Top 10 Mormon Problems Explained

every year thousands of people join the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints commonly referred to as the Mormon or LDS Church however every year thousands of LDS members also resign from the church or become inactive after learning disturbing information about their church and its historical foundations the Mormon Church does not inform prospective members about the faith challenging aspects of its history the vast majority of members including bishops and state presidents are completely unaware of 10 major issues that cast serious doubt on the LDS Church's claim of being the one true church the Mormon missionaries present the story of Joseph Smith founding the church as a plausible historical account and based solely on the information that the church provides accepting the Joseph Smith's story requires a great deal of faith but it's still believable however if church members find out the complete accurate details of the church's origins it becomes very apparent that the church is not what it claims to be given the numerous insurmountable problems uncovered the sources of information that critics use can be easily verified using Church friendly resources LDS members and local church leaders are unaware of the massive cover-up of church history because members are cautioned to only use church approved resources as reliable information regarding the church the church sanitizes the actual historical accounts to make it appear to be much more believable than it really is we present 10 of the most significant historical problems undermining the LDS Church that most latter-day saints are unaware of the details are easily researched on the internet and more complete information is provided at wwm or truth foundation com here then is a brief introduction to these top 10 issues one of the more damaging claims to the LDS Church is the scripture known as The Book of Abraham unlike the Book of Mormon which Joseph Smith claimed was translated from gold plates that were then taken away from the earth by an angel the Book of Abraham was translated by Smith from Egyptian papyri Smith proudly displayed the papyri for visitors so anyone could see this ancient manuscript that he translated into Scripture when the Book of Abraham was translated by Joseph Smith in the first half of the nineteenth century no one in North America could decipher Egyptian so Joseph Smith could say the hieroglyphics meant anything he wanted and he could not be proven wrong after scholars deciphered the rosetta stone and the Egyptian language they could now examine the Book of Abraham papyri to see if Joseph was right the original papyri were believed to be lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 however copies of the three facts similes are found in every copy of the Book of Abraham Joseph Smith said that the first facsimile depicted a pagan priest attempting to sacrifice the Old Testament prophet abraham on an altar however Egyptologists that have examined the facsimile x' state that these are common egyptian funeral documents known as the breathing primitive whore and have absolutely nothing to do with abraham Joseph's translation identified specific characters in the three feck similes however Egyptologists declare that he got nothing right he apparently made up his own translation because he could not decipher the Egyptian characters in 1912 eight Egyptologists were asked to examine the facts similes and Joseph's translations they all stated independently that Joseph's translations of the facsimile s were complete nonsense this prompted the New York Times to publish an article proclaiming the Mormon prophet fraud in 1966 one of the facts Emily's and much of the missing papyri were found in the New York Metropolitan Museum and given to the church a year later the papyri were originally attached to the feck similes these papyri were also examined by Egyptologists and again found to be common Egyptian funeral documents about someone named Horace and had nothing at all to do with Abraham of the Old Testament the church has always had in its possession documents commonly referred to as the Egyptian alphabet and grammar by Joseph Smith few members know much about them the documents illustrate Joseph's method for deciphering the Egyptian language Smith documented his detailed instructions on how to translate the Egyptian language the Egyptian alphabet and grammar book shows various Egyptian hieroglyphics with the translation from the Book of Abraham as it reads in the LDS scriptures when the papyri were rediscovered in 1966 these exact hieroglyphic symbols were found in the same order on the papyri as on the Egyptian alphabet and grammar documents by Joseph Smith this confirms that the source of the Book of Abraham scripture is the papyri now in the church's possession remember that Egyptologists say the Smith translation of the papyri is pure fabrication and has nothing to do with Abraham there are also problems with the text of the Book of Abraham Smith put forth strange theories of astronomy about how our Sun gets its light from another star instead of through nuclear fusion as we know today there are several examples of anachronism zin the Book of Abraham where the book mentions the Chaldeans which did not exist until many centuries after Abraham lived Smith also incorrectly used words like Egypt as' and Pharaoh the story of the LDS Church really begins with Joseph Smith's vision that he reportedly had in 1820 of the father and son referred to as the first vision in the vision God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith and tell him that he is not to join any of the churches for they are all wrong and that Christ's true church would be restored Joseph said that he was persecuted for telling people that he had seen a vision however there is simply no evidence that Joseph told anyone about the vision until many years later and not until after the Book of Mormon was published there are no accounts in the newspapers by neighbors preachers or even by the members of Joseph's own family there is much evidence to indicate that the first vision never really happened and was added later to boost Joseph's Authority especially troubling is that the first vision is not mentioned in either the official history of the church written in 1835 by Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith or by Joseph zone mother Lucy Mac Smith in the original version of her biographical sketch of Joseph there is a long-standing internet challenge by Barah Cael who will give $2,000 to anyone who can show a source that existed prior to 1835 15 years after the claimed first vision that Joseph Smith even claimed that he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ as separate beings when he was a teenager and that they told him not to join any of the existing churches note that he's not asking that anyone prove that the first vision actually happened just that Joseph Smith claimed that it happened the challenge goes unanswered every year there are several different accounts of the first vision with significant differences one account says that there were two beings another said it was just the Lord other Smith accounts said it was many angels or an angel the earliest printed account in Joseph's own handwriting merely describes the Lord with no mention of God the Father and the son as separate personages Joseph also changed his age and circumstances among the various accounts when Joseph Smith published the Book of Mormon in 1830 his views concerning God were similar to those held by Christian ministers of his day although Joseph believed that there was only one God when he translated the gold plates of the Book of Mormon he later concluded that there were two gods and later still concluded that there were many God's evidence of Smith's early views of the Godhead are found in the first edition of the Book of Mormon which originally referred to Jesus as God and then was later altered to read son of God Joseph also changed several passages to make his inspired version of the Bible Joseph's corrected edition identified the father the Sun is the same God for example he revised Luke chapter 10 verse 22 to show Jesus teaching that no man knoweth that the Sun is the father and the father is the Sun but him to whom the Sun will reveal it this is in contradiction to his later teaching and current LDS doctrine that the father and son are separate beings there are other inconsistencies in the first vision stories Smith claimed that one of the questions that drove him to seek out of the Lord in prayer was the revival atmosphere in upstate New York that is always referred to in connection with the first vision however there is no evidence that a revival took place in Palmyra New York prior to Joseph's famous vision there is abundant evidence that no noteworthy revivals took place at all it is also worth noting that there are many accounts before Joseph's published vision of people who claimed to have had remarkably similar visions such as ASA Wilde Elias Smith Salomon Chamberlain James Marsh and Charles Finney one of these visions by Norris Stearns in 1815 is so similar to Joseph's first vision that faithful LDS historian Richard Bushman said that Joseph's adopted it as his own Mormons claimed that the Book of Mormon is a book translated by Joseph Smith from gold plates that were buried near his home in upstate New York Smith declared that the gold plates had engraved on them a history of the ancestors of the American Indians that came from Israel thousands of years ago an ancient American Indian named Moroni who originally buried the plates some 1500 years before appeared to Joseph as an angel and told him where to find the gold plates the gold plates were inscribed with an unknown language referred to as reformed Egyptian the church teaches that Joseph Smith used seer stones or rocks with supernatural power referred to as the Urim and Thummim to translate the plates into the scripture known as the Book of Mormon Oliver Cowdery served as scribe for most of the present-day Book of Mormon Joseph dictated and Oliver wrote the dictation the Urim and Thummim was preserved in a stone box along with the gold plates for over 1500 years for the purpose of enabling Joseph Smith to translate the writings on the gold plates numerous illustrations in all the various official church magazines including the ends in various church books and in paintings adorning LDS chapels temples and visitor centers throughout the world depict Joseph translating the Book of Mormon by showing him in deep concentration as he studied the gold plates the impression given is that the dictation process involved Joseph's direct visual contact with the plates usually there was a blanket between Joseph and the scribe the scribes were never allowed to see the plates as Joseph was translating however the actual method Joseph Smith used was to put a favorite stone a rock purported to have magical properties in a hat and dictate the Book of Mormon to ascribe Book of Mormon witness David Whitmer wrote 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 many others friendly to Smith confirm this was the method it is even briefly mentioned by apostle Russell M Nelson in the July 1993 LDS Church magazine at the ends in' however very few LDS members even know about this method of translation since the church continues to publish images of Joseph Smith appearing to actually study the gold plates to translate the Book of Mormon also misleading is that the very instrument preserved by the Nephites in a stone box for thousands of years for the sole purpose of translating the plates was not used to translate the Book of Mormon as church leaders name the Urim and Thummim described as a set of stones set in a pair of spectacles fastened to a breastplate were reportedly taken away by the angel when Joseph lost the first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon for some reason Smith failed to explain the plates were returned but the Urim and Thummim was kept by the angel and never returned to him in fact the name Urim and Thummim was never used by Joseph Smith with reference to translating the Book of Mormon until after 1833 some three years after the Book of Mormon was published in 1833 a close associate of Joseph Smith W W Phelps speculated that the ancient knee fight interpreters mentioned in the Book of Mormon might be the Urim and Thummim of the Old Testament Phelps speculation quickly became popular to the point where the church then rewrote passages in the Doctrine and Covenants to make sure that the seer stones were always referred to as the Urim and Thummim it sounded more authentic and Biblical that way Joseph thought that the stone he put into the hat to translate the Book of Mormon had magical properties in reality the stone was an ordinary stone that Joseph found some twenty feet underground while he was digging well with his brother Hyrum on willard chases property years before the Book of Mormon was translated also troubling is that the plates which were carefully in painstakingly made and cared for over thousands of years were never used in the translation process a reasonable question is why the ancient Indians bothered making them in the first place Joseph's favorite mystical stone was used by Joseph to receive revelation from God for the church in one instance it told Joseph whom he should marry Joseph also used these magic rocks or seer stones when he attempted to find treasure Isaac Hale the father of Emma Hale Smith stated in an 1834 affidavit the manner in which he pretended to read and interpret was the same as when he looked for the money diggers with a stone in his hat and his hat over his face while the book of plates were at the same time hid in the woods it should be noted that Joseph continued to look for treasure using a stone in a hat after he supposedly experienced the first vision but before the Book of Mormon was published of course Joseph never located any treasure using his seer stone the church leads the members to believe that the gold plates were actually used in the translation process it continues to publish misleading images of a process that make the process look divine the church reportedly still has in its possession actual steers stones that Joseph used to translate the Book of Mormon and receive revelations through but these are never shown or discussed by the church the missionaries also never teach investigators that Joseph's translated the Book of Mormon using a stone he found while digging a well without even using the plates at all the reason is obvious few people would join the Mormon Church if they knew how the Book of Mormon was actually written imagine what would happen if the current president of the Church said he received revelation by putting his face in a hat peering at a magic stone the Book of Mormon is the story of two groups of people that came to the Americas from Israel approximately 1,000 years apart from each other Smith claimed that the first group referred to as the Jared i'ts came to America from the Tower of Babel around 2200 BC they grew into a huge nation of millions and annihilated each other in about 600 BC the second group came to America from Israel about 600 BC they grew into a huge nation split into two warring groups known as the Nephites white skinned and the Lamanites dark-skinned eventually the Lamanites exterminated the Nephites in 400 AD the Book of Mormon civilizations were steel smelting chariot driving Christ worshiping temple building people that multiplied into millions but there is no evidence that any of these people ever existed the Book of Mormon is not supported by any archaeological anthropological or linguistic evidence there is no evidence of any Hebrew culture in the Americas DNA evidence indicates that the natives of the Americas originated from Siberia and came across the Bering Strait and not from the Middle East just as scientists have explained for decades isn't it strange that we have found much evidence of many other cultures that existed in the Americas like the Aztecs Mayans Toltecs etc yet not a single Nephite coin steel sword armor or sample of reformed Egyptian writing has ever been discovered this is unbelievable considering the span of Book of Mormon civilizations known as the Jared i'ts Nephites and Lamanites who numbered in the millions over the 2600 years that these various people reportedly flourished there are many anachronism zin the Book of Mormon these are items that scientists say did not exist in the Americas during Book of Mormon times such as the numerous animals plants metals and cultural artifacts mentioned in the book for examples horses elephants wheat barley steel and silk did not exist in the Americas when Smith claimed consider horses mentioned in the Book of Mormon horses are cited 14 times in the book there is no evidence that horses existed on the american continent during the twenty-six hundred year history of the Book of Mormon horses evolved in North America but became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene era thousands of years before the Book of Mormon people came to America Smith did not know that modern horses did not reappear in the Americas until Columbus and the Spaniards brought them from Europe with the numerous and Akron isms Mormons cannot ask non-mormons to view this book as an actual account of the Americas or as a book of sacred scripture the Book of Mormon quotes the King James version of the Bible extensively this might be understandable since Smith claimed that the Nephites had the Old Testament on plates made of brass and brought it with them to the new world it's also conceivable that the King James Version verbatim quotes from the New Testament could be explained Jesus really did visit them and taught the exact same things in the Americas that he taught in Jerusalem the problem is that the King James Version has some acknowledged translation errors the Book of Mormon contains the same errors that are unique to the King James Version of the Bible obviously the Nephite Old Testament Bible wouldn't have contained 17th century translation errors in addition the italicized words in the King James Bible are words that were added by the translators this was necessary when translating from one language to another because word meanings and idioms change slightly so to produce a more readable translation the King James translators in the 17th century added certain words to the Bible text to plainly indicate to readers that these words were not in the available manuscripts they were set in italics the problem is the Book of Mormon contains the identical italicized words which could not be unless Joseph's copied the King James Version Bible to construct the Book of Mormon the Book of Mormon is purportedly a record of two great civilizations that lived on the American continent spanning a period of over 2600 years from approximately 2200 BC to 400 AD during this time period the text of the book of Mormon describes highly populated cultures developing from extremely small colonization groups the millions of people Smith referred to could have only come about if the population grew at a rate many many times greater than what was ever achieved anywhere in the world before the industrialized era of the 20th century the problem is compounded by the constant wars mentioned in the book millions of people were destroyed in numerous gruesome battles the Book of Mormon identifies the Hill Cumorah as the location of huge cataclysmic battles between warring civilizations resulting in over 2.2 million casualties approximately 230,000 Nephites and Lamanites were slain in the 5th century AD and two million Jared i'ts were killed in 600 BC in the same place of course no evidence of huge battles complete with steel swords armor and horses and chariots have ever been found at the Hill Cumorah in New York although Joseph Smith and other prophets claimed that the Hill Cumorah was the location of the battles some faithful latter-day saints today tried to get around that problem by speculating that there must have been another Hill Cumorah perhaps in Central or South America one problem with his ad-hoc hypothesis is that the battles where several million people died would have left evidence lots of it and nowhere in the Americas or anywhere in the world for that matter has evidence of knee fide battles of that magnitude ever been found so if the Book of Mormon took place in Central America as many LDS apologists believe then reasonable people might ask for evidence of this mass extinction in Book of Mormon locations to compare how big these battles were the entire American Civil War claimed the lives of a total of six hundred and twenty thousand soldiers over a four-year period the Book of Mormon battles Smith said happened at kimura claimed over three times as many casualties and in a much more localized area and in a much shorter time frame yet no evidence remains of the steel swords armored chariots etc that were reportedly used by the Book of Mormon peoples nor are there any Indian records that reveal such a cataclysmic slaughter there are many other implausible stories in the Book of Mormon such as the knee fight construction of a temple which was purportedly patterned after the Temple of Solomon there are no physical remains of any structure remotely resembling a temple like Solomon's anywhere on the American continent another problem is the sheer impossibility of a colony the size of Nephi's constructing such an edifice so soon after arriving in the Americas with maybe 5200 people according to the Old Testament accounts Solomon's Temple had over 180,000 workmen constructing it over seven years Smith said the first group of Book of Mormon people the Jared i'ts came to America and ate specially built barges that resembled submarines they were sealed all the way around except for two air holes one located at the top and one on the bottom of the barges so as the barges rolled upside down in the water they could occasionally unstop one of the two air holes these eight airtight rolling rotating barges contained flocks of animals swarms of bees and enough provisions to enable them to travel to the new world over a period of 344 days all eight ships miraculously landed at the same place even though they had no way to steer them there are lots of other problems that most faithful Mormons never bother to question consider the wheel according to the Book of Mormon the travelers from the old world brought one of the greatest inventions of all time with them the wheel which they use to make chariots as mentioned many times in the Book of Mormon yet there have never been any chariots or other large wheeled objects found in ancient America that would mean that all knowledge of this most useful invention was lost and not used by Nephites and Lamanites sentence this is very improbable the list of reasons why the Book of Mormon is not really a historical document is very long and well researched we encourage serious believers in the Book of Mormon to review the list faithful latter-day saints believe that a farmer like Joseph Smith could not have written a long historical book like the Book of Mormon so the only other explanation is that the Book of Mormon must have come from God this needs to be put into perspective most objective readers agree that the Book of Mormon pales in comparison to such literary masterpieces as A Tale of Two Cities or more in peace or any of the works by William Shakespeare many books are more complex and difficult to write than the Book of Mormon in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings fiction series not only are multiple interacting civilizations fully developed but also their own languages if William Shakespeare had said that an angel gave him a set of gold plates from which he translated the Book of Mormon no one would have believed him because everyone knows that mr. Shakespeare was certainly capable of writing a great book based on his authorship of other in of works reasonable people are certain that the Book of Mormon is not such a spectacular book that no one on the planet could have possibly written it without divine intervention but could Joseph Smith have authored it BH Roberts was a prominent leader and faithful member of the church often regarded as one of the brightest intellectual leaders in the LDS Church Roberts was a general authority the president of the first Council of 70 and the assistant church historian though BH Roberts remained faithful to the church and was a mighty Book of Mormon defender he was honest and bold enough to declare in his writings that Joseph Smith was indeed capable of creating the Book of Mormon Roberts said in light of this evidence there can be no doubt as to the possession of a vividly strong creative imagination by Joseph Smith the prophet an imagination it could with reason be urged which given the suggestions that are to be found in the common knowledge of accepted American antiquities of the times supplemented by such work as Ethan Smith's view of the Hebrews would make it possible for him to create a book such as the Book of Mormon is so we ask faithful Mormons if a church apologist like BH Roberts could admit that it was certainly possible for Joseph Smith to create the Book of Mormon could you accept that possibility as well evidence indicates that Joseph Smith copied from other sources to develop the Book of Mormon there are many parallels that BH Roberts noticed between the Book of Mormon and a book called view of the Hebrews which was written by Ethan Smith no relation to Joseph's view of the Hebrews was a popular book published in New England in 1823 which said that the American Indians were really descended from Hebrews and that they came to the Americas and separated into two factions one civilized and one wild and bloodthirsty there were lots of wars between them and finally the wild faction wiped out the civilized faction the book begins with the destruction of Jerusalem quotes a lot from Isaiah references the Urim and Thummim and also mentions a prophet standing on a wall declaring woe unto the people while the people shoot arrows at him this is remarkably similar to the premise of the Book of Mormon the Book of Mormon also quotes extensively from the King James Version of the Bible copies a dream experienced by Joseph's father uses battle strategies of the war of 1812 uses sermon topics related to Joseph's era and ideas from contemporary authors of Joseph Smith there are a growing number of critics who believe that Sidney Rigdon and Oliver Cowdery helped Smith produce the Book of Mormon one theory proposes that they used an unpublished manuscript by the author Solomon Spalding which was modified with the religious content Sidney Rigdon advocated faithful and loyal latter-day saints proclaimed that no one else of Joseph Smith's comparable background ever produced anything well beyond their apparent capabilities as Joseph did if there are others that produced works that far exceeded their capabilities then this would show that Joseph's experience was not unique and perhaps there are more earthly explanations for the Book of Mormons origins consider patience worth in the early 1900's a young woman by the name of mrs. pearl Curran all of a sudden started writing remarkable poems and full-length novels which she did through some sort of automatic writing where she claimed that she was channeling the spirit of a 17th century woman named patience worth much like Joseph Smith pearl Quran had a limited education and showed no unusual writing abilities before she started to channel patience worth she also dictated her amazing works to ascribe spontaneously and in front of others no curtain between them she amazed people and defied critics throughout her life no evidence was ever found of trickery or fraud patience worth proves that God does not need to intervene when an uneducated person is moved to write a book mohamad though uneducated dictated wisdom he said came from the angel Gabriel his sayings became the Quran and is regarded as Holy Scripture by more than a billion Muslims there are many examples of people that have created scriptural texts which they claim are divinely inspired whether they are frauds gifted or delusional people some of their works are extraordinary one contemporary example is Krishna melka this former security guard claims he wrote or translated the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon which Smith did not attempt to translate he has produced 100 chapters as well as the entire 116 pages that were first translated by Smith and then lost he has produced almost 700 pages of manuscript it's remarkable the Scriptures he developed are identical to the Book of Mormons King James English his biography reveals a sincere man he believes that he has actually translated these lost scriptures using the Urim and Thummim name Elka has a number of converts for his new religion please read a little of the sealed portion to see just how much this man has written and how similar it is to the Book of Mormon his work makes it obvious that the Book of Mormon is not impossible to replicate as Mormons claim there are many amazing mysteries that we cannot explain but the first response is not to claim that it must have some supernatural explanation for example how did beethoven write entire symphonies when he was totally deaf we still do not know definitively how the pyramids of Egypt were built how did Einstein come up with the theory of relativity and how did Mozart composed remarkable music as a mere child millions of books exist written by millions of authors the Book of Mormon is just another book if not for its claim of divine origins Mormonism would likely not exist no one outside of the LDS community thinks the Book of Mormon is the work of a genius or as timeless as Shakespeare's writings accomplished authors by Mark Twain read the Book of Mormon and found nothing in it to be divine Twain actually referred to it as chloroform in print if you examine a first edition book of Mormon written in paragraph form without the biblical like chapters in verse number you would discover thousands of grammatical errors it is no different than any other work of commonly written fiction if Joseph had claimed that he wrote the book it is not likely that the first reaction would be impossible an angel must have given it to you a fair question to ask Mormon friends is exactly what parts of the Book of Mormon could not have been written by Joseph Smith if you critically review the Book of Mormon then fine sentences or paragraphs that could not have been written by Joseph Smith using sources he used is there any phrase so profound that someone who studied the Bible attended many religious services was an EXOR tarat his local church and had an excellent imagination could not have written or copied from another source faithful latter-day saints do not question that the principal ancestors of the American Indians wrote the original Book of Mormon on gold plates but they totally reject the idea that a 19th century man could have done the same thing black men were excluded from the LDS priesthood from its inception until 1978 black men and women were not allowed to receive their endowments in the temples until 1978 LDS prophets declared that blacks were denied the priesthood because they were from the lineage of Cain who was cursed with a black skin after killing his brother Abel the prophets and apostles also taught that people were born black because they were less valiant in the cause of truth in a premortal existence because Mormon leaders order missionaries not to honor the principle of informed consent prospective converts including those with black skin are not told about the 148 year priesthood ban on blacks the church doesn't deny it but prefers not to discuss it The Book of Mormon declares that Indians in the Americas split into two opposing cultures the wicked rebellious people were named Lamanites after their wicked leader layman God turned to their skin black because they were wicked second Nephi chapter 5 verse 21 and he God had caused the cursing to come upon them yay even a sore cursing because of their iniquity for behold they had hardened their hearts against him that they had become likened to a flint wherefore as they were white and exceedingly fair and delights him that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them according to the Book of Mormon at times during their history the Lamanites repented and were made white again 3rd Nephi 2 verse 15 and their curse was taken from them and their skin became white like unto the Nephites the Mormon children's books teach this in an unmistakable way laman and Lemuel's followers called themselves the Lamanites they became a dark-skinned people God cursed them because of their wickedness the leaders of the LDS Church have said many truly awful things that can only be interpreted as racist although some of the inspired commentary reflects the period of history from whence it came it is inexcusable for prophets who were supposed to reflect God's will to teach these things from the pulpit as official doctrine of the church one such offensive statement is from the Prophet John Taylor and after the flood we are told that the curse that had been pronounced upon Cain was continued through hams wife as he had married a wife of that seed and why did it pass through the flood because it was necessary that the devil should have a representation upon the earth as well as God the thinking that Black's represents Satan on earth is perhaps one of the most awful things you can say about a group of people Brigham Young uttered numerous racist remarks in his role as inspired mouthpiece of the Lord if the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain those with dark skin the penalty under the law of God is death on the spot this will always be so as late as 1950 the LDS Church taught that blacks could get to heaven but only as servants to the white citizens of the kingdom of God if that Negro is faithful all his days he can and will enter the celestial kingdom he will go there as a servant but he will get celestial glory the LDS Church professes to be the one church on earth that truly represents the will of God led by prophets that communicate with God about important doctrinal matters how could every prophet since Brigham Young be so wrong about something so important if they spoke directly with God why would this not be challenged by any of the prophets since Brigham Young if they were real prophets if the LDS Church was really God's one authorized Church on earth you would expect the leaders to proclaim equality among the races in the 1800's not wait until 1978 to change their position on equal rights in 1843 six small metal plates with strange engravings on them were found by local townspeople in an American Indian burial mound in Kinderhook Illinois Mormons took them to Joseph Smith who examined them and said that the engravings were similar to those on the Book of Mormon plates and they told a story about an ancient Jared aiight Joseph started to translate them and issued the following official statement I insert facts similes of the six brass plates found a near Kinderhook I have translated a portion of them and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found he was a descendant of ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth the previous quote is not from a source ridiculing Mormons it is taken from the Church's official history as recorded in the book history of the church by Joseph Smith it was dedicated by Smith to his scribe William Clayton who was with Joseph on that very day the history of the church and other Mormon publications like the Nauvoo neighbor published drawings of the six plates the LDS church newspaper the times and seasons ran an article on the plates and how they came to be it was speculated that these plates would eventually prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon for over a century numerous LDS publications continued to print the same story of the Kinderhook plates discovery Joseph Smith was killed a year later and never finished the translation but the church continued to support the idea that the Kinderhook plates were genuine and that Joseph could have translated them had he lived many years later a farmer by the name of Wilbur Fugate claimed to have forged the plates as a hoax he wanted to see if Joseph Smith and the Mormons were gullible enough to fall for the prank the plates disappeared during the Civil War period faithful latter-day saints insisted that the place were real as was Joseph's translation about the man the plates described church leaders like BH Roberts attacked the credibility of Wilbur Fugate who claimed to have Forge the plates as a joke one of the plates was found in a Museum in Chicago in 1960 in 1980 the plate was examined and proved to be one of the original Kinderhook plates it was also determined to be a hoax as Fugate had claimed faithful latter-day saint historian Richard Bushman verifies that the church historians believed that the Kinderhook plates were real until 1980 when they were proven false church historians continued to insist on the authenticity of the Kinderhook plates until 1980 when an examination conducted by the Chicago Historical Society possessor of one plate proved it was a 19th century creation another example that casts doubt on Joseph's ability to transfer ancient documents involved a Greek Salter professor Henriques wall visited Joseph on April 19th 1842 he gave the Joseph Smith a very old Greek Salter to examine and asked him what it was Joseph of course translated the Book of Mormon from reform Egyptian and he also translated the Book of Abraham from Egyptian papyri so he apparently knew egyptian well enough to translate it and professor Kaz wall wanted to see what he thought about this ancient Greek manuscript Joseph examined the ancient document and pronounced that it was a dictionary of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics professor Katz wall of course knew Joseph was wrong as this was a known Greek Salter and definitely not Egyptian professor Caswell then informed the Prophet that it was but a plain Greek Salter Joseph then left not to return the practice of Mormon polygamy is difficult for latter-day saints to defend most LDS members believed that it was legal practiced as a charitable way to take care of single women and commanded by God beginning with Joseph Smith and continued by Brigham Young polygamy was illegal in the United States when Joseph Smith started the practice in the 1830s most of Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages occurred in Illinois in the early 1940s the Illinois anti bigamy law enacted February 12 1833 clearly stated that polygamy was illegal it was also illegal in Ohio and Missouri where he took some of his plural wives all of the polygamous marriages were illegal including those in Utah the federal government sponsored increasingly stringent laws to stop polygamy in 1854 the Republican Party ran on the platform of ending the twin relics of barbarism slavery and polygamy Abraham Lincoln signed the meril anti bigamy Act of 1862 closing any loopholes the Mormons mistakenly believed they were operating under believing that the revelations of God took precedence over laws of men Mormons ignored federal law these men including First Presidency councilor George Q cannon were imprisoned for practicing polygamy here are the wanted posters for the president of the church and his first counselor John Taylor the third president of the church announced that he believed in keeping all the laws of the United States except one the law in relation to polygamy the Mormon position violated its own 12th article of faith to obey the laws of the land one common justification that many LDS offer for polygamy was that there were more women than men and the women needed husbands in the harsh West to survive economic pressures on women did not drive polygamy population statistics for Utah show that there were actually more men than women and a Joseph Smith experimented with polygamy at least a decade before the Mormons came to Utah Joseph Smith and subsequent leaders repeatedly lied about polygamy both to the church members and to outsiders Smith first began lying to his first wife Emma lying was justified because they were lying for the Lord there are scores of documents that support this from interviews Church newspaper articles prophets letters sermons etc one clear example of this is found in the documentary history of the church by Joseph Smith in 1844 Smith preached a sermon and said I had not been married scarcely five minutes and made one proclamation of the gospel before it was reported that I had seven wives what a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery and having seven wives when I can only find one at the time Joseph had over 30 polygamous wives another blatant example of lying is when apostle john taylor who later became the third president of the church had a public debate with protestant ministers in france in 1850 he boldly denied that Mormons were practicing polygamy and referred to the Doctrine and Covenants that said we declared that we believe that one man should have one wife and one woman but one husband at the time John Taylor was married to 12 women in fact many LDS converts in Europe were led to believe by Mormon missionaries that those polygamy stories were all lies only to find out the truth when they arrived in Utah Joseph Smith married at least 33 women ten of them were teenagers the youngest was Helen Kimball at 14 years and 11 months old when Joseph was 37 many issues connected to polygamy are disturbing Helens story began when Joseph approached Helens father Heber Kimball Smith told Heber he wanted his wife violet for a plural wife Heber and violet agonized over what Joseph asked they actually said yes but Joseph said it was just a test to see if they were loyal Joseph then asked for the fourteen-year-old daughter Helen to be one of his plural wives Helen didn't want to marry him but when Joseph the Prophet offered her and her entire family eternal salvation and exaltation if she would become one of his wives she agreed Helen thought her marriage to Joseph Smith was only dynastic but to her surprise it was marriage in the full sense helen confided to a close friend in Nauvoo I would never have been sealed to Joseph had I known it was anything more than ceremony I was young and they deceived me by saying the salvation of our whole family depended on it like many of Joseph's wives she had to live in secrecy and forego living a normal life this example indicates a pattern common with Joseph and later prophets of abuse of one's position as an authority figure to coerce women into polygamy of the 33 women that Joseph married 11 of them were already married to other men when Joseph married them all of the men were living at the time and most were good active members of the LDS Church and some were sent on missions by Joseph Smith who then married their wives they were gone although a few knowledgeable church members know the details they usually defend Smith saying that Smith never had sex with these women that's not true either many of these women signed affidavits stating that they had marital relations with Joseph some church historians like Richard Bushman and the pro LDS apologetic organization fair admit that Joseph's marriages including those two women that had other husbands could easily accommodate righteous marital relations are we to believe that God actually commanded the Prophet Joseph to do this and caused the wife the first husband and the children a lot of unnecessary anguish just so the Prophet can have another unneeded wife and the Hereafter it must be noted that Joseph never treated his extra wives as real wives other than reportedly having sex with them they never lived with him and he did not support them although the church wishes to ignore polygamy because it is no longer practiced polygamy still plays a role in the Mormon temple ordinances if a man is sealed married to a woman and the woman dies and he remarries another woman and is sealed to her then Mormons teach that he will have both of those wives in the next life since the year 2000 several apostles have remarried after the death of a spouse including apostles Nelson and Oaks Mormons believe that polygamous marriages will be re-established in the next life as well because that's what the prophets since Joseph's time have declared Mormons still believe in polygamy but it is merely delayed until the next life Brigham Young taught the only men who become God's even the sons of God are those who enter into polygamy others attain unto a glory and may even be permitted to come into the presence of the Father and the son but they cannot reign as kings in glory because they had blessings offered unto them and they refused to accept them more recently apostle Bruce are McConkey taught that polygamy will be practiced again on the earth when Christ returns obviously the holy practice of plural marriage will commence again after the second coming of the Son of Man and the ushering in of the millennium plural marriages are rooted in the notion of sealing for both time and eternity the sealing power which Mormons claim gives them the right to marry for eternity was not restored under LDS belief until April 1836 when Smith claimed Elijah the Prophet appeared to him and gave him the sealing power however Joseph took his first plural wife a teenage maid that lived with the Smiths named Fanny Alger some three years before Smith claimed the sealing power was given to him why would Joseph marry her if he could not be sealed all historical evidence indicates it was an extramarital affair the assistant president of the Church and Book of Mormon witness Oliver Cowdery referred to Joseph's relationship with Fanny as a dirty nasty filthy affair Joseph needed a quick reason to offer Emma for having relations with Fanny in the barn so he claimed an angel with a sword commanded him to practice polygamy it is estimated that 50,000 people live in polygamous families in North America virtually all of these people do so because Joseph Smith claimed to receive a revelation from God commanding him to do it this is one of the fruits of Joseph's polygamy by their fruits ye shall know them if polygamy were really sanctioned by our Heavenly Father and polygamy was an eternal principle expected to be practiced in the next life then naturally the spirit should bear witness to this so why doesn't the spirit make the modern church members feel warm fuzzies inside when it comes to polygamy the spirit doesn't seem to validate the concept of polygamy a statement made by an early member of the First Presidency of the LDS Church Heber Kimball leaves little doubt that polygamy as practiced by the Latter day Saints is a man created institution rather than a divinely inspired principle brother I want you to understand that it is not to be as it has been heretofore the brother missionaries have been in the habit of picking out the prettiest women for themselves before they get here and bringing on the ugly ones for us hereafter you have to bring them all here before taking any of them and let us all have a fair shake faithful Mormons are impressed with the statements in the beginning of the Book of Mormon signed by eight witnesses comprised of Joseph's brothers father and other friends that claimed they saw and handled the gold plates there's also the statement signed by three close associates of Joseph Smith that claimed to have seen the plates and an angel many asked certainly they wouldn't testify to something unless it was true would they Joseph Smith apparently wrote the statement for them to sign he knew none of the witnesses had ever seen the plates with her natural eyes as they themselves later admitted yet when he worded it he deliberately gave the impression they had seen it like you would see any normal object testifying to spiritual visions in the early 1800s was different than today Joseph Spears believed in something called second sight where people would see things as a vision in their mind and accept it as if it were a real experience this is evidenced by what the witnesses actually said Martin Harris stated I never saw the gold plates only in the visionary or entranced state during the printing of the first edition of the book of Morin Martin Harris was in the print shop while the type was being set for the testimony of the three witnesses the printer John Gilbert asked him if he had seen the plates with his naked eye Martin looked down for an instant raised his eyes up and said no I saw them with the spiritual eye so why didn't Martin simply say yes people do not need a spiritual eye if the object exists one of the eight witnesses John Whitmer claimed the plates were shown to him by a supernatural power the obvious question is why was a supernatural power needed for the witnesses to be shown the plates if they really existed the governor of Illinois during Joseph Serra believed that the witnesses were set to continual prayer and other spiritual exercises coupled with fasting they were shown a box said to contain the plates and they were instructed to imagine the plates in there and were eventually persuaded that they had actually seemed the plates with their spiritual eyes for that reason they hesitated to sign the document but were persuaded to do so Joseph may have fabricated a set of plates that were shown briefly to the witnesses Oliver Cowdery had worked as blacksmith and could have helped Joseph make a set of plates as seen earlier with the Kinderhook plates it would not be difficult to make a few plates either painted gold or made of polished copper obviously they couldn't be pure gold as they would weigh over 200 pounds supporting this is that two-thirds of the plates were sealed which meant the Joseph wouldn't have had to make a complete set of plates but rather a block of metal with just a few plates on top would suffice there really is no other reason that makes sense as to why two-thirds of the plates were sealed when they were never translated the Tanners made a set of plates out of lead roofing shingles that are on display at the bookstore is quite possible that the eight witnesses may have really seen some plates but they could not possibly ascertain that the plates were really of ancient origin or contained the Word of God metal plates shown briefly to a handful of people can be done without an Angels help so the focus should really be only on the three witnesses that claim to have seen an angel with the plates LDS leaders paint a very flattering portrait of Martin Harris he is shown as a smart businessman with an unwavering testimony of the Book of Mormon however Martin was known by many of his peers as unstable gullible and superstitious reports admit that he and the other witnesses never literally saw the gold plates but only an object said to be the plates covered with the cloth he believed Smith when told that if he were to look upon the plates God would strike him dead so he dared not look here are some accounts that reveal the real Martin Harris no matter where he went he saw visions and supernatural appearances all around him he told a lawyer in Palmyra while the translation of the Book of Mormon was going on that on the way he met the Lord Jesus Christ who walked along by the side of him in the shape of a deer for three miles talking with him as one man talks with another he had also seen the devil whom he described as a very sleek haired fellow with four feet and a head like that of a donkey once while reading Scripture he reportedly mistook a candles sputtering as a sign that the devil desired him to stop another time he excitedly awoke from his sleep believing that a creature as large as a dog had been upon his chest though a nearby associate saw nothing Martin went to the hill to dig for more plates of gold and he claimed to find a stone box he got quite excited and dug around it very carefully and just when he was ready to lift it up out of the hole some unseen power slid it back into the hill it's likely that Martin had a second sight experienced with the plates he imagined he saw these things with the prompting of Joseph Smith and perhaps Oliver Cowdery on one occasion a sensible and religious gentleman in Palmyra put the following question to Harris did you see the plates with your natural your bodily eyes just as you see this pencil case in my hand Harris replied I did not see them as I do that pencil case yet I saw them with the eye of faith I saw them just as distinctly as I see anything around me though at the time they were covered with a cloth Martin also said he never saw them only as he saw a city through a mountain Martin made so many strange unreliable statements that he can hardly be considered a reliable witness one more exception to the story of the witnesses is that Martin Harris did not claim to see the plates and angel with Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer when they all prayed together nothing happened Martin blamed himself for not having enough faith and excused himself from the group it wasn't until sometime later that Martin claimed to have seen the plates and the angel David Whitmer was superstitious too like many people of his time Whitmer sister and her children said that they saw three men working in the Whitmer field one day since David didn't hire them Whitmer immediately concluded that they were angels and assigned from God that he must help Joseph Smith his sister and children thought they were just ordinary men another time David Whitmer had made plans to meet Joseph and Oliver on his way into town since David had not told them exactly when he was coming he was apparently surprised to have met them on the road when Joseph explained that he had seen envisioned the details of David's trip to harmony David seized upon this to prove that the vision was the only explanation for Joseph and Oliver meeting him on the road where they had previously planned to meet obviously David Whitmer was easy to convince with very little evidence Whitmer made the following well-documented statement if you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice then I tell you that in June 1838 God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens and told me to separate myself from among the Latter day Saints Mormons ask us to believe Whitmer when he claims that Joseph Smith was inspired of God but later when God told him to leave the Saints Mormons asked us to reject his new claims to inspired revelation David Whitmer once described how he was traveling in a wagon with Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery when an old man suddenly appeared by the side of our wagon and saluted us with good morning it is very warm at the same time wiping his face or for it with his hand they chatted with him briefly then while they were looking around the man disappeared Joseph told them it was the angel Moroni amazing that this old man didn't look angelic and strange that the man was sweating you wouldn't think angels would sweat also isn't it strange that when David and Oliver were later allowed to be witnesses and view the angel they had already seen him before so why was it extraordinary to view him again if David could be convinced that an ordinary-looking old man wandering down the road was really an angel and the very same angel he claimed to see later then perhaps David's testimony of seeing an angel is not that convincing John Murphy interviewed David Whitmer in June 1880 when asked for a description of the angel who showed him the plates Whitman replied that the angel had no appearance or shape asked by the interviewer how he then could bear testimony that he had seen and heard an angel Quitman replied have you never had impressions to which the interviewer responded then you had impressions as the Quaker when the spirit moves or as a good Methodist in giving a happy experience a feeling just so replied Whitmer Whitmer seems to have only had an impression or feeling that there was an angel Oliver Cowdery was also superstitious he used a divining rod and claimed that using it he could receive revelations this was originally referred to as the rod of Aaron in the book of Commandments but later changed in the Doctrine and Covenants to say the gift of Aaron many critics believe that Oliver worked closely with Joseph to convince David Whitmer and Martin Harris that they were experiencing angelic visions fasting and intense prayer combined with an aching desire to experience the supernatural with the constant encouragement of Joseph and Oliver was enough to make them think they were experiencing something divine there is no hardcore evidence that Joseph conspired with Oliver to bring forth the Book of Mormon however there are witnesses like Oliver's law partner judge W lang and former apostle William McClelland who both said that Oliver later admitted to them the of Mormon was a hoax if we are to believe the three Book of Mormon witnesses by merely reading their testimonies then why not give these other witnesses equal consideration eight people and many others wrote affidavits testifying that they had read early drafts of the book of Mormon called manuscript story by author Solomon Spalding there are also several of Smith's neighbors like Peter Ingersoll who admitted in sworn affidavits that Joseph said he never had real plates many people that wholeheartedly believed the Book of Mormon witnesses do so because they have a hard time thinking that these people would either lie or could have been deceived why should we not believe the witnesses to the following stories Bigfoot the Loch Ness monster thousands of people claimed to have been abducted by aliens there were seven witnesses to the abduction of Travis Walton they all passed lie-detector tests and none of them have ever recounted their story in the end the testimonies of witnesses especially those long since dead that lived in a time when people believed in magic witches dreams seer stones Second Sight and other superstitions are simply not that convincing by 1847 not a single one of the surviving eleven witnesses except those related to Joseph Smith remained part of the Mormon Church in 1838 church leader Stephen Burnett said I have reflected long and deliberately upon the history of this church and weighed the evidence for and against it loath to give it up but when I came to hear Martin Harris state in public that he never saw the plates with his natural eyes only in vision or imagination neither Oliver Cowdery nor David Whitmer and that the eight witnesses never saw them and hesitated to sign that instrument for that reason but were persuaded to do it the last pedestal gave way and the entire superstructure fell in heap of ruins just because a few superstitious people once claimed to see something extraordinary doesn't mean it really happened according to the LDS Church the temple ceremony is one of the most important ordinances instituted by Joseph Smith when God restored the gospel to earth receiving your endowment in a Mormon temple ceremony is a necessary ordinance for exaltation according to Mormon theology although the ceremony may seem strange we do not wish to make light of someone's religious practices as all religions probably look somewhat strange to outsiders we do however wish to point out some important problems with the temple that most latter-day saints are not aware of what most LDS don't know is that much of the temple ceremony is identical to Masonic rituals the signs and tokens are virtually identical to the ones used in the fraternal organization of the Masons so are many of the things that were present in the temple ceremony before 1990 such as the penalties and the five points of fellowship out of respect we won't lay out all of the details in the Mormon temple ceremony but all of these things are freely available on the internet simply by googling Mormon temple ceremony you can see that the Mormon endowment ceremony clearly has its origins in masonry coincidentally Joseph Smith Brigham Young and many other early leaders of the church were Masons Smith introduced the Masonic like temple ceremony just a few weeks after learning the Masonic ceremony rights for himself some latter-day saints have heard that the Mormon temple ceremony may have some similarities with masonry and the reason is that the Masons originally had the temple ceremony from Bible times which has since been corrupted LDS president Heber C Kimball stated we have the true masonry many latter-day saints believe that the temple ceremony has been preserved since the days of Solomon and perhaps even from Adam and has essentially remained the same since Joseph restored the temple ordinances this was a common myth among Mason's in the 1800s and some Masons even believe this today even the pro LDS apologetic organization fair admits the undeniable similarities on their website it is clear that Freemasonry and its traditions played a role in the development of the endowment ritual scholars have evidence to show that masonry had its origins in the Middle Ages and certainly does not actually date back to Solomon's time from the Old Testament around 1000 BC the Masonic rituals date at least 2,000 years after Solomon most masons know this to be true but it was widely believed in the 1800s that the Masons rituals actually descended from Solomon's Temple despite claims that masonry extends back to Solomon's Temple the rites of masonry emerged around the 13th century it originated in Britain as a trade guild though it incorporated symbols dating back to various cultures in antiquity even more telling is that the masonry ceremony that which most closely resembles the LDS temple ceremony is the Masonic ceremony that existed in Joseph Smith's time in the 1800s not an older version as you would expect if masonry degenerated over time as some Mormon leaders have claimed faithful latter-day Saint apologist and master Mason Greg Kearney admits this on the LDS apologetic website fair when he says unfortunately there is no historical evidence to support a continuous functioning line from solomon's temple to the present we know what went on in Solomon's Temple it's the ritualistic slaughter of animals masonry while claiming a route in antiquity can only be reliably traced to medieval stone tradesmen latter-day saints that went through the temple endowment ceremony before 1990 know of the changes that took place prior to 1990 there were several things that were disturbing to many members most members aren't aware that in 1988 there was a survey given to 3400 church members to find out why temple attendance was not increasing as fast as baptisms two years later apparently based on survey responses several things in the ceremony were changed here are a few of the changes in the temple endowment ceremony in 1990 the Protestant minister used to be referred to as an agent of Satan many temple goers are converts to the church and still had good feelings about their old churches they attended people objected to having the Protestant minister referred to as an agent of Satan this was removed Mormons are not supposed to reveal what happens in the temple endowment ceremony just like in masonry there are penalties assigned to those that break their oaths and reveal the temple ceremony to outsiders although the penalties still exist prior to 1990 they were graphically portrayed the penalties involved having the patrons pantomime their own deaths by simulating slashing their throats and chests and abdomens these were the same penalties the Masons used in their ceremonies the Masons also removed their penalties four years earlier in 1986 although both the Masons and the Mormons say that the death OS were only symbolic they were still disturbing to act out the temple ceremony also included the five points of fellowship that the Masons had in their ceremony at the Vail the temple attendee had to engage in the following ritual with whomever was the temple officiator at the Vail inside of right foot by side of right foot knee to knee breast to breast hand to back and mouth to ear many LDS women expressed their discomfort in the touching that went on with men especially with total strangers in the temple the five points of fellowship has absolutely nothing to do with religion the reason it was there is because masonry had the exact same five points of fellowship in their ritual this was removed in the 1990 LDS temple ceremony after being there for 150 years the change was made with no explanation given the secrecy of the temple ceremony is unnerving generally speaking honest organizations don't need to keep secrets yet the temple ceremony while being considered sacred is unconditionally secret and members are forbidden to discuss details of the ceremony outside of the temple even amongst themselves since you can't really talk about the ceremony members have no idea what they are about to experience when they go through the temple endowment ceremony many are very uncomfortable with what they see this is another area where Mormon leaders refuse to practice full and informed consent for the benefit of their members another secrecy problem is that the first time you go through the temple ceremony you receive a new name this is a name from the scriptures like Abraham or Sarah usually taken from a book of Scripture the man can never tell anyone his new name however the woman can tell her husband but no one else so the husband knows his wife's special temple name but she can never know his this seems somewhat sexist as there is no logical reason given for this immediately a married couple is put on unequal footing with the husband knowing the wife's temple name when she can never know his oddly rather than being a unique new name all temples use the same new name for all attendees on a particular day there is a list of new names provided to temples so that all temples use the same new names on the same days few latter-day saint members are really spiritually uplifted when they first go through the temple to take out their endowment many feel confused shocked and not quite sure what to make of their experience in what is supposed to be one of the holiest places on earth many members expect it to learn how to be better people or how to be more like Christ but to their surprise the temple ceremony has almost nothing to do with Christ Brigham Young said concerning the purpose of the temple let me give you the definition in brief your endowment is to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord which are necessary for you after you have departed this life to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father passing the Angels who stand as sentinels being enabled to give them the key words the signs and tokens pertaining to the holy priesthood and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell the bulk of the temple ceremony revolves around learning and demonstrating the keywords signs and tokens that Brigham Young mentioned the tokens are special secret handshakes and the signs are hand motions the signs and tokens are identical to the ones used in Masonic ceremonies Brigham Young said that the main purpose of the temple is to learn the signs and tokens and the signs and tokens came directly from masonry so then how can the Mormon temple ceremony really be the most important divine ceremony from God when the Masons made up this ceremony in the Middle Ages the learning of the signs and tokens and then demonstrating them perfectly in the temple isn't just some superficial filler borrowed from the Masons it is central to the Mormon temple endowment ceremony how can this be since the signs and tokens came directly from masonry there are many other problems with Mormonism that we don't have time to cover here such as when Moroni visited Joseph and spent the whole of the night conversing with them in his room why didn't his five brothers that were sleeping in the same room wake up there are problems with the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon the fact that none of the prophets after Joseph have done anything prophetic the retroactive restoration of the priesthood the failed prophecies the mountain meadow Massacre Joseph Smith's problematic history Joseph's translation of the Bible tithing issues testimony problems etc finding no evidence to support Joseph Smith is one thing we would need just a certain amount of faith to accept his claims however it is not only the lack of evidence but also the contradictory evidence that makes the claims of the church so hard to believe church members are not plainly taught the true history of the church or the disturbing details of its beginnings the reason is that many members leave the church after learning of these things this is why Mormon leaders will not provide full disclosure of the facts those investigating the LDS Church should look at all sides of the issues before simply accepting the LDS Church's position they should decide themselves if the issues are important to research further or not if you are currently an LDS member or investigating the LDS Church we invite you to find answers for these issues for yourself in the Internet age there are no secrets anymore using Google or other search engines is the simplest way to find out more information on Mormonism information that won't be taught in Sunday school and that most Mormon missionaries know nothing about there are also many chat rooms and discussion sites not run by the church where people openly discuss these issues from the comfort of their own homes without fear of being out at a church for asking unwanted questions most LDS leaders even stake presidents simply don't know about many of these issues so although we encourage members to ask their leaders questions be prepared that they likely do not have satisfactory answers and will often simply dismiss members concerns usually they will label the information as false without even looking at it too often they will accuse the diligent member of being unfaithful and looking for an excuse to leave the church so they can commit some sin there are many great websites with a storehouse of information that you will never learn about by only visiting church approved sources the pro truth websites go into far more detail and cover many more issues than we've presented several of the critics sites are very well researched the references are documented and can be verified usually from church friendly sources the most respected critics sites include Richard Peckham's homepage rethinking Mormonism the Tanners website Utah lighthouse ministry we'd like to leave you with one easy to remember site it's called Mormon think calm this site was originally made by a group of active latter-day saints that questioned the history they were taught in their church much of the information for this presentation came from Mormon think calm the links page on mormonthink contains links to all the best critic sites as well as links to the best LDS sites that defend the church so readers can see the best arguments from both sides in addition the most popular mormon discussion sites podcasts and other resources are listed so you have all of the resources available on the internet to research Mormonism's issues from all sides it would be one thing if the LDS Church taught all of these issues to the investigators up front before they join the church and continued to at least allow them to be discussed openly at church when they teach church history but it's quite another thing to suppress the information edit non faith promoting history and create an environment that discourages the search for truth when the information conflicts with what the Church teaches for further information on this video or to obtain a DVD version please visit

Channel: MormonHistoryBuff

Views: 1,199,318

Rating: 4.0934591 out of 5

Keywords: Mormon, kinderhook plates, book of abraham, urim and thummim, Joseph Smith, LDS, book of mormon, anachronisms, book of mormon problems

Id: 4ac_fLUHiBw

Length: 81min 15sec (4875 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 08 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/Mithryn]

What do people think... should we direct people to this video.

I'm thinking it's better, more professionally done than mormonthink, and covers the main topics.

[u/deslock]

It is quite good. The tone of voice generally stays professional though there are some vocab choices that will rub TBMs wrong like "supposedly" or "purportedly". That is a fighting word to TBMs.

[u/kiwimark]

I'm glad everyone likes this, I searched and couldn't see it posted, but it is rather good, so I was surprised. I found it very thorough and easy to watch, I even found that after all the reading I have done I still learned a few things, or things were explained in a way that made the info easier to digest. After all this information is public I find it fascinating that Joseph Smith was followed in the first place.

Does anyone have any more information about just what it was about Joseph that made such a dodgy guy so compelling to so many people. I mean after all his faults and tricks, he did actually manage to start a new religion, which only a few people have done in modern times, and none as successfully as him in my opinion.

[u/livegoodtimes]

for those who don't have an hour. it says Many people have written better books than Joe Smith with less experience. He screwed up lots. BOM is based on View of the Hebrews, a book circulating at the time.