The blasphemous foundations of Mormonism

Mormonism is a popular subject right now, not only because a popular presidential candidate named Mitt Romney is a Mormon, but most especially because the Mormon church has a major internet campaign going to promote Mormonism. More and more advertisements (especially on Google and major social networking sites) are promoting a church that appears welcoming and offers a very family friendly environment. Sadly, many will be deceived by Mormonism's glitter, but a semi-informed individual will not be caught off guard. The purpose of this post is to point out serious problems within Mormon theology and practice. Some of these you might have seen before, while others you might not have seen. The errors in Mormonism easily rival the errors of Jehovah's Witnesses.


Here are the various subjects I'd like to touch upon:

• Mormonism has no theological foundation. 

While Mormonism does cover surface level issues regarding theological subjects such as the nature of God, they have no scholarly "seminary level" type theology. Their notion of "seminary" is essentially a missionary training program on how to evangelize door-to-door which is taught to young men during their middle-school and high-school years. Beyond that, there is no such thing as a "Degree in Theology" in Mormonism, because to them the Mormon Faith is a set of beliefs that one must simply accept but not worry about questioning or examining them for consistency. I don't mean to sound offensive, but Mormons are very ignorant  in regards to advanced and critical thinking when it comes to theological matters.

• Mormonism is essentially a cultural movement. 

The origins and growth of Mormonism are the epitome of a "Made in America" type religion. It's about a lowly American believer who just happens to find favor with God, and being so blessed he receives various revelations and other such special treatment and calls others to follow him. Those who end up following are those of the 'blessed white race', the true fulfillment of their American Protestant forefathers. It really only works in America, and that's particularly why it's on the decline and eventual disintegration within 100 years. As America continues to shift into a multicultural landscape (particularly the influx of Mexicans into Utah), the religion will have no cultural basis to survive.

• Mormonism employs various means of deception and lies to push it's agenda. 

Those who know a little bit about Mormonism know that there are certain doctrinal subjects that you don't talk about around non-Mormons, and that you aren't supposed to tell potential converts until after they convert. This is particularly apparent in the way they interact with non-Mormons in the public square, giving the impression the are "Christians, just like all you guys," while officially and in secret they despise all non-Mormon religions as tools of Satan. Since Mormonism is founded upon the principle that all of Christendom went apostate and thus required God to elect a 'rebuilder' named Joseph Smith, they must necessarily teach all Catholics and Protestants are greatly deceived and practicing false Christianity. One famous example of their "Public Relations" deception campaign is their YouTube video "Why Mormons Build Temples," seen by millions of non-Mormons. The most striking act of deception in that movie is that they interview a man dressed up as a Catholic priest/bishop who heaps all these praises on Mormonism, giving the impression Mormonism is legitimate theologically and historically. In reality, that guy is a very liberal Lutheran, who of course is going to praise a false religion and denigrate Christianity, but the millions of viewers don't know that. In reality, that guy has no business giving his "expert insight" on an official Mormon PR video, and the only reason why they did it was to deceive. Any respectable Christian historian would rightly point out the historical and theological errors in Mormonism, which is why the didn't include such "interviews".

Here are some other examples of their deceptive Public Relations schemes:

SALT LAKE CITY 5 September 2008
Values : The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a restoration of New Testament Christianity as taught by Jesus and His apostles. It is not Protestant, evangelical, Catholic or Orthodox. Nevertheless, the basic values of morality, civility and family espoused by the Church are similar to those of most other Christian faiths. Church members find refuge from the uncertainties of the world in the gospel message of hope and happiness. The reality that life has divine purpose, that God cares for each individual and that everyone has the capacity for improvement through correct choices is a central theme of Mormon thought.

SALT LAKE CITY 19 August 2008
Most first-time visitors to a Mormon church building comment on the number of rooms. Many expect to find one large interior space, such as in many other Christian denominations’ buildings of worship. 

22 April 2011 Salt Lake City
Latter-day Saints Join With the Rest of the Christian World in Celebrating Easter
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joins with the rest of the Christian world this week in celebrating Easter and remembering the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

26 October 2009 - SALT LAKE CITY
What You Will Find When You Step Inside a Mormon Chapel
Most first-time visitors to a Mormon church building comment on the number of rooms. Many expect to find one large interior space, such as in many other Christian denominations’ buildings of worship.
...
“The building was so simple,” said Sandra Yeo after visiting for the first time one of the Church’s meetinghouses in her native England.
“There were no crosses, no murals, no statues or icons of any kind as far as I could see. I had never been in a Christian church that didn’t have that sort of thing. I found the simplicity very appealing.”
For Latter-day Saints, the church meetinghouse is a hub of religious and social life. The most important part of the week, though, is the hour-long sacrament meeting. This takes place on Sunday and is similar to other Christian worship services.

Notice the repeated references to "other Christians," speaking of Protestants and Catholics. As noted earlier, the impression that is given off is that Mormonism is "just another Christian denomination," designed to make Protestants and Catholics let their guard down.

One final example of Mormonisms lies and deception is that Mormons like Mitt Romney ran for governor in 2002 on a very pro-abortion and pro-homosexuality platform to get into power. If Mormonism really condemned these things, it would have publicly reprimanded Romney, but instead he remained in ultra good standing in the Mormon church. This is not the same as unfaithful Catholic politicians, for they are criticized, even in spite of their bold and defiant disobedience.

• Mormonism is founded upon the teaching that the early Church went completely apostate after the Apostles and that Joseph Smith restored that Church 1800 years later.

Obviously, if the Church that Jesus established went completely apostate, then the Mormon's have a great deal of credibility on their side. Of course, a great apostasy doesn't automatically prove Mormonism is true, but it sure helps their claim. That said, to believe in a great apostasy necessarily requires that you believe in a Jesus who was a great failure: a Savior that was able to defeat death but wasn't able to preserve His Church for more than a few decades before Satan was victorious. That alone should tell you the "Great Apostasy" teaching cannot be true. But Mormons are forced to admit as much, and they do so gladly. The funny thing is, their evidence for this gigantic claim is laughable, and explains why they discourage in-depth discussion on the subject. For example, they don't place any date on the Great Apostasy, and instead leave speculation open from anywhere within the first few centuries. They refuse to specify any specific time for obvious reasons: if they set the date too close to the Apostles, it means the Apostles couldn't even make genuine first generation converts, which is clearly unacceptable, but if they set a date too far from the Apostles, they have to explain the consistent testimony of the Early Church Fathers covering a period before and after the alleged Great Apostasy. Having totally flopped on the historical and logical options, the Mormons turn to some desperate appeals to Biblical warnings about falling away. However, the closest the Bible comes is partial apostasy, with certain small groups falling away, but never a full-scale apostasy which is required by the Mormons in order to restore it. And to add insult to injury, they're forced to claim there was no Church or even true Christians on earth for 1800 years, which fits right into the "Made in America" religious mindset. For a very good Catholic apologetics article on this subject, see "In Search of the Great Apostasy".

• Mormonism holds the King James Version of the Bible to be the most accurate and their official translation.

This is one of the more silly and unprofessional claims the Mormons make, fitting perfectly within their "Made in America" image and total lack of theological sophistication. This bizarre claim entails that not only were apostates able to preserve the Bible throughout the "Great Apostasy," but that somehow these apostates were able to come up with the best translation available! Mormonism doesn't have any regard for learning Greek or the Greek text, so they're not even open to seeing the King James Version has it's own flaws. Just as important is the fact Mormons publicly express great reverence for the (KJV) Bible, but in fact they officially teach the Bible as we all know it today (including the KJV) is full of errors and thus not that trustworthy and that the Book of Mormon is the only book free of errors and to be preferred over the Bible:

We believe in the Bible as far as it is translated correctly. As Joseph Smith wrote, “Many important points touching the salvation of men … had been taken from the Bible, or [had been] lost before it was compiled” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 10).

We also believe that the Book of Mormon contains the fulness of the gospel. Joseph Smith said, “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book” (Book of Mormon—Introduction).

This is another famous 'bait-and-switch' deception of the Mormon marketing and public-relations campaign.

• Mormons hold the Book of Mormon and other newly Revealed Writings as divinely inspired scriptures despite the errors and problems these scriptures contain.

The history of the Book of Mormon is full of outrageous and problematic claims, too many to discuss here. There is a famous South Park Episode titled "All About Mormons" (not that I recommend South Park at all) that has been totally banned on YouTube because of the Mormons who have complained about it. While most would expect such a source to blatantly misrepresent Mormonism, the writers knew that just presenting the actual Mormon history would provide it's own humor. And it did. Joseph Smith allegedly found Gold Plates which God had preserved the Book of Mormon on in an ancient language, from which Smith allegedly translated the Book of Mormon from, yet he never showed these plates to the public. This is not new news, but important to mention. On top of that, when he was doing the translating, he didn't even show his scribe the plates, and instead he had the plates in a tall hat which he looked inside with two magic translator rocks and even hid behind a curtain as he orally spoke the correct translation to his scribe. Incredible, simply incredible. And when the scribe's wife "accidentally lost" the written manuscript and challenged Smith to make a new exact copy to prove he really had plates, Smith said God was mad at that and instead wanted Smith to use different Gold Plates with a similar but different version of the Book of Mormon! This is stuff that totally casts a dark shadow upon the history of the Book of Mormon.

Other parts of the Book of Mormon, notably their Scriptures called The Pearl of Great Price, has blatant plagiarism of the Bible, yet it's held as sacred Scripture. In Moses Chapter 2-3, it's a directly plagiarism of Genesis 1-2; then in Abraham Chapter 4, it plagiarizes Gensis 1 again, but this time replaces all the reference to "God" in the singular to "Gods" in pluaral, revealing their true polythestic blasphemy:

1 And then the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth.
2 And the earth, after it was formed, was empty and desolate, because they had not formed anything but the earth; and darkness reigned upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of the Gods was brooding upon the face of the waters.
3 And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light.
4 And they (the Gods) comprehended the light, for it was bright; and they divided the light, or caused it to be divided, from the darkness.
5 And the Gods called the light Day, and the darkness they called Night.

The story continues, replacing "God" for "Gods" throughout. Is this not blasphemy or what? And this is something most Christians are totally unaware of. 

• Mormons officially teach abortion is allowed.

Many Protestants believe abortion is acceptable, at least under certain circumstances (e.g. rape), but most don't know that Mormons teach abortion is allowed under certain circumstances as well. Most people think Mormons are strongly pro-life and pro-family, and while this is true to some extent, it's ultimately false because Mormons believe in polygamy, divorce, and abortion (among other moral errors). Here is key passage from the official Mormon stand on Abortion:

Church leaders have said that some exceptional circumstances may justify an abortion, such as when pregnancy is the result of incest or rape, when the life or health of the mother is judged by competent medical authority to be in serious jeopardy, or when the fetus is known by competent medical authority to have severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth. But even these circumstances do not automatically justify an abortion. Those who face such circumstances should consider abortion only after consulting with their local Church leaders and receiving a confirmation through earnest prayer.

The True Church of Christ would never justify such insane 'logic', which is straight from the lies of Satan. This is one example of a deceived and false group, for they don't have the consistency to realize that if abortion is murder, then murder can never be allowed, no exceptions. To say you can murder only if the child is from rape or has defects is to none the less have the "church" and prayer "confirm" the sin of murder as acceptable.

• The Mormons reject many key Christian teachings on the nature of God and creation.

One of the biggest examples of Mormons deceiving the public is the hush-hush attitude they take in regards to Joseph Smith's famous Mr. Follet Sermon, which is available on the LDS website. The reader has to realize, Smith is seen in such high regards as a prophet, that everything he says is gold. A good Mormon can never say Smith made a mistake, without making them a bad Mormon very quickly and forfeiting their heavenly rewards. Thus, while they try to hide such teachings of Smith, they secretly praise them and consider them pure gold. Here are some key quotes from the Mr Follet Sermon that Joseph Smith gave in honor of his good friend:

God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form—like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with Him, as one man talks and communes with another.

We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see. These ideas are incomprehensible to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another, and 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; and I will show it from the Bible.

The scriptures inform us that Jesus said, as the Father hath power in himself, even so hath the Son power—to do what? Why, what the Father did. The answer is obvious—in a manner to lay down his body and take it up again. Jesus, what are you going to do? To lay down my life as my Father did, and take it up again. Do you believe it? If you do not believe it you do not believe the Bible. The scriptures say it, and I defy all the learning and wisdom and all the combined powers of earth and hell together to refute it.

Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.

What did Jesus do? Why, I do the things I saw my Father do when worlds came rolling into existence. My Father worked out His kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom, I shall present it to My Father, so that He may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt Him in glory. He will then take a higher exaltation, and I will take His place, and thereby become exalted myself. So that Jesus treads in the tracks of His Father, and inherits what God did before; and God is thus glorified and exalted in the salvation and exaltation of all His children. It is plain beyond disputation, and you thus learn some of the first principles of the gospel, about which so much hath been said.

The head God called together the Gods and sat in grand council to bring forth the world. The grand councilors sat at the head in yonder heavens and contemplated the creation of the worlds which were created at the time.

Now, I ask all who hear me, why the learned men who are preaching salvation, say that God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing? The reason is, that they are unlearned in the things of God, and have not the gift of the Holy Ghost; they account it blasphemy in any one to contradict their idea. If you tell them that God made the world out of something, they will call you a fool. But I am learned, and know more than all the world put together. The Holy Ghost does, anyhow, and he is within me, and comprehends more than all the world; and I will associate myself with him.

You ask the learned doctors why they say the world was made out of nothing, and they will answer, "Doesn't the Bible say he created the world?" And they infer, from the word create, that it must have been made out of nothing. Now, the word create came from the word baurau, which does not mean to create out of nothing; it means to organize; the same as a man would organize materials and build a ship. Hence we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos—chaotic matter, which is element, and in which dwells all the glory. Element had an existence from the time He had. The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed; they may be organized and re-organized, but not destroyed. They had no beginning and can have no end.

I have another subject to dwell upon, which is calculated to exalt man; but it is impossible for me to say much on this subject. I shall therefore just touch upon it, for time will not permit me to say all. It is associated with the subject of the resurrection of the dead—namely, the soul—the mind of man —the immortal spirit. Where did it come from? All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning; but it is not so: the very idea lessens man in my estimation. I do not believe the doctrine; I know better. Hear it, all ye ends of the world; for God has told me so; and if you don't believe me, it will not make the truth without effect. I will make a man appear a fool before I get through; if he does not believe it. I am going to tell of things more noble.

I am dwelling on the immortality of the spirit of man. ... There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal [co-eternal] with our Father in heaven.

All the fools and learned and wise men from the beginning of creation, who say that the spirit of man had a beginning, prove that it must have an end; and if that doctrine is true, then the doctrine of annihilation would be true. But if I am right, I might with boldness proclaim from the housetops that God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself.

The first principles of man are self-existent with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge.  

The contention in heaven was—Jesus said there would be certain souls that would not be saved; and the devil said he would save them all, and laid his plans before the grand council, who gave their vote in favor of Jesus Christ. So the devil rose up in rebellion against God, and was cast down, with all who put up their heads for him.

Look at these absolute blasphemies Smith makes against Christianity: many gods, The Father was once a man like us, godhood is an 'eternal progression', creation was made out of eternally existing matter that could never be created or destroyed, that our souls existed from eternity, and that Jesus and Satan were 'spirit brothers' who got into an argument about who could save mankind. Utter blasphemy. If only this kind of stuff were being published on the front pages, how quickly Mormonism would be exposed rather than being allowed to fester.

There are many more abominable and false teachings that Mormonism is founded upon, but this is enough for now.