Posted by MKB on December 17, 2004, at 15:40:26
In reply to Re: Faith of My Fathers, posted by rayww on December 17, 2004, at 14:12:20
> > Because it all lines up, and would not contradict itself. If it is totally out of line with the Bible, it probably didn't come from God.
Joseph Smith, who dug up the golden plates containing the Book of Mormon, only allowed a few "witnesses" to see the alleged golden plates before they were "taken into heaven." All of these witnesses were later denounced by Smith or expelled from the church as apostates. So there is no reliable witness of the plates.The Book of Mormon was supposedly buried in A.D. 428, but it contains about 25,000 words verbatim from the A.D. 1611 King James Version of the Bible. In the Book of Mormon, the words of Jesus and some of the apostles are placed in the mouths of persons who supposedly lived centures before Christ. The plates were supposedly translated from "reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics." There is no such thing as "reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics" and it was *not* the language spoken by the early inhabitants of the Americas.
The Book of Mormon is full of historical and factual errors. The book claims the American Indians are of Semitic descent, when they are actually of Mongoloid extraction. Everything known about pre-Columbian archeology of the Americas contradicts Mormon claims.
Though Joseph Smith claimed his translation was divinely given, there have been over 2000 corrections made to the text since 1830. Smith even has incorrectly translated verses of the King James version plagiarized in the Book of Mormon.
Mormons try to make the Bible fit their theology rather than the other way around. For example, Mormons teach that God was not always God and that people have the potential to become gods themselves. Mormonism teaches that Christ is the brother of Satan, that Christ was a polygamist and had children, that Christ's death only removes the penalty of past sins, that people living today can be baptized for ancestors. These doctrines are contrary to the teachings of the Old and New Testaments.
While Mormons may consider themselves Christians, other Christians do not. Mormon doctrine is very different from traditional Christian doctrine based on the Old and New Testaments. Anytime you add a new book as scripture, you are creating a different religion. According to traditional Christian belief, the canon of scripture is closed. While I can learn from the faith of my fathers, what they said is not the same as scripture.
poster:MKB
thread:430398
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20041120/msgs/430921.html