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Greetings friends, Saints and true believers everywhere!
In this area of our website we devote ourselves to discussing the issues the
premier Mormon apologists at Brigham Young University's (BYU) Maxwell Institute
for Religious Scholarship (M.I.R.S.), formerly the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon
Studies (F.A.R.M.S.) find important. These are questions they have been
challenged with (presumably by people writing in) and have chosen to answer publicly on their website
(we wish they'd respond to our letters)
Now, we will not delve into every question they pose - because some of
them are straw men they have set up themselves to knock down themselves.
For example: |
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"How can one believe the Book of Mormon to be scripture when the Bible says
we shouldn't add to the Bible (Revelation 22:18-19)?" |
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Revelation 22:18-19 18
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone
adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this
book. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this book of
prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in
the holy city, which are described in this book. |
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Anyone who has ever sat through a couple of Bible studies knows that one can
only interpret Revelation 22:18-19 to apply to the book of Revelation
- which FARMS correctly points out. Of course, what they don't point
out is that in spite of this warning, Joseph Smith added to the Book
of Revelation at least 12 times in the Joseph Smith Translation of the
Bible! |
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With that said, we try to restrict ourselves to essential doctrine. As
you read this, take note of the very curious approach of how FARMS attempts
to accuse the Bible of similar errors to the ones made by Mormons and Mormon
scripture. We
find this curious because Mormons don't accept the Bible as inerrant anyway
- which is why Joseph Smith needed the "restored gospel" found in the Book
of Mormon (what page is that "restored gospel" found on in the BOM,
anyway?). Therefore, by making the comparison to the Bible they are
effectively saying, "the Mormon scriptures are as screwed up as the Bible".
So do we need yet another gospel restoration to fix the Mormon
errors?
With that said, enjoy... |
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King Benjamin's death is recorded in Mosiah 6:5, so why does the 1830
edition of the Book of Mormon have him living at a later time (see Mosiah
21:28 and Ether 4:1), while subsequent editions changed the name to Mosiah
in the later references? |
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Did Joseph Smith utter false prophecies? |
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Why do Joseph Smith's various accounts of the first vision differ
so much? |
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Why does Alma 7:10 say
that Jesus will be born at Jerusalem when Micah 5:2 and Matthew 2:1-7 speak
of Christ being born in Bethlehem? |
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Joseph Smith declared
that the Book of Mormon was "the most correct of any book on earth" (History
of the Church 4:461). If this were so, why have there been over four
thousand changes to the book since it was first published in 1830? |
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The first
edition of the Book of Mormon refers to Christ as "the Father" (1 Nephi
11:21; 13:40). Later editions change such references to read "the Son of the
Father." The words "the Son of" were also added before his title "the
everlasting God" in 1 Nephi 11:32. |
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Why do
Mormons believe we are saved by good works, when the Bible says we are saved
by the grace of God? |
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How can you believe that human beings can become gods?
(Question changed on 10/30/06 to "How do Latter-day Saints view the
early Christian doctrine of theosis: becoming like God?")
The new title doesn't clash as hard with orthodox Christianity. |
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