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  • What Mormons Believe about God

    What Mormons Believe about God
    2022/12/05
    What we believe about God is probably the most important thing we can believe. Everything else in a world view starts with our concept of God. So let’s try to understand what Mormonism says about God so we can compare our own beliefs.The Unveiling Mormonism podcast pulls back the curtain on Mormon history, culture and doctrine. Join us for new episodes every Monday. Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org/mormonism.Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.God the Father has not always been God. According to Latter-day Saint thinking, there was a time when God was not God. Before he became divine, he existed as a mortal human being. Joseph Smith, the founder and first prophet of Mormonism, put it like this in a message called the King Follett Discourse:God himself was once as we are now…. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for certainty the Character of God,...that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did.Our Heavenly Father, says Smith, was once human, just like us, and dwelt on some planet much like ours. Lorenzo Snow, a later LDS prophet, summarized this doctrine in a famous saying: “As man now is, God once was.” By contrast, the Bible teaches that God has always been God. Psalm 90:2 declares, “Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.” Long before anything else existed, God was still God. One translation says, “From everlasting to everlasting, you are God.”God the Father is an exalted man. But the being Mormons worship as God did not remain in his mortal human state. Over time, he progressed to become a god. This is what the word “exalted” means to Mormons: to be exalted is to become like God, with all the powers and prerogatives of God. In the King Follett Discourse, Joseph Smith added: “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!” In other words, God is the same kind of being as humans are. Thus in Mormonism, deity is not an intrinsic condition, but an attainable status or role. If godhood is intrinsic, humans cannot become gods, because humans are a different kind of being than God is. But to Latter-day Saints, God is not a different sort of being, the same kind of being who has achieved a higher standing or position. By contrast, the Bible teaches that God is not a man, nor ever was a man. Number 23:19 states quite clearly, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind.” God does not have the failings that human beings have, such as deceit or uncertainty. The reason is not because he is more highly evolved or exalted than we are in our present condition. The reason is because God is not human at all.God the Father has a physical body of flesh and bone. If God is an exalted human being, it follows that he would have the same anatomy as we do. This is expressed in a training manual called Gospel Principles: “His eternal spirit is housed in a tangible body of flesh and bones.” It makes sense that if God is or was a man, he would have a human body with two arms, two legs, internal organs, and the rest. But the Bible teaches that God does not have a body. God is a spirit. In John 4:24, Jesus simply said, “For God is Spirit….” He didn’t say that God has a spirit, but that God is spirit. By definition, that means God is not embodied. For example, in Luke 24:36-39 (ESV), when the resurrected Jesus appeared to his disciples, they thought he was a spirit. Jesus set them straight: “A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” In Jeremiah 23:24, God says, “Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” This would not be possible if God had a physical, human body - even if it was an exalted or glorified body. Human beings can become like God is now. Earlier we quoted Lorenzo Snow: “As man now is, God once was.” This saying has a second part: “As God now is, man may be.” If God was once a man who became God, it makes sense that others can do the same thing. But while this idea may be logically consistent within the LDS worldview, the Bible teaches otherwise: that God is a far different kind of being from us. We can never become deities. This is the lie the serpent tempted Adam and Eve with in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:5). He claimed that if they are the forbidden fruit, “You will become like God.” The prophet Isaiah condemns in the strongest terms those who fail to maintain that distinction. He quotes a king who thought he could become like God (Isaiah 14:14-15): “I will climb ...
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    44 分
  • Unpacking the CES Letter

    Unpacking the CES Letter
    2026/09/29

    In this episode we explain the CES Letter—an 84-page document detailing major historical, textual, and scientific discrepancies within LDS history. For many, reading these facts feels like a sudden punch to the gut, causing their entire identity, family dynamic, and spiritual framework to crumble. Rather than retreating into fear, bitterness, or total secularism, this episode offers a compassionate and intellectually honest path forward. Guided by Paul's command in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 to "test everything... hold on to what is good," we examine the actual claims of the CES Letter, contrast the historical reliability of 19th-century Mormon claims with 1st-century biblical Christianity, and point listeners to an unshakeable, grace-filled foundation in the real Jesus of the Bible.

    Key Takeaways
    • Testing Truth Claims is a Biblical Mandate: 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (dokimazo) commands believers to test claims against verifiable evidence rather than shielding their eyes or relying solely on internal emotional feelings.
    • The CES Letter's Impact: Synthesized existing academic research on Joseph Smith's translation methods (seer stone in a hat), Book of Mormon anachronisms and DNA evidence, the Book of Abraham papyri translations, and hidden polyandrous/teenage polygamy history.
    • Structural Failure vs. Spiritual Reality: The historical breakdown of 19th-century Mormon restoration claims does not mean God has failed or that all religion is a scam.
    • Biblical Testing Stand Up to Scrutiny: Unlike Book of Mormon claims, biblical events, locations, and historical figures are backed by extensive manuscript evidence and archaeological verification.
    • From Transactional Performance to Free Grace: Salvation in Christ is not a ladder climbed through temple ordinances and human effort, but a finished gift (Tetelestai—"paid in full") received by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8–9).

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    The Unveiling Mormonism podcast pulls back the curtain on Mormon history, culture and doctrine. Join us for new episodes every Monday.

    Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org/mormonism.

    Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.

    Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.

    Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.

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    22 分
  • What Mormons Believe About Scripture

    What Mormons Believe About Scripture
    2022/12/06
    Our ultimate authority is God. But how can we know what God is like and what he wants? Both Latter-day Saints and traditional Christians agree that God has revealed himself in written scriptures. But the similarities end there. Let’s take a look at what Mormonism teaches about scripture and revelation compared to the biblical perspective.The Unveiling Mormonism podcast pulls back the curtain on Mormon history, culture and doctrine. Join us for new episodes every Monday. Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org/mormonism.Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.A SUFFICIENT BIBLE? The LDS Church recognizes four standard scriptures: the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price (which includes the Book of Moses and the Book of Abraham). As one of four volumes of scripture, then, the Bible alone is not enough for Latter-day Saints. In fact, in the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 29:10), God describes how more scripture, beyond the Bible, is needed: “Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written.” For traditional Christians, however, the Bible stands alone. The early Christian church went through an extensive process to discern what writings had the features that validated them as being from God. Many books claiming divine authority did not make the cut. And unlike other books that claim to be scripture, the Bible is well supported by the external evidence of history and archaeology, as well as its internal consistency over thousands of years. Christians recognize that Jesus, not any book, is God’s final revelation of himself to humanity. Hebrews 1:1 declares, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son.” Jesus himself is the highest revelation of God. Yet the Bible is the source by which we know Jesus. It tells us the history of God’s action leading up to his coming. It reveals his life and work. It explains his message and describes how it spread. It details how his people learned to follow him in the practical issues of life. A CORRUPTED BIBLE? Mormons revere the Bible. Yet paradoxically, they also believe that the Bible cannot ultimately be trusted. The Bible Dictionary published by the LDS Church says:Joseph Smith taught that ‘many important points touching the salvation of men, had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled.’ He also said that the Bible was correct as ‘it came from the pen of the original writers,’ but that ‘ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors.’This explains one reason why the Bible is not the final authority for Mormons. They believe it has been changed over time. Errors have crept in. Thus, the Bible can only be understood in light of LDS scriptures and modern prophets. In fact, Joseph Smith undertook a major revision of the Bible called the Joseph Smith Translation (JST), in which he attempted to correct the errors he believed had corrupted the Bible. (For various reasons, the JST is not the official Bible of the LDS Church. Instead, they use the King James Version.) By contrast, historic Christianity holds that the Bible has been divinely safeguarded. Latter-day Saints cannot provide any specific example of a text in the Bible where an important truth has been lost, or where intentional corruption has occurred. To the contrary, an abundance of evidence points to the remarkable preservation of the biblical text. Consider the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in the 1940s. One of the scrolls is a complete copy of the Book of Isaiah dating to about 200 BC. Before this discovery, the oldest copy of Isaiah was written in the 10th century, over 1,000 years later. When compared, these two documents proved to be amazingly similar. This undermines LDS claims of intentional or unintentional corruption, demonstrating how sophisticated and successful were the copying methods used to accurately transmit the biblical text.CONTINUING REVELATION? The LDS view of scripture and revelation diverges from historic Christianity in another important respect. Mormons believe that their church is led by modern day prophets who continue to receive direct revelation from God. One of their recent prophets, Spencer W. Kimball, said, “But again we testify to the world that revelation continues and that the vaults and files of the Church contain these revelations which come month to month and day to day.” For example, consider one important example from Kimball’s own tenure as the ...
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    46 分
  • What Mormons Believe About Humanity

    What Mormons Believe About Humanity
    2022/12/13
    What does it mean to be human? What kind of beings are we, and how do we relate to God and everything God made? While Latter-day Saints use many words and phrases familiar to traditional Christianity, the underlying world view of Mormonism is very different from historic, biblical Christian faith. This is seen most dramatically when comparing what the two groups believe about the nature of God and the nature of human beings.Life Before Birth?Latter-day Saints believe that all human beings are eternal spirits. We existed before this earthly life as God’s spirit children. In fact, they believe that human beings are uncreated and co-eternal with God. As the LDS scripture Doctrine and Covenants says, “Man was also in the beginning with God'' (93:29). In this view, human beings are not dependent on God for their ultimate existence. As premortal spirits, humans are seen as literal sons and daughters of heavenly parents. In the Pearl of Great Price (Abraham 3:22) we read, “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones.” Apparently God provided these primordial “intelligences” with spirit bodies in the premortal life.The Bible teaches, however, that human life and existence begins in this world. Genesis 2:7 states, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” When God made Adam, he did not place an already existing personal spirit into a physical body. Instead, he animated that body with the breath of life. The man’s personal existence as a living being began at that moment.Literal Offspring of God?When Mormons say that human spirits were created by God, they mean that we actually became God’s spirit children in the spirit world, before our birth. The LDS instruction manual Gospel Principles says:All men and women are literally the sons and daughters of God. ‘Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth…’”To Latter-day Saints, we are related to God in a similar way that children are related to their earthly parents. Hence we were not simply created by God, but “begotten and born” by our heavenly parents (God the Father and his spouse) - although LDS scriptures and prophets have not made explicit exactly how this works.By contrast, the Bible teaches that being a child of God is not a genetic relationship, but a spiritual one. Human beings become children of God by faith. John 1:12-13 says, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.” In other words, only those who trust in Jesus alone as Savior can join God’s eternal family and become children of God. Romans 8:14-16 puts it like this:For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.Anyone can become a child of God by adoption, when we receive His Spirit at the point of spiritual conversion. That happens in this life, not in some premortal existence.The Same Kind of Being as God?If people are literal children of God, it follows that we are of the same species as God. The LDS Church website, in an article called “Becoming Like God,” states:Latter-day Saints see all people as children of God in a full and complete sense; they consider every person divine in origin, nature, and potential. Each has an eternal core and is ‘a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents.’In Mormon thought, human beings are just as “divine in origin, nature, and potential” as God himself is. The biblical view of humanity is vastly different. The Bible teaches that humans are finite creatures, not potential deities. Psalm 8:4-5 says, “What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.” It’s true that human beings are amazing creatures. Made in the image of God, we bear tremendous glory. We reflect God in important ways. But we are creatures - “mere mortals” who are, in fact, “lower than God.”God is not an exalted man, and we do not have a divine nature or divine potential. God and humans are two completely different kinds of beings. God is infinite and self-existent. We are finite and dependent on God for our existence.Can You Become a God?As this entire article has implied, Mormons believe that humans can become powerful beings...
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    44 分
  • What Mormons Believe About Salvation

    What Mormons Believe About Salvation
    2022/12/20
    One of the biggest questions religion seeks to answer is: “How can a person be right with God?” This is the question of salvation. As we consider what Mormonism teaches about salvation in comparison to historic, biblical Christianity, remember what is at stake: a person’s eternal destiny.Two Kinds of Salvation?In Mormonism, immortality means that every human being will be resurrected to life after death. LDS apostle Russell M. Nelson taught, “To be saved—or to gain salvation—means to be saved from physical and spiritual death. Because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, all people will be resurrected and saved from physical death.” This promise applies to all people regardless of what they believe or how they live. The LDS Gospel Principles manual says, “Because of His Atonement, everyone born on this earth will be resurrected…. This condition is called immortality.”Exaltation, on the other hand, is limited to those who fulfill a rigorous set of requirements, who will thus attain the highest level of heaven. In his address, Russell Nelson continued:People may also be saved from individual spiritual death through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, by their faith in Him, by living in obedience to the laws and ordinances of His gospel, and by serving Him. To be exalted—or to gain exaltation—refers to the highest state of happiness and glory in the celestial realm.Only the most worthy Latter-day Saints - those who keep all their covenants and complete all the required ordinances - will qualify for exaltation. Thus Mormonism blends universalism and exclusivism. One on level, all people are saved. But only the elite are exalted.By contrast to this, the Bible envisions only one salvation. This salvation has many elements: forgiveness of sins, regeneration to a new life, reconciliation with God, adoption into God’s family, a glorious future resurrection, and more. But the Bible never suggests different kinds of salvation, based on different requirements, for different kinds of people. Jesus said, in Matthew 7:13-14: You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.Only one gateway leads to salvation. As we will see, the few who find it are not those who work the hardest to be worthy.Is God’s Grace Enough?Latter-day Saints value God’s grace. But they believe people are saved - in the highest sense - by God’s grace plus their own good works. The Book of Mormon outlines this in 2 Nephi 25:23:For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.According to this, people are saved by grace, but not by grace alone. Grace only takes effect “after all we can do.” The Pearl of Grace Price makes this clear (Articles of Faith 3): “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” In other words, Jesus’ atoning work is a necessary precondition for salvation, but it does not actually save anyone from their sins unless they live the right kind of life. Grace merely gives Mormons the opportunity to add the needed good works to obtain forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God.However, the Bible teaches that grace is the unconditional gift of God to meet our needs. We can be right with God by his grace alone, not by the addition of any good works. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Because our sin renders us incapable of proving ourselves worthy, eternal life in God’s presence cannot be based on our good works. It can only be a free gift of God. The only basis for our salvation is Jesus’ death on the cross, where he paid the full penalty for our sin.The very nature of grace makes it impossible for salvation to be a combination of grace and works. Romans 11:16 explains, “And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.” Grace and works are mutually exclusive. As soon as you add an element of good works to the equation, you lose grace. Think about the nature of gift. If you pay even a small amount for something, it is not a gift, but a purchase.True salvation is a divine act that makes a person new. So while obedience cannot earn our salvation, it is the natural outcome of being saved, as Ephesians 2:8-10 explain:God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us ...
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    53 分
  • What Mormons Believe About Eternity

    What Mormons Believe About Eternity
    2022/12/27
    What happens after this life is over? This topic builds on everything we have looked at in the first four lessons of this series to explore what Mormonism teaches about what happens after death, compared to traditional Christian beliefs.Does Everyone Go to Heaven?The LDS Church teaches that there are three levels of heaven, along with another place called “outer darkness.” As the LDS manual Gospel Fundamentals puts it:Each of us will be assigned to one of four places, according to how faithful to Jesus Christ we were. We will go to the kingdom we have prepared for by the choices we have made. These four places are the celestial kingdom, the terrestrial kingdom, the telestial kingdom, and outer darkness.The celestial kingdom is where God the Father lives. It is reserved for only the most worthy Latter-day Saints who lived up to all the laws and ordinances of the LDS gospel. The terrestrial kingdom is the eternal destination for honorable people who never joined Mormonism or for Latter-day Saints who did not fulfill all the requirements for exaltation. The telestial kingdom will be populated by those who followed the beliefs of the world instead of Jesus, including thieves, murderers, adulterers, and false prophets. Outer darkness is reserved for Satan and his demons. According to the Gospel Principles manual, only a very few people will be sent there - those who knew the truth and the power of God but denied him.By contrast, the Bible talks about only two destinations after this life: heaven and hell. Jesus outlined these two alternatives in John 3:36: “Anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” In John 5:24, he added, “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” Thus every human being faces one of these two eternal futures: destruction or life; eternal punishment or eternal joy in God’s presence. Is Heaven About Becoming a God?Mormons believe that the celestial kingdom has three degrees of glory within it. Those in the highest level can progress eternally toward godhood. Gospel Principles says, “Those who inherit the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, who become gods, must have been married for eternity in the temple...” One LDS definition of “damnation” is “cessation of progress.” In the lower levels of heaven, people are “damned” because only if they had made it to the celestial kingdom could they have progressed toward deity. As seen in a previous lesson, human beings cannot become gods. But consider also that according to the Bible, the focus in heaven is not on us and our progression, but on our relationship with God. The presence of God is what makes heaven amazing. Revelation 21:3-5 describes what heaven is like:I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” The hope of heaven is God’s presence with his people. Christians look forward to the healing of all sorrow and pain, and the renewal of all things. But this only occurs because “God himself will be with them.” Revelation 21:22-23 builds on this picture:I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.The surpassing glory of heaven is that God the Father and Jesus Christ are there. Everything revolves around them - not around us.Do Families Last Forever?One doctrine unique to Mormonism is the belief that “families are forever” - at least for those in the celestial kingdom. The LDS publication The Family: A Proclamation to the World explains:The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.”Not only can families be united eternally, the family is the basic unit of exaltation. Without being united to a family for eternity, a person cannot achieve godhood or fulfill the prerogatives of deity. While forever families may seem appealing, the Bible presents an even better scenario. In Christ, we become part of God’s eternal family. The Bible often portrays Christians as brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus himself said (Mark 3:33-35), “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?... Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and ...
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    53 分
  • The Sketchy History of Joseph Smith

    The Sketchy History of Joseph Smith
    2023/01/02
    Latter-day Saints revere Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. His role is absolutely central to the claims of Mormonism. LDS Church President Joseph Fielding Smith highlighted this important role:“Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned, or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 1:188. Italics in original)In light of this, it makes sense to examine the story of Joseph Smith to evaluate what we should think of him. Consider five elements of his story that bear upon this question.Occult Treasure Hunting Money digging was a fairly common practice in frontier America in the late 1700s and early 1800s. It involved certain rituals or ceremonies performed to obtain buried treasure. The treasure was thought to be guarded by evil spirits. Joseph Smith as a young man offered his services for hire as a money digger. Smith’s entire family practiced various folk-magic practices, including visions, dreams and occult rituals.Joseph’s method in finding lost treasure involved the use of a seer stone, which he discovered in 1822 while digging a well for a neighbor. He would place this small rock in his hat and pull his hat up over his face to block out the light. He claimed that he could see supernaturally through the stone to help locate the place where the treasure was buried.The Vagrant Act, a New York law at the time, defined a disorderly person to include one who pretended to have skill in palm reading, telling fortunes, or discovering where lost goods could be found. In 1826 - during the period while Joseph was supposedly being prepared by God to receive the gold plates containing the Book of Mormon - he was arrested, brought before a judge, and charged with being a “glass-looker” and a disorderly person. The judge determined that Joseph was guilty, though no penalty was administered.Shortly after this, Joseph stopped money digging but kept the seer stone. It was with this stone that he claimed to find the gold plates and to later produce the Book of Mormon. Historians have documented many points of connection between Joseph’s early occult practices and the origins of the Book of Mormon.The First Vision Joseph Smith’s “First Vision” is a key part of the LDS story and establishes several unique LDS beliefs. The official account of this vision describes how the 14-year-old Smith, eager to learn the truth about which of the competing Christian churches was true, went to a secluded grove to ask God. There God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him not to join any of them, for all of them were apostate. That event launched the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith to restore Jesus’ original church to the earth. The official account, now included in LDS scriptures, was written by Joseph Smith in 1838, 18 years after the events it recounts. Yet historical research in recent years has uncovered eight other accounts of the First Vision. Some were written by Smith himself, or were recorded by others who heard Smith tell about it. Most of these accounts are earlier than the official version. It appears that over time, the story changed and grew into its final form. In some versions, two personages appear to Smith. In another, only “the Lord” appears. In others, the glorious personage is an angel. In the official version, the personages tell Smith that all churches are corrupt. In another version, this message comes from an angel. In other versions, this message is missing. In some versions, In one version, Smith reports that he was told, “Your sins are forgiven.” But this is absent in other versions. The official account says that Joseph was 14 when he had the vision. Another version, in Smith’s own handwriting, says that he was 15. Others give his age as 17. The LDS Church’s Gospel Topics Essay: First Vision AccountsThe Kirtland Banking ScandalThe LDS Church was officially founded in 1830 in New York, near Joseph Smith’s home town. By the early 1830s Smith and his followers moved to Kirtland Ohio, where a number of converts had joined the church. New converts from other areas converged on Kirtland to be part of the LDS community. But the church’s presence in Ohio didn’t last long.There was friction with the locals on a number of points, which led to persecution. But one significant issue emerged when Joseph Smith and other LDS leaders organized an illegal bank in 1836, called the Kirtland Safety Society. Smith not only broke the law to form the bank; he had no expertise in financial matters and hid behind his prophetic mantle to convince others to fund the bank, claiming that the audible voice of God instructed him to establish it. He prophesied that the bank would grow and flourish, surviving when others failed. Yet this bank failed in 1837, releasing a ...
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    54 分
  • Polygamy, Racism, and Other Changing Doctrines of Mormonism

    Polygamy, Racism, and Other Changing Doctrines of Mormonism
    2023/01/09
    Because the LDS Church claims to be led by divine revelation, major changes in doctrine are startling. If LDS prophets are led by God, one might expect current prophets to agree with previous ones. But the LDS principle of continuing revelation allows new “truths” to supersede past ones. Yet changes in LDS teachings raise the question of whether past prophets were wrong. And what will be said in 50 years about the prophets Mormons revere and obey today? With this in mind, consider some major changes in Mormon doctrine over the years.Polygamy The Book of Mormon expressly prohibits polygamy, Jacob 2:27-30: “There shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none.” The 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants (Section 101) agrees: Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again. Yet in the 1830s, Joseph Smith began exploring the possibility of polygamy. He formally (but secretly) introduced plural marriage in 1843. The doctrine was not embraced openly until 1852, when the Mormons were safely established in Utah. For the next 40 years, polygamy was taught as a requirement for the highest levels of heaven. By the 1880s, an estimated 20-30% of Mormon families practiced polygamy.Yet polygamy was strongly rejected by the American public as a barbaric practice. The United States government applied increasingly stern measures against it. In 1887, the Edmunds-Tucker Act made polygamy a federal offense and authorized the seizure of LDS Church assets. Polygamous men were imprisoned. Families moved to Mexico and Canada, or went underground. Under pressure to preserve the Church from destruction at the hands of the United States government, LDS President Wilford Woodruff released a statement in 1890 - called “The Manifesto” - declaring his intention to submit to the laws of the land, and advising members of the Church to refrain from entering any illegal marriage. Even so, plural marriages continued to be performed in secret, until polygamy was completed forbidden by the LDS Church in 1904.Many people, out of faithfulness to Joseph Smith, continued to practice polygamy outside the official LDS Church. Known as “fundamentalists”, several close-knit polygamous communities survive across the western United States to this day. They believe that the mainstream LDS Church is apostate, while they represent original Mormonism..While plural marriage is now strictly forbidden in the LDS Church, it was never renounced as an eternal principle. The Church permits men to be married in LDS temples “for eternity” to more than one wife. In fact, the current LDS prophet, Russell M. Nelson, is eternally sealed to two women.After being a mainstay of Mormonism for 50 years, polygamy was shelved so that the LDS Church could survive. But marriage laws in the United States have changed considerably since 1890. Polygamy is no longer prosecuted as a crime. Will LDS prophets reveal that faithful Mormons should practice plural marriage again?The LDS Church’s Gospel Topics Essays: Plural Marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Manifesto and the End of Plural MarriageRacismFor decades, men of black African descent could not hold the LDS priesthood. (In Mormonism, priesthood is the authority to administer key ordinances in God’s name. No women have ever been allowed to hold this priesthood.)In the 1800s, Mormonism, like most American religions, had a mixed report card on racism. Some early Mormons were pro-slavery, some anti-slavery, and some neutral. During Joseph Smith’s time, two black men were ordained to the LDS priesthood, although this privilege was later revoked. The Book of Mormon reflects the view that dark skin is a curse from God in response to spiritual depravity. In the Utah period, Mormonism was marked by a demeaning attitude toward blacks. It was commonly taught, well into the 2oth century, that black skin was God’s curse on Cain (Genesis 4:11-15). In LDS thought, a great war in heaven divided God’s spirit children in the premortal existence. Those born black in this life were said to have been less valiant in that heavenly war. Brigham Young, the 2nd LDS Church President and Prophet, had a low view of blacks:You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. (Journal of Discourses: 7:290-291).This is why interracial marriage was not allowed and social interaction between the races was officially discouraged well into the 1960s and 1970s. It is also the rationale for denying blacks the priesthood and not allowing them to receive temple ...
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