1 The Mormon Challenge A presentation of the other side of Mormonism using LDS-approved sources 2 Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................5 Sources Used .......................................................................................................................5 PART ONE: THE SCRIPTURES ....................................................................................5 The Book of Mormon.........................................................................................................5 Translation ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Tree of Life Vision Source .............................................................................................................. 7 Evangelical Sources ......................................................................................................................... 8 Moroni’s Promise ........................................................................................................................... 12 View of the Hebrews ...................................................................................................................... 20 King James Bible ............................................................................................................................ 24 Plates of Brass ................................................................................................................................ 28 Other Potential Sources .................................................................................................................. 29 Chiasmus ............................................................................................................................33 Contradictions ....................................................................................................................35 Other Points .......................................................................................................................38 Doctrine and Covenants ..................................................................................................40 The Rod of Nature .......................................................................................................................... 40 Isaiah and Esaias ............................................................................................................................ 41 Adam and Michael ......................................................................................................................... 42 Book of Abraham .............................................................................................................43 PART TWO: THE CHURCH ........................................................................................46 The Restoration ................................................................................................................46 1832 First Vision Account.............................................................................................................. 46 1835 Account ................................................................................................................................. 47 Peter, James, and John .................................................................................................................... 47 Polygamy and Polyandry ................................................................................................48 In Practice ....................................................................................................................................... 48 Reasons for Polygamy .................................................................................................................... 51 Public Denial .................................................................................................................................. 52 Effect on Women ............................................................................................................................ 56 3 The Temple .......................................................................................................................59 Prophets, Seers, and Revelators .....................................................................................60 Special Witnesses of Christ ............................................................................................................ 60 Prophets .......................................................................................................................................... 60 Revelators: The Word of Wisdom .................................................................................................. 61 Revelators: The Plan of Salvation .................................................................................................. 62 The Mouthpiece of God.................................................................................................................. 63 Race and the Priesthood ................................................................................................................. 65 Homosexuality ................................................................................................................................ 68 Women ........................................................................................................................................... 71 Intimacy .......................................................................................................................................... 73 The Journal of Discourses as a Source ........................................................................................... 73 Blood Atonement ........................................................................................................................... 75 Adam-God Theory ......................................................................................................................... 77 Miscellaneous Quotes ..................................................................................................................... 78 Mark Hofmann ............................................................................................................................... 79 Tithing ...............................................................................................................................80 Anti-Intellectualism .........................................................................................................81 Miscellaneous Questions ..................................................................................................83 44+ Reasons Why the Church is True ...........................................................................84 Closing Remarks ..............................................................................................................87 Introduction For the past year, I’ve been researching questions I’ve had concerning certain aspects of Mormonism. This document provides my findings as well as the sources for my work. In order to verify my works’ validity, I encourage you to check the sources for yourself. If the given quote does not match the content on the provided link, insert the link into http://archive.org/web/ and search through past versions of the website. I have provided screenshots when archiving wasn’t possible. I understand that this is a very sensitive topic for many people. As you read some of this information for the first time, it’s possible you feel a terrible sinking feeling. I’ve experienced it for myself. It reminds me of how I feel when I get broken up with, or when I find out that a loved one has died. I will recount some of my personal experiences to help you out in that regard. 4 Sources Used In the recent push for more honesty, the church has published a series of essays on lds.org. The list is given at this link: lds.org - Gospel Topics Essays There is no information given as to who wrote the essays, but Deseret News has established that each of the essays are approved by the First Presidency. “The church's First Presidency approves each of the enhanced topic pages.” “The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve both have been very supportive of this process.” ~Elder Stephen E. Snow, Church Historian, 2013 From the article: “Elder Snow said one of the next topic pages to be enhanced will be about the translation of the Book of Mormon.” deseretnews.com - LDS Church enhances web pages on its history, doctrine Past Attitudes vs. Present Attitudes: “I think in the past there was a tendency to keep a lot of the records closed or at least not give access to “There is a temptation for the writer or information. But the world has the teacher of Church history to want changed in the last generation—with to tell everything, whether it is worthy the access to information on the or faith promoting or not. Some things Internet, we can’t continue that pattern; that are true are not very useful.” I think we need to continue to be more ~Elder Boyd K Packer, 1981 open.” lds.org - CES Symposium, p. 3 ~Elder Snow, Church Historian, 2013 maxwellinstitute.byu.edu - Truth in Church History Another source that will be referenced is an organization called FAIR Mormon (FAIR). They try to provide faithful answers for difficult gospel topics. This article discusses