The Mormon church views Jesus and Satan as spirit brothers and sons of god. The gods put forth THERE plan of salvation for the world, and Satan proposed his own plan. Jesus accepted the plan of the gods and offered to implement it as the Savior. The Father chose Jesus, and the spirit of Jesus was given a body through the virgin Mary. He was crucified on a Roman cross, and rose from the dead three days later to establish His deity. The character and life of Jesus is attainable by anyone who performs at such a righteous level so just as Jesus became a god, so do male mormans become gods and inherit their own planet.

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  Mormonism

This entry on Mormonism is quite extensive for three reasons. First, Mormonism is one of the few modern religious movements that has experienced incredible growth. Second, proper critique of Mormonism is especially important in light of the new and controversial Mormon-evangelical dialogue. Third, some scholars believe that the Mormon Church is at a transition point in relation to its self-identity. Will it remain sectarian or will it change in order to be accepted as an orthodox Christian movement? On the latter point, it is very significant that J. Gordon Melton does not list Mormonism as part of the Christian tradition in his Encylopedia of American Religions.

Mormonism is usually identified with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It might seem hard to imagine why there could be any controversy over a church known for its Tabernacle Choir, pro-family ads, and clean-cut missionaries. However, much in the history of the LDS faith and belief system should lead to serious doubts about its authenticity as an orthodox Christian movement.

The story of Mormonism hinges on Joseph Smith Jr. He was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont, and moved with his family to Palmyra, New York, in 1816. Mormons believe that God the Father and Jesus came to Joseph in the spring of 1820 and told him to restore the one true church. This episode is called the First Vision story and constitutes one of the most important historic claims of Mormonism.

Smith also claimed that on September 21, 1823, an angel named Moroni told him of gold plates buried in the hill Cumorah (near Palmyra) that contain the full gospel. Joseph said he unearthed the gold plates in 1827 and translated the ancient writing on them into The Book of Mormon, which was published in 1830. That same year the Mormon Church was founded. Smith also claimed to receive direct revelations from God throughout his leadership as the first prophet of the church.

 Mormons settled in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois after the early years in New York State. They were persecuted heavily during their time in Missouri, in part because of their radical claims about taking ownership in Jackson County. Smith proclaimed that Independence, Missouri, would be the site of the New Jerusalem predicted in the book of Revelation.

During the early 1840s, there were both internal dissent and external criticism about Smith, particularly because of his practice of plural marriagea practice that Smith denied. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by an anti-Mormon mob on June 27, 1844. Joseph was in jail in Carthage, Illinois, over charges of ordering the destruction of a newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor, founded by a leading ex-Mormon, William Law. The newspaper circulated the view that Smith believed in many gods and practiced polygamy.

To understand the Mormon doctrinal framework, one must move beyond a surface reading of the LDS Articles of Faith, since Mormons have a unique interpretation of specific Christian terms. For example, Mormon affirmation of Father, Son, and Spirit does not mean commitment to a trinitarian understanding of God. Likewise, the Mormon understanding of eternal life is not rooted in an emphasis on grace alone through faith alone. Rather, eternal life is identified with following the rules and procedures of the Mormon Church.

Further, Mormon understanding of the Bible is skewed because of prior and ultimate trust in The Book of Mormon and the other Mormon scriptures (Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price). Though Mormons give Jesus supremacy in their articles, the LDS understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ is radically harmed by emphasis on the life and teachings of Joseph Smith.

Beyond these issues, other key items illustrate the degree of the Mormon departure from Christian orthodoxy. Mormons believe that there are many gods and that these gods formed and organized the universe. Mormons are also taught that the gods used to be men, who grew up to become gods. Worthy Mormon males can become gods someday. While some Mormon intellectuals claim that these notions about God are not official teaching, they are the views of the majority of the LDS faithful.

Mormonism also teaches that the eternal spirits who were not valiant in a heavenly battle between Jesus and Lucifer were sent to earth as humans and were cursed with a dark skin. The latter view led to the LDS church banning blacks from the priesthood until an alleged revelation reversed the ban in 1978. However, Mormons are still taught that dark skin is a sign of a prior curse in the eternal realm.

Mormons also argue that the natives of the Americas are descendents of Jews who came to the West hundreds of years before the time of Jesus. Mormons believe that Jesus, after his resurrection, made a special trip to visit the Americas, as documented in The Book of Mormon. The LDS also practice secret temple rituals, wear special endowment garments, and believe that there are two priesthoods for the Mormon male.

Though most Mormons are convinced that Mormonism is true, the average Mormon has little idea of the intellectual bankruptcy of much of the Mormon paradigm, particularly in relation to the integrity of Joseph Smith and his alleged revelations from heaven. Here are seven major realities Mormons should face.

1.Changing revelation. The original revelations of Joseph Smith are not what Mormons read today. This is not a picky complaint about minor translation problems. Changes have been made to the early revelations and to historical documents because of changing doctrinal views or to cover up immoral activity (polygamy) or intellectual blunder on the part of Joseph Smith.

There are significant differences between the first and later editions of The Book of Mormon. Also, the first revelations that appear in The Book of Commandments (1833) were drastically altered when given under the title Doctrine and Covenants (1835). The original history of the church was also changed to fit developing Mormon views and to hide unpleasant aspects of the life of Joseph Smith.

2.An unstable church. Some major doctrines of early Mormonism do not agree with the teachings of the current Latter-day Church. This is most crucial when it comes to The Book of Mormon itself. Modern-day Mormons do not really believe some of its key teachings, simply because Smith changed his mind on some doctrines after its publication. One of the most serious issues involves the plurality of gods.

In The Book of Mormon there are repeated assertions that there is only one God, that he is a Spirit, and that he is eternal. For example, Moroni 8:18 states, God is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity.However, Smith later changed his mind about Gods nature and announced, We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away the veil.Thankfully, some Mormon leaders are now stressing a more traditional understanding of the eternal nature of God.

3.Character of the founder. One should be suspicious about the Mormon gospel, given the dishonesty, arrogance, and immorality of Joseph Smith. In 1826, after his alleged visits from heavenly messengers, Smith was arrested for glass looking(use of a magic device to find buried treasure). Wes Walters discovered the court document that implicates Joseph Smith in this unlawful scheme. It is hard to trust Smiths integrity on heavenly treasure (the so-called golden platesburied by the angel) when he was a deceiver and a law breaker by attempting to find earthly treasure on the property of gullible individuals.

Further, the lying and scheming behind Joseph Smiths plural marriage discredits him as a prophet of God. In the Mormon History of the Church Smith expresses astonishment that he is being accused of having seven wives and claims that he has only one wife. In fact, as Mormon historians admit, he was married to at least thirty-three women besides his original wife. Some of these women had living husbands at the time. The history of Mormon polygamy, particularly in the case of its founding prophet, is a story of deception and unbearable heartache.

4.Discredited sources. In 1835 Joseph Smith made one of his biggest blunders, one that gives some indication of his arrogance as well as the naivet of his Mormon followers. In that year he came into possession of some Egyptian documents, which he purchased from a merchant who was traveling through Mormon territory. Smith looked at one of the Egyptian documents and announced that it was really written by Abraham, Israels ancient patriarch.

The Book of Abrahamwas accepted by Smiths followers and became part of The Pearl of Great Price, one of the four standard works of Mormonism. This episode shows both an ego ready to claim the ability to translate Egyptian and a group ready to accept anything the prophet stated. Since no Mormons at the time knew Egyptian, they could not correct the prophet. However, in the twentieth century, the documents that Joseph used were discovered and were translated by competent Egyptologists. They have nothing to do with Abraham and instead contain directions for the burial rites of Egyptian mummies.

5. Problems with The Book of Mormon. There are several reasons why the traditional LDS views of The Book of Mormon represent a house of cards.

First, there is no good reason to trust Joseph Smiths integrity. He is no reliable witness on earthly matters and should not be trusted on divine ones, as noted earlier.

Second, there is every indication that The Book of Mormon is a product of the nineteenth century. It deals with religious issues common to Smiths day, including debates over the proper name of the Christian church, the fate of the heathen, the proper mode of baptism, and so on.

Third, contrary to popular Mormon sentiment, there is no archaeological support for its version of what was going on in the Americas from 2200 bc through ad 400. Archaeologists do not use it as a field guide for the study of the geography and history of the Americas. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington regularly sends out notices that The Book of Mormon is not used by its workers. Likewise, anthropologists repudiate the common Mormon view that American natives are descendants of Jews who migrated to the Western hemisphere.

Fourth, The Book of Mormon copies the King James Version of the Bible (1611), even with the latters use of italics. Why is the King James language being quoted in documents that were allegedly written more than a thousand years earlier? The easiest answer is that Joseph Smith neglected to think of all the ways The Book of Mormon would give signals that it was a product of his own time.

Finally, historians have tracked down other books that likely influenced Smith in his authorship of The Book of Mormon. Of particular importance here is View of the Hebrews, written by Ethan Smith and published in New York in 1823 and reprinted in 1825. Many of the concepts of The Book of Mormon duplicate Ethan Smiths earlier work. In fact, Mormon historian B. H. Roberts had an enormous crisis of faith because of his close study of the parallels between the two works.

6.Imaginary visions. Mormonisms integrity rests on the credibility of the First Vision story of Joseph Smith. In his personal history, Smith writes about his search for the true church when he was a teenager. So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty.

Smith writes, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the otherThis is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! 

The teenager then asked which church to join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. 

Though most Mormons believe this account without reservation, there is good evidence to suggest that it is a product of Smiths imagination.

First, the notion that every other church was wrong is impossible to reconcile with the promise of Jesus that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church. The claim of wholesale apostasy in all Christian churches is simply a fabrication of Joseph Smith. It speaks more of his pride and arrogance than it does about the state of churches in the United States or other parts of the world.

Second, it is particularly telling that Smith failed to remember the year of this alleged encounter. He states that he sought Gods help when there was a revival going on in his area. That revival has been shown by Wes Walters to have taken place in 1824, four years after Smiths date for the First Vision. How is it possible that Smith could forget the year of his face-to-face encounter with God the Father and Jesus Christ, his Son?

Further, Smiths First Vision account, which appears in The Pearl of Great Price, is contradicted by three other accounts from him. In other words, Smith could not keep his own story straight about the pivotal event of his life. The four accounts from him disagree on when the vision occurred, where the vision occurred, why the vision occurred, and who appeared to Joseph.

7.Problems with inner testimony. Most Mormons do not know details about the case against the teachings and integrity of Joseph Smith. If pressed on the matter, many will simply refuse to face these hard issues that impact their faith. Further, Mormons are constantly trained to answer all objections by reference to the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that Mormonism is true.

This feeling-oriented defense of belief is rooted in a classic reference in The Book of Mormon. In Moroni 10:45, we read:

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

This subjective defense lacks credibility, given the strength of the objective evidence about the intellectual, moral, and spiritual failures of Mormon leader Joseph Smith. Mormons urge others to ask God to show them by inner light that Smith is a prophet of God. This approach is impossible to take when one faces the evidence that proves Joseph Smith is no reliable guide to truth.

While Mormonism is not totally wrong, the central views that are unique to Mormonism are false. Joseph Smith did not restore the gospel of Jesus. Rather, he distorted the Bibles plain teaching, denied clear Christian doctrines, and added untrue and harmful beliefs, thereby discrediting himself and all those who follow his message. Mormons should reexamine their faith and have the courage to return to the Christian faith adequately described in the New Testament.

Here is a History and time line of this cults history

1805        Birth of Joseph Smith on December 23 in Sharon, Vermont

1812        Solomon Spalding writes a manuscript about discovery of the record of earlier civilization in a hill

1816        The Smith family moves to Palmyra, New York

1820        The Smith family engages in money digginguse of magic objects to find buried treasure

1820        Smith receives the First Vision from God the Father and Jesus

1823        Ethan Smith publishes Views of the Hebrews in New York (second edition in 1825)

1823        On September 21 and 22, the angel Moroni tells Smith of gold plates containing The Book of Mormon

1824        Major revival in upper New York State

1826        Smith tried and maybe arrested for glass lookingon March 20

1827        Smith marries Emma Hale (age twenty-two) on January 27

1827        Smith gets gold plates from the angel Moroni at the hill Cumorah

1828        In February, Martin Harris takes a copy of characters from gold plates to Professor Charles Anthon at Columbia University

1828        Harris loses 116 pages of transcripts of the gold plates in June

1829        John the Baptist confers Aaronic priesthood on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in Harmony, Pennsylvania, on May 15

1829        Peter, James, and John confer Melchizedek priesthood on Smith and Cowdery

1829        Translation of The Book of Mormon completed

1830        The Book of Mormon printed on March 26

1830        The church organized on April 6

1831        Smith and wife move to Kirtland, Ohio, in January and February

1831        Some Mormons move to Independence, Missouri

1831        Smith receives revelation on July 20 that the Zion site is to be in Independence, Missouri

1832        Brigham Young joins the church on April 14

1832        Smith arrives in Missouri on April 24

1833        Smith completes translation of the New Testament on February 2

1833        Word of wisdom revelation given to Smith on February 27

1833        Mormons subject to mob attacks in Missouri

1833        Book of Commandments published

1834        Eber D Howes Mormonism Unveiled published

1835        Doctrine and Covenants accepted as scripture

1835        Smith acquires Egyptian texts and translates them

1836        Jesus appears to Smith and Cowdery in Kirtland Temple, along with Moses, Elias, and Elijah, on April 3

1836        Smith reportedly has affair with Fanny Alger

1837        Smith and Rigdon start Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company

1838        Smith starts writing History of the Church

1838        Military group known as Danites formed in June

1838        Mormons attacked by mobs in Missouri

1839        Smith and others travel to Washington, DC

1840        Smith announces baptism for the dead publicly

1841        Smith marries Louisa Beaman, aged twenty-six

1842        Smith starts teaching on the plurality of gods

1842        Smith joins a Masonic lodge and in May introduces temple ceremonies similar to Masonic ones

1843        Smith starts to translate Kinderhook plates

1843        Smith dictated revelation on plural marriage on July 12

1844        Smith announces candidacy for president

1844        Nauvoo Expositor charges Smith with polygamy

1844        Smith killed on June 27 in gun battle while a prisoner in Carthage

1844        Sidney Rigdon excommunicated on September 8

1846        On February 4 Mormons begin trek to Utah

1847        Brigham Young and the first group of pioneers enter Salt Lake Valley

1848        Crops saved by flock of seagulls eating crickets

1850        Deseret News begins publication in Salt Lake City

1852        First public announcement of doctrine of polygamy

1856        Brigham Young gives blood atonement speech

1857        Mountain Meadows Massacre (120 Arkansas travelers killed in Utah)

1877        John D. Lee executed for leadership in massacre

1880        John Taylor becomes president of the church

1880        The Pearl of Great Price accepted as scripture

1889        Wilford Woodruff becomes president

1890        Manifesto about suspension of polygamy

1893        Salt Lake City Temple dedicated

1898        Lorenzo Snow becomes president

1901        Joseph F. Smith becomes president

1918        President Smith receives vision of redemption of the dead

1918        Heber J. Grant becomes president

1945        George Albert Smith becomes president

1951        David O. McKay becomes president

1961        Metropolitan Museum in New York presents LDS church with papyri fragments once owned by Smith

1964        Jerald and Sandra Tanner publish Mormonism: Shadow and Reality

1970        Joseph Fielding Smith becomes president

1972        Harold B. Lee becomes president

1973        Spencer W. Kimball becomes president

1976        Two revelations added to Mormon canon (become D&C 1378 in 1981)

1978        Revelation accepted on September 30 that lifts ban on priesthood to blacks

1981        New editions of Mormon scriptures published

1985        Mark Hofmann sells forged documents to church leaders and plants bombs in two locations in Salt Lake to kill suspected critics

1985        Ezra Taft Benson becomes president

1994        Howard Hunter becomes president

1995        Gordon B. Hinckley becomes president

1995        The Family: A Proclamation to the Worldpublished

1997        Membership reaches 10 million in November

2002        Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City

2003        Elizabeth Smart rescued from polygamist Brian David Mitchell

2004        DNA evidence contradicts Mormon claim of link between Native Americans and Jews

2004        Ravi Zacharias preaches in Mormon Tabernacle

2004        Grant Palmer, LDS scholar, excommunicated

2005        LDS church celebrates bicentennial of birth of Joseph Smith