Answers to a Mormon

First and foremost

• Remember 2 John 1:10-11 - If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
• Mormons prefer the King James Version; however, a Joseph Smith Translation does exist. Still, they believe the bible may have scribal errors.
• Bruce McConkie stated: "If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation. There is no salvation outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Mormon Doctrine, p.670)

Did the church fall apart?

Mormons say the church fell into a "Great Apostasy." Most members of the Church turned away from the true gospel and persecuted the faithful remainder. The organization ceased to be led by God. Joseph Smith stated that God told him: "they [other churches] were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt" (from Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith-History 1:19)

• Galatians 4:4 - Jesus came at a fullness of time
• Matthew 16:28- kingdom of God come with power (compare with Mark 9:1/Luke 9:27)
• They may try to say John or another apostle lived on, but that contradicts their "Great Apostasy".
• Luke 24:46-49 and Acts 1:3-8
• Acts 2:1-4
• Isaiah 9:6-7 -
• Matthew 16:18 - My church
• 1 John 3:20 - and knoweth all things
• Daniel 2:43-44 - Kingdom that is never destroyed
• Daniel 2:31-45 Four kingdoms: Babylonian --> Persian --> Grecian --> Roman
• Daniel 2:44 - Also, not left over to other people!
• Daniel 7:13-14 - everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away…not be destroyed
• Hebrews 12:28 - we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved
• 2 Peter 1:11 - an entrance shall be ministered unto you
• Colossians 1:13 - hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son
• Revelation 1:9 - and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ

Church/Kingdom as Synonymous

• Baptized into church/kingdom
• 1 Corinthians 12:13/Acts 2:41 (church)
• John 3:5
• Both are called the Israel of God
• Galatians 6:16 (church)
• Matthew 19:28?

When are the last times?

• Hebrews 1:1-2
• Acts 2:17
• 1 Corinthians 10:11
• KJV uses "world" but age seems to be better rendering
• 1 Peter 1:20
• Jude 1:18
• 1 John 2:18

The Other Fold

• John 10:16
• Gentiles and Jews, not lost tribe in Americas
• Matthew 10:6, 15:24
• Acts 10:36, 11:1
• Ephesians 2:11-18

The apostles prepared the church for their deaths and acknowledged that the church would continue after them

• 2 Timothy 2:1-2
• 2 Peter 1:12-15
• Others?

What are the Keys and what do they open? (Understanding Matthew 16:19)

• John 18:36 - My kingdom is not of this world…
• John 10:7-9 - I am the door
• John 12:48 - the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day
• John 12:50 - his commandment is life everlasting
• Revelation 19:11 - …in righteousness he doth judge…

Backup

• Matthew 16:19 - this is spoken to Peter
• Matthew 18:18-20 - this is spoken to many apostles
• Matthew 10:24 - … nor the servant above his lord.

Do we need an extra book that came in 1870?

According to the book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 29 "Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?"

• 2 Peter 1:3 - has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness
• Not will give, but has given (present tense)
• 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - That the man of God may be perfect (artios = complete)
• Jude 1:3 - …once for all delivered to the saints
• 1 Cor. 4:6 - do not think beyond what is written
• Romans 12:16 - do not be wise in your own opinion
• Isaiah 30:8-11 - write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever

• Romans 15:4 - Old Law was for learning
• Gal 3:24-25 - Law was our school master
• Romans 10:13-17 -

Have parts of the Bible been lost and altered through the ages?

1 Nephi 13:26-28 - (28) Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.

This is true about Catholicism, but what does it say in the word of God?

• Matthew 24:35 - Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
• 1 Peter 1:23-25 - (25)But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

God and the Son are One

• John 1:1 - Word was God
• John 14:7-11 - If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also
• Revelation 22:13-16 - Alpha and Omega, first and last…
• Revelation - 1:17 - I am the first and the last:
• Revelation 2:8 - first and the last
• Exodus 3:14 - God - I AM
• John 8:58 - Before Abraham was, I am
• John 10:30 - I and my Father are one.
• John 17:11 - Are one
• Philippians 2:6-7 - thought it not robbery to be equal with God
• 1 Timothy 3:16 - God was manifest in flesh
• Isaiah 9:6 - His name shall be…everlasting Father

Baptisms for the dead

• Mark 16:16
• Ecclesiastes 9:5
• 1 Corinthians 15:29
• Application for the dead

Ignorance?

• Acts 17.30
• 2 Thessalonians 1.7-8
• Hebrews 9.27

How do we enter the Kingdom and who reigns there?

Mormonism (Brigham Young, 1859) = …every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are-I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his consent. He holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation-the keys to rule in the spirit-world; and he rules there triumphantly… (Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p.289)

• John 12:47-48 - the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
• John 14:6 - no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
• Acts 4:10 - Neither is there salvation in any other
• 1 Timothy 2:5 - one mediator between God and men
• John 12:50 - And I know that his commandment is life everlasting
• Matthew 28:18 - All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Galatians 1:6-9 -

Quick Mormon Facts:

• They believe Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844) to be a prophet.

What should we boast about?

"Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet...When they can get rid of me, the devil will also go." (History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 408, 409)

• Ephesians 2:8-10 - Not of works, lest any man should boast.
• Romans 11:18 - thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

Elders

• 1 Timothy 3.1-7 and Titus 1.5-9
• Paul is speaking commandments of the Lord (1 Corinthians 14.37)

Bible and Book of Mormon Contradictions

When were the mysteries of the gospel reviled?

• Bible
• Ephesians 3:3-7 Paul writes "by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I was made a minister... (See also Romans 16:25-26; Col. 1:26; 1 Peter 1: 1-12)
• Book of Mormon (545 B.C.)
• 2 Nephi 25:19 "For according to the words of the prophets, the Messiah cometh... his name shall be Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ... (v.23) For we labor... to persuade... our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.
• 2 Nephi 26:12 "And as I spake concerning the convincing of the Jews, that Jesus in the very Christ, it must needs be that the Gentiles be convinced also that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God;"
• 2 Nephi 30:2 "For behold, I say unto you that as many of the Gentiles as will repent are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the Jews as will not repent shall be cast off,"
• 2 Nephi 31:17 "For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and the Holy Ghost."

Where was Jesus born?

• Bible
• Micah 5:2 "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
• Matthew 2:1
• Luke 2:4-7
• Book of Mormon
• Alma 7: 10 "And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin..."

When were Christians first called Christians?

• Bible
• Acts 11:26 "And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
• John 8:31 - definition of a disciple
• Book of Mormon (73 B.C.)
• Alma 46:15 "...yea, all those who were true believes in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come."

Three hours or three days?

• Bible
• Luke 23:44 - And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
• Book of Mormon
• 3 Nephi 8:19 and 23 - (23)And it came to pass that it did last for the space of three days that there was no light seen…

Passages and Arguments they use rebuked by the Bible

• Amos 8:11-12 - They use it to say the destruction of Christ’s Church/Kingdom.
• Amos 8:2 - End has come on his people. (Who are his people at that time.)
• Amos 8:2 - Summer fruit = end is near
• Matthew 24:32 - fig tree = summer is near = referring to end
• Amos 8:9
• Ezekiel 32:7-8
• Matthew 24:29
• Isaiah 28:11-13 - precept upon precept; line upon line
• Isaiah 28:14-29 - (16) Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation:
• Ephesians 2:19-20 - (20)Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone