Mormon Claims of Inspiration - Lesson 2

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1. The Story Of Joseph Smith And The Book Of Mormon:

      • "On the evening of the twenty-first of September [1823] I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God. While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor...He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people. He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang."

      • "...Also, that there were two stones in silver bows and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted Seers in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book."

      • "And after having received the record of the Nephites, yea, even my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., might have power to translate through the mercy of God, by the power of God the Book of Mormon."

    • A. Received From An Angel: The Book Of Mormon, Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith,

    B. Translated By Urim And Thummim: The Book Of Mormon, Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith,

    Doctrine and Covenants 1:29,

2. This Story Refuted:

      • P. 3, "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." An Address To All Believers In Christ, by David Whitmer, p. 12

        "Martin explained the translation as follows: By aid of the seer stone, sentences would appear and were read by the prophet and written by Martin, and when finished he would say, 'Written,' and if CORRECTLY WRITTEN, THAT SENTENCE WOULD DISAPPEAR AND ANOTHER appears IN ITS PLACE, BUT IF NOT WRITTEN CORRECTLY IT REMAINED UNTIL CORRECTED, SO THAT THE TRANSLATION WAS JUST AS IT WAS ENGRAVEN ON THE PLATES, PRECISELY IN THE LANGUAGE THEN USED." Myth Of The Manuscript Found, 1883 Edition, p. 91

      • "And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these. Behold, I am Moroni; and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you."

    • A. No Need For Modern Day Revelation: Jude:3, 2 Pet. 1:3, 2 Tim. 3:16-17 (The Bible is the complete revelation of the will of God. It alone is all sufficient. It gives us all we need to know.)

    B. Changes In The Book Of Mormon: If the writing and the translation of the Book Of Mormon were inspired, why have there been over 3,000 changes since the first edition? There have been corrections made on spelling and grammatical errors. Could God make such errors? Consider these quotes from 3,913 Changes In The Book Of Mormon.

    See also Mormon 8:12,

3. Other Alleged Revelation:

    A. Doctrine And Covenants, Pearl Of Great Price: Two other works, generally contained in one volume, believed to be inspired.

    B. Church Prophets And Leaders: The claim that there is a continual succession of apostles today which may reveal truth.

4. These Works Refuted:

      • "For verily I say unto you, that after you have had sufficient time to build a house to me, wherein the ordinance of baptizing of the dead belongeth, and for which the same was instituted from before the foundation of the world, your baptisms for your dead cannot be acceptable unto me";

      • "And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed."

    • A. Internal Contradictions: Doctrines And Covenants 124:33

    Alma 34:31-36 (only vs. 33 quoted)

    (These passages clearly contradict. One teaches their doctrine of being baptized on behalf of the dead. The other says after death, there is no chance for repentance.) See also D&C 132:1, 38-39/Jacob 1:15, 2:23-24. One approves of the polygamy of Solomon and David and the other does not.

    B. Changes In The Doctrines And Covenants: There have been almost 3,000 changes made in this volume since the first printing. See The Bible And Mormon Scriptures Compared, p. 37.

    C. Egyptian Papyrus: The Book Of Abraham, part of the Pearl Of Great Price, was allegedly translated from ancient Egyptian papyrus. The book has over four thousand words. Three Egyptologists independently translated the same papyrus and came up with only seventy words. See The Bible And Mormon Scriptures Compared, p. 59.

    D. No Apostles Today: Acts 1:22/1 Cor. 15:8 (To be an apostle one had to be witness to the resurrection of Christ. Paul was the last one to witness that so no one today could qualify to be an apostle.)