyed.

5 Wherefore it came to pass that my father, Lehi, as he went forth prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his ^aheart, in behalf of his people.

6 And it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a ^apillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much; and because of the things which he saw and heard he did ^bquake and tremble exceedingly.

7 And it came to pass that he returned to his own house at Jerusalem; and he cast himself upon his bed, being ^aovercome with the Spirit and the things which he had seen.

8 And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a ^avision, even that he saw the ^bheavens open, and he thought he ^csaw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God.

9 And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his ^aluster was above that of the sun at noon-day.

10 And he also saw ^atwelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament.

11 And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and ^astood before my father, and gave unto him a ^bbook, and bade him that he should read.

12 And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the ^aSpirit of the Lord.

13 And he read, saying: Wo, wo, unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine ^aabominations! Yea, and many things did my father read concerning ^bJerusalem—that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be ^ccarried away captive into Babylon.

14 And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy ^apower, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and, because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who ^bcome unto thee that they shall perish!

15 And after this manner was the language of my father in the praising of his God; for his soul did rejoice, and his whole heart was filled, because of the things which he had seen, yea, which the Lord had shown unto him.

16 And now I, Nephi, do not make a full account of the things which my father hath written, for he hath written many things which he saw in ^avisions and in ^bdreams; and he also hath written many things which he ^cprophesied and spake unto his children, of which I shall not make a full account.

17 But I shall make an account of my proceedings in my days. Behold, I make an ^aabridgment of the record of my ^bfather, upon ^cplates which I have made with mine own hands; wherefore, after I have abridged the record of my ^dfather then will I make an account of mine own life.

18 Therefore, I would that ye should know, that after the Lord had shown so many marvelous things unto my father, Lehi, yea, concerning the ^adestruction of Jerusalem, behold he went forth among the people, and began to ^bprophesy and to declare unto them concerning the things which he had both seen and heard.

19 And it came to pass that the ^aJews did ^bmock him because of the things which he testified of them; for he truly testified of their ^cwickedness and their abominations; and he testified that the things which he saw and heard, and also the things which he read in the book, manifested plainly of the coming of a ^dMessiah, and also the redemption of the world.

20 And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had ^acast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also ^bsought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender ^cmercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of ^ddeliverance.

As for the "Great and Spacious Building" statement, you missed it completely. I thought you were an expert on the Book of Mormon. Maybe you should review Lehi's Dream found in 1 Nephi. Just a suggestion.

(Oh, sure...I've should have remembered Smith writing about Superdomes in B.C. Americas :)

It seems to me that since Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world then we are already in a "one-world type of religion" whether we know it, or believe it, or not. Everyone, everywhere will someday bow to Jesus and confess He is the Christ. That REALLY does put us all in this together does it not?

Yes...and no...

Yes He is Lord of all...and eventually all labels peel away...but He still people out of man-made religions into a relationship with Him...and to relate to Him, ya gotta know the character of the One you're relating to (I mean even Joe Smith said that right before he died...that the "first" principle of the gospel was to know the character of God...all as he then launched into a sermon on gods plural...wow!)

...but the faulty part of your argument is the "we" of "we are already in a 'one-world type of religion'...

I mean if that was the case, we might as well all join the Bahai movement & simply relegate truth about who God is and who Jesus is and who the Holy Spirit is to the gutter in the interest of "lordship ecumenism." (whatever that might look like)

But, hey, with advocates abroad like yourself, no wonder people slide down a religious Bahai-like pathway where they run everything together about God and begin to conclude a fundamentalist Mormon-is-a-Mormon-is-a-Christian-is-a-Jonestownite-is-a-Branch-Davidian-is-a-Heavens-Gate-ian-is-a-Urantia believer-is a Church Universal & Triumphant-is-a-Wicca-Witch-is-Voodoo practioner-is-a-New-Ager-is-a-whirling dervish-is-a-Hindu-is-a-Sikh-is-a-Muslim!

(I just don't want to hear you ever complain again when somebody confuses a fundamentalist polygamist Mormon with a mainstream Mormon...to be consistent, ya know.)

Speaking about my disagreement with you concerning Mormon lies specifically, and lying in general:

The Book of Romans

I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thank God through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord, because with my mind I myself can serve the law of God, even while with my human nature I serve the law of sin.
Ro. 7:23-25

And I submit Augustine's word from Prolegomena (Confessions):
"The mind commands the body, and it obeys immediately; the mind commands itself, and is resisted."

And from Jeremiah:
The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
Je. 17:9

I am convinced the author of the OP is earnest and correct in his/her confession.

I maintain the author's testimony of the condition of his/her heart as a Mormon missionary stands.

Furthermore, I do not find in print a missionary's rationalization by another former Mormon that controverts the confession in lie #1 "We're Not Trying to Convert You." nor is the author's confession of "False Testimony" disputable to me.

Regarding your rationalization about the confessed lies 2-10, I am compelled by earnest conviction to speak correction to you as a Christian who is in error as applies to this author specifically: Who are you to controvert the confession of another with YOUR dismissal of their confession?

To the degree I can acceptably express (in spirit and truth before Him) the beliefs I hold about sin in my members (including lying as I have previously described it) and extrapolate them to the human condition, I maintain that all sin (including deceived falsehood) occurs in confluence with heart rebellion - a sinful, mental fortress in the heart against God.

Though I strongly disagree with you, I do not doubt your candor, nor do I impugn your relationship with Jesus Christ. Perhaps, because I hold the realm of the heart to fully incorporate the mind, where you may hold there is a distinction, we disagree.

Dear Colofornian,

Sorry, but you give the game away when you start speaking about connotative versus denotative meaning. By your own admission, a set of words can have a variety of meanings.

Divining the intent of the speaker, especially when there are multiple possible meanings, isn't always easy.

It may be that this author was lying when he said that he wasn't trying to convert folks.

But the meaning of the article is to suggest that Mormon missionaries generally tell lies, and here are the lies that they tell. Generally.

Which is why I was a little more secure in speaking about points 2 - 9. Although this or that LDS missionary may not believe points 2 - 9, they have to do with actual theological tenets of the LDS religion, and it seems to me most likely that most LDS missionaries believe these things.

Thus, they are mistaken, they are objectively incorrect, but they aren't lying.

But the very nature of point 1 is more personal. I wasn't offering my own view of it to say, well, this is how these folks must be thinking.

Rather, I was offering it to show (poorly, perhaps), that the first statement, “I'm not trying to convert you,” isn't a matter of a theological proposition to which one adheres, but rather a statement about the status of one’s own intentions and beliefs about one’s own thoughts and actions. I'm hesitant to say what folks “generally” intend by that kind of statement. Could be not a few folks are lying. I'm pretty sure a fair number aren't.

But it's a different kind of statement than the other nine, and doesn't admit as easily of generalization.

In any event, you were still wrong to post that I said what I said out of a lack of candor.

You stated something that was objectively false.

Was that a lie? Are you a liar to have posted that?

Just curious.

sitetest

Dear delacoert,

You may be under the misimpression that there is some reason why I might take instruction from you.

Are you a Catholic? In full communion with the Holy Catholic Church and her head on earth, Pope Benedict XVI, the Bishop of Rome, the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church?

If not, I don't credit that you have anything worthwhile to say on the topic, as you are a believer of falsehoods, and by your own definition (though not mine), a liar.

As to the substance of the article, it is perhaps true that the author really never believed the tenets of LDS theology, and thus, he, himself, was a liar to promote those beliefs. If that's the case, the LDS were well to be rid of him. However, it doesn't appear that this is the case. He doesn't say, as far as I can see, that he never believed any of the tenets of the LDS religion while he was a missionary, but rather, after he finished his service as a missionary, he delved further into these questions, and eventually abandoned the LDS religion.

In any case, the article suggests that these beliefs are generally lies, and specifically, generally lies of Mormon missionaries. Which means that the Mormon missionaries saying these things are generally liars. Meaning that they, like the author (presumably), don't believe the tenets of their religion, and thus act in bad faith.

Having met many LDS missionaries in my life, I can say from personal experience that that generalization - that LDS missionaries, when they share the tenets of their faith, are generally lying, is, itself, a falsehood.

sitetest

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