Book of Mormon
and
Joseph Smith
 
Examining its Credibility
Examining the Book of Mormon:

Main themes of Mormonism are not in the Book of Mormon:

 

Why isn’t the Elohim (God) being the father of Jehovah (Jesus) and being once a mortal man discussed?  (In fact, God and Jesus appear to be one in the same being in the B of M—especially in the first edition).

What about God having a body of flesh and bones, God being married, men becoming Gods, temple participation necessary for exaltation, baptism for the dead, , word of wisdom, the 3 degree’s of glory, and the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood?  (How did the B of M characters get the priesthood anyway? They were not even from the tribe of Levi).

Why was polygamy condemned in the B of M, but condoned in the Doctrines & Covenants, and still believed to be necessary in church doctrine for exaltation in the after-life?

Where are such doctrines as a man having to marry in order to be exalted, members having to wear sacred undergarments, official doctrine being voted upon by the general membership, God being the offspring of another God, etc….???

 

 

 

Magic, Treasure Hunting and Mysticism

 

Why did Joseph Smith have to use a seer stone both before and after being called as a prophet?

 

Did the Jaredites magic stones have anything to do with Joseph’s acquaintance with magic stones?

Why does the B of M discuss “slippery treasure” so much?

Why would a prophet need to send members to seek for treasure seen in a vision?  (D & C, 111) Why wasn’t any found when the revelation states that they would?

 

Was Joseph Smith Covetous? Was he inventing a form of spirituality to cover-up his use of a seer-stone?

 

Why was Joseph Smith arrested for “money digging” and convicted of being a disorderly person? He admitted being a money digger, though he said it was never very profitable for him

(History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 29). He and his father’s money digging continued until at least 1826. On March 20th

, 1826, Joseph was arrested, brought before a judge, and charged with being a “glass-looker” and a disorderly person. The laws of that time had what was known as the “Vagrant Act”.  It defined a disorderly person as one who pretended to have skill in the areas of palmistry, telling fortunes or discovering where lost goods might be found. (Inventing Mormonism, Marquardt and Walters, SLC: Signature Books, 1994, pp. 74-75).

 

Why did the B of M have to be translated while he looked into the seer stone placed in a black top hat? D. Michael Quinn writes: “During this period from 1827 to 1830, Joseph Smith abandoned the company of his former money digging associates, but continued to use for religious purposes the brown seer stone he had previously employed in the treasure quest. His most extensive and productive use of the seer stone was in the translation of the Book of Mormon. But he also dictated several revelations to his associates through the stone” (Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, D. Michael Quinn, Signature Books, SLC, 1987, p.143). Richard S. Wagoner writes: “This stone, still retained by the First Presidency of the LDS Church, was the vehicle through which the golden plates were discovered and the medium through which their interpretation came” (Sideny Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess, Signature Books, SLC, 1994, p.57)

 

Mormon 1:18-19

    And these Gadianton robbers, who were among the Lamanites, did infest the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof began to hide up their treasures in the earth; and they became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again.

  And it came to pass that there were sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one was wrought upon all the face of the land, even unto the fulfilling of all the words of Abinadi, and also Samuel the Lamanite.

 

In the above Book of Mormon passage it seems that people buried stolen treasures in the earth and all of a sudden certain people sought them by using sorceries, etc…..??????

 

The Seer Stone

 

Any stone, charm, or crystal, used in the art of fortune telling, or as an aid in predicting events are considered occultic. The people who use such things are very commonly called witches, sorcerers, diviners, magicians, and all who have  dealings with familiar spirits, but not of God. Such as modern day prognosticators and astrologers.

 

In the Bible as well as the Joseph Smith Translation this type of behavior was condemned.

 

Joseph Smith Translation (also KJV)   Leviticus 20:6,

  And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

 

JST,  (also KJV)   Isaiah  8:19,

  And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to hear from the dead?

  To the law and to the testimony; and if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.