Reason #191: What would a Christian Church have to Change to Become Mormon?
A VERY big unspoken assumption Mormons operate on is that all blessings (except the most general ones of having life itself and “rain on the just and the unjust” and Romans 1:18-20 type things) are only available through the LDS Church organization and priesthood as gatekeepers. I can’t emphasize enough how tied together the idea of eventual reward in heaven, is to membership in the LDS church. A very insightful question was asked by another ex-Mormon to a Mormon once: “What would my congregation have to change in order to be a Mormon congregation?” The answer is, almost everything they believe about salvation, the identity of God, and what practices are necessary, both in corporate worship and individual lives. LDS believers would...
Reason #157: Rampant, Mystical Polytheism of Mormonism
A recent post by a BYU site shows that Mormonism cannot possibly be classed as monotheistic. Here it is below, in question and answer form: Q: How can God be all-knowing and still progress eternally? A: An article by James R. Harris explains that some students have been confused by apparently conflicting statements made by early Church leaders about God’s omniscience on the one hand and his ability to grow in knowledge and glory on the other. These leaders recognized that God could somehow grow in knowledge and at the same time experience no deficiency in his knowledge, being, in fact, a possessor of all knowledge. God’s foreknowledge spans all of man’s experience (premortal, mortal, post-mortal, and immortal) and man’s end (his final...
Latter-day Cipher AND Mormon Mirage Giveaways
Easy way to get a free copy of my controversial novel about Mormonism: Go to Moody Fiction’s new blog, and make a comment. (You may need to refresh the page to make sure you’re commenting on my book.) They’re giving away ten copies tomorrow, Saturday, January 9. UPDATE: Zondervan is giving away 10 copies of The Mormon Mirage tomorrow too at the Moody Fiction blog! Go sign up!
Reason #119: Because “fastest-growing” isn’t a reason to believe
Recently on a messageboard I ran across this chart and explanation. Anyone want to check the math (or talk about the implications?): HOW TO USE THESE CHARTS The statistics with white backgrounds are ones reported by the church itself. The statistics with gray backgrounds are derived by subsequently “doing the math” on one’s own. The statistics with yellow borders (Starting with 1991) are approximations thanks to the church having rounded its numbers to the nearest thousand or ten thousand. All negative signs (“-”) should be interpreted as “a loss of.” If you’d like to check my math, click on the year to see the church’s official online Statistical Report for that particular year. In the following...
Reason #115: Those Moonmen just won’t go away
Eyewitnesses say that Joseph Smith and other LDS leaders not only described inhabitants on the moon, but also prophesied that 18th and 19th century Mormons would do missionary work there. Here are some sources for that information: (courtesy of Steve Benson) 1. Will Schmidt, “Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and Extraterrestrial Quakers!,” in “The Watchman Expositor,” vol. 6, no. 9, 1989 2. Jerald and Sandra Tanner, “The Changing World of Mormonism,” Chapter 1, “A Marvelous Work?” (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1981), pp. 23-25 3. James B. Allen, “But Dick Tracy Landed On The Moon,” in “Sunstone,” vol. 7, no. 5, issue #35, September/October 1982, pp. 19-20 4. Van Hale, “Mormons and...
