A commenter on this blog recently gave me the following set of questions as a “test” I could use to escape deception. I thought it might be interesting to see how the LDS Church performs on this test. (1) Does it claim to have a special revelation that ignores the clear teaching of the Bible? … Read more
This is a review of the book An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins by Grant H. Palmer. With this post I delve into new territory. Although I’ve read plenty of online anti-Mormon material, this is the first time I’ve actually read a printed book allegedly of that genre. Now, as a first matter, it is … Read more
Just some philosophizing here… In the past two weeks I’ve had multiple experiences with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) who are struggling with doubt regarding the veracity of the religion. It’s curious to me that all these experiences between unrelated individuals happened within such a short time-frame, but … Read more
In 1952 LDS scholar Hugh Nibley made the statement “it will not be long before men forget that in Joseph Smith’s day the prophet was mocked and derided for his description of the plates more than anything else.” You see, at the time Joseph Smith published the Book of Mormon, he was heavily criticized because … Read more
Disclaimer: If you think I’m saying the Bible is false, you’re wrong. That’s not at all what I’m saying. Read on. I’ve been having an extensive discussion with two chaps on another post on this blog, and they have posited that if the Book of Mormon were true, then there would surely be physical evidence … Read more
For the sake of this post, forget everything you already know about God. All your preconceptions, everything that comes to mind automatically, everything you’ve been taught, etc. If Bible passages or creeds come to mind, ignore them for this brief moment, just for fun, and tell me what you would want God to be like? … Read more
From Jeff Lindsay’s site, where he asks the question “If the gold plates never existed, how did Joseph get numerous witnesses to stand by their stories until their dying day, even when some of them later became angry with Joseph and left the Church?” This is a common question asked by Mormons, but I have … Read more
Many have interpreted Matthew 7:15 which read “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” as applying to Joseph Smith, the alleged “prophet” of the Mormons. This scripture is often coupled with others mentioning false prophets, such as: Mark 13:22 – For false Christs and false … Read more
This question is borrowed from Jeff Lindsay’s page that asks “How did Joseph know so much about the Arabian Peninsula, including specific names and places that were not known in his day?” To quote from Jeff’s website: Related questions: Was it just blind luck that the rare place name Nahom in the Book of Mormon, … Read more
I’m not sure how such a post has never made it on to the website, given the name of the website, but better late than never, I suppose. There are quite extensive posts on this elsewhere, although I think the best resource for detailed information on Mormons and DNA is from Jeff Lindsay’s site. But … Read more
Isaiah 43:10 says “Before me there was no God formed; neither shall there be after me.” This scripture is commonly used to “trick up” Mormons who claim that we humans are children of God, destined to become Gods like him. But the response to that has been adequately answered here, here, and perhaps best, here, … Read more
Now that I’ve had this website up and running for a year or so, I’ve begun to notice a pattern with many of those posting comments to quote the Bible in an effort to convince me and other Mormons of the error of our ways. Sometimes a specific scripture is cited because it pertains to … Read more
Q: If Mormons think they belong to the one and only true church of Jesus Christ, then does that mean they see the members of all other faiths as non-believers? After all, read this stuff from your own scriptures and founding “prophet” “Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the Church of … Read more
It’s that time of year, and so I figure this is a timely time to answer the question “How do Mormons celebrate Christmas?” I suppose for some, the question might even be “Do Mormons celebrate Christmas?” Yes, Mormons do celebrate Christmas, although how we celebrate Christmas differs from family to family and from culture to … Read more
I don’t know much about Billy Graham. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but if I can assume that this article is referring to Mormonism, then he has some facts wrong about what Mormons believe. In the article he answers a question that asks “How do we know that the books we have in the … Read more
If you ask a Mormon if the Bible contains all the words Jesus or the apostles ever taught, then the short answer is “no.” Now, if you ask whether the Bible is complete, well, that’s a bit harder to answer because one would have to explain what they mean by such a question. How does … Read more
Some religions call their normal meetinghouses “temples”. For Mormons, temples are quite different than the church buildings we meet in each Sunday. At the church we have Sunday School, learn about the gospel, have opportunities to serve in various “callings” (like being the librarian or a Sunday School teacher), and most importantly, take the sacrament … Read more
The argument goes something like this: The word “Lucifer” in Isaiah 14:12 presents a minor problem to mainstream Christianity. It becomes a much larger problem to Bible literalists, and becomes a huge obstacle for the claims of Mormonism…The first problem is that Lucifer is a Latin name…Lucifer wasn’t equated with Satan until after Jerome [in … Read more
For those of you who aren’t sure what the question is referring to, here’s the expanded version: Q: Mormons believe that God used to be a man, like us, and that we can become gods, like God. But this doesn’t seem to make sense if you read the creation story in Genesis 1:1-19. In the … Read more
As posted in a comment here on this blog, “The Mormon Church teaches that when people are married in the temple they are married for eternity but the Bible teaches otherwise as seen by the words of Jesus Himself.” The author of the comment then quoted this passage of scripture from Matthew 22: 25 Now … Read more
From questions by Ann Mere in comments on Sep 7th, 2010. “Are there many gods? Are gods more holier than each other?” This question requires some explanation beyond a simple “yes” or “no” answer, because both answers are correct and incorrect at the same time. Mormons believe that every human being is a God in … Read more
Note: Much of what I’ve put here was inspired by the content at FAIRMormon.org on the matter of God changing/not changing. This is a branch off of a question asked in the comments of another post, and also a widely disseminated “gotcha” question for Mormons, which is that if Mormon claim that God was once … Read more
In response to the question posed by Ann; “Do mormons believe in an eternal universe of eternal matter or a big bang type universe?” To answer this question requires a more than a one or the other type of answer because the answer is “yes” to both…sort of. Well, it depends on what you mean … Read more
As asked by Ann Mere here. My question: I have a mormon friend whose husband is an anti-mormon Christian active in a ministry to save people out of mormonism. When he asks his mormon wife about the mormon church she will never have a discussion with him. Would she be able to get a temple … Read more
It depends what you mean by the question. If the question is do Mormons worship more than one God, the answer is a definitive “no”. If the question is do Mormons believe more than one god exists, the answer is “yes”. If Mormons believe that multiple gods exist, but they only worship one of them … Read more
From a question asked by John on 10 May, 2010 here: And, what, if anything would lead you to the conclusion that Mormonism’s foundational stories, personalities and writings are not what they claim to be? Yes, there is. What leads me to believe they are true is God telling me so, and so the way … Read more
From a question asked by John on 10 May, 2010 here: You and I were both born into the church to LDS families. If Mormonism is the one true church, wow…..we really hit the jackpot. Extremely lucky, right? Out of the billions and billions of humans that have come and gone over the last 50,000 … Read more
A friend of mine left the LDS Church a few years ago. He’s not an anti-Mormon, or even a motivated “ex-Mormon”. Maybe you could say that he’s Mormon the same way Jerry Seinfeld’s character on his TV show was Jewish. Mmmm, no, I don’t think that’s exactly accurate either. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. He was … Read more
http://www.secretsofmormons.com I know for some of you the first question will be “Why are you giving this guy extra publicity?” I don’t know how to answer that other than to say that; 1) I don’t think this guy is hurting the Mormon cause, and 2) I thought the website was hilarious. I found this site … Read more
As associate of mine wrote a post a few years ago entitled Why Do Latter-day Saints Ignore Ron Paul? I’d like to chime in with my own opinion, having only recently been introduced to Ron Paul’s writings via The Revolution and End the Fed. I cannot, of course, speak for all Mormons, but give my … Read more
That’s a darn good question. For those of you who don’t know, “A revision or translation of the King James Version of the Bible begun by the Prophet Joseph Smith in June 1830. He was divinely commissioned to make the translation and regarded it as “a branch of his calling” as a prophet. Although the … Read more
As stated at MRM.org: Some Latter-day Saints, in their zeal to give tangible authenticity to the Book of Mormon, have told prospective converts that the Smithsonian Institution has used the Book of Mormon to verify sites in the New World. In response to numerous requests on this subject, the Smithsonian has issued the following paper … Read more
Politically, Utah as a whole is more or less controlled by Mormon culture. Salt Lake City itself is not, but the rest of the state outvotes the more liberal-leaning SLC. When the 18th Amendment became law, outlawing the sale of alcohol in the United States, you could easily argue that Utah was much more under … Read more
Question: Do you think Bruce Hafens, treating different, and less than with shunning, or high voltage electro shock Mormon aversion therapy would have best solved the following situation? Dear Elder Packer: Although we have met briefly before, it is through the context of my family that you would be able to place me. I am … Read more
Question: Joshua, I would appreciate the name of just one secular encyclopediaa and page which provides supporting information that: 1. “Reformed Egyptian” was really an ancient language. 2. “Domesticated” horses existed in the America’s prior to Columbus. 3. That ancient languages can be translated by looking at a rock in a hat. See: (Ensign » … Read more
Question: Joshua, How is it possible for you to support your church with it going against its own scripture? “We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members as citizens, denied.” … Read more
On another post where I asked people why they had left the LDS Church, a commenter named Max said this as part of his comment: About two years ago I came across a video on youtube called “The Lost Book of Abraham.” In a period of 1 hour, my faith and belief in the church … Read more
“I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their … Read more
In response to a question posed by a commenter on this site, I figured it was fair to provide an answer since I do use the term rather broadly at times. I see there being multiple types of anti-Mormons: 1. The Professional anti-Mormon. These are folks like Jerald and Sandra Tanner who have dedicated their … Read more
This post was created to answer questions posed by commenter MQ_2 on the comment thread for If Joseph Smith was a fraud where did the Book of Mormon come from? Since it was off-topic there, this new post has been created to facilitate the conversation. Here is the comment in its entirety: “Turns out slavery … Read more
This post is based on comments left on a different thread by Jed Smith asking “If Joseph Smith was a fraud where did the Book of Mormon come from?” But since the comment was off-topic, I’ve copied and pasted it here for response. The comment: Josh, I appreciate what you are trying to do also … Read more
So says Lawrence M. Krauss, not to mention many others, of course. But the problem Krauss as well as many other atheists face (feel free to chime in here Dallin) is that their belief in a “no-God doctrine” is based on a faulty understanding of God. That is, their logical train of thought says “The … Read more
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Yes, Glenn Beck is a Mormon, that is, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Apparently searches for “glenn beck” and “mormon” are pretty common. In reading the afore-linked article, I decided to do a search for “glenn beck mormon” myself, and one of the links that came up is from … Read more
The full question asked as part of many anti-Mormon pamphlets is: How did Joseph Smith carry home the golden plates of the Book of Mormon, and how did the witnesses lift them so easily? (They weighed about 230 lbs. Gold, with a density of 19.3 weighs 1204.7 lbs. per cubic foot. The plates were 7″ … Read more
To kick off this section, I figure I’ll try and answer some of the questions out there. This page comes up first in Google for “questions for Mormons” and claims to contain “Difficult Questions for Mormons” so let’s see how difficult they really are. I haven’t read more than one or two of them so … Read more
I figure since I’ve got a question where I ask anti-Mormons and others to answer my questions, it’s only fair that I have a section where I take questions. Actually, it’s my blog and I can do what I want with it and fair has nothing to do with it, so let’s just say I’d … Read more
There is a certain group of Christians that believe in “biblical inerrancy” or the idea that the Bible is 100% perfect. Mormons believe the Bible is true “inasmuch as it is translated correctly.” That is, Mormons believe the Bible was perfect as it was written by the pens of the original authors, but that through … Read more
Anti-Mormons are generally more interested in the matter of Hebrew DNA (or lack thereof) in the America’s than Mormons are, since anti-Mormons rely on it as evidence of the falsity of the Book of Mormon and LDS faith whereas most Mormons don’t rely on it in the slightest to prove their religion. So might the … Read more
If you believe in the Bible, answer me this–where are the prophets and apostles? From Adam down to Jesus Christ there were prophets. It’s how we got the Old Testament. After Christ there were the apostles, and Peter was essentially a prophet as well. But somewhere in the hundred or so years after Christ the … Read more