Mormonism answers questions of the soul. by staff
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on April 19, 2008 |
In May 2007, Time magazine had a cover story on Mitt Romney, and PBS ran a four hour special on Mormons. Although both purported to be ‘fair and balanced’, I didn’t quite find that to be so. Time had the following quote, in regards to Mitt Romney and his Mormon beliefs:Slate editor Jacob Weisberg threw down the challenge after reviewing some of Joseph Smith’s more extravagant assertions. “He was an obvious con man,” Weisberg wrote. “Romney has every right to believe in con men, but I want to know if he does, and if so, I don’t want him running the country.”
I wanted to tell you briefly why I believe in Mormonism. When I was a boy of about 11-13 , I had a singular experience. I went to church, and the lesson was on how everyone must be baptized to go to heaven. It seemed true, but at the same time deeply disturbing. What about the billions of people in India and China that haven’t even heard the name Jesus Christ, let alone had the chance to be baptized. How could God be fair if this was true? With this on my mind, it was either the same day or the week after, my two older brothers expressed similar doubts. One said something like ‘if God is God of the whole earth, why did he only speak to people in Israel?’, and the other said ‘what bothers me is, in the Old Testament, God is a vengeful god, even ordering the extermination of entire cities, while in the New Testament, he is described as a God of Love. That sure doesn’t sound like he’s an ‘unchanging god.
Over the next several years, I became an agnostic as a result of these doubts. When I came in contact with Mormonism years later, I found it had plain and simple answers to these questions. If you are interested in what I believe those answers to be, I have links below which explain my beliefs.
I agree somewhat with Mr. Weisberg: either Joseph Smith was a con man of the first degree, perhaps the greatest on record, or he was who he purported to be. There can be no middle ground. Jesus said ‘beware of false prophets’, then went on to say ‘by their fruits, ye shall know them’. Most, if not all churches interpret this to mean that there would be no more prophets at all, but clearly, this is not what he said. The Book of Mormon is the fruit by which we can know the truth of Joseph Smith. It is convincing evidence that he was truly a prophet of God.
There are many, many criticisms of Mormonism, but it all comes down to whether the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be, or if it is a fake. It is the keystone of our religion – if it is a fake, so are all of our beliefs. The opposite is also true. I encourage people to be as skeptical as humanly possible when reading it. I tell them to ask themselves with every page, whether Joseph Smith, or anyone else could have made up the book, then ask God if it is true, and that somewhere between the first and last page, they will come to know with absolute surety that it is a true record. There are many theories as to the origin of the Book of Mormon. Had Joseph or anyone else written the book from ‘whole cloth’, it would have been infinitely more miraculous than the account of its divine origin, as given by Joseph Smith. As one man said ‘A wicked man couldn’t write such a book. A good man wouldn’t write it, unless he was commanded to do so.’
If you are interested, here are the answers to my questions:
What about the requirement that you be baptized to enter heaven? (Mormons believe in baptism for the dead, which is performed in our temples. Everyone will have the chance to hear and accept the gospel in the next life, and accept or reject these ordinances done in their behalf. See 1 Cor. 15:29 )
Why did God only speak to people in Israel ? (This is the message of the Book of Mormon , a record of his dealings with people in the Americas – see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/15/14-17,21#14 )
How can God be the same yesterday, today, and forever, yet order the extermination of cities in the Old Testament, and be a God of Love in the New Testament. (see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/1_ne/17/32-45#32 , When nations ripen in iniquity, the Lord destroys them. ( 1 Nephi 17:37-38, 2 Nephi 1:7 , Alma 45:16 , Ether 2:8-12 ). Before destroying them, he sends prophets to warn them ( 2 Nephi 25:9 see also Amos 3:7). In the case of the Canaanites, parents were sacrificing their own children to false gods, and there was no hope for breaking this cycle. God is a gardener, of sorts, and he sends prophets to weed those gardens, but when the weeds totally overcome the garden, he uses Roundup. The same principle applies in our day, especially with reference to the Second Coming. )
If there is a God, would He be a fair and just God if he wouldn’t provide a way to prove that He existed? Likewise, if the Book of Mormon is scripture, wouldn’t God provide a way to know of a surety that this was truly scripture? (see http://scriptures.lds.org/en/moro/10/3-5#3)
The Book of Mormon makes the audacious claim that it would contain many plain and precious teachings that were once in the Bible, but were removed, either deliberately, or by error. There is an article on the internet that lists over a hundred of these plain and precious Book of Mormon teachings. (see http://www.fairwiki.org/index.php/Plain_and_Precious_Book_of_Mormon_doctrines )
I know this is the work of God. Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is convincing evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the Church has been restored to the earth.
Brian Palmer
