Mormon beliefs, antagonist’s questions and answers to those questions.

Many times people trying to outline the beliefs get too complicated with the wording and people give up, so this is an attempt to outline Mormon beliefs, the questions many have against those beliefs and answers to those questions. There is an organization called FAIR that answers questions on Mormonism and most of their answers are very in depth in fact most people don’t want to take the time to read a 40 page answer from a BYU Professor. I have tried to keep it simple and by so doing I don’t feel I have robbed the essence of the answers yet some believe that simple people believe or fall for simple things and that those that have faith are essentially stupid and follow prophets and doctrines blindly. Many of these secular people do not believe in God at all and feel that all religion is a waste of time. Others feel if it can give the people a reason to live honestly with ethics because they fear God’s punishment then great but many feel that religion is just a way for man to control other men. Mormonism is quite different from all other religions because they claim that angels came and restored the priesthood and doctrines. I have not listed many backup scriptures yet but I will do so as needed. Not many people read my blog therefore I may not need to pursue this blog at all. At times I just write to get thoughts out of me and once they are written it seems to be like an unburdening of ideas and words.

http://Mormon.org/faq

http://mormon.org/spa/preguntas-frecuentes/tema/iglesia/pregunta/iglesia-mormona?CID=50652

http://www.fairlds.org/

Format that I will use

B: Belief or Doctrine Q: Questions and issues others have against this belief or doctrine A: An answer to those concerns • Notes to follow in main body

Quoting scriptures from the Bible has been the way that many people attack each other trying to prove their side of the issues. To me, people look at the Bible and see what they would like to see. The issue of the Trinity for example where Mormons believe that God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are three different beings and God and Jesus actually have resurrected bodies clashes with the prevailing traditional belief that they are all the same being. People quote scriptures stating that God is a spirit and Mormons quote back stating that we all area spirits and they point out all the scriptures in the Bible that show Christ is a different person from his father, his baptism where his father spoke while he was in the water, Jesus in the Temple saying he was doing the will of his father who sent him, him praying in the garden to his father not to himself, the references are plentiful yet this does not change the minds of those who belief otherwise. Therefore I won't waste my time trying to argue. I will point out Mormon beliefs and I can quote the Bible as needed. The issue still comes down to the fact that most people won't actually read through any document such as this when they can be doing something like listening to music, viewing a movie, eating or any other activity.

13 Mormon Articles of Faith (LDS) 1. B: We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. Q: Many Christians and Anti-Mormons don’t believe Mormons are Christian or better put, they claim Mormons are not Christians in the strict sense of the definition because they point out that Mormons believe in a different Jesus Christ. Many will go so far to say that Mormons worship Satan. Dealing with the doctrine of the Trinity right here the problem many Christians have with Mormons is that Mormons believe you can become a god after this life and that others have done so in the past. They believe a Man who lived worthy and confessed and repented of his sins that accepted Christ, followed his teachings and completed with the ordinances could marry a Woman in the Temple for time and for all eternity and have their children sealed to them for all eternity and they can become gods. Mormons don’t believe you would become a god equal to God the Father but a god none the less to help God the Father people other worlds in the future with spirit children. Many Christians find this offensive and doctrinally incorrect as far as their point of view. A: Mormons or better put members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints end all their prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, they partake of the sacrament each Sunday which is blessed encouraging all members to always remember the name of Christ and take that name upon them in all that they do. The name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ. Mormons or LDS members (Latter Day Saints) do believe in a Christ that died was crucified, was resurrected and then visited his other sheep which they believe referred to the people in the Americas and other lands and this is recorded in the Book of Mormon as a Second witness for Jesus Christ. So the entire Church is based on Jesus Christ. So to suggest to a good practicing Mormon that he or she is not Christian may be met with some disagreement especially since most of them have pictures of Christ in their homes and Spend a great deal of time studying Christ’s words and striving to teach their children the doctrines of Jesus as taught in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon. Every fourth year the Sunday School classes teach the life of Christ and the New Testament all year long. Another year they teach the Book of Mormon which includes Christ’s visit to the Americas after his death and resurrection.

2. D: We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression. Q: Many Christians question this doctrine because many believe that we are all being punished for Adam’s original sin. We are saved by the grace of God and after we accept Christ there is nothing else you have to do. Many Christians believe that Mormons feel they can earn their way to heaven and they feel Mormons do not believe in being saved by grace. A: Mormons do believe in being saved by the grace of Jesus Christ they don’t use it as a catch all to say your saved no matter what if you profess to accept Jesus Christ. Mormons believe in modern revelation to Prophets and because of that belief and the belief they claim that God has not only clarified many things but will continue to so in the future by giving members ongoing revelation on doctrines and current issues as needed. The belief that one man would be punished for something he did not do is not only unjust but unreasonable and God is a just God. Mormons believe that Jesus Christ suffered for sins that he did not commit voluntarily taking on Himself the sins of the world and they call this The Atonement. Through his sacrifice and suffering all who repent and accept him can be forgiven. The difference is that Mormons believe that you are saved by grace after all that you can do. If you did your best and if you repented with a sincere heart then Christ will forgive you. A very important point to note is that Mormons do not feel they can earn their way to heaven as many believe. Mormon’s believe that the only way to gain entrance into heaven is through the atonement of Jesus Christ and his grace. Believing in grace however does not let you off the hook because Jesus said clearly “If ye love me keep my commandments” . So we should strive to obey God’s word and when we sin we should repent and do the best we can. Using God’s grace as an excuse to say we don’t have to be perfect and as an excuse for sinning is wrong and not a true Christian attitude. James was also clear when he explained that “Faith without works is dead.” Someone that has true faith also naturally has good works. We are not saved by our good works although someone that does not do the works of Christ surely does not have faith.

3. B: We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. Q: All you really must do is to accept Christ as your savior and nothing more. A: The issue many have with this article is that it adds that you must be obedient and many want to leave that hard part out and just say you only have to believe and have faith without living the laws and ordinances and Christ clearly taught you need to believe, accept Christ (Those that accept and love him obey his words) and endure to the end in order to be saved.

4. B: We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Q: Baptism does not need to be done at all or if it is done it can be done by pouring water, sprinkling water or in a pool or river or font.

A: For a Church that is not Christian they sure have quite a few references to Jesus Christ in their articles of faith. Mormons consider their Church a restored church from the one Christ set up on the earth and in the day those baptizing as John did went to where there was much water in order to bury the person in the water symbolizing death and the coming forth or resurrection. Mormons believe the person doing the ordinances needs to be ordained by someone that has the priesthood and they received it by the laying on of hands. Mormons do not believe you can get the priesthood by going to college and getting a certificate there.

5. B: We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

Q: Everything that is needed is found in the Bible, we do not need revelation because all knowledge we need is found in the Bible.

A: There are only 3 Churches that could claim the priesthood that has been passed down through the laying on of hands. The Catholic Church, The Greek Orthodox Church and the Mormon (LDS) Church who claims that John, Peter James and John came to Joseph Smith and ordained them. The first two Churches listed never gave permission for their Priests to ordain Priests of other churches hence most of the other Churches are just unauthorized break offs from the Catholic Church. Martin Luther recognized that the churches were moving away from the original doctrines and he separated himself from that trying to go back to the way Christ organized it.

6. B: We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth. See Eph 4 and Amos 3:7 in the Bible where the Church was organized with Prophets.

Q: The Church was never taken off the earth therefore it did not need to be restored and there is no need to have Prophets or Apostles because that was in the Bible and not now. The Mormon Church claims authority in order to deceive you into paying tithing so their Church can get rich.

A: It is clear that there was an apostasy where there was a falling away. The Bible tells us it would happen and it also talks about the Church being restored and angles in the last days and visions in the last days. Those Jews in Christ’s time claimed he was a crazy man yet he was fulfilling prophesy and the Mormons claim the same about Joseph Smith that he was fulfilling the Bible prophesy about the restoration of Christ Church in the last days.

7. B: We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth. We believe that the gifts of the spirit are alive and well on the earth and that miracles happen on a regular basis. Our members are encouraged to use their Priesthood to heal yet they are admonished not to brag about those things.

Q: These things were in Bible times but not now. Some Churches claim to heal or speak in tongues and some people that have faith may have these things happen. Mormons claim to be the Church of God but they really worship Satan and they are trying to lead people away from being true Christians by telling you that you need to be more concerned with works than with faith so they are teaching a different doctrine and the Bible says to beware of those that preach a different doctrine.

A: Mormons simply believe that the ancient Church was restored with all those things listed and Mormons are clear about Satan that he is evil and strives to lead the Children of God away to disobey God’s teachings. Once someone was concerned that people were teaching about Christ and they were not from the same group and Christ explained that if they were not against him they were with him. Also the Bible says by their fruits ye shall know them. The teachings of the Mormons are centered around Christ and the family. They teach you to be active in the community, they teach and encourage you to be actively involved in doing good to others which is completely opposite of Satan. The Mormon Church sends relief aid all over the world on an ongoing basis when there are disasters and need in the world. Members are encouraged to keep experiences sacred rather than bragging about the healings, interpretation of tongues etc…LDS missionaries that spend their own money and donate 2 years of their life often are called to serve in other countries and “The gift of tongues is absolutely what happens to these missionaries”. In Acts we learn of the day of Pentecost where people came from many different lands to hear the word and each understood it in their own language and this was the gift of tongues. Not someone mumbling something that no one understands granted if the person was speaking to spirits or angles that spoke a different language that might account for something like that but for the most part the gift of tongues is a very practical ongoing gift that missionaries get all the time. Many of these young men and women learn the language in 2 to 3 months and when they come home they are able to speak fluently and many use those new skills in their occupations. Currently the Church has over 60,000 missionaries out in the field and missionaries come home every day and others go out nearly every day as well constantly rotating that figure.

8. B: We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

Q: The Bible says do not add or do not take away from the Bible hence the Book of Mormon is false. The Bible is the word of God and he would not allow men to make mistakes so the Bible is perfect and all that we need and we don’t need any more.

A: What the Bible actually says is not that at all. There is more than one reference like this and the first one is found in Deut 4:2 and it essentially is Moses saying that you should not take away or add anything to the words that he wrote. At that time only a few books in the Bible existed and it was not until thousands of years later that the Bible as we know it was put together and even then the Catholic bible has more books than the King James Version. The quote above comes from Revelations and that was John and he was saying “Don’t add or take away from the things that I John have written” he was not saying that God could not have more men write their experiences with God or that there could not be another witness of Christ from another land such as Prophets that would write scriptures. We believe the Bible to be the word of God although with as many translations as there are men have made mistakes and things have been changed from their original content. There are several very good examples and one of them is this. In the Bible it says many times that “God hardened Pharaohs’heart” and Joseph Smith using revelation corrected this to read “Pharaoh hardened his own heart.” God would not do something like harden someone’s heart. These type of corrections have been made in the footnotes and the original wording is still the same and those that would like to study and learn can read the foot notes. The King James Version of the LDS faith is one of the most researched Bibles of all time since it includes so many references to different translations such as greek, latin, Joseph Smith translation and corrections etc… This version took many years to complete and many people from other faiths love the new version of the Bible because of these footnotes.

The Book of Mormon is a second witness to Jesus Christ and the Bible itself says you should have two or three witnesses in all things. Contrary to what people say the Book of Mormon and the Bible do not disagree with one another but they agree one with another and complement each other. When the Book of Mormon was translated from Plates originally there were no verses, no punctuation and the printer added punctuation and he also would take out repeated words and so corrections were needed because Joseph Smith the first Mormon Prophet of this time period said that Prophets would often repeat things several times and the printer thought this was an error and omitted it and Joseph edited these and other things to make corrections in the next versions of the Book of Mormon. Since then there have been other changes and there are papers written on this subject that you can read at fairlds.org.

9. B: We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

Q: God has reveled all that he has and the Bible contains all that will be revealed and we don’t need any more books or revelations.

A: The Bible itself says that in the last days people will see visions and dream dreams. To make a statement such as the one above is almost unbelievable because you are limiting God and saying what he can and can’t or should and should not do. To say that God cannot reveal himself to those in the present times or in the future is ridiculous. This type of attitude is very short sighted. In our day topics come up all the time that were not discussed in the Bible times and these things need to be addressed. With revelation we believe that the Prophet can tell us God’s will and we can be blessed. We also believe in personal revelation. A member would never receive any revelation that was contrary to the scriptures or to the current Prophet and if they did you could tell that it was false or coming from a wrong source. This is the exact argument anti-Mormons will use to say that the Mormon Church is not true because they say that we contradict the Bible when in our opinion we do not. To argue the issue of faith is very difficult because when someone really believes something normally you won’t talk them out of it. It is like an atheist trying to tell you that God does not exist or you trying to tell them that God does exist. This is a all about your faith so the atheist telling you that you are wrong does not change your faith. In the same light, many Anti-Mormons feel they are trying to save the poor mislead Mormons by pointing out the false doctrine when in fact most of them only are regurgitating what they have heard rather than doing the real research.

10. B: We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

Q: This is a mixture of made up doctrine and doctrine found in the Bible.

A: This information comes from revelation and clarifies and expounds doctrine found in the scriptures. For people to think we are making up doctrine does not bother us. The doctrines are either correct or they are not correct. The Church is either a true church or it is not true. If the LDS Mormon Church is true then it stands to reason that all the other Churches are mislead and wrong. Mormons should not look down on other Churches nor think they are better than anyone else, on the contrary Mormons have good news they want to share with the world and if this news is true then it has great meaning and can changes lives. If the LDS doctrine is not true and a practicing LDS person does his or her best to live the doctrine and dies and stands before God then God will judge that person and if he or she has tried to emulate Christ in his or her life as the Church teaches then God will have mercy on that person because he or she will have spent their whole life trying to serve others, have a Christ like attitude and he or she will be welcomed into his presence. On the contrary if a person that professes to accept Christ but does not follow his doctrine but continues living in sin thinking that they will enter heaven just because early on in life they said the words “I accept Christ as my Savior” then they will be sorely mistaken when they come before God. Now taking it one step further. Let’s say the atheist is right and there is no God then what of these men? Well the one that strive to live as Christ lived has left a grand legacy for his Children and was an example to all. When he sinned he admitted his faults and repented and tried to do better. It is true no one is perfect although Christ commanded us to “Be ye therefore perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect”. We can become perfect through the sacrifice of Christ. Now on to the second man that professed Christ but did not do the works. He constantly went through life saying “You are not saved by works but by grace alone” and this statement is true that we are saved by grace alone but a person that activates the grace of God will have lived the best that he could trying to live the teachings of Christ so a man that has not and only professed to love Christ and showed no works will not leave the same legacy for his family but many people like this will leave and example of dishonesty and deceit. So the good Christians that think the Mormons have been mislead should take a good look at the lives that Mormons are encouraged to live and see what is so bad about this belief system.

11. B: We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

Q: No comment

A: Joseph Smith said he would defend the rights of others to worship as above no matter what religion and this is important because God does not force us into doing what is right yet he gives us the freedom to decide for ourselves. 12. B: We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

Q: If Mormons believed in obeying the law then why did they practice Polygamy (Having more than one wife) and why do they give Temple recommends to Illegal Aliens and send them on missions and give them important church positions?

A: These are good points and I appreciate the opportunity to answer these questions. I would like to answer the last part of this question first and then tackle the Polygamy issue. God is not a respecter of persons as it states in the Bible yet looking purely at the legal question here and the law we will address this issue. All of God’s children are loved and deserve to participate in worship services wherever they may be. If a person crosses the border of the US without permission this is a crime and he or she would be deported. There are exceptions to this depending on circumstances when you look at people applying for asylum but for the most part someone crossing without permission is breaking the law and if caught is punished and deported.

Now if that person is not caught and gets over the border and is picked up later after the fact then the current situation is this: “Unlawful Presence” which is a CIVIL infraction not a criminal one therefore the people that are in the US without permission are not criminals for having crossed without permission. They can be deported but according to the Church they can participate in services, hold positions, go on missions and attend the temple. In the Temple recommend interview everyone is asked the same questions and one of those questions is if they are being honest in their dealings with their fellow men and you either say yes or no and some say they are trying and the Bishop discusses the matter further with them to see if he feels they are worthy to get a Temple recommend. The other questions deal with morality such as not having sex with anyone you are not married to and you are also asked about your belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father so once again we run into more references about this Jesus that they say we don’t believe in. So since religion and government are separate these people can claim they are obeying the law and they can attend the Temple if they are participating in a lie then God will judge that. Now to keep the Polygamy answer fairly short I will also refer to you www.fairlds.org and you can read a more in depth answer. When the Church was organized in 1830 different things about the Church were restored a bit at a time like Prophets, Apostles and so on. One of those things was Polygamy and in the beginning it was kept confidential and you should also know that in that time it was not considered illegal. Many girls throughout the US got married in their teens so that was not uncommon either. There was a small percentage of the church practicing polygamy at any given time and in Bible times it was used to increase the numbers of righteous people quickly and during certain times in the Bible the practice was condoned by God and at other times he condemned it because of specific reasons. David for example was given by God more than one wife and when he wanted a women that God had not given him that was already married it got him in very big trouble with God. During the Church history there were times when many of the men were called away to fight in the war and so the numbers of women were far greater than the men. Also during the early church history many men were killed leaving widows that had children and if a man was worthy and had enough money to care for more than one wife then he was allowed to do enter into polygamy. Later when the US made law against it the church stopped marrying any new relationships into these unions and for over a hundred years the Church has not practiced polygamy and personally I would not want more than one wife but if a current Church member is found to be practicing polygamy he or she is excommunicated from the LDS Church. Some current people that have more than one wife do so, so they can have all the wives work and get rich, some do it because they feel the LDS Church was the true church and fell away from the truth so they have broken off on their own and they have continued the practice. Others are sexual devients and use this as an excuse to wed young girls. Keep in mind that none of these things are condoned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

13. B: We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Q: Mormons think they have to be perfect and earn their way to heaven, that is why they are so stressed out because no one can be perfect so you should not even try. You are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ and they spend too much time worrying about the good works that they get lost and forget the more important doctrine of GRACE.

A: Wow, the statement above is true to some extent and many Mormons should take a look at this and see if they have fallen into this trap because it is not a doctrine of the Church but many Mormons are judgmental and it is true that there is a large percentage of Mormons that are depressed because they feel so much pressure that they have to do it all. They need to do their home and visiting teaching (Visit assigned neighbors and teach lessons), they need to Attend Church once a week for 3 hours, they need to send their youth to mutual once a week during the week, they need to do their genealogy and submit names to the Temple, they need to do their temple work, they need to learn to garden, can and bottle foods and have a 2 year food supply in case of emergency, they need to prepare their children to serve a 2 year volunteer mission when they are 19 for boys and 21 for girls, they need to stay worthy to attend the temple regularly, they need to participate in scouting and church callings, they need to go out with the missionaries, make the missionaries food every so often, they need to pay 10 percent of their income to the Church for the building up of the kingdom, they need to pay fast offerings to help the poor and this is separate from tithing, the women need to attend Relief Society the oldest and largest women’s group or club of its type. They need to do all this an much more and therefore they feel stress. Oh they are also supposed to willingly and eagerly share the gospel with others. I made it sound like there are so many things you have to do you most likely got tired just thinking about them but it can be joy to serve and that is where true Charity comes in. When you really enjoy it and you do it because you want to not because you are supposed to or have to. No, doing all these things does not make you better than your neighbor who does not do them although it does make you more trained and more well rounded in many respects than the person that sits in their home all the time. No one is perfect but Christ and God but we can become perfect through the grace of God.

14. The points that follow are doctrines or beliefs of the LDS Mormon faith yet they are not addressed in the 13 articles of faith. Answers to all of these questions and many others can be found by going to www.fairlds.org Many of these answers are written by professors and very complicated.

15. B: Blacks and the Priesthood – When the LDS Church was first instituted Joseph Smith ordained Elijah Able who was the first black man to be ordained to the Priesthood. Later as time went on the Church decided not to ordain Men of color and they used a few reasons for that. They believed that the curse of Cain (the son of Adam) was a dark skin color and therefore they said that these men could not hold the priesthood because of that curse. Since black people were slaves at that time in US history they would not be respected and could not effectively magnify their priesthood callings thereby the Priesthood was not being given to them at that time. Later in 1978 the Prophet had a revelation and the priesthood would now be given to all worthy male members. Many people were very happy to hear this news and many people were very upset and left the Church when this news came out.

Q: Not allowing the Priesthood to be given to worthy black males seems like the church is racist and using the excuse of the curse of Cain also seems like a cop out for the Church to continue to be racist.

A: This is a difficult issue and discussion. Times were different back then and so were people. The Church is moving forward and whether you feel the curse of cain was a legitimate thing or not, the Blacks now can have the Priesthood. Men are not perfect and Men helped organize the Church and therefore the organization per se of the Church is not entirely perfect. The Church as Christ organized it is perfect and so personally I am glad this revelation came out in my time. I was 14 and camping at the time and we heard it on the radio. Many Black members were overjoyed and as I mentioned many members were upset and that in my opinion helped get rid of members that should not be in the Church anyway. Trusting in man is not something we should do as much as trusting in God and God will move his work forward in the way that he wants it done.

16. B:Mountain Meadow massacre – This is not a belief or doctrine but a sad part of the Mormon history. To give you the quick version. Brigham Young the Mormon Prophet and leader of the Utah Territory sent families down to settle locations about every 50 miles all the way south of Salt Lake City and one of those areas was Mountain Meadow. The Mormons of Mountain Meadow heard a MOB was coming and they dressed up like Indians, painted their faces and surprised the MOB killing most of them. Well it turned out it was not a mob at all but a peaceful group of people going to California. In the end the Mormons ended up adopting many of the Children that were not killed and it is a sad sad part of Mormon History.

Q: Brigham Young ordered this horrible action

A: There is much written about this incident and from what I have studied Brigham Young was informed about the group of people and his response was to let them pass through peaceably however this response did not get there until later. Now not to excuse the behavior but Mormons had been persecuted and thrown out of many places, their homes had been burned, stolen and destroyed and these people were not about to have any of that happen to them again. The Mormons had come out west to get away from the persecution and so they regrettably did something that was very wrong. God will judge them for it and if deep inside they thought they were protecting their families I would say God will judge them differently than if they wanted to just go out and kill a bunch of innocent people. So this action was horrible and wrong although it is part of our history. Times were very different than they are now but it does not excuse murder. (The taking of innocent blood)

17. B: DNA and the Book of Mormon – Mormons explain that in the beginning of the Book of Mormon some people came over from Jerusalem to America thereby bring Jewish people to America 600 years before Christ. There were another 2 groups mentioned in the Book of Mormon that came even earlier and many of those people were destroyed and you can read about that in the Book of Mormon. Near the end of the Book of Mormon in the Book of Ether is when the first people came and later on others came. The Book of Mormon does not claim that they were the only people here yet many made that assumption. Those that study DNA have come up with material on both sides of the issue and when you mix races the DNA mixes. Early when the Book of Mormon was published people claimed that Joseph Smith made up much of the story or stole it from other sources. The MAP information is very interesting considering that Joseph Smith did not have access to detailed maps, the information about horses and people said that he was crazy because horses were not in American before the Spanish brought them here yet later horse bones were found that dated way before the Spanish brought them. The information that Joseph translated about long highways of cement were interesting because years later in the 1900s they dug up highways of cement in South America and the cement is better than much of the cement that we have now. Joseph translated the part of about the tree of life and in the early 1900’s over 70 years later they found a large wall with the story of the tree of life including the rod, tree, fruit, building, people, river etc…Many other points of interest can be found about the people and the visit of Jesus Christ after his resurrection to the people. Many of the traditions passed down from family to family tell of the great white bearded God that taught them to grow crops, healed their sick etc….That is why when Cortez came they treated him so well. When I visited Guatemala in 1983 I was told my an old woman stories that were passed down to her from her parents and grandparents about this and she could not even read. This is when I began to tell her of the Book of Mormon and she told me she already knew about it and then I let her talk and I experienced a great faith building from this old women.

Q: There is no proof that the Jewish DNA came to America

A: The data does not show that it was not mixed at that time either. Once again when you try to argue faith no one wins.

18. Anti-Mormon information: When I was first exposed to anti-Mormon books I read the information and unlike many people I went to the main library to look up the references in the footnotes of the Anti-Mormon information and what I found disappointed me. I found that many of these tracks, books and pamphlets refer to other publications that quote themselves and much of the reference material is wrong or misquoted. I told my companion on my LDS Mission that I could write a better anti Mormon book than the one we were looking at. As soon as one of these Authors includes information that is not correct or a lie in his or her material it makes the rest of his or her publication very hard to swallow. So my advice for you if you are going to look up or research any Anti-Mormon material is to go to the source and verify the quotes and read the information before and after the quoted material to get the entire picture rather than a quote that is taken out of context.

19. B:Baptism for the Dead in Mormon Temples – Q: The Bible says you are not given marriage after this life and Baptism is for the living

A: 1 Cor 15 starts with Paul getting on the case of the people for not believing in the resurrection. The Pharisees did believe in the resurrection and angles but he Sadducees did not. Paul asked them in verse 21 why are you doing baptisms for the dead if you don’t believe in the resurrection then what good is it if the dead will not rise. This is very simple and I am surprised no other Church as caught it. If you go to the Mountains of Guatemala like I did and find someone that has never heard of Christ and they die without being baptized then what of them? In the Mormon Church when they die they will go to the Spirit world where they will have a chance to accept or reject the Church and if they decide they want to get baptized then when it is done in one of our Temples then it will be effective and if they decide they want no part of it and they don’t believe it then when the ordinance is done it will have no effect. The Jews were upset that Mormons were doing proxy work in our temples for dead jews so that has since been stopped unless the direct family of those people request it. The Mormons have the worlds largest and most extensive genealogy family history library and all the records are stored in backup copies in side a deep mountain in Utah in case of disaster.

20. B:The Belief in a Heavenly Mother – Man without a woman the thought makes reason stare. A father without a mother is not the natural course. We don’t make God out to be a man although doctrinally speaking we believe God the father was once like Jesus and had a body like Jesus did. You will need to read Brigham Young’s discourses and Joseph Smith’s writings to learn more about deeper doctrines but this doctrine makes perfect sense.

Q: Treating God as if he were a man is wrong. God has always existed and man can never become a God and believing that is false doctrine.

A: So if we believe man can never become a God what will a resurrected man do say 2 or 25 billion years from now? Just be a servant to God putting grapes in his mouth? God is not an egotistical God he wants us to be happy and he wants us to progress. Man with his limited view on things cannot comprehend his own future. Many will tell you when you are dead that is it there is nothing more. I disagree. I agree that we should not treat God as a man or not worship him as deity. When you say God has always existed I will agree with that in a sense. I believe Man has always existed too and many feel there was a first man and I do not. I do not believe there ever was a first God either, I believe that God had a son (Jesus) and Jesus will take his father’s place as Lord of Lords as the Bible says and the process goes on and Jesus will also have a son and his son will follow in his footsteps. We cannot leave the women out of this equation. It is possible God did not mention his wife because he did not want us treating he with disrespect as we have his name.

21. B:The Belief that Jesus Christ was married Q: Some Churches believe Christ was married because in the Bible they called him Rabbi and at that time the Rabbi’s were married men. We cannot find this doctrine or reference to Christ being married in the Bible so it is best not to assume something you do not know.

A: With a restored Church comes a greater understanding through revelation and study and many of our Prophets and Apostles have written journals and books and you can find a wealth of information if you are willing to look for it although many of these doctrines are not important to our salvation so it is not prudent to dwell on things that are not really that important although Christ would not tell us to do something he was not willing to do himself.

22. B:The Doctrine that Adam and Eve were brought from another planet to Earth

Q: Man was made out of the dust of the earth according to the Bible and God created man and nowhere in the Bible can you find anything about Adam coming from another planet.

A: David O Mckay another Mormon Prophet in the 1960s said that “Man was never created any other way than through the womb of a woman” The Bible also says that all of us are created from the Dust of the Earth as well so that is true that we are created from the elements although all of us have a mother and a father as did Adam. Brigham Young talks about this and we learn that God planted a garden in Eden so he brought things from elsewhere. Some people believe that creation is making things appear but better put it means to organize not to make something from nothing. Once again if you are willing to search you can find really interesting stuff within the writings of the modern Prophets but most people are too busy watching movies and playing games and sending texts to spend time reading old books. In my opinion this is the reason I side so well with the LDS Church because it does answer very hard questions that no one else could. Adam was placed in the Garden and the creation using the rib for Eve is symbolic and if you look at the Bible much of it is symbolic. I welcome real comments and questions on these and any other doctrines you might wonder about. As I said in such a short blog I could not get as in depth as the answers you will get on fairlds.org but I hope I have informed you somewhat in basic LDS Doctrine.