Mormanism: Fact or Falacy?
The following article was composed by two students while studying the Mormon Religion through several sources including the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith (the founder of Mormonism), and World Religions & Cults 101 by Bruce Bickel & Stan Jantz
The religion known as Mormonism has about 11 million followers (known as Ladder Day Saints) across the globe. It is the fastest growing religion in the entire world, with 300,000 converts every year (however converts leave the order almost as quickly as they join it). One reason why they are the fastest at converting others is that there are 50,000 missionaries living in over 200 countries around the world. If that were not enough, it is also the wealthiest church, bringing in about 25-30 billion dollars per year. It is also notable that the average Mormon lives a moral life far better than that of the average person. There are however some shocking truths in their belief system.
First, we must look at the foundations of the Mormon Church. It was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith who was born in Vermont in 1805. Smith was known to have a very vivid imagination. One of his hobbies as a child living in upper state New York was to treasure hunt using a method which involved using seer stones and a black hat to see hidden treasure in the ground. Stone gazing, in Joseph’s time was illegal and was also considered a cultic practice.
On September 21, 1823 Smith asked God for a vision. According to him, he met with the angel Moroni who told him about a book that was written in gold which he could find buried near his home. This book contained information about the previous inhabitants of America, and an account of what he called the “true gospel” which he claimed was given to the Native Americans by the “savior”.
Upon Smith recovering this “ancient text”, he translated it from its original “Reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics”. This text has become the Book of Mormon which helped him found the Mormon church, which he called “the One True Church”.
A few years later in 1844, Smith was jailed for treason and starting a riot in Carthage, Illinois. The jail was then stormed by a mob of 200 angry people who killed him. He was however able to wound a few of them with a gun which he had smuggled in.
Many Churches consider the Mormon Church a cult, while they consider themselves the one true faith. According to Dictionary.com, a cult is “a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader” (Dictionary.com). Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz the authors of World Religion & Cults 101 believe that it is a cult. We are now going to explore a few of the inconsistencies which make it hard for a person to completely agree with ALL of the beliefs in Mormonism.
Firstly, the Mormon church believes that Africans are the descendants of Cain from the book of Genesis in the Christian Bible. They believe that the curse he received upon the murder of his brother was dark skin and a flat nose. Second Mormon prophet Bringham Young said “Shall I tell you The law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man, who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty under the law of God is death on the spot. This will always be so"(Journel of Discourses, Vol 10 pg 110). Because of this Mormons denied Africans the priesthood. This was changed on June 9th, 1978 due to bad publicity. Another problem with this idea is that all of Cain’s descendants, according to the Bible, were wiped out in the flood.
Another question that has yet to be answered by the Mormon church is “where did all the artifacts go”? Much like the “missing link” in Darwin’s theory of Evolution, there are no such artifacts that would allow us to believe there were vast civilizations in America before the Native Americans. According to Smith, there were collosial battles fought in New York State in which hundreds of thousands of Ancient Americans fought and died. Smith believed that these “Americans” were the ones who enscribed the golden tablet from which he wrote the “book of Mormon” (this piece of literature being one of the most key Mormon works of all). With such a large battle, one would think that there would be spear tips by the barrel, skeletons by the bushel, and war camps by the dozen. To date no such discoveries have been made. Either the archeologists are missing something, or there is one big issue in the heart of the Mormon religion.
The book of Mormon, and Mormon doctrine also have many contradictions. Mosiah 15:1 & 5, Alma 28, and 2nd Nephi 31:21 all say that there is One and only one God. Mormon doctrine however clearly states in the Journal of Discourses Vol. 6 page 5 that there are MANY Gods( world religions and cults 101). Doctrines and Covenants 132:20 states that members of the Mormon church can become a god of their own planet. President Lorenzo Snow said, “As god once was man is. As God is, man may become"(undisputed).
For these reasons, a person should be extremely careful when considering to join ANY religious sect, especially Mormonism. It is important that a person have at least a basic understanding of the issues in a religion before one can make a decision on whether or not it is in fact truth, or is simply a falacy.
Work Cited Page:
Bickel, Bruce & Jantz, Stan. “World Religions & Cults 101” Harvest House Publishers, Oregon USA. 2002.
