From: Josh Bembenek (jbembe@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Sep 19 2002 - 12:13:17 EDT
I'm afraid I can't provide a citation, as I only heard it from this guy.
--I can second that claim, as I was once mormon. We considered the bible to
be littered with errors mainly because it didn't come from Mormon prophets
(and was thus less divinely inspired because men --like men in the catholic
church, had contaminated it during the passage of time.) Joseph Smith
offers his own translation in the Pearl of Great Price, I believe, of some
chapters of the bible, to "decontaminate" it.
I did try once to read the Book of Mormon; I shared a house
>with a recent convert to Christianity, and when the Mormons came
>round, he wanted to have a go at converting them. So we read up the
>book (a friend had a copy), to get genned up on it. Unfortunately it
>was not possible to read the book and keep a straight face; it was so
>obviously an incompetent parody of the KJV style that some bits made
>us burst out laughing. We did seriously try though. I believe that
>it is indeed correct that whole chunks of the KJV are copied
>wholesale; there is also a plagiarised and slightly altered form of
>the Sermon on the Mount, preached by Christ on returning to America
>in 33AD just after the ascension.
--I thought it was after his crucifixion and before the resurrection when
Christ visited america, but then my Mormon theology is a little rusty after
8 years now.... A highly recommended source for documented errors,
plagarisms, fallacies of Mormon theology is found at http://www.utlm.org/.
I highly recommend reviewing the material so you can be prepared for
interactions with your family. Mormonism is no joke, it is a serious
spiritually-dead prison of self-justification and legalism. By the way, did
you know that Joseph Smith was tried and convicted of treasure-digging
before he founded his religion? There's alot wrong there.
It really beats me how anyone can believe that stuff;
--It's quite simple really. Please see philipians chapter 3, where Paul
speaks on legalistic righteousness. This captivates the mormon audience
(that is living according to legalism.) The hook is the following: a
missionary shows up at your door and tells you that they have direct
information from God to share with you. They tell you a watered-down
synopsis of Mormonism that is reasonable and ask you to make a decision of
truth based on the limited information they give you. (If every mormon
missionary was followed by an evangelical christian into every home,
Mormonism would fail, because the initial hook is critical.) To make the
decision you are told to pray, and if you pray like they have done (and they
claim to know God so this has to be correct) and God will tell you directly
concerning the truth of mormonism by whether or not you get the "feeling of
the spirit." This feeling is basically an indescribable personal experience
where God confirms that Mormonism is true. On this first occasion you are
asked to confirm the truth of several things 1. Book of Mormon is true, 2.
Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and also true 3. The witness of Joseph
Smith recieving the restored Gospel of mormonism is also true. Now, once
you get the feeling and discover the truth (and God directly tells you that
these three things are true based upon some feeling you get), you have
joined the ranks of those who know the "fullness of truth" as proclaimed by
mormon doctrine and have risen to greater knowledge than all other churches
and authorities in the world. After your baptism where you officially
assume Mormon membership you are gradually taught all the other questionable
and bizarre theology. However, since you have already personally heard God
and Know that Mormon things are true, you question little, in fact you are
constantly encouraged NOT to question anything. For example I can clearly
remember being told many times to never speak to anyone with anti-Mormon
propaganda, etc. because they were directly from Satan and would try to lie
and decieve you. (The thought in the back of my mind was-- if I know the
truth and they don't, won't the truth prevail when I talk to them?!?) So,
the quite simple summary: a perfect blend of pride-serving theology (I am
now one of the select few who knows the real truth) and partial truths
capture many to dedicate their lives to an errant and polluted Gospel. And
unless you personally overcome many barriers socially, and theologically you
can never leave the church. (One of the hardest for me to overcome was the
fact that according to Mormonism, if you join the church during your life
and then fall away, you are among the only people who are guarunteed to go
to hell. Everyone else gets some degree of heaven regardless of their
knowledge of mormonism, only those who reject mormonism go to hell. This
was very difficult because when I left the church, I was convinced that I
was casting myself into hell, even though I would tell myself that I didn't
believe that anymore!) Most discussions with Mormons are stopped dead by-
"God told me directly what is and is not true, how can you determine what
God tells ME!?!", and the training that any naysayer of mormonism is from
the devil. In my view, it is the perfectly-crafted religion engineered from
Satan himself, not unlike the errors of the pharisees of Jesus' time.
Josh Bembenek
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