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Posts Tagged ‘golden plates’

 November 14 –BoM Vocabulary Problem: Machinery in BC 399. 2 Thessalonians 2:3; “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

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November 14 –Was there such a thing as ‘machinery’ in BC 399? 2 Thessalonians 2:3; “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

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“When we become advocates of a creed, something dies; we do not believe God, we only believe our belief about God.” – Oswald Chambers, April 29th

Golden plates facsimilie1 Nephi 5:18-19; “That these plates of brass should go forth unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people who were of his seed. 19 Wherefore, he said that these plates of brass should never perish; neither should they be dimmed any more by time…”

Mosiah 8:9; “And for a testimony that the things that they had said are true they have brought twenty-four plates which are filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold.”

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Petro_4The other day a television show my husband Kirk, and I were watching reminded me yet again why Joseph Smith’s golden plates were anything but authentic. The show had a group of guys out site seeing in the rugged canyons of Colorado, and at one point they stopped to check out a large outcropping of rocks well known for the Petroglyphs on one side of them.

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Mormon Decisions 10Mormon Portraits, p 228; “The Affidavits of 1833-1834…Peter Ingersoll…Joseph told me, on his return, that he intended to keep the promise which he had made to his father-in-law, “but,” said he “it will be hard for me, for they will all oppose, as they want me to look in the stone for them to dig money,” and, in fact, it was as he predicted.

 

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Mormon Decisions 10Journal of Discourses 19:39-40; “This is an incident in the life of Oliver Cowdery…Oliver Cowdery went with the Prophet Joseph when he deposited these plates. Joseph did not translate all of the plates; there was a portion of them sealed, which you can learn from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. When Joseph got the plates, the angel instructed him to carry them back to the hill Cumorah, which he did.

 

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Mormon Decisions 10Today we’re doing things a little differently – woo-hoo!  

Go back in your memory bank – way back. Try to remember your very first memory in life that you hold most dear and just think upon that for a moment. 

Got it? That tender memory you hold most dear is guarded with the utmost respect and we pamper that memory as if we’re protecting the small child in your memory.  You don’t let anyone or anything that could bring harm to come within reach of that kid (probably you) and such is the case with our fondest memory . 

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Mormon Decisions 10Journal of Discourses 7:164; “Some of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, who handled the plates and conversed with the angels of God, were afterwards left to doubt and to disbelieve that they had ever seen an angel.” – Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, June 5, 1859

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salt lake mormon temple 21 Nephi 3:19-20; “And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers; 20 And also that we may preserve unto them the words which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the world began, even down unto this present time.”

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BoM ResearchEarlier today I published a Book of Mormon Resource Page so people who want/need info on various topics relating to the BoM can retrieve what they need from an easy access point. Whew!

You can read it here or look over to the right and you’ll find a widget waiting to be clicked!

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Book of Mormon Witnesses

Mormon Decisions 10

Mosiah 8:9, 13; “And for a testimony that the things that they had said are true they have brought twenty-four plates which are filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold. 13 Now Ammon said unto him: I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can translate the records; for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called interpreters, and no man can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should look for that he ought not and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in them, the same is called seer.”

 

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“Lord Increase Our Faith”, page 64; “The real focus on the Book of Mormon should be on the details of the book itself, not on the details of the process by which it came forth.  Although we do not know everything about the process of its coming forth or its translation, the Book of Mormon is open to full scrutiny.” – Neal A. Maxwell

Ensign, May 2007, pg. 88; “This ancient volume of holy scriptures is a sacred companion to the Bible, containing the fulness of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ.” – L. Tom Perry

     My objective in this article is for members of the LDS Church to ponder the information presented here and honestly ask themselves if it makes sense the Book of Mormon is from God.  While I don’t agree with Mr. Maxwell’s opinion on how people should view the Book of Mormon (Galatians 1:6-9), we’re going to take him up on what he said about it being open to full scrutiny.

     All right, so I have an obsession with the book of Jeremiah; I’ll be the first to admit it!  If you’re a Mormon, have you ever read the book of Jeremiah?  There’s an important lesson to be learned in Jeremiah 36:20-32.  King Jehoiakim had decided he didn’t like God’s written word so he cut it up and burned it thinking that would take care of God, but he was sorely mistaken.

     I believe it was Matthew Henry who said “Those who hate it always seem to do things like this in life” …they either try to destroy or discredit God’s very words. 

     It was 600 BC and the prophet Jeremiah had been warning the Israelites for forty years that danger was lurking.  He told them God had an important message He wanted for them to hear and if they obeyed Him they wouldn’t lose their lives.  Times would be tough, but if they fled for Egypt on their own seeking safety, they would die by sword, famine or pestilence.  If they stayed put in Jerusalem (Jer. 42:10) God would protect their lives in the upcoming onslaught of the Babylonian takeover.  While they were in captivity for a time, there was a small remnant that was allowed to remain seventy years later.

     The certifiably insane King Nebuchadnezzar (descendant of Queen of Sheba and Solomon) marched the Israelites out of Jerusalem, chained some of them nude alongside a river while partying on a boat nearby and eventually went totally mad, living with animals.  He too hated God and turned the sacred scrolls into sacks filled with sand for the captive Israelites to carry into Egypt.  No one escaped his wrath.  (Eventually Nebuchadnezzar repented and worshipped God.)

     Now some 2,400 years later we have the story of Joseph Smith and the “golden plates” which he said contains the “fullness of the gospel”, otherwise known as the Book of Mormon.  One of the remarkable events about this story is the timeline.  It’s the story of a lost tribe of Israelites fleeing Jerusalem in 600 BC and guess what?  Yep, they’re headin’ for Egypt, seeking safety from the fall of Jerusalem.

     Okay, foregoing the arguments, let’s say God told everyone but this lost tribe of “Nephites” to stay put in Jerusalem; what about Joseph Smith’s other assertion about the Book of Mormon? 

     He said a lot of things about this work so his claims should be investigated as Mr. Maxwell suggests.  It’d be amazing if anyone escaped the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar, so these plates should be of significant value if true, right?   

     What do these brass plates tell us?  Does the Book of Mormon contain the “fullness of the gospel”?  Remember, parts of these plates are supposedly what the Nephites hauled over to the States when they sailed here.   

     Let’s begin with what Doctrine and Covenants 19:26, 27:5 and 135:3 says:

And again, I command thee that thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon, which contains the truth and the word of God—

Behold, this is wisdom in me; wherefore, marvel not, for the hour cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth, and with Moroni, whom I have sent unto you to reveal the Book of Mormon, containing the fulness of my everlasting gospel, to whom I have committed the keys of the record of the stick of Ephraim.

Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth…

     As you can see, we have confirmation through the prophecies above; the Church does believe it’s the “fullness of the gospel”.  Now in light of those prophecies by Smith, we need to compare them with what the Bible says about prophets and prophecies, in addition to looking at a few core Mormon doctrines and see if they’re in the Book of Mormon.  If they’re not found on those plates, we ask in all sincerity – how can this be the fullness of the gospel if it doesn’t contain all the requirements for salvation?

What the Bible Says:

Deuteronomy 18:20-22; “But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.  21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?  22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, 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.”

Deuteronomy 13:1-5; “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.  5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

     Mormons believe a true and full salvation can only be attained in the highest kingdom of heaven which they call the “Celestial Kingdom”.  The Celestial Kingdom is reserved solely for those who have been found worthy enough to become a god themselves after they have accomplished a number of works here on earth.  Below are a handful of requirements and beliefs each Mormon needs for a true salvation in the Mormon Church. 

What the Mormon Church Says:

Church Government

 3 Nephi 12 says the twelve Nephite apostles received power to share the gospel, baptize and give the gift of the Holy Ghost.  This is the closest we come to anything remotely close to the hierarchy we see in the Mormon Church today.

 There is no “first presidency”, no quorum of the seventies, no bishops, no bishopric, no wards, no branches, no stakes and no stake presidents, no area presidency…compare it with what the Bible says about church structure:

1 Corinthians 10:32, 12:9-10, 18, 29, 30; Acts 13:1, Romans 12:8, Ephesians 2:20, 3:5, 4:11 

God

Father God has a body of flesh and bonesD&C 130:22

God was once a man. – HC 6:305, Gospel through the Ages, pg. 105 

God has many wives/Mother gods Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, pg. 25

God has a father Gospel Truth, pg. 101; The Seer by Orson Pratt, pg. 132; Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 38

God had sex with Mary Journal of Discourses 4:218 – Brigham Young, February 8, 1857; Journal of Discourses  1:50-51, 8:115, 11:268

God progresses/Eternal progression – Distinct Doctrines and Teachings of the Pearl of Great Price, pg. 76; Gospel through the Ages, pgs. 114-115; Articles of Faith, pg. 390 

Three Separate Personages in Godhead Mormon Doctrine, pg. 576; D&C 130:22-23; Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pg. 552; Mormon Doctrine of Deity, pgs. 9-10; History of the Church 6:474, June 16, 1844

gods/polytheism

Many gods and councils of gods Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 348; Abraham 4:25

Man may become a god – Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pgs. 136-137; Gospel through the Ages, pgs. 105-106; D&C 76:58, TPJS 342-345

Man is a god in embryo Miracle/Forgiveness, pg. 3

Heaven

Three levels of heaven. – Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pg. 367; D&C 131:1-4

Jesus

 

Jesus chosen to become a godMormon Doctrine, pg. 129, Abraham 3:27-28

Jesus and Lucifer are brothers Jesus the Christ, pg. 8; Gospel through the Ages, pg. 15

Jesus was MarriedJournal of Discourses 2:82, 2:210, 4:259-26 

Jesus was a polygamist Jesus was Married by Ogden Kraut, pg. 27; Journal of Discourses 13:309

Jesus Crucified for Polygamy Journal of Discourses 1:346

 Polygamy

Polygamy Condemned Jacob 2:24

Polygamy is true salvation D&C 131:1-4, 132:4-6, 20-21; Journal of Discourses 5:204 & 282, 11:269, 12:262, 13:167-168, 13:189, 17:225; Doctrines of Salvation 2:67; Mormon Doctrine, pg. 219; Evidences and Reconciliations, pg. 390; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 332…

Pre-existence

Elohim populating earth through sexually begotten spirit children –

Discourses of Brigham Young, pg. 24; D&C 49:17, 93:23-29, 138:55-56; Mormon Doctrine, pg. 516; Abraham 3:22-28; Journal of Discourses 4:216; Melvin Joseph Ballard, Sermons and Missionary Services, page 247; Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions, pgs. 5-6; Life Before, pg. 91; For Behold Ye are Free, pg. 42; Ensign, November 1997, pg. 65; Way to Perfection, pg. 29…

 

Salvation

Temple marriage a requirement for exaltation – Teens, Temple Marriage and Eternity, pg. 1; Doctrines of Salvation 2:62; D&C 131:1-4

President of Church Holds Keys to – Mormon Doctrine, pg. 591

Salvation after Death

Book of Mormon – none is available after death 2 Nephi 9:15, 38; Alma 12:13-14, 34:31-34, 42:22-23

Other LDS teachings say it is necessary

Baptism for the dead D&C 124:29-30, 128:15; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 191; History of the Church 4:568-569; Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pg. 1258; Are Mormons Christians? pg. 19; Doctrines of Salvation 2:175…

     As the reader can plainly see, not one of those core doctrinal teachings is in the Book of Mormon.  The list here is brief in comparison to the hordes of all their teachings.  What we’ve presented here is enough to show the Book of Mormon certainly doesn’t stand up to the claims Joseph Smith and other Church leaders have made.

     How can the Book of Mormon contain the “fullness of the gospel” if their teachings are not to be found in the Book of Mormon?

     If you’re LDS we want you to know that we pray diligently for you each and every day.  We hope you’ll investigate these claims for yourself and see that God is not a God of confusion as it says in 1 Cor. 14:33.  Ask yourself and your leaders why there is such a huge contradiction in what D&C says and what the Book of Mormon doesn’t say.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

1 Cor. 1:18  …

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