MORMONISM

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints / LDS)

Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;"  This means that we should not rely just on our own reasoning, nor should we 'lean' on the understanding that we get from our church leaders or any other book apart from the Bible. When there is a contradiction between what the Bible says and what your LDS leaders have taught you, you should trust in what the Bible says.


Some questions I would like to ask Mormons:

• Would a true prophet of God be arrested between 30 and 42 times and convicted of fraud, as Joseph Smith was?
  (e.g in 1826 he was found guilty of fraud and 1837 found guilty of illegal banking - see here)

• Doesn't it concern you that Joseph Smith had as many as 40 wives, many of whom were married already to other men, and one was only 14 years old? (See Church: Mormon founder Joseph Smith wed 40 wives - CNN).

• Are you saved, or are you working towards being saved? How do you reconcile the biblical teaching that salvation is a gift, with the LDS teaching that you have to earn your salvation?
  
  The Bible: Salvation is a Gift: Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Titus 3:5 "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit," )
  
  The Book of Mormon: Salvation is Not a Gift: 2 Nephi 25:23 "...it is by grace we are saved, after all we can do."

• Why does the LDS religion teach that there are many gods, that God was once a man, and that we can become gods, when the Bible contradicts these things? (Isaiah 43:10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me."  Isaiah 45:5 "I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God..." 
  Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change." )

• If Joseph Smith really received Golden Plates from an angel, from which he translated the Book of Mormon, why did he not show the plates to anyone else (apart from a select few) before he said they were taken back up to heaven? Doesn't the fact that he wouldn't let more people see the plates strike you as being a bit too convenient?
  
  (Note - according to the Book of Mormon there were 11 witnesses who 'saw' the plates. However, if you research this beyond merely the assertions of the Book of Mormon you'll find that there is a problem with these witnesses being insiders who had a vested financial interest in lying about what they had seen, as well as only seeing the plates in a vision rather than with their own physical eyes. For more on this see here and here.)
  

• If the LDS religion is the true faith, why is it that Utah State has one of the highest suicide rates in the USA, and the worst statistics in America for suicidal thoughts? (Utah is the number 1 most depressed State in the USA and the number 7 worst for suicides)

• How do you reconcile the LDS teaching that "familiar spirits" are good and that the book of Mormon has a "familiar spirit", with the teaching of the Bible that familiar spirits are defiling and to be avoided? (Leviticus 19:31- See KJV and Hebrew - other translations use the word 'medium' i.e. spirit medium).

For more on Mormonism see here and here. 

If you are a Mormon I pray that you would come to know the truth that is found in the Bible alone. There are only two choices - trusting in the Word of God, or trusting in your own reasoning. In Mormonism and other cults I have found that people are trusting in human reasoning rather than the Word of God. So the question is - How do you know your reasoning is valid?

Mormon Secrets: What the Missionaries Don't Tell

The Bible, Part 3 - Book of Mormon / South Park Fan Animation

Note: The actual South Park Mormon episode has been removed from YouTube due to copyright issues. Many people don't realise that it is actually very accurate in terms of its depiction of Mormonism. For more on this see here.

Mormon Teens Surround Durbin at the Temple

Judy Hartvigsen's Testimony out of Mormonism to Christ