CES Letter Summary etc.
https://read.cesletter.org/
LEGEND:
From CES Letter
My additions
Reliability of Founding / JS
- Hedging - Setting the Stage "my name will be had for good and evil" ("I should get all of the credit and none of the blame." "I will definitely win unless they cheat.")
- Lies
- Crimes
- Contradictions
- Forgeries
- Fabrications
- Plagiarism
TRANSLATION CLAIMS
- Book of Mormon:
- Errors and commentary from the 1769 KJV Bible (which was the Smith family bible) were included in the BOM.
- The bible passages quoted in the BOM were later corrected in the JST of the bible, but not the BOM.
- DNA evidence proves that Israelites are NOT "the principal ancestors of the American Indians"
- Anachronisms: Horses, cattle, oxen, sheep, swine, goats, elephants, wheels, chariots, wheat, barley, silk, steel, and iron did not exist in pre-Columbian America during Book of Mormon times. The word "scimitar" was not coined until recent times.
- No Archeological Evidence, despite claims by JS that they roamed all over the NA Continent, and his designation of various actual locations corresponding to BOM places (Cumorah, Manti, etc.), which, when compared to any other location of actual civilizations even older than BOM claims, there is TONS of evidence.
- BOM names and geography are strikingly similar to names and geography of places near where JS lived. Names also same / similar to names in novels and reference books owned by the Smith family.
- BOM writing style, themes, and storylines are strikingly similar to many works available to JS to include an entire genre of mound builder origin stories, the View of the Hebrews, The First Book of Napoleon, The Late War, Captain Kidd Adventure Stories, etc.
- Doctrinal changes between early and late BOM editions, such as trinitarian to tritheism etc.
- Bad doctrine: Curse of Cain, Blood atonement, Killing of Laban, Conditioning Conf. Bias, etc.
- No mention in BOM of all the earlier peoples / great civilizations / cities / ruins existing in the Americas for thousands of years before them of which there is abundant evidence.
- Gold Plates not used for translation - he didn't look at the plates while translating, but looked at stones in a hat and received revelation - why did he even need plates? (Nobody ever saw JS looking at / pretending to look at plates while translating). [Why were gold plates written, preserved, delivered, witnessed? And who cares if they weren't even used?]
- BOM Witnesses - ALL family members. Smiths, Cowdery, Whitmers. All cousins / in laws.
- All cousins
- All gold diggers
- All folk magic practitioners (divining rods, visions, second sight, peep stones in hats, treasure hunting (money digging or glass looking), and so on) [(of OC "Now this is not all, for you have another gift, which is the gift of working with the rod: behold it has told you things: behold there is no other power save God, that can cause this rod of nature, to work in your hands." — THE BOOK OF COMMANDMENTS 7:37
- Witnesses didn't actually see plates - except when covered by a cloth / in a knapsack/ through "spiritual eyes" / second sight / "eyes of understanding" / "eye of faith" / "state of entrancement" / "in a vision".
- Witnesses didn't sign nor write testimony. Names written by OC.
- No mention of date / time / place.
- Later testimonies of witnesses do not match claims in BOM preface.
- Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, Hiram Page, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer Jr., Hyrum Smith, Samuel Smith, and Joseph Smith Sr.
- Martin Harris
- Extremely superstitious - prone to visions (Jesus as Deer, Devil as Jack Ass)
- Changed religions (& proselytized for) dozens of times, before and after.
- "As for Martin Harris, he had not much to apostatize from; he possessed a wild, speculative brain. I have heard Joseph correct him and exhort him to repentance for teaching false doctrines." — BRIGHAM YOUNG ADDRESSES, VOL. 4, 1860-1864, ELDEN J. WATSON, P.196-199
- Conflict of interests: Financial investment / mortgaged farm.
- Said "he never saw them only as he saw a city throught [sic] a mountain". [When Martin Harris was asked, “But did you see them [plates] with your natural, your bodily eyes, just as you see this pencil-case in my hand? Now say no or yes to this.” Martin answered, “I did not see them as I do that pencil-case, yet I saw them with the eye of faith; I saw them just as distinctly as I see anything around me, though at the time they were covered over with a cloth.” – Origin and History of the Mormonites, p.406]
- David Whitmer
- In 1880, David Whitmer was asked for a description of the angel who showed him the plates. Whitmer responded that the angel ‘had no appearance or shape.’ When asked by the interviewer how he then could bear testimony that he had seen and heard an angel, Whitmer replied, ‘Have you never had impressions?’ To which the interviewer responded, ‘Then you had impressions as the Quaker when the spirit moves, or as a good Methodist in giving a happy experience, a feeling?’ ‘Just so,’ replied Whitmer. — INTERVIEW WITH JOHN MURPHY, JUNE 1880, EARLY MORMON DOCUMENTS 5:63
- David started his own religion. 'If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens and told me to ‘separate myself from among the Latter Day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, so it should be done unto them.’ — DAVID WHITMER, AN ADDRESS TO ALL BELIEVERS IN CHRIST (PROMOTING HIS WHITMERITE SECT)
- Oliver Cowdery
- Not impartial. Cousin to JS, In Law to Whitmers
- Treasure hunter / diviner
- "Such characters as...John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris, are too mean to mention; and we had liked to have forgotten them." - Joseph Smith — HISTORY OF THE CHURCH VOL. 3, CH. 15, P.232
- "Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer...united with a gang of counterfeiters, thieves, liars, and blacklegs in the deepest dye, to deceive, cheat, and defraud the saints out of their property, by every art and stratagem which wickedness could invent..." - Sidney Rigdon — FEBRUARY 15, 1841 LETTER AND TESTIMONY, P.6-9
- James Strang = JS 2.0 - Plates of Laban, Voree Plates; 3 and 11 witnesses (no evidence of denials); "translated" through scribe;
- James Strang’s claims and Voree Plates Witnesses are distinctive and more impressive compared to the Book of Mormon Witnesses:
- All of Strang’s witnesses were not related to one another through blood or marriage like the Book of Mormon Witnesses were.
- Some of the witnesses were not members of Strang’s church.
- The Voree Plates were displayed in a museum for both members and non-members to view and examine.
- Strang provided 4 witnesses who testified that on his instructions, they actually dug the plates up for Strang while he waited for them to do so. They confirmed that the ground looked previously undisturbed.
- Every single living Book of Mormon witness besides Oliver Cowdery accepted Strang’s prophetic claim of being Joseph’s true successor and joined him and his church.
- Every single member of Joseph Smith’s family except for Hyrum’s widow also endorsed, joined, and sustained James Strang as “Prophet, Seer, and Revelator.”
- Letter of appointment - D&C requires JS successor to be A) appointed by JS, B) ordained by angels, C) receive revelations as JS did, D) translate ancient records certified by witnesses.
- Letter is authentic, still exists and states: On page one: "The faith which thou hast in the Shepherd, the stone of Israel [Joseph Smith], hath been repaid to thee a thousandfold, and thou shalt be like unto him; but the flock shall find rest with thee, and God shall reveal to thee his will concerning them." Page two continues: "[H]e [Strang] had faith in thee [Smith], the Shepherd and Stone of Israel, and to him shall the gathering of the people be." Page three: "Thy [Strang] duty is made plain . ... [I]f evil befall me [Smith], thou shalt lead the flock to pleasant pastures."
- Emma said JS, W. Richards and John P. Green met to discuss succession(?) and mailed a letter to Strang.
- Willard Richards claimed to have sealed envelope, along with other apostles, containing successor's name. When apostles returned, sealed envelope issue was dropped.
- John P. Green, Nauvoo Marshall claimed the name in the envelopes would be James Strang and was murdered 3 days later.
- Nauvoo postal records went missing; Letter was confirmed by Chicago post.
- Ann Lee and the Shakers
- Sacred Roll and Book
- 60 witnesses to miracles / angels
- Over 100 pages of testimony from living witnesses
- Martin Harris believed in it while believing in BoM
- Succession Crisis
- Brighamites, Strangites, Rigdonites, Josephites, Cutlerites, Hedrickites, etc.
- "New Restoration" - "one mighty and strong"
- James Brighouse (reincarnation of JC, hollow earth spirit prison)
- FLDS
- LeBarons (Benjamin F, Ervil, Joel, Verlan, Alma, and Floren)
- Bob Crossfield (aka the prophet Onias)
- Ron and Dan Lafferty
- Frank Miller
- Roger Billings
- J. H. Sherwood (Jasper #7)
- Cody Judy
- Christopher Nemelka (Christopher Na)
- Eachta Eachta Na
- John W. Bryant
- Art Bulla
- Brian David Mitchell aka Immanuel David Isaiah (Elizabeth Smart kidnapper)
- Denver Snuffer Jr. (remnants)
- Parallels teachings of similar contemporary millenarian restorationist sects.
- First Great Awakening
- [Wycliff, Huss, Locke, Puritans, Separate Baptists, Landmark Baptists]
- Second Great Awakening (Influenced by Enlightenment, Romanticism (a retreat from Enlightenment, characterized by enthusiasm, emotion, and an appeal to the supernatural; It rejected the skepticism, deism, Unitarianism, and rationalism left over from the American Enlightenment.) /American Revolution).
- Restorationists / Stone-Campbellites - (Biblical name of the Church - Jesus Christ, Scripture (Bible)) [This group believed that the Bible related concrete facts rather than abstract truths, and advocated a scientific or "Baconian" approach to interpreting the Bible.][First, it provided the idea that Christian unity could be achieved by finding a set of essentials that all reasonable people could agree on. Second, it also provided the concept of a rational faith that was formulated and defended based on facts derived from the Bible.][forsaking the creeds and traditions]['progressive primitivism'][ancient order, apostolic]
- Republican Methodists
- Smith and Jones (Elias Smith and Abner Jones) (scripture alone is authority)
- Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists
- Shakers - Jane Wardley; Ann Lee (Bride of Christ, fulfillment of 2nd coming) (united order / "consecration", celibacy, pacifism)
- [Repent. For the kingdom of God is at hand. The new heaven and new earth prophesied of old is about to come. The marriage of the Lamb, the first resurrection, the new Jerusalem descended from above, these are even now at the door. And when Christ appears again, and the true church rises in full and transcendent glory, then all anti-Christian denominations—the priests, the Church, the pope—will be swept away.]
- ["I saw a large tree, every leaf of which shone with such brightness as made it appear like a burning torch, representing the Church of Christ, which will yet be established in this land."]
- Adventism, Dispensationalism (2nd coming of Christ)
- Millerites (the "Great Disappointment" of October 22, 1844)
- Ellen G. White
- Jehovah's Witnesses (we are living on the precipice of the end of time. Predictions for 1878, 1881, 1914, 1918 and 1925, 1975 - "errors 'sift' unfaithful from the ranks")
- "Burnt Over District" (1820's Western New York insane religious fervor)
- Non-conformists
- Folk Religion
- Evangelism
- JS sent Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery to Toronto, Canada (twice) for the sole purpose of selling the copyright of the Book of Mormon
- Lehi's Dream = JS Senior's Dream
- Book of Abraham:
- Translations are verifiably wrong (wrong time period, people, gender, everything).
- JS Reconstructions of facsimile fragments verifiably wrong. ("Smith has turned the goddess [Isis in Facsimile #3] into a king and Osiris into Abraham.")
- Abraham cosmology reflects JS time period understanding, not ancient and not correct (modern)
- Full of 1769 KJV quotations and errors
- Funerary documents much later than Abraham's time
- the terms Chaldeans, Egyptus, and Pharaoh are all anachronistic
- Facsimile 2, Figure #5 states the sun receives its “light from the revolutions of Kolob.”
- Themes and ideas of "intelligences" and the universe revolving around a star nearest to the throne of God, etc. echo 1829 book "The Philosophy of a Future State" which JS owned.
- Kinderhook Plates:
- "I insert facsimiles of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook... I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and that he received his Kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth.” – Joseph Smith, Jr.
- The plates turned out to be a hoax. Metallurgical tests revealed the plates to be of late 19th century construction. In addition, the script was created using a 19th- century chemical etch process. In August, 1981 LDS Ensign Magazine conceded: “Kinderhook plates bought to Joseph Smith appear to be a 19th-century hoax."
FABRICATION / REVISION / BACKDATING OF VISION AND MIRACLE CLAIMS
- First Vision:
- First vision not mentioned until 1832
- Multiple contradictory accounts (different age, different motivation, different visitors, no Palmyra revival, satan?
- Joined church 3 years after the vision
- Priesthood Restoration:
- Although the priesthood is now taught to have been restored in 1829, Joseph and Oliver made no such claim until 1832, if that. Even in 1832, there were no claims of a restoration of the priesthood (just a ‘reception’ of the priesthood) and there certainly was no specific claims of John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John. Like the first vision accounts, the story later got more elaborate and bold with specific claims of miraculous visitations from resurrected John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John. [David Whitmer: "I never heard that an Angel had ordained Joseph and Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood until the year 1834[,] [183]5, or [183]6 – in Ohio...I do not believe that John the Baptist ever ordained Joseph and Oliver... — EARLY MORMON DOCUMENTS, 5:137]
- Backdating: Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery changed the wording of an earlier revelation when they compiled the 1835 Doctrine & Covenants, adding verses about the appearances of Elijah, John the Baptist, and Peter, James, and John as if those appearances were mentioned in the earlier revelation in the Book of Commandments, which they weren’t.
- Restoration of priesthood not included in the Book of Commandments or original Church History publications.
- Priesthood first appearance / use in 1831 when Joseph ordained 5, and Lyman Wight ordained JS, SR and 16 others.
Freemasonry:
- Just seven weeks after Joseph’s March 1842 Masonic initiation, Joseph introduced the LDS endowment ceremony in May 1842
- "We have the true Masonry. The Masonry of today is received from the apostasy which took place in the days of Solomon, and David. They have now and then a thing that is correct, but we have the real thing." — HEBER C. KIMBALL AND FAMILY: THE NAUVOO YEARS, STANLEY B. KIMBALL, P.458
- "Because of their Masonic characters the ceremonies of the temple are sacred and not for the public." FAIRMORMON — OCTOBER 15, 1911, MESSAGE FROM THE FIRST PRESIDENCY, 4:250
- Blood Oath and 5 Points of Fellowship are Masonic.
- PETER: ‘The five points of fellowship are: inside of right foot by the side of right foot, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand to back, and mouth to ear.’— LDS TEMPLE ENDOWMENT - FIVE POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP, REMOVED 1990
- WORSHIPFUL MASTER: ‘The five points of fellowship are: foot to foot, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand to back, and cheek to cheek, or mouth to ear.’ — MASONIC FIVE POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP FROM THE 3RD DEGREE MASTER MASON RITUAL
- "Unfortunately, there is no historical evidence to support a continuous functioning line from Solomon’s Temple to the present. We know what went on in Solomon’s Temple; it’s the ritualistic slaughter of animals." FAIRMORMON — THE MESSAGE AND THE MESSENGER: LATTER-DAY SAINTS AND FREEMASONRY
- "Masonry, while claiming a root in antiquity, can only be reliably traced to medieval stone tradesmen." FAIRMORMON — SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MASONIC AND MORMON TEMPLE RITUAL
- "It is clear that Freemasonry and its traditions played a role in the development of the endowment ritual..." FAIRMORMON — SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MASONIC AND MORMON TEMPLE RITUAL
FAILED PREDICTIONS
- Joseph Smith had prophesied that Jesus Christ would return to earth by 1891
Conspiracy Theories, Secret Combinations
POLYGAMY | POLYANDRY
- Joseph Smith was married to at least 34 women
- Polyandry: Of those 34 women, 11 of them were married women of other living men. Among them being Apostle Orson Hyde, who was sent on his mission to dedicate Palestine when Joseph secretly married his wife, Marinda Hyde
- Out of the 34 women, 7 of them were teenage girls as young as 14-years-old. Joseph was 37-years-old when he married 14-year-old Helen Mar Kimball
- Joseph made promises of eternal salvation or damnation (threats that he (Joseph) was going to be slain by an angel with a drawn sword if the girls didn’t marry him) to families of prospective wives.
- Among the women and girls was a mother-daughter set and three sister sets. [Almira and Delcina Johnson, Benjamin F. Johnson’s sisters]
- Several of these girls included Joseph’s own foster daughters who lived and worked in the Smith home (Lawrence sisters, Partridge sisters, Lucy Walker).
- Joseph died without being sealed to his children or to his parents
- Joseph was married/sealed to at least 22 other women and girls before finally being sealed to his first legal wife, Emma, on May 28, 1843.
- Emma was not aware of most of these other girls/women and their marriages to her husband.
- D&C 132 still affirms polygamy despite manifest through GB Hinckley disavowing it.
- D&C 132 requires new wife to be a virgin and approval of original wife.
- D&C 132 only requires that a man "desire" another wife. No inspiration / prophetic instruction required.
- 1835 DOCTRINE & COVENANTS 101:4 “Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again.”
- 1835 DOCTRINE & COVENANTS 13:7 “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shall cleave unto her and none else.”
- 1835 DOCTRINE & COVENANTS 65:3 “Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation.”
- JS lied in public sermons about polygamy. Consider the following denial made by Joseph Smith to Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo in May 1844 – a mere few weeks before his death: "...What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers." — HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, VOL. 6, CHAPTER 19, P.411 [It is a matter of historical fact that Joseph had secretly taken over 30 plural wives by May 1844 when he made the above denial that he was ever a polygamist.]
- In an attempt to influence and abate public rumors of his secret polygamy, Joseph asked 31 witnesses to sign an affidavit published in the LDS October 1, 1842 Times and Seasons stating that Joseph did not practice polygamy. Pointing to the above-mentioned D&C 101:4 scripture, these witnesses claimed the following: “...we know of no other rule or system of marriage than the one published from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.”
- JS destroyed Nauvoo Expositor Press for exposing polygamy
- Emma learned doctrine of polygamy when she found Joseph in the barn with Fanny Alger in 1833
- Joseph was practicing polygamy (1833 at least) before the sealing authority was given in April 3, 1836 when Elijah appeared to Joseph in the Kirtland Temple.
- Polygamy did not become common knowledge until 1852 when Brigham Young revealed it in Utah
- D&C 132:63 very clearly states that the only purpose of polygamy is to “multiply and replenish the earth” and “bear the souls of men.” Why did Joseph marry women who were already married? These women were obviously not virgins, which violated D&C 132:61. Zina Huntington had been married seven and a half months and was about six months pregnant with her first husband’s baby at the time she married Joseph; clearly she didn’t need any more help to “bear the souls of men.”
- Church claims polygamy was for "dynastic", to link families to Joseph in the eternities. Why sets of sisters? Why never sealed to his own children or parents? Why was Emma his 23rd (celestial) wife?
Major Shifts in Doctrine: [Yesterday’s doctrine is today’s false doctrine. Yesterday’s prophet is today’s heretic.]
- Joseph Smith
- Trinitarian to Tri-theism
- Traditional Christian to "Future State" cosmology
- Traditional Christian to Apostasy / Restoration / Millennial (similar to other American sects like 7th Day, JW, etc.)
- Trinitarian to Adam - God
- Traditional to Blood Atonement / Religious Warrior / Better that one man should perish...
- Monogamy to (secret) Polygamy
- Brigham Young - [I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call scripture. — JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES 13:95]
- Adam - God
- Blood Atonement
- Polygamy ['The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy.' — JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES 11:269][DOCTRINE & COVENANTS 132:4 - “For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.”][Larry King: You condemn it [polygamy]? Hinckley: I condemn it. Yes, as a practice, because I think it is not doctrinal.][Apostles Elder Oaks, Elder Perry, and Elder Nelson are modern examples of LDS polygamists in that they're sealed to multiple women.]
- Curse of Cain / Blacks in the Priesthood [2 NEPHI 5:21 - “And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.”][Joseph Smith permitted the priesthood to at least two black men. Elijah Abel and Walker Lewis.][The same God who “denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female” is the same God who denied blacks from the saving ordinances of the Temple for 130 years. Yet, He apparently changed His mind again in 1978 about black people.][Of course, the revelation He gives to the Brethren in the Salt Lake Temple on June 1, 1978 has absolutely nothing to do with the IRS potentially revoking BYU’s tax-exempt status, Stanford and other universities boycotting BYU athletics, we can’t figure out who’s black or not in Brazil (São Paulo Temple dedicated/opened just a few months after revelation), and that Post-Civil Rights societal trends were against the Church’s racism. I would think Christ’s one true Church would have led the Civil Rights movement; not be the last major church on the planet in 1978 to adopt it.]
- Purchase and Suppression of Embarrassing Documents / Forgeries - Mark Hoffman, Community of Christ, etc. [Even when the Salamander Letter proved very useful in discrediting the Church, the Tanners had better discernment than the Brethren did. While the Tanners publicly rejected the Salamander Letter, the Church continued buying fakes from Hofmann and Elder Oaks continued telling Latter-day Saints to be more sophisticated.]
- Children of Gays and Lesbians
- Proclamation on the Family
- Boyd K. Packer Talks etc.
- Church Funds / Charitable Giving claims
- Gaslighting - "Lazy Learners", "Church History Whack-a-mole", "Simply Pathetic" etc.
- Alternative Histories - JS, Polygamy, Brigham Young, Mountain Meadow Massacre, LDS Charities, Sexual Abuse,
Testimony and Spiritual Witness: How are faith and feelings reliable pathways to truth? Is there anything one couldn’t believe based on faith and feelings?
- Our unique strength is the ability to touch the hearts and minds of our audiences, evoking first feeling, then thought and, finally, action. We call this uniquely powerful brand of creative ‘HeartSell’® - strategic emotional advertising that stimulates response. — LDS CHURCH OWNED BONNEVILLE COMMUNICATIONS
- Every major religion has members who claim the same thing: God or God’s spirit bore witness to them that their religion, prophet/pope/leaders, book(s), and teachings are true.
- Arrogance / Presumption of denying other's truth claims.
- Faith in what?
- BOM?
- Which version? Trinitarian? Tri-theistic? Sealed Portion? Jaraneck?
- Which interpretation? (RLDS, FLDS, LDCJC, Sealed Portion, Temple Lot, Remnant?
- Why trust such an obvious fabrication?
- D&C
- Contradictory
- Confirms disavowed doctrine
- Flawed / self-serving author
- POGP
- Forgery
- Borrowed cosmology
- First Vision
- Which version?
- Prophets / Modern Revelation
- Which? They are conflicting. Today? 1800s? New Testament? Old Testament?
- Which interpretation?
- Everything or only General Conference / Thus sayeth the Lord?
- Lying for Jesus - Paul H. Dunn, Packer, Oaks, Hinckley
- Leaders / Parents
- Even when they are wrong? Even when they are wrong about everything else?
- Even when their judgement / thought process is demonstrably broken?
- Unreliability of Feelings
- Confirmation Bias
- Begin with a desire to believe (Alma 32)
- Let the desire work in you until it grows to belief
- The HG will CONFIRM the truth
- Eternal truths your spirit already knows, the spirit reminds you.
- vs. The spirit teaches you things you did no know (really? is this the main method?)
- Cultivated Testimonies
- Testimony meetings, Youth Conference, BYC, Firesides, Identifying the Spirit
- "It is not unusual to have a missionary say, ‘How can I bear testimony until I get one? How can I testify that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the gospel is true? If I do not have such a testimony, would that not be dishonest?’ Oh, if I could teach you this one principle: a testimony is to be found in the bearing of it!" — BOYD K. PACKER, THE QUEST FOR SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE
- "Another way to seek a testimony seems astonishing when compared with the methods of obtaining other knowledge. We gain or strengthen a testimony by bearing it. Someone even suggested that some testimonies are better gained on the feet bearing them than on the knees praying for them." — DALLIN H. OAKS, TESTIMONY
- "It may come as you bear your own testimony of the Prophet...Consider recording the testimony of Joseph Smith in your own voice, listening to it regularly...Listening to the Prophet’s testimony in your own voice will help bring the witness you seek." — NEIL L. ANDERSEN, JOSEPH SMITH
- Paul H. Dunn Effect
- "Faith-Promoting stories"
- "True Principles"
- Feeling the spirit in fiction / stories
- Feeling the spirit while sinning / watching rated R movies / skipping church
- Bad Decisions made by following the spirit - Not the Spirit's fault
- Misunderstanding; lack of discernment; feelings; hormones; greed; Satan; worthiness
- Not everything a prophet says is doctrine, yet a prophet will never lead you astray. (How do we know the difference?)
- Not all revelation comes from God. [...and behold the following revelation came through the stone: ‘Some revelations are of God; and some revelations are of man: and some revelations are of the devil.’ So we see that the revelation to go to Toronto and sell the copy-right was not of God, but was of the devil or of the heart of man. David Whitmer — AN ADDRESS TO ALL BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, P.31]["Be ever on guard lest you be deceived by inspiration from an unworthy source. You can be given false spiritual messages. There are counterfeit spirits just as there are counterfeit angels. (See Moro. 7:17.) Be careful lest you be deceived, for the devil may come disguised as an angel of light. The spiritual part of us and the emotional part of us are so closely linked that is possible to mistake an emotional impulse for something spiritual. We occasionally find people who receive what they assume to be spiritual promptings from God, when those promptings are either centered in the emotions or are from the adversary." Boyd K. Packer — THE CANDLE OF THE LORD, ENSIGN, JANUARY 1983]
ANTI-SCIENCE
- 1949 FIRST PRESIDENCY STATEMENT - August 17, 1949
- The attitude of the Church with reference to Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become members of the Church but that they are not entitled to the priesthood at the present time. The prophets of the Lord have made several statements as to the operation of the principle. President Brigham Young said: ‘Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a skin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the holy priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the holy priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we now are entitled to.’ President Wilford Woodruff made the following statement: ‘The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have.’ The position of the Church regarding the Negro may be understood when another doctrine of the Church is kept in mind, namely, that the conduct of spirits in the premortal existence has some determining effect upon the conditions and circumstances under which these spirits take on mortality and that while the details of this principle have not been made known, the mortality is a privilege that is given to those who maintain their first estate; and that the worth of the privilege is so great that spirits are willing to come to earth and take on bodies no matter what the handicap may be as to the kind of bodies they are to secure; and that among the handicaps, failure of the right to enjoy in mortality the blessings of the priesthood is a handicap which spirits are willing to assume in order that they might come to earth. Under this principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the priesthood by the Negroes. -- The First Presidency
- Along with the above First Presidency statement, there are many other statements and explanations made by prophets and apostles clearly “justifying” the Church’s racism. So, the 2013 edition Official Declaration 2 Header in the scriptures is not only misleading, it’s dishonest. We do have records – including from the First Presidency itself – with very clear insights on the origins of the ban on the blacks.
- 2013 OFFICIAL DECLARATION 2 HEADER UPDATE DISHONESTY---Early in its history, Church leaders stopped conferring the priesthood on black males of African descent. Church records offer no clear insights into the origins of this practice.
- ZINA DIANTHA HUNTINGTON YOUNG
- She was married for 7.5 months and was about 6 months pregnant with her first husband, Henry Jacobs, when she married Joseph after being told Joseph’s life was in danger from an angel with a drawn sword.
- After Joseph’s death, Zina married Brigham Young and had a child with him while still legally married to Henry Jacobs. Brigham sent Henry on missions while being married to Zina.
- Zina would eventually become the third General Relief Society President of the Church.
- In the “Marriage and Family” section, it does not list Joseph Smith as a husband or concurrent husband with Henry Jacobs.
- In the “Marriage and Family” section, it does not list Brigham Young as a concurrent husband with Henry Jacobs. There is nothing in there about the polyandry.
- It is deceptive in stating that Henry and Zina “did not remain together” while omitting that Henry separated only after Brigham Young took his wife and told Henry that Zina was now only his (Brigham) wife.
- #ZINA’S INDEX FILE ON LDS-OWNED FAMILYSEARCH.ORG clearly shows all of Zina’s husbands, including her marriage to Joseph Smith.
- WHITEWASHING POLYGAMY - In the Church’s Sunday School manual, Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, the Church changed the word “wives” to “[wife].”
- CENSORSHIP - In November 2013, Church Historian Elder Steven E. Snow acknowledged the Church’s censorship and pointed to the advent of the internet as the contributing factor to the Church’s inability to continue its pattern of hiding information and records from members and investigators: I think in the past there was a tendency to keep a lot of the records closed or at least not give access to information. But the world has changed in the last generation — with the access to information on the Internet, we can’t continue that pattern; I think we need to continue to be more open.
- Church Finances - zero transparency
- Reporter: "In my country, the...we say the people’s Churches, the Protestants, the Catholics, they publish all their budgets, to all the public." Hinckley: "Yeah. Yeah." Reporter: "Why is it impossible for your Church?" Hinckley: "Well, we simply think that the...that information belongs to those who made the contribution, and not to the world. That’s the only thing."
- Argentinians giving the Church gold from their dental work for the São Paulo Brazil Temple, this mall business is absolutely shameful.
- quote in the December 2012 Ensign very disturbing: "If paying tithing means that you can’t pay for water or electricity, pay tithing. If paying tithing means that you can’t pay your rent, pay tithing. Even if paying tithing means that you don’t have enough money to feed your family, pay tithing. The Lord will not abandon you." This despicably dangerous idea of tithing before feeding your family was further perpetuated in the April 2017 General Conference by Elder Valeri Cordón: "One day during those difficult times, I heard my parents discussing whether they should pay tithing or buy food for the children. On Sunday, I followed my father to see what he was going to do. After our church meetings, I saw him take an envelope and put his tithing in it. That was only part of the lesson. The question that remained for me was what we were going to eat."
- This is what Lorenzo Snow said in his 1899 General Conference Address: "I plead with you in the name of the Lord, and I pray that every man, woman and child who has means shall pay one-tenth of their income as a tithing." Compare this to how the Church uses and presents Snow’s exact same quote today in its Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow manual: "I plead with you in the name of the Lord, and I pray that every man, woman and child ... shall pay one-tenth of their income as a tithing."
Names of the Church
- #1830: CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
- #1834: THE CHURCH OF THE LATTER DAY SAINTS
- #1838: THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS
The Truth is Not Worthy & Facts Destroy Faith
- Elder Packer said the following: "There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not. Some things that are true are not very useful." and "That historian or scholar who delights in pointing out the weaknesses and frailties of present or past leaders destroys faith. A destroyer of faith – particularly one within the Church, and more particularly one who is employed specifically to build faith – places himself in great spiritual jeopardy."
- Elder Dallin H. Oaks made a similar comment in the context of Church history at a CES Symposium on August 16, 1985: "The fact that something is true is not always a justification for communicating it."
- Testimonies are built in part on historical narrative. Isn't it important that that narrative be correct?
- Elder Dallin H. Oaks made the following disturbing comment in the PBS documentary, The Mormons: "It is wrong to criticize the leaders of the Church, even if the criticism is true."
- #RESEARCHING “UNAPPROVED” MATERIALS ON THE INTERNET -- Elder Neil L. Andersen made the following statement in the October 2014 General Conference specifically targeting the medium of the internet in a bizarre attempt to discredit the internet as a reliable source for getting factual and truthful information: "We might remind the sincere inquirer that Internet information does not have a ‘truth’ filter. Some information, no matter how convincing, is simply not true."
- President George A. Smith said: "If a faith will not bear to be investigated; if its preachers and professors are afraid to have it examined, their foundation must be very weak." — JOURNAL OF DISCOURSES 14:216
CONCLUSION
- "Mormonism, as it is called, must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a Prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground. If Joseph was a deceiver, who willfully attempted to mislead people, then he should be exposed, his claims should be refuted, and his doctrines shown to be false..." — PRESIDENT JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH, DOCTRINES OF SALVATION, P.188
- “Do what is right; let the consequence follow”
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