Growing up as a Mormon has made me particularly sensitive to absorbing knowledge from and about the Mormon faith. In fact my entire family has this upbringing, and are (active or inactive) members of the Mormon church. I live with them (my family) now, and we talk about this subject sometimes. I also have seen many of my close friends off on their Mormon missions. It often results in an argument, although I try to avoid that now. That is why I am writing this letter. I want to first briefly explain where I am coming from on this issue, and then share some information that has been shared with me. I got a lot of this information from Sandra Tanner at the Utah Lighthouse ministry. Other things, I got from my independent studies. Of the resources that I used in this study, some of them are listed on my website.
I recently removed my name from LDS church records, and made my stand against the principles and teachings of the LDS church. This is not to hinder anyone's relationship with the truth, but to witness the truth of the Bible, opposed to something else. This has not been easy for me, and I do not enjoy losing friends, family, and employment. But I know that it is right, and it is commanded by the Lord, according to an account of His words in the Bible (Matthew 10:32-42). This is not to say that the Mormon church is the only religion that I do not agree with, because I do not agree with religion at all. In the sense that I do not believe religion alone can save anyone's soul. I do not believe that my Hindu , pagan (druid, Nordic, wiccan, ect..), bhuddist, friends are any closer to the truth either. (the truth being the Bible)
But I do still and always will love my friends and family dearly regardless of any differences. I may choose to live differently, and even though there may be division in our friendship, I always keep them close to my heart
To find some interesting truth about the Bible, such as scientific, archeological, and spiritual facts, go to my website http://creativegrace.org/links.htm
My studies recently have been about the Mormon church. There is a lot of evidence that they have produced to me, to try to prove their claims to being the "ONLY true church". I have had the discussions with the missionaries, and I have spoke to the bishop of the ward that I should be in. They try to distance themselves from claims that they are "the only true church", by saying "all churches have truth in them, we just have more of it," I have not taken that claim lightly, for obvious reason. Because IF their church is the "ONLY truth" then all of the other churches fall into another category which is that they have to be false. This is what Joseph Smith stated in testifying his 'first vision experience, and later in other occasions when preaching sermons about the "truth" of his newly founded church. Joseph Smith claimed that God told him "all their creeds are corrupt," "that they are an abomination in Gods sight"
(Joseph Smith--History 1:19, The Pearl of Great Price) also found in Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 14:10)
They have also claimed to restore the priesthood which only Christ Himself alone can hold. According to the Bible. Hebrews 7:17 "Thou (Jesus) art priest forever after the order of Melchisedec" Hebrews 7:16 says who can fit this order "Who is made, not after the law of carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life" ?
Hebrews 7:22-24 "By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better
testament. And they truly were MANY priests, because they were not suffered (i.e.
allowed) to continue by reason of death: But this Man (Jesus the Christ) continueth
ever, hath an UN-CHANGEABLE priesthood." (Saying that the old priesthood
had many priest because they were limited by death, but now Christ, Who is incorruptible
and Who carries on forever fulfilled the sacrifice for atonement, and assumed
the High Priesthood, and since He is not limited by death, he continues to hold
the unchangeable priesthood as He alone is incorruptible) No mortal man fits
these qualifications, as no mortal man can (or could have) atoned for the sins
of mankind.
There are fundamental differences between orthodox Christianity, and Mormonism. The differences are not always obvious, or spoken about publicly. But the major differences are monotheism (orthodox Christianity teaches that there is one God- Isaiah 45:5), and polytheism (the belief in many gods, as taught by Mormon scripture -Bruce McConkie -Mormon Doctrine 576-7 & Abraham 4-1). The teachings that follow polytheism in the Mormon church, is the belief that we can also become gods. Which is rejected throughout the Bible, as in Romans 8, God is the potter, and we are the pots. And Isaiah 45:5-6, were God declares that he alone is God, and there is no others. Mormons also believe that God is not the Alpha and Omega (the beginning and the end), as they also teach that there was gods before God, and that Eloheim (God the Father), Himself has a father. This of course is not biblical, as God is the ONLY God, and there is no other.
Another major difference that is glorified more then anything else, is the production of the Book of Mormon. Mormon's claim to have another witness of Jesus Christ through the Book of Mormon, which Joseph Smith was said to have translated with a magic device called the Urim and Thuman from golden plates that he found by his house when he was a child. This is obviously a huge claim, and has been disputed for quite a long time. Joseph Smith claims that the native American people, actually referred to in the Book Of Mormon as a lost tribe of Israel, that came across the Red Sea from Israel 600 B.C. These people called Lehites are allegidly from the "tribe of Joseph" (referring to a person wrote about in the Bible).
Ether 15:2 (Book of Mormon) says "there had been slain 2 million of his mighty men, *and also their wives and children". This makes the population of the Jeridites between 4-6 million people. Joseph Smith himself declared that "Jared (another Biblical character from Jewish lineage) and his brother came on to this continent from the confusion and the scattering at the Tower, and lived here (the Americas) more then a thousand years, and covered the whole continent from sea to sea, with towns and cities. (Teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith, p.267)
This is interesting, because these people who wrote the book of Mormon had a very vast culture, and a broad infrastructure to sustain the millions of lives that settled "here". With all of the battles, and weapons used in these battles, and as intelligent as these people were, there is yet to find even a small smigon of their language, or archeology found on this continent. (Their language meaning the "reformed egyptian" language that was shared by Joseph Smith with Charles Anthon in the early 1830's, as claimed to be "rubbings from the golden plates")
Not only is their no sign of their culture, but molecular biologist who have extensive background in DNA research, such as Simon Southerton (a former Mormon bishop) have made comments like: "The (existing) DNA research shows overwhelmingly that Native Americans and Polynesians are descended from Asian ancestors." (Salt Lake Tribune November 30th 2000).
Another Microbiologist says "The interesting thing here is that Jews trace their paternal ancestry to one man (Abraham). Jews have a high proportion of a particular Y-chromosome and it is very likely that this is the one inherited from Abraham. Lehi was a direct descendant of Joseph and therefore Abraham. All his sons and the sons of Mulek for that matter (son of King Judah) would have the same Y-chromosome. Work on the Y-chromosomes of American Indians is still progressing, but all indications to date suggest a common paternal origin in Mongolia or Siberia. While there will be a lot more European contamination, the occurrence of the Jewish Y in American Indians would be a big surprise."
So if there is little to none archeological evidence, no lingual evidence, and no genetic evidence, then what left is there?
If you would like copies of the newspaper articles you can go to the Salt Lake Tribune website @ www.sltrib.com or you can write me with your postal address and I will send you hard copies of these articles, and other DNA research articles from other publications.
If you would like to learn a little more, look in the the Book of Mormon; Ether 9, and read about the elephants that once existed in America, or the horses, and the wheat. There is many references in the Book of Mormon to things that do not, and haven not existed in the Americas during that time in history. But the most convicting evidence, is the lack of a map in the Book of Mormon. There is much speculation by Mormons where these events of the Book of Mormon took place, but since they have not found a single ounce of credible evidence, they will not link any of their allegid finding to a map.
I didn't write this to inflame any negitive emotions, but just to challenge you to "read it and pray", so that you may give it an educated study.