"If faith will not bear to be investigated, if its preachers and professors are afraid to have it examined, their foundation must be very weak.” George A. Smith (first counselor to Brigham Young) Journal of Discourses (14:216-217).

As a Mormon(LDS) you will ask non-Mormons to pray about Joseph Smith's message and the Book of Mormon in order to gain a testimony of its truth (Moroni 10: 3-5). You will often share your own testimony and tell of the feeling "burning of the bosom” you receive of knowing that the Mormon Church to be the true Church, Joseph Smith to be a true prophet of God, and the Book of Mormon to be God's word. But is this the proper way to determine truth? The Bible never says to test a prophet by prayer, but by his message (Deuteronomy 13).

If feelings were 100% correct 100% of the time, then all religions would be true and all paths would lead to God, however we know that all religions cannot be true and all paths do not lead to God, there are too many contradictions between each religious system. The feeling of truth that you speak of should be there if God is revealing the truth to you, but man's heart is shrouded in darkness and can deceive people even with the best of intentions. All you have to do is look at the many cults throughout history and their willingness to commit suicide in order to get to heaven. No one could question their faith, they truly believe in their hearts that they have found the one true religion on earth. Feelings do not determine truth, truth must be based on an objective look at the facts.

To find out if Mormonism is the only true Church on earth we must examine the origin, Joseph Smith (founder) and the Sacred Writings of Mormonism. Many Mormons claim that only the doctrinal portions of their sacred books are relevant to an examination. In response to this it must be pointed out that doctrine is very important, but if the historical parts are inaccurate and false, these books could not have come from God because a perfect God could not give an imperfect revelation.

In the following material you will find several objections to the Mormon religion. Each stated objection is follow by a brief explanation, it is up to the individual Mormon to further research each objection using Mormon and non-Mormon sources. Do not rely solely on the Mormon Church for an explanation, but take a clear and objective look at the facts and come to your own conclusion. The knowledge you obtain will either strengthen your faith and further equip you to better defend Mormonism or bring you to the conclusion that Mormonism is man-centered, created in the mind of a young boy, which bloomed into a distorted view of orthodox Christianity. May God bless you in your search for the true light.

Changes in The Book of Mormon

According to Joseph Smith, Jr., "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book.” (Joseph Smith, Jr. History of the Church 4:461).

The Book of Mormon was first published in 1830, if you were to do a side by side comparison with the current edition you might be surprised to realize there have been over 3,900 changes in the Book of Mormon since its first publication. Many of the changes are related to the correction of grammatical and spelling errors, but their are some that alter the meaning of the text. According to Joseph Smith's own testimony, there should not have been any reason to make changes in the Book of Mormon. He stated that when he and the witnesses went out to pray concerning it:

"We heard a voice from out of the bright light above us, saying, These plates… Have been translated by the power of God. The translation of them which you have seen is correct….” (History of the Church, vol. 1, pp. 54-55).

The way in which the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith leaves no room for errors of any kind. David Whitmer who was one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon (the majority of the translation work took place in the Whitmer home) made this statement regarding the translation:

"I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man" (An Address to all Believers in Christ. Richmond, Missouri pg. 12).

Why would a perfect God give Joseph Smith such an imperfect book that required so many corrections? It is hard to understand given the claim that Joseph Smith was called by God to "restore” the gospel back to its original form, because the Bible had been corrupted through the centuries and could no longer be trusted. Should we trust the Book of Mormon in its new form, or are we better off with the original version? I was speaking with a Mormon missionary the other day and he explained to me that all of the changes in Mormon scriptures and strange teachings of past leaders does not bother him because of his belief that the living prophet would never lead the Church astray, and any new revelations received are of God and not to be questioned. I can not imagine placing my eternity in the hands of a Church who would seek control of its members by claiming to speak for God and at the same time not accepting any criticism. Dear brothers and sisters do not close your eyes and rest because of a feeling, but seek the face of God with open eyes and a desire to know the truth.

Plagiarism

A careful examination of the Book of Mormon reveals that it contains thousands of words from the King James Bible (written in 1611). There are over one hundred quotations from the New Testament found in the first two books of Nephi alone, and these two books were supposed to have been written between 600 and 545 BC. The King James Bible has a unique style and uses words only found in the King James version. Since the Book of Mormon was translated from gold plates, which contained writings of ancient prophets, is it possible that these ancient prophets possessed the King James version of the Bible? Or Mr. Nephi himself could have had a copy of the Bible as well as the writings of Shakespeare in his possession. The only reasonable explanation is that the Book of Mormon was not translated from gold plates, instead Joseph Smith used The King James version of the Bible to help write the Book of Mormon and since this version did not appear until 1611 AD, the Book of Mormon could not have been written prior to that time. The famous author, Mark Twain, had this to say about the Book of Mormon:

"Seems to be merely a prosy detail of imaginary history, with the Old Testament for a model; followed by a tedious plagiarism of the New Testament. The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint, old-fashioned sound and structure of our King James translation of the s

criptures; and the result is a mongrel-half modern glibness, and half ancient simplicity and gravity” (Roughing It, by Mark Twain, page 110).

Lamanites

The introduction to The Book of Mormon states (1981) "After thousands of years, all were destroyed except The Lamanites and they are the principal ancestors of The American Indians.”

Since the Book of Mormon was first published in 1830, LDS leaders have considered the American Indians to be the direct descendants of the Israelites in the Book of Mormon. Generations of Mormons have grown up with the belief that the American Indians are descended from a lost tribe from the house of Israel, literal off springs of father Lehi who left Jerusalem and sailed to the Americas in 600 B.C. Lehi's family eventually divided into two groups, the righteous Nephites and the wicked Lamanites (American Indians) who according to the Book of Mormon were cursed with a skin of blackness because of their unbelief.

"The Nephites separate themselves from the Lamanites, keep the Law of Moses, and build a temple- Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites are cursed, receive a skin of blackness, and become a scourge unto the Nephites” (Introduction to 2 Nephi chapter 5 1981).

"And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them” (2 Nephi 5:21).

"And the skin of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon there fathers, which was a curse upon them because of there transgression and there rebellion against their brethren who consisted of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men” (Alma 3:6).

In 1853 Brigham Young made this statement regarding the Lamanites: "Do you pray for Israel? You will no doubt answer in the affirmative. These Indians are the seed of Israel, through the loins of Joseph who was sold into Egypt; they are the children of Abraham, and belong to the chosen seed; were it not so, you would never have seen them with dark, red skin. This is in consequence of the curse that has been place upon them, which never would have come upon them… had their fathers not violated the order of God” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, pg. 106-107).

This belief that dark skinned people were not as favored by God as white skinned people clearly reflects the attitude of the country in the early 19th century and in no way reflects the view of a Holy God. The Book of Mormon was written in 1830 when slavery was the norm and most people believed that blacks were an inferior race. If Joseph Smith did translate the Book of Mormon from gold plates which contained the writings of ancient prophets, why is it that these writings sound like they were written by someone from 19th century America? The problem with this whole story that Native Americans are descendants of Father Lehi is that the evidence tells a completely different story, archaeologists, linguists, and genetic experts all say Asia rather than Jerusalem is where natives of North and South America find there roots. Extensive DNA research has been done on Native Americans and it has been found they are not the literal descendants of Father Lehi or Israel, rather 99.6% of the samples tested are of Asian descent. It's time for the Mormon Church to explain why there is no DNA evidence for Israelites in the Americas prior to Columbus? Who exactly is a Lamanite? And when will LDS missionaries stop telling Native Americans and Polynesians that the Book of Mormon is a record of their ancestors?

Dr. Simon Southerton, a former Mormon bishop and molecular biologist that has extensive background in DNA research, left the Church after DNA research revealed the American Indians descended from North East Asia and not from Israel.

"As much as I wanted The Book of Mormon to be true, I suddenly knew that it wasn't. It might be full of some remarkable stories and scriptural writing but it wasn't history about real people, my belief in The Book of Mormon was the foundation for my belief in Mormonism, when it was shattered it brought a lot down with it. I immediately knew that I must be released from my calling.” -Dr. Simon Southerton

Changes in The Doctrine and Covenants

"The Doctrine and Covenants is a collection of divine revelations and inspired declarations given for the establishment and regulation of the kingdom of God on the earth in the last days” (Introduction to The Doctrine and Covenants 1981).

David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses to The Book of Mormon stated: "These revelations were arranged for publication by brothers Joseph Smith, Sydney Rigdon, Orson Hyde and others, in Hiram, Ohio, while I was there, were sent to independents to be published, and were printed just exactly as they were arranged by brother Joseph and others. And when the Book of Commandments was printed, Joseph and the Church received it as being printed correctly” (An Address to all Believers in Christ, pg. 56).

Since The Doctrine and Covenants is a series of revelations which Joseph Smith and others claimed to have received directly from God, and these divine revelations were intended to benefit all of mankind, there should have been absolutely no reason to change, add to, or tamper with Gods Holy Word, to do so would be the greatest of sins. If you were to do a side by side comparison with the 1833 edition, then called the Book of Commandments and the current edition of The Doctrine and Covenants you would find that thousands of words have been added, deleted, or changed.

David Whitmer had this to say about the changes: "Some of the revelations as they now appear in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants have been changed and added to. Some of the changes being of the greatest importance as the meaning is entirely changed on some very important matters; as if the Lord had changed his mind a few years after he gave the revelations, and after having commanded his servants to print them in the Book of Commandments” (Letter written by David Whitmer, published in the Saints Herald, Feb. 5, 1887).

Given the charges made against the Bible by the Mormon Church, you would expect that the revelations in The Doctrine and Covenants, which were given directly to the prophets "by God” and not a translation, would be completely free of changes of any kind, but this is simply not the case. The question is not were there changes, but why were there changes? Is the God of Mormonism a God of confusion? Needing to change his mind in order to correct past mistakes, not knowing what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, or next year. I can picture him sitting up there in his big chair with a confused look on his face trying to remember exactly what he told Joseph last week, or maybe these revelations came from man, not God, and the changes were made in order to hide past mistakes or embarrassing revelations.

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