Justin70

I remember doing some research several years back as to the problems with the Mormon religion (i.e. Latter Day Saints).

I know that the bible is basically trash as any sort of moral standing and is almost completely devoid of any history that means anything but I'm wondering about the Book of Mormon itself.

I seem to recall reading some information years ago about a fictional book written by Solomon Spalding entitled "Manuscript Found" that was discovered (actually partially discovered - for there were only several pages if I remember correctly) to have been written around the same time and when the Book of Mormon was compared to this ficitional novel, parts were almost word for word copies.

I since did a bit of checking and it seems the LDS church got ahold of the original copies of the manuscript and then published them to prove that there was very little in common between the fictional book and The Book of Mormon.

Unfortunately that's all I really remember from my quick 'investigative reporting' into the religion. Can anyone else enlighten me as to some of the major problems with this religion OUTSIDE of the bible.

Thanks! =)

Edit: Spelling

Vinnie

How did you come to know this?

Vinine

Justin70

I think enough people in these forums have posted bible verse quotes from the OT and the NT to show that the morals are crazy and very contradictory.

But, that's off topic. I'd actually like some information as to The Book of Mormon and it's fallacies. =)

Porky Houton

I would suggest that you try www.exmormon.org for more information on the problems with the Mormon Church.

The biggest problem that the LDS Church has is that it's run by a group of liars and thieves known to the world as "The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve". These 15 men are charged with the task of covering up such things as:

1. Brigham Young's teaching that Adam was God.

2. The fact that founder Joseph Smith married 33 women. Many of these women were married to other men at the time. Also, Smith had a thing for making teenage girls his "plural wives" (maybe that's where that creep that took Elizabeth Smart got the idea from!)

3. The fact that Joseph Smith was a conman who claimed he had a stone in which he could see "buried treasure".

4. The fact that Smith's "First Vision" evolved over several years and the story became more inflated as time went by.

5. The fact that polygamy did NOT end in 1890, but went underground until the government forced the president of the Mormon Church to end it in 1904. Mormons also taught that at one time polygamy was essential to their salvation. After 1904, the denied ever having taught that.

The Mormon leadership controls billions of dollars that they don't have to give an accounting for. The motto in Mormonism is "Pray, Pay and obey".

I suggest that you do your research at www.exmormon.org and look into the bizzare temple rituals in which Mormons promise to give all their time, talents and wealth to the Church if asked.

I was in this cult for 15 years....I'm so glad to be out!!!!

ExMormon-Jason

Justin,

Like porky, I was a member of the church for nearly 28 years. The book of Mormon has more problems than the Bible! Not only is it TOTALLY unsupportable in its historicity, geography, etc.., but the morals it teaches are horrible. Here's a good site:

http://www.lds-mormon.com/book_of_mormon.shtml

There are plenty of apologetic sites out there, (eg Jeff Lindsey's) but no reputable scholar would endorse the nonsense he and others proclaim.

Good luck.

Jason

Jeremy Pallant

I think this would do better in General Religious Discussions.

Justin70

Jason and Porky,

Thanks tons for the information! I spent about 1-2 hours reading last night on those sites. I had done a good deal of research years ago into the LDS Church and needed to brush up.

I truly have a very interesting 'real life' situation going on. I currently am living with 4 other guys in an apartment and everyone here is Mormon (very STRONG Mormons at that) with the exception of die-hard atheist me. =)

These guys are great! And I've been very very observant as to what they say/do and have asked a lot of questions as to their ideas/beliefs of the LDS Church. I just wanted to know the other side of the equation, ya know?

Anyways, I find it incredible (from those sites you gave me) that women are treated THAT badly! Is that the exception to the rule or the general practice?

Perhaps either one of you (or others) could go into more detail based on your experiences being Mormons? I'd really like to compare and contrast what I see here with what you guys found out. And also, what was the major reason you finally left?

Thanks again for the responses! I look forward to learn more. =)

Justin

ExMormon-Jason

Justin,

My story is pretty long. Here's a very condensed version. I was born in the church, grew up faithful, never "sinned" and served a mission.

I returned from my mission, and wanted to be a CES seminary teacher. So I came to Utah, and was hired as an OPT (part-time) teacher.

It was when I moved to Utah that I began to realize that there were problems with the Church. A friend asked me to help him do research on polygamy. I realized that at one time, polygamy was considered essential to get to the "celestial kingdom". Later, in 1890, a political manifesto was issued stopping polygamy. Today the LDS Church claims that that "manifesto" was a revelation from God. Then I realized that the "prophet" who issued the manifesto, Wilford Woodrufff, married another plural wife in 1897! Then I found out about the "second manifesto" issued in 1904, that ended polygamy outside of the USA. The Church lied about its polygamy activities, and still covers it up.

That's when I began to realize that any organization that claims to be "God's" wouldn't hide and distort the truth.

I later discovered various other problems with Mormonism. Dozens of Doctrinal changes, coupled with historical distortions, was the beginning of the end for me.

Here's a good "Mormon Fundamentalist" site:

http://www.mormons.org.uk/

I joined with a local fundamentalist group, (Apostolic United Brethren or Allred group) thinking that the LDS Church was simply in apostasy. Mormon Fundamentalists are like 19th century Mormons. Beliefs, practices, rituals, and the like are similar to those held by the LDS Church pre-1890.

Then about six months ago, I finally came to my senses. I no longer wanted to defend a god that was so clearly wrong much of the time. 'God', I realized, was stupid. I was smarter, kinder, more humane, and more tolerable than he. My paradigm shattered, and now im an Atheist. (I tried DEISM for a while, but I can't say that I am one anymore.)

So that's my story in a nut-shell.

Jason

Justin70

Jason,

Thx for the reply and the story! I did my homework and read a ton of material from those sites you guys posted. I'm now in the process of very politely asking the mormons I live with what THEY think of it.

The answers I've gotten are almost downright comical so far. It's amazing that any of them can tell me the things they do with a straight face.

Some of the highlights are:

Me: "I was wondering what YOU thought of the archeological evidence in The Book of Mormon compared to what archeologists have found in North America for the last 1,000 years or so?"

Him: "From what I understand, there's no contradiction between the two since our archeological information of the North American continent for the years that The Book of Mormon talks about is almost non-exsistent."

Another one:

Me: "Why was it that all of a sudden the LDS Church changed their status on black people in the Church? Why 1978?"

Him: "<incomprehendable blabber about how we weren't ready for blacks to enter the church and how for awhile they truly WERE evil and around 1978 the situation had 'remedied' itself enough so that they could allow blacks into the Chruch>"

Truly freakin' amazing. It's a sad state of human beings that can regurgitate this crap and at the same time truly BELIEVE in it!

I'm afraid to ask anything more difficult for fear of me laughing outloud . .

That's what I've gotten so far

Justin

ExMormon-Jason

Good luck.