2 Nephi 9:20-21 “O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it. 21 And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.”
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
In reality, there’s more than just one lie 2nd Nephi. Here’s a quick run-down of the numerous lies in this small passage of 2nd Nephi.
1.Jesus is NOT the god of Mormonism.
2.The god of Mormonism couldn’t have come down to save all men based on the Church’s history prior to 1978 of excluding anyone color.
3.If the Mormon god knew all things, why didn’t he create the earth? Why was his power limited to the mere ability of ‘organizing’ the elements of the earth?
4.Why was Nephi using vocabulary in BC 559 that Luke was using c. 80 AD? Providing interesting facts about the identities of those who wrote the Bible is a great segue to prompt interest in God’s word!
For example –
Luke was a physician – Col. 4:14, and a Gentile.
He wrote the longest gospel, and also wrote more than any other NT writer – see Blue Letter Bible for more info.
When you have an opportunity, share this type of info with the Mormon you know, and be sure to ask how you can pray for them!
With Love in Christ;
Michelle
I sort of took away that this particular passage (2 Nephi (:20,21), that God came to earth as Jesus Christ, which would indicate that God and Jesus were one and the same. This, of course, totally contradicts Mormon doctrine that God and Jesus were two completely different personages
Maybe I interpreted this wrong, I don’t know. I do know, that there are many scriptures in the BOM that say that God and Jesus were one and the same (2 Nephi 6:9; 2 Nephi 10:3; 2 Nephi 11:7; Alma 11:38,39; Mosiah 7:27;Helaman 8:23)\
This caused a lot of confusion for me when I was an active member of the church. I asked people about the contradiction between the BOM and Joe Smith’s D&C, and nobody could give me a straight answer.
Mormon doctrine is contradictory and therefore, confusing to members. The General Authorities then have the responsibility to eliminate the confusion with statements that further confuse members.
Jesus is God. Heavenly Father is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Three separate beings unified in one purpose (possibly also labeled as God). Mormons call this the Godhead. Christians call it the Trinity.
I don’t really see what the confusion is. The verse above is clearly talking about Jesus.
The list of “lies” are not actually contained within the verses you cited, but are dependent upon the claims you are making.
Point 1 – He’s clearly talking about Jesus and says “God”. So clearly Jesus is God, according to that scripture.
Point 2 – that’s not a doctrinal assertion, sounds more like a personal gripe about a past policy. Even under that policy, though, Jesus was still here to save everyone who believes on His name, but there were worldly restrictions on some individuals for various reasons that don’t really matter at this point.
Point 3 – what difference does that make in terms of knowledge? Whether an all-knowing God creates a world with existing elements, or does so completely ex nihilo, He’s still making a world from scratch and, if you’ve seen the complexity of our planet, that’s no small feat.
Point 4 – because he’s a prophet and was shown visions of the future (his future).