That we henceforth be no more achildren, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of bdoctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But speaking the atruth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the bhead, even Christ:
-- Ephesians 4:14-15
This page will be devoted to answering criticisms against the Church, Refutations, and other items dealing with the defence of the faith.
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Common criticisms Against the LDS Church
I will try and gather common criticisms of the church and answer them, usually without pointing out anyone in particular. This will give me the chance to research and refute the falsehoods while not attacking the persons involved with the lies, unless quoting etc. Again, this is not an official word for the church, but my own doing. These are in no particular order of importance. I will draw upon all scriptures (Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covanents aka D&C, as well as the pearl of great price. I may also use quotes from prophets and historians, I'll do what I can to be fully accurate in my sources.
Criticism #1 The LDS are not Christian because we do not accept the creeds of Nicea or any other, neither do we accept the definition of the trinity found within them.
Answer: While it is true we don't accept the creeds or the traditional definition of God. We do look to Him, and we do accept Christ as our Savior. We know God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and The Holy Ghost are three seperate and distinct individuals. Many Bible passages show this; (See: KJV: St. Matthew 3:16-17, 17:5, 26:39, St Mark 14:36 and 15:34, Luke 2:52, St. John 3:35, 5:18-47, 7:27-28, 8:29, Acts 7:55-56, 1 corinthians 11:3, Hebrews 1:1-3, 1 John 2:1, 3 Nephi 11:3-7, D&C 76:20-21, D&C 130:22-23, Joseph Smith-History 1:17, ). Our first article of faith reads: 1 WE abelieve in bGod, the Eternal Father, and in His cSon, Jesus Christ, and in the dHoly Ghost. (Aof F 1:1). There are also scriptures that show God has a body of flesh and bone (Not spirit only). Scriptures that show this include:Luke 24:38-40, D&C 129:2, 130:22. As far as the references in scripture that proclaim the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be "one" it is refering to their purpose and their desires, not physical nature but their way of being. Moses 1:39 in the Pearl of Great Price reads: 39 For behold, this is my awork and my bglory—to bring to pass the cimmortality and deternal elife of man. In this respect, the 3 are 1. They want to bring to pass the salvation of God's children. They are not one in physical make up (see above scriptures), but are one in purpose. The name of the Church carries the name of our Lord. If you were to attend one of our Sunday meetings, you would hear many fervent testimonies of Christ, that He lives, and that through His love and sacrifice we can again return and dwell with Him forever. He is our Savior, and our King. I am grateful for him, and know he is real, and is our Savior. He suffered and died for our sins, and without him, there would have been no hope for Eternal Life This will lead into the next "criticism" See the following addresses from the Oct. 2007 General Conference: http://tinyurl.com/28wgg7 this is from President Hinckley Sunday Morning. And this: http://tinyurl.com/2vu34b is from Elder Jeffrey R Holland Saturday Afternoon.
Criticism #2 LDS don't accept the grace of Jesus, and place too much importance on our works.
Answer: Some claim that because we do believe our works plays a part in our final place with God, we know that Christ is our Savior, that he died for us and suffered for everyone's sins. There is no possible way that our works could get us into heaven, because they will never be enough. We need God's grace in order to qualify for eternal life. That said, there are several verses of scripture that say BOTH works and grace are needed. I will list them here: KJV Matthew 7:21, 10:22, 16:27, 24:13, Luke 23:41, 1 Timothy 6:18, 2 Tim 4:14, James 1:22, Chapter 2, 1 John 3:18, Revelations 20:12-13, 1 Nephi 15:32, Mosiah 3:24, Alma 9:28, Moroni 7:5, D&C 101:100. There are more, but this will do. I see our works as being an ingredient in the recipe to help us gain eternal life. It is like the teaspoon of vanilla in chocolate chip cookies. There isn't very much in there, but without it, the cookies aren't the same. Our works are like that, small in comparison to the grace we receive, but nonetheless important in the formula.
Criticism #3:LDS are not Christian Answer: This I will simply answer with our first article of faith (part of the LDS cannon of scripture written by Joseph Smith to a Mr. Wentworth in 1842. It states simply "We abelieve in bGod, the Eternal Father, and in His cSon, Jesus Christ, and in the dHoly Ghost. The church carries the Name of our Saviour "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There are many testimonies from our leaders that testify of Christ. I will use a few examples here. D&C 76:22-24 reads: 22 "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the atestimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he blives!23 For we asaw him, even on the bright hand of cGod; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only dBegotten of the Father—24 That by ahim, and through him, and of him, the bworlds are and were created, and the cinhabitants thereof are begotten dsons and daughters unto God." Those are the words of Joseph Smith, the prophet.Others have testified of Him who saved us. For example, Bruce R McKonkie proclaimed: "....I bear record of the divine sonship of him whom we have this day spoken. He is or should be our best Friend through whom we can be reconciled to God." (Given in an adressa t Brigham Young University on March 2nd 1982) -- I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal, living God. I believe in Him as the Firstborn of the Father and the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. I believe in Him as an individual, separate and distinct from His Father. … I believe that in His mortal life He was the one perfect man to walk the earth. I believe that in His words are to be found that light and truth which, if observed, would save the world and bring exaltation to mankind. I believe that in His priesthood rests divine authority—the power to bless, the power to heal, the power to govern in the earthly affairs of God, the power to bind in the heavens that which is bound upon the earth ( Gordon B Hinckley Ensign, Mar. 1998, 5). --The DVD "Special witnesses of Christ" is the testimony of twelve apostles and the frst presidency from the yar 2000. There was also a written testimony put out in that same year. We have and will continue to give unflinching testimony of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know he lives, and that he died for us. Through him, we will be saved and return to live with him again.
Each prophet and apostle since Joseph Smith has testified of the divinity and of the saving power of Jesus Christ, his birth, death, and resurection all brought us the hope of a better life along with life eternal.
Criticism #4: The Mormons Still practice polygamy
Answer:This one is more of a misconception than a criticism. Simply put, no we don't. It was done away with as a requirement of church members in 1890 with "Official Declaration #1", given in 1890 to president Wilford Woodruf. Any individual who is in the church and is found practicing polygamy is ex-communicated. The 60 Minutes interview between Mike Wallace and President Hinckly in 1996 mentions this fact.
Criticism #5: The teaching within the LDS church of a "pre-existence" is false and non-Biblical
Answer: Several verses in the Scriptures talk about being with God before being born. They include: Job 38:7, Jeremiah 1:5, Romans 8:29, Ephesians 1:4, Jude 1:6, Revelations 12:7. Heleman 14:7, D&C 29:36, 93:29, 138, Moses 3:5(pearl of Great Price). Abraham 3:22-23(PoGP), 5:7. There are others that allude to this, but aren’t talking about it directly. There have been countless prophets teach us of a life with God before this one. Amoung them are:
Criticism #6 Joseph Smith wrote/plagerized the Book of Mormon
Answer: There were several talks addressing this issue at a recent General Conference see: http://www.lds.org/conference/apr2007/archive/0,20920,7545-1,00.html Also try: Hugh B Brown: Profile of a Prophet via BYU Speeches, written or audio. A small list of questions also comes to mind here. First: If he did, why then did his closest friends turned critics such as Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and others not blow the whistle on Joseph? If he, himself wrote the book, why was he not called on it by those closest to him that then left (some came back). 2. Where did Joseph gain the education to write a book when he had very little education. He was brilliant, this is true, but he had no such knowledge or writing. For those who say he had help, see question number 1. 3. There have been many people and professionals auithenticate the Book of Mormon writing style as ancient, not 19th century amoung them are the Charles Anthon incident. Another is found in "No Maam' That's not History" By Hugh Nibley, where a female investigator well educated in ancient texts declared it to be of ancient authenticity. For those who use the Smithsonian letter as proof that the BofM is not genuine, you must also look at the follow-up. see: http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=jbms&id=176&previous=L3B1YmxpY2F0aW9ucy9ib29rb2Ztb3Jtb252aWV3LnBocA== I have seen friends and associates fall away from the church. While so doing, they have rejected many doctrines and teachings found in the gospel. However, they have not been able to find sufficient evidence that Joseph Smith wrote this great book. They have somehow retained their testimonies of the Book of Mormon, and defend it. The three witnesses knew the BofM was from God, not man. They retained their testimonies, as did the eight witnesses, dispite their other issues with the church and Joseph Smith. There are plenty of other eveidences that could be cited, but I'll leave it here for now.
Criticism #7 There is no need for a specific authority or priesthood, one can receive his/her calling through the Holy Spirit.
Answer: The following Scriptures show that there is an ordination, or preisthood needed in order to have the proper authority to act in God's name. See: Matthew 10:1 Luke 9:1, John 15:16, Acts 13:3, 14:23, Efesians 4:11-12, 2 Nephi 5:26, Alma 49:30 and others. Many of these scriptures state that people were "called by the Holy Order of God." Which is another name for the priesthood. Christ himself called his Diciples by this power, and laying on of hands was used to ordain people to the priesthood (see Acts 13:3).
Criticism #8 John 1:18 says that no man hath seen God at any time:
Answer: First, there is a Joseph Smith Translation to the verse (one must of course believe it is divine and that Joseph is a Prophet to accept this, but it's true just the same). it reads:
Other scriptures show that Men have seen God among them are: Gen 32:30, Ex 24:11, 33:11, Duet 34:10, 1 Kings 11:9, Isa 6:5, Acts 7:55-56, Rev 1:17, Alma 19:13, Ether 3:13-15, D&C 76:23, D&C 110:2, Moses 7:4, 7:59, Abr 3:11, JS-H 1:17 Testimony has been given by others who know and have seen God i.e. in Oct general conference Elder Henry B Eyring of the Quarum of the Twelve Apostles said: "I am grateful that I know as surely as did the Apostles Peter, James, and John that Jesus is the Christ, our risen Lord, and that he is our advocate with the Father."
Criticism #9 There was no apostacy from Christ's true church, we all have authority through the Holy Spirit
False "prophecies" made by anti-mormons
Many critics of the church have called Joseph Smith a false prophet due to certian prophecies he has made, or supposedly uttered. Some include the temple to be built in Jackson County, The war prophecy, and others. These have been dealt with in the past, certian places one can go to read the rebuttal to these claimed false prophecies are: mormonfortress.com, shields.org, fairlds.org, and others found on my home page. I will post the quotes and references as I find them. It should be noted that these may have just been predictions by the enemies of the church, but my intent should be clear, this is to show this work will move forward dispite opposition.
#1: In the summer of 2001, I was in an AOL instant message chat with an ex-mormon known throughout the internet as "Susie Q" We were in a conversation that predictably was going nowhere but to contention, but there was one thing that really stuck out to me. She claimed that the (then) upcoming 2002 winter olympics woud be the "Nail in the coffin" for the church. That has not and did not happen. If anything, it gave the church more recognition (both good and bad) alerted people to who we were, and gave a possible gubinatorial and now presidential candidate (Mit Romney, who is LDS). a chance to shine as he turned the olymics from a major financial loss amid scandal, into a huge success.
#2: In 2003, Matthew B Brown wrote a short article for FAIR discussing the critics prediction on the fate of the Book of Mormon. The article is found here: http://www.fairlds.org/apol/ai153.html
#3: Following the martyrdom of The Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, the patriarch the following appeared in the New York Weekly Herald: Quoting from the Weekly Herald, New York, Friday, July 12, 1844: "We yesterday received bythe western mail the following particulars of the death of Joe Smith the Prophet, and his brotherHiram. They were both shot. There was a tremendous excitement at the west in consequence oftheir death. A dreadful civil war was expected. Thus ends Mormonism." See Dix W. Price, BYUSpeeches of the Year, 1962, p. 8
Two false "prophecies" here: Mormonism didn't end, and no civil war followed. The saints, though greatly shaken stayed calm, and ultimately made the trek to the rocky mountians and the Great Salt Lake. The work continues to flourish today.
Scriptures and quotes for the defence of the faith
I will be compiling a list of scriptures and quotes and placing them here in this section of my site.
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My other Pages
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