Mormonism - What the Missionaries Won't Tell You

What is Mormonism? I guess to most people, Mormonism is a branch of Christianity, more popular in America than in the UK, and that Mormons are annoying, albeit friendly people, who are prone to following people around and trying to convert them under the guise of making friends. I guess also, to most people, that Mormonism is relatively harmless, and not something that troubles them on a day to day basis. However, I'm sure that there are some people out there, whether they be curious theology students searching for a religion with solid foundations, newly sober alcoholics looking for something else to become addicted to, or simply unsuspecting bystanders who have been accosted by a well-meaning Mormon missionary, for whom Mormonism is more than something that wacky Americans believe in, and is potentially where their future happiness lies.

This article is not aimed at atheists, who believe that all religious beliefs are equally ridiculous, but instead directed towards people who may be thinking of converting to Mormonism, or perhaps to those looking into religion as a whole, and who want to see the other side to the story. We've all heard the stories about how Christianity is nothing but a faith stolen from Pagan myths, or how Jesus was actually married to Mary Magdalene, and now, here is the truth behind one of the fastest growing religions in the world.

You probably won't have heard of Joseph Smith, but if you have ever spoken to a Mormon, you will know that he is revered as one of the most important people to have ever graced the planet, being not only the founder of their faith, but also God's spokesman on earth, and somebody to be held in the highest regard possible. Now, if Joseph Smith really lived up to his reputation, than he would be a very interesting man indeed! However, by the end of this article, I hope to have given sufficient evidence for you to believe that Smith is nothing but a con artist, his church little more than a cult, and his followers good-hearted yet misinformed.

In this article, I will not try to convince anybody that God does exist, neither will I try and persuade you that, just because Mormonism is a sham, it means that God is also a sham. Neither will comment on the actual beliefs of the faith: I am not here to tell you that avoiding caffeine is ridiculous and that having dark skin doesn't mean that you have been cursed by God. Your beliefs are your own business. I am simply trying to put Mormonism under the microscope, and inform people looking into the faith of the areas in which it lacks. If, despite my findings, your faith in Joseph Smith is not shattered, then I am quite happy for you to go on believing in him, and in Mormonism. I just feel that every religious person has a right to know where their faith comes from.

Firstly, I believe it is important to know that for anybody thinking of converting to Mormonism, especially Christians, that Mormonism, despite it's claims, is not a branch of Christianity, despite what it professes. I could go on for days about the contrasting beliefs that Mormons and Christians hold, but I won't. Read your Bibles, and your Books of Mormon, and you will see for yourselves that Mormonism and Christianity believe totally opposing things, and as a result, are not compatible with each other. For now, just be aware that Joseph Smith said that Christian pastors are of the devil and that anybody who follows them will “all be damned together,” and that John Taylor, the third president of the church, said that Christianity was “a perfect pack of nonsense.” Not really things we would expect to hear from authoritative speakers in a religion that classes itself as a branch of Christianity, and definitely something to bear in mind if you are a Christian thinking of converting as, to be a true Mormon, you will have to give up some of your core beliefs. (If you're interested, Mormons believe the following: God has a tangible body made of flesh and bone, Jesus was married, we become Gods when we die, there are many gods, God has a wife and we should not pray to or try to have a relationship with Jesus. Good luck marrying all that with your Christian theology.)

Anyway, here are some things about Mormonism that the missionaries won't tell you:

• Joseph Smith was involved with the occult. In 1826 he was arrested for fortune-telling, something the Bible condemns. He also possessed an amulet that was said to bring wealth and power, used “Seer Stones” and contacted the dead, all practices which go against mainstream Christian doctrine.
• The first account of Joseph Smith's “First Vision” was not published until 1838, 18 years after it is alleged to have happened. However, what most people don't know is that there were actually five earlier drafts of the tale that were published that the Mormon church kept hidden because they contradict the “official” testimony. Smith's first account says that only one personage appeared to him, the second account says that there were “many” personages, and the third says that there were two. Which version if any, is true?
• The Book of Mormon was translated by Smith from “reformed Egyptian,” a language never known to exist.
• The book is supposed to detail events from 600BC to AD421 but instead details political, social and economic concerns of the 19^th century, when Smith was writing. What's more, there are many instances in the book that describe things that simply could not have been possible. For example, steel is mentioned in the BoM (Laban's sword blade was made of steel and Nephi had a steel bow but steel didn't exist at the time). In addition, Nephi found cows, horses, oxen, asses and goats when he arrived in the New World in 590BCE, but none of these animals existed in North America before the Europeans brought them over 2000 years later. Funny, huh?
• Another example? The BoM presents the picture of relatively homogeneous people, with a single language and communication between distant parts of the Americas but history tells us the opposite: widely disparate racial types and many unrelated languages, none of which are even remotely related to Hebrew or Egyptian.
• Need more evidence? No Book of Mormon cities have ever been located, no person, place, nation or name has been found, no artefacts, no scriptures, inscriptions or gold plates have ever been found. This is in contrast with the Bible which, Christian or not, we cannot deny the existence of, say, Bethlehem or Pontius Pilate.
• Smith said that the BoM was the direct word of God, yet since it's publication, over 3000 changes have been made to it. Now, certain changes can be excused (The Bible has often added or subtracted words such as “and” or “the” as well as changing certain translations to make more sense), but in the BoM, even names of rulers are changed, with King Benjamin being changed to King Mosiah. Did God just make 3000 mistakes? Did he change his mind? Or was Smith actually the author of the BoM?
• This is in addition to the Doctrine and Covenants, which has seen more than 65, 000 changes over the years. Perhaps God was just having another off-day?
• A portion of The Pearl of Great Price, The Book of Abraham, has been proven to be a forgery. It is in fact a copy of a Pagan text, The Egyptian Book of Breathings.
• Another account of plagiarism refers to the BoM using content from View of the Hebrews and the King James bible. If the Book of Mormon depicts events from 600BC then why does it share quotations with a book written 2000 years later? It even contains translation errors from the KJV bible! A careful study of View of the Hebrews (published two years before the BoM), led one church official, B.H. Roberts, to conclude that the BoM did not depict actual historical events, but was instead concocted in Smith's mind as a result of reading this other text.
• More examples of God appearing to “change his mind” within the Mormon church can be seen when we look at some of it's principles, which are no longer practised, but were once seen as fundamental, essential and eternal. Now, in certain cases such as polygamy, this is understandable. All religions adapt over time to changes in the law, or in the way that society views things. However, how does the Mormon church explain the changes of their core beliefs which include the belief that Adam is God the father. Has Mormon theology actually changed it's mind about who God is?
• Smith also claimed to be a biblical prophet who regularly received personal revelations from God. However, the majority of his predictions never came true, casting the authenticity of this claim into doubt.

Now, any historical record will be flawed to some extent. There will be certain things that we will never know, and can only speculate on, evidence that we have misinterpreted, or information that was never recorded correctly in the first place. Every holy text probably has flaws, biographies of famous people are flawed, and accounts of battles or any other major historical event can be flawed.

We are human.

Sometimes we make mistakes or lack evidence.

However, we must as ourselves the following questions about Mormonism:

Does the BoM and its counterparts genuinely try to teach it's followers the truth, or does it hide the truth?

Does it cover up it's mistakes or does it admit to them?

Does it steal material from other sources whilst claiming to be original?

Did Joseph Smith, a narcissist already convicted of having dabblings with the occult, have an ulterior motive for having his alleged “visions”?

Are there few enough mistakes that we can overlook them?

Or is the BoM, riddled with errors and controversies, simply a text invented by a man desperate for fame, adoration and power?

A man who lacked the knowledge to write a historically accurate text?

A man who made mistakes and who has since been protected by the church to avoid losing face?

I think the evidence speaks for itself.