apostate

Facts most Mormons don't know about their own religion. (or what Mormons won't tell you)

By Zack - October 08, 2013

Joseph Smith Era (1805 - 1844)

  1. Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon with a rock in a hat with his face pressed up against it.
  2. Emma tried to poison Joseph twice. (according to Brigham Young)
  3.  Joseph Smith illegally married at least 33 women, some of whom were as young as 14 years old. Some of Joseph's marriages were secured by promising salvation or threatening damnation.
  4. Joseph Smith married at least 8 to 11 women who were already married to other men. This practice is known as polyandry, for which no reference can be found on the Church's web site. In some cases, Joseph married the wives of men whom he had sent away on missions.  Brigham Young also married other men's wives. Infographic of Joseph's Wives
  5. Leaders of the Church, starting with Joseph Smith, systematically lied about practicing polygamy.
  6. Joseph Smith routinely lied to his wife Emma about his extra-monogamous activities, often making her feel alone, abused and foolish.
  7. Mormons insist that the name of true church of Christ must include his name, citing 1 Cor 1:11-15 and 3 Nephi 27:3-8. But on May 3, 1834, the original name of the church ("Church of Christ") was changed to "The Church of the Latter-day Saints," thus deleting any reference to the name of Christ.
  8. Just seven weeks after Joseph’s Masonic initiation, Joseph introduced the LDS endowment ceremony. It's obvious he copied it from Masonry.
  9. LDS Scholars and Leaders taught that faithful blacks were destined to be just servants in the next life.
  10. A black mormon was sealed to Joseph Smith as an eternal slave.
  11. Even though Joseph Smith ordained a black man to the priesthood, the Church institutionally denied individuals of African descent full blessings of membership for over 100 years.
  12. The Word of Wisdom was a suggestion from Emma Smith
  13. Joseph Smith taught "that no official member in this Church is worthy to hold an office" if he neglects to obey the Word of Wisdom. By his own teaching, Joseph was not worthy to hold his calling of prophet.
  14. Joseph smith wrote the account of the first vision 11-12 years after it actually happened and only named one person visiting him.
  15. Although the Priesthood is now taught to have been restored in 1829, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery made no such claim until at least 1834.
  16. The gold plates weighed 200 lbs to which Joseph smith was reported to "run" with. He also once evaded attackers by running away carrying 200 pound plates...
  17. After Joseph Smith's prophecy to sell the copyright to the Book of Mormon failed, he explained it away by saying that some prophecies come from the devil. 
  18. Joseph smith gave conflicting accounts of an angel who guided him to the plates. He once said it was nephi, then moroni. This changed several times.
  19. All early Mormon Leaders including Smith, described the Moroni visit as a "dream" until 1831, the year after the church was organized.
  20. Almost 20 years before Joseph Smith produced the Book of Mormon, his father coincidentally had a dream nearly identical to the narrative of "Lehi's Dream" in the Book of Mormon.
  21. The Book of Abraham is a funeral scroll and Egyptologists have dated it in first century AD, nearly 2,000 years after Abraham could have written it. Joseph was completely wrong in his translation.
  22. Joseph Smith showed his ineptitude for translation when he declared a Greek Psalter to be Egyptian hieroglyphics. 
  23. Joseph Smith made a number of  prophecies that never came to pass. Apologists use manipulative tactics to justify Joseph's failures.
  24. Reformed Egyptian doesn't and has never existed.
  25. Joseph and Hyrum did not have garments on when killed. They removed them because it 'was hot'. (George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle The Journals of William Clayton, 222-24.)
  26. Joseph had a bar in his home
  27. The early mormons practicing polygamy KNEW it was illegal. (Illinois Anti Bigamy Act of 1833)
  28. In 1830, Joseph Smith had an interview where he only mentioned "an angel" when referring to the first vision. No God the Father and No Jesus Christ. Also, in the first ever account of the first vision, you will find he did not see "two personages," he only saw "the Lord."
  29. Joseph Smith drank wine, alcohol, beer, and had tobacco. He disobeyed the Word of Wisdom until the day of his death. (History of the Church, vol. 6, pg. 616)
  30. Joseph Smith's last words, "oh lord, my god..." were an attempt to shout the Masonic signal, "Oh Lord, my God, is there no help for the widow's son?"
  31. There are 10 versions of the first vision, the most popular one written 18 years after the event.
  32. Joseph Smith "tried the faith" of the Saints by riding through Nauvoo smoking a cigar just after having preached about the Word of Wisdom
  33. Joseph Smith & the Book of Mormon claim that the ancestors of Native America came from Israel (genetics and linguistics proves otherwise)
  34. Joseph Smith claimed that prior to the arrival of the Jaredites about 2,200 BC, the Americas were uninhabited (archaeology proves otherwise)
  35. Sidney Rigdon was the one who sparked the extermination order. Not the Missourians or Gov. Boggs.
  36. After Joseph's death, Book of Mormon witnesses accepted James Strang's leadership, angelic call, metal plates, and his translation of the metal plates as authentic.
  37. Joseph Smith taught that an angel with a drawn sword threatened him with destruction if he did not marry more women. (Journal of Discourses, Vol.20, p.28 - p.29)
  38. Four years before publishing the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith was tried in court and found guilty for deceiving Josiah Stowel into believing that he could locate hidden treasure through divination.
  39. Joseph Smith changed his doctrine from Monotheism to Polytheism after his 1st vision occurrence.
  40. Joseph used to call himself the "Author" of the BOM. Later changed it to "Translator".
  41. Joseph Smith dressed up like an angel to fool his followers
  42. Joseph was fooled into thinking the Kinderhook plates were ancient records and even attempted to translate them. This demonstrates that he had no real gifts of translation or Divine revelation.
  43.  Joseph Smith Tried to Win the White House and Turn the US into a Theocracy
  44. Joseph Smith tried to steal Orson Pratt's wife while the apostle was on his mission. "not me" claims founder, "it was my assistant!". Pratt almost commits suicide, and Bennett, the assistant, goes on to write a book. J.S. denounces it claiming Bennett was a liar from the beginning. 
  45. Anything about the DANITES - "MORMON HIT MEN"
  46. William Law, Austin Cowles, Todd Compton, and Jedediah Grant all left because  J.S. wanted their wives
  47. D&C 101 - Used to state the LDS church was monogamous while Joseph was privately teaching polygamy.
  48. In Kirtland, Joseph Smith set up an illegal bank that ultimately failed and caused many of the saints to lose their money. There is also evidence showing that Joseph intentionally misrepresented the solvency of his institution.
  49. Laws Joseph smith broke: Adultery. Rape by coercion. Attempted murder. Treason. Theft. Conspiracy to defraud. Bank fraud. Fraud. Perjury. Witness tampering. Assault. Battery. Public intoxication. Glass looking. Destruction of property. Inciting a riot. Jail breaking. Treason against the United States. Treason against Missouri. Treason against Illinois. Bribery.
  50. Joseph was NOT a martyr sealing his testimony with his blood nor was he a "lover of the cause of Christ" as the church proclaims. He died unwillingly in a gunfight because he used tyrannical force to destroy free speech in an effort to hide his sexual exploits.
  51. Smith did not use the "Urim and Thumim" to dictate any part of the Book of Mormon text we have today.
  52. Mormon teachings regarding a "Celestial Kingdom" and "three degrees of glory" come from a 17th-century Christian author.
  53. None of the witnesses saw the golden plates.
  54. Smith would have been familiar with. Such a resemblance is too close to be a coincidence.
  55. Rather than translating with Divine help, evidence supports that Joseph Smith plagiarized a significant portion of the Book of Mormon from the Bible, Ethan Smith’s View of the Hebrews and other books contemporary to Joseph’s time. 
  56. In defiance of God's command to not join any churches, Joseph Smith tried to join the Methodist Church.
  57. Joseph Smith and other early leaders taught that because animals had spirits, they should only be eaten in times of "dire necessity". Not only does the Church ignore this aspect of the Word of Wisdom, it also acts in direct defiance and hypocrisy by owning and operating the largest cattle ranch in the United States.
  58. Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843
  59. Joseph Smith taught that one of the tests of whether a revelation was really from God was its consistency with previous revelations:   if it contradicted previous revelations, it was not from God.   Many of his revelations, and the revelations of many of his successor prophets, have indeed contradicted previous revelations.
  60. In the official version of Joseph Smith's "first vision" he states that it occurred in 1820 as a result of his being moved by a large religious revival in the area to wonder which church was the true church.   There was no such religious revival in the area between 1817 and 1824.   This throws doubt on the entire chronology of events as depicted by Joseph Smith
  61. On 25 March 1838, Martin Harris testified publicly that none of the signatories to the Book of Mormon saw or handled physical records.
  62. 19th Century Missionaries were Sex Traffickers. Polygamy requires a inflow of new women. Heber C. Kimball even confirms it. "Everyone's taking the hot girls! Leave some for me!"
Brigham Young Era (1844 - 1877)
  1. Mark Twain questioned the Book of Mormon witnesses and reviewed the Book of Mormon.
  2. Brigham Young was Racist (Bottom right paragraph) as well as many previous apostles/prophets.
  3. The moon and the sun are inhabited!
  4. Do Mormons believe they can get their own planet? No, they believe they can get their own universe!
  5. Samuel Smith, the destined prophet after Joseph Smith, was probably poisoned by Hosea Stout (One of Brigham's Cronies). This then allowed Brigham Young to take full control of the church.
  6. Joseph Smith set apart his son, Joseph III, to succeed him as prophet. Brigham Young admitted this, but ultimately refused to cede his own leadership to Joseph III. 
  7. Brigham Young claimed that there was a cave located at the Hill Cumorah containing "wagon loads" of ancient records "piled up in the corners and along the walls". No such cave has ever been found.
  8. Brigham Young owned a distillery in Utah and sold whiskey to saints for Pioneer Day celebrations.
  9. Brigham Young taught that Adam is our father and God, a teaching that later prophets have admitted as not true. More broadly, apostles have told us that the Lord permits false doctrine to be taught within the church. 
  10. Mormons believe that Adam and Eve were the first human beings on earth.   This contradicts all scientific evidence showing that there have been humans for many thousands of years before the traditional time for Adam.
  11. Brigham Young wrote a letter to Bishop Warren Snow of Manti, approving of violent actions taken by Snow. The Bishop had castrated a young man who was courting a woman Snow wanted to take as his own plural wife. 
  12. Brigham Young, in all his sermons, mentions nothing about Joseph Smith's "first vision."   In one of his few references to the visionary beginnings of Mormonism he asserts that God did not appear to Joseph Smith, but rather sent an angel. 
  13. Brigham Young taught that God had sex with Mary. 
  14. Adam and Eve are aliens according to B.Y., J.S. and Heber C. Kimball. (J.D. 3:90, J:D 1:356)
  15. Dramatic Readings of Brigham Young - Video Series
Modern Era (1900 - Now)
  1. Every Mormon has scriptures depicting Min (The God of Sex and Fertility) with an erect penis. In 1968 They removed it. In 1987 they re-added it. LOL.
  2. Almost none of the church leaders for the first 70 years of church history would by today’s Church standards be qualified to serve missions, enter the temple, get baptized, or even attend BYU.
  3. You will not reach highest degree of heaven without being in a polygamous relationship. (D&C 132)... So if a Mormon tells you they don't believe in polygamy they're not even aware of the true doctrine. Mormons believe they'll be practicing it in the afterlife.
  4. Up until the late 90s, Mormon authorized pictures of Jesus had him with white garments.
  5. The Church allowed an adulterer, Richard Lyman, to serve as an apostle for 18 years before excommunicating him. Although it appears that fellow members of the quorum did not know about Lyman's adultery, these "prophets, seers, and revelators" should have had the spirit of discernment to know of Lyman's unworthiness.
  6. Doctrine & Covenants 121:36 teaches that "the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven", and can be "handled only upon the principles of righteousness." Given this fact, ordinances performed unrighteously (such as those by Apostle Lyman for 18 years) should not be acceptable in the eyes of God or the Church. However, such ordinances are rarely, if ever, re-performed.
  7. Apostle John A. Widtsoe taught that refined flour was contrary to the Word of Wisdom in 1930
  8. The official change of the Word of Wisdom from principle to requirement came with no claim of Divine instruction. On the contrary, the shift seems to have taken place for political reasons surrounding Prohibition and desire for mainstream Christian acceptance.
  9. The Word of Wisdom forbids eating meat except in Winter/Cold/Famine.
  10. Before 1978, Mormons taught that murder was so heinous that the atonement wouldn't apply. Thus, to atone for these sins the perpetrators must have their blood shed upon the ground as a sacrificial offering.
  11. Thomas Monson is a multi-billionaire (LDS church is a corporation sole).
  12. There are 613 Pharisaical rules in Mormonism
  13. The apostles are RICH and yet they are exempt from paying tithing. 
  14. Despite being "lay clergy", mission presidents receive a significant amount of financial benefits from the Church. What is more disturbing, however, is that these leaders are explicitly told not to disclose information on funds received, even to tax advisers or the government. 
  15. The church often sells properties valued at over $500,000 to corporations held by apostles' wives for $10, and then helps them sell the property and disburse the funds to corporations held by their kids.
  16. In the temple, Mormons promise to give all their money everything they have to the LDS Church.
  17. Mormons believe that all other churches are an abomination
  18. The 15th amendment gave black males the right to vote in 1870. The LDS church prohibited black males from holding leadership until 1978.
  19. The 19th amendment gave women right to vote in 1920. LDS church currently prohibits women from holding leadership.
  20. In September 1993 the LDS church excommunicated six faithful members for intellectualism, feminism, and attention to historical accuracy.
  21. The second anointing is done in the temple on a regular basis.
  22. The Mormon church will not disclose any of their finances and instead declare bi-annually that through self-audits, all finances are in accordance with their principles
  23. Mormons shouldn't have sleepovers!
  24. At the beginning of the Wentworth Letter, Joseph Smith states: “all that I shall ask at his hands is that he publish the account entire, ungarnished, and without misrepresentation.” The church then purposely ignores Joseph Smiths advice in the Gospel Doctrine manual and removes a IMPORTANT paragraph IN THE LETTER, that has Joseph Smith saying the Americas were not inhabited before the arrival of the Jaredeites around 2200 B.C. which we know is false.
  25. James Talmage had pot.
  26. The LDS church is growing the slowest it's ever been! (They could possibly be only 5 to 10 years from 0% growth as % of world population.) e.g. Graph1, Graph2, Europe PDF
  27. Mormons at BYU are not allowed to follow the 11th article of faith.. If you start the school Mormon and then leave the church you get KICKED OUT, and your TRANSCRIPTS GET WITHHELD. Current day example
  28. The LDS church paid almost $900K to Mark Hoffman for documents that were forgeries. Tithing and Prophets that speak with God at work! They also tried to hide it after.
  29. The church isn't even a church, it's a trademark owned by a corporation. 
  30. Elder Oaks and Nelson are modern examples of LDS polygamists. (Sealed to multiple women)
  31. Monson has now given 61 consecutive talks w/o testifying of JS, the BOM, or the Restoration.
  32. Church's stance on tithing: "You can't afford basic life necessities? Pay us more money!"
  33. Cult-like characteristics of the LDS Church -- Half-way down.
  34. How the church uses the "spirit" to brainwash members into never questioning logically.
  35. The Mormon Church has a legacy of bashing Christians and Christianity.
  36. No masks on Halloween!
  37. President Joseph F. Smith got caught in an attempt to lie to a Federal court in 1903 -- Quote
  38. The Church reports -----  inflated ----- and inaccurate membership numbers. 
  39. In 1886, John Taylor received a revelation regarding the practice of plural marriage. In the revelation, the Lord told Taylor "I have not revoked this law, nor will I, for it is everlasting." Four years later, Wilford Woodruff contradicted Taylor's revelation by issuing the 1890 Manifesto.
  40. The Church historically lied and presently still lies in telling the membership and outside media that polygamy ended in 1890. In actuality, Church-sanctioned and performed plural marriages continued until 1904 and beyond.
  41. The Church requires an oath of commitment from temple participants before the participant knows to what he or she is committing.
  42. Until 1990, the temple ceremony contained violent penalties requiring members to make symbolic gestures of slitting their own throats and bowels. Recent Church leaders have been dishonest about these penalties. The removal of these penalties, among other changes, came not by revelation but as a result of a 1988 survey that found that many members were uncomfortable with the endowment.
  43. As disturbing as the temple penalties are, the fact that the ceremony changed is also troublesome because Joseph Smith taught that "ordinances instituted in the heavens are not to be altered or changed."
  44. Church leaders teach that Joseph Smith destroyed the Nauvoo Expositor because it told anti-Mormon lies. In actuality, the newspaper truthfully exposed the Prophets sexual exploits.
  45. Members of the Church are taught that prophets talk to God and speak for God. But some modern-day prophets admitted that they had never seen, heard, or received revelations from God. 
  46. The Quorum of the Twelve and members of the First Presidency are sustained as "prophets, seers, and revelators". Regardless, they haven't prophesied, seen, or revealed much of anything over the last 100 years.
  47. For years, Church leaders have lied that Thomas B. Marsh left the church over "milk strippings". In truth, Marsh left in large part because he didn't agree with the violent practices of the Danites.
  48. Boyd K. Packer and other church leaders have openly advocated obscuring and editing history by teaching us that "some things that are true are not very useful."
  49. The 12th article of Faith states that "we believe in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." One way in which the Church ignores its own counsel is by baptizing illegal immigrants, and even giving them leadership callings. 
  50. The Church has knowingly allowed and at times encouraged unethical missionary recruiting practices including baseball baptisms in the U.K. and soccer baptisms in Latin America. On my own personal mission missionaries would make up names, promise kids they get to go swimming, and give them cakes if they got  baptized.
  51. Church leaders teach members to bear testimony in order to obtain one. This is a manipulative practice that leads to confirmation bias.
  52.  In the past, the Church tried to deny Young's violent teaching. Now, most leaders admit that it was taught but denounce it as a false doctrine. 
  53. The Church has never truthfully admitted to, or apologized for, its involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, a tragedy in which 120 emigrants were brutally slaughtered by Mormons at the command of Church leadership.
  54. For many years, leaders of the Church taught that dark skin is a curse that is caused by inferiority and sub-par valiance in the pre-existence. Some leaders have even suggested that dark skinned "members of the Church are changing to whiteness and delightsomeness."
  55. Despite overwhelming evidence of racism in the early modern Church, leaders continue to claim that the reason for the priesthood ban is unknown. As such, the Church has never admitted error or apologized for excluding blacks from the priesthood.
  56. The Church has a long history of discriminating against women and teaching that they are to be subordinate to men. 
  57. In campaigning against marriage equality on Prop 8 in 2008, the Church violated requirements of  tax exempt organizations. These actions contradict the charge to obey, honor, and sustain the law.
  58. Many homosexual members feel guilt, depression, and shame as a result of the stiff anti-gay rhetoric taught by church leaders. Some have even been driven to suicide. 
  59. In the 1970's, LDS-owned Brigham Young University conducted electroshock therapy on gay students to try to make them straight. This lasted for MANY years. Mark E. Peterson's Pamphlet.
  60. The Church relies on FAIR, FARMS and other apologists to defend the faith, but intentionally keeps some distance in order to maintain plausible deniability.
  61. When Mormon leaders announced in 1890 that the practice of plural marriage was ended, it was a lie. Church officials continued secretly to perform plural marriages and to enter into them for about sixteen years.
  62. Many Mormons assert that the reason polygamy was practiced in early Utah was because there were not enough men to provide husbands for worthy women.   This is historically false - Utah census records for the 19th century show that Utah had a considerable excess of men.
  63. Mormons teach that a rape victim has "lost her chastity"; a woman should fight off her attacker or be killed in the attempt.   Thus, young Mormon women are taught that their chastity is more valuable than their life.   The result is that a Mormon woman who survives a rape is made to feel guilty, and is thus victimized again, this time by her church.
  64. Claim: Joseph Fielding Smith ripped out the pages about the 1st vision and placed them in his personal safe sometime after 1921. Then later when rumors about another version of the first vision started appearing, Smith returned them to the historic "letterbook 1" that dates beginning in 1832 for Paul Cheesman to "discover" to use for his master's degree thesis. The damage is clear.
  65. Since 1950, every 3.5 years the percentage of world population that is Mormon raises .01%
  66. To reach the current Catholic 17% percentage of world population, it will take 5,950 years, or be the year 7963.
  67. The LDS church counts resigned and deceased members until their 110th birthday.
  68. Former Apostle Delbert Stapley tried to dissuade Mitt Romney's father when he was governor from the issue on civil rights. Sickening.
  69. Blacks and the Priesthood Statement.  Summarized statement.
  70. Oaks admits there's no inspiration in callings (2:47)
Literary Works of the Church (Book of Mormon, D&C, etc)
  1. There is no archaeological evidence of the Book of Mormon.
  2. Analysis of the Book of Napoleon and The Late War and how it influenced Joseph's writings
  3. Beer and other grains are acceptable according to D&C 89:17. Wheat for the man, and for mild drinks, as well as other grains.
  4. Contradictions in LDS Scriptures
  5. The story of Laban in First Nephi illustrates that God's command must invariably be followed, even if it means committing murder. This is a dangerous message that inspires religious extremism. 
  6. Many Book of Mormon names and places are strikingly similar to local name and places that Joseph 
  7. Many things stated in the Book of Mormon didn't even exist in the Americas. 
  8. Deutero-Isaiah speaks of the destruction in the past (Isa 42:24–25), and the restoration as imminent (Isa 42:1–9). How then could this be contained on the Brass plates since Lehi left BEFORE the destruction of Jerusalem?  Therefore, The Book of Mormon could not be quoting from the brass plates, and it is a false, or forged book of scripture.
  9. There has been at least  5,280 changes to the Book of Mormon.
  10. DNA evidence shows that Native Americans do not come from Middle Eastern heritage. Recently, the Church changed its claim that "the Lamanites are the principal ancestors of the American Indians" to the Lamanites "are among the ancestors of the American Indians".
  11. The King James version errors of the Bible are the same in the Book of Mormon.
  12. The Church has changed the dates of events in the D&C in order to make Joseph's conflicting claims appear more plausible.
  13. The "Teachings of Brigham Young" manual dishonestly implies that Brigham was a monogamist by listing only two non-concurrent wives. Church editors have also changed all of Brigham's mentions of "wives" to "wife".
  14. The Book of Mormon uses the same logic to justify killing Laban that Caiaphas used to justify killing Jesus. (John 11:50)
  15. Mormon scripture (D&C 84:86, 91) says that true missionaries from God will not rely on their own money or supplies ("purse or scrip") for support, and this will be a test to distinguish them from false missionaries.   Modern Mormon missionaries now rely on themselves for support; i.e., they do "carry purse [and] scrip."
  16. The Book of Mormon portrays Lehi as a devout Israelite (a prophet), but he is completely ignorant of which tribe he belongs to (1 Nephi 5:14-16). This would be extremely unlikely.
  17. The Apostle Paul said that a deacon should be married and the head of a household.   But most Mormon deacons are boys only twelve to fourteen years old.
  18. The D&C says (116, also 78:15 and 107:53-57) that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri, but the Book of Moses (PoGP, supposedly written by the prophet Moses, 3:10-16) says it was near the River Euphrates, which to Moses and his hearers meant the river in present-day Iraq.
  19. The Book of Mormon says that one must be saved in this life - after you die, it's too late (Alma 34:32-35). But Mormons spend much time and effort in baptizing dead non-Mormons in proxy ceremonies so that they can be saved in the afterlife.
  20. The one prayer which Jesus commanded his disciples to use (the "Lord's Prayer") is almost never used by Mormons.
  21. The "Word of Wisdom" (D&C 89:8) recommends using tobacco as a poultice for bruises, and for sick cattle.   This has no medical basis in fact.
  22. Mormons believe that marriages performed in a Mormon temple are for "time and all eternity" - that is, the couple will be in a married state in heaven.   But Jesus said that this is a false idea - there is no married state in heaven (Matt 22:23-30, Mark 12:18-25, Luke 20:27-36).
  23. The Book of Mormon (Jacob 2:24) says that God considered the multiple wives of David and Solomon to be an "abomination."   But the D&C (132:38-39) says that it was not wrong.
  24. Mormons claim that their church is patterned after the early church of Jesus' apostles, but there are major differences.
  25. Joseph Smith claimed to have seen in vision both the prophet Elijah and the prophet Elias (D&C 27:6-9). He apparently was unaware that in the Bible those two names refer to only one prophet (one is the Hebrew version of the name, the other Greek).
  26. According to Mormon scripture (D&C 84:19-22) no man can see God unless he has the Melchizedek priesthood.   This revelation was given in 1832.   The priesthood was supposedly restored at some unknown date in 1829 or 1830.   But Joseph Smith claimed in the 1830s to have seen God in 1820, long before he received the priesthood.
  27. Numerous Bible passages (Ex 28-31; Num 3:7; Neh 7:63,65; Heb 7:12-14) clearly say that only Levites can offer sacrifices.   No Levites are mentioned as accompanying Lehi from Jerusalem.   Yet according to the Book of Mormon, sacrifices were offered by Lehi (1 Nephi 5:9) and his descendants (Mosiah 2:3).   By what authority, then?
  28. The Book of Mormon frequently condemns secret "combinations" (societies) and the taking of oaths of secrecy.  Yet an essential part of the Mormon temple's endowment ceremony is an emphasis on the secrecy of the oaths taken during the ritual and its other details.
  29. The explanation in the Book of Mormon for writing the important records in Egyptian (Mormon 9:32-33) is that it would have required too much space on the precious gold plates to write in Hebrew.   This does not make sense, since Hebrew is a very concise language, using consonants almost exclusively, compared to Egyptian, which required a large number of complex characters and would have been unsuitable for engraving in limited space.
  30. The Book of Mormon began with a monotheistic perspective. Hundreds of changes were added at the first revision to replace "God" with "Son of God." It appears that Smith failed to complete the search and replace operation, as their are many verses remaining in the Book of Mormon that are trinitarian in nature. "And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God" -Statement from the 3 witnesses
  31. There are 3 (or 4) immortal beings running around on the Earth according to Mormons.
  32. LDS Church releases statement on Blacks and the Priesthood - "Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past" ... This contradicts the Book of Mormon
Quotes from Mormon History:
  •  "It's wrong to criticize leaders of the church, even if the criticism is true." - Dallin H. Oaks
  • "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." - Brigham Young
  • "If I had forty wives in the United States, they did not know it, and could not substantiate it, neither did I ask any lawyer, judge, or magistrate for them. I live above the law, and so do this people." - Brigham Young [ JoD 1:361]
  • The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as president of this Church to lead you astray." - Wilford Woodruff (members say mistakes in the past were because they were 'just men')
  • "I have never preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call scripture." - Brigham Young (Despite this prophetic utterance, later church leaders have dismissed as non-scriptural the Journal of Discourses, from which this quote and many other of Brigham's teachings come.)
  • "If your children are taught untruths on evolution in the public schools or even in our Church schools, provide them with a copy of President Joseph Fielding Smith's excellent rebuttal in his book Man, His Origin and Destiny." - Ezra Benson
  • "There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is that we once had an estate before we came here, and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there received greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less." - Joseph Smith Doctrines of Salvation, volume 1, page 61.
  • And when I am far on the road to conviction, and eight men, be they grammatical or otherwise, come forward and tell me that they have seen the plates too; and not only seen those plates but “hefted” them, I am convinced. I could not feel more satisfied and at rest if the entire Whitmer family had testified. - Mark Twain
  • “The truth is not uplifting; it destroys. Historians should tell only that part of the truth that is inspiring and uplifting.” -B. K. Packer
  • Larry King: Does the Lord speak through you? "I Think" -Gordon B. Hinckley
  • Larry King: Do you condemn polygamy? "I condemn it. Yes, as a practice, because I think it is not doctrinal." -Gordon B. Hinckley (We still have Doctrine & Covenants 132 canonized. We're still practicing plural marriage in the Temples. Apostles Elder Oaks and Elder Nelson are modern examples of LDS polygamists in that they're sealed to multiple women.)
  • On whether his church still holds that God the Father was once a man, Hinckley sounded uncertain, "I don't know that we teach it." (I don't know is not a good answer from a Prophet...)
  • About disclosing how tithing is being spent: "Well, we simply think that the…that information belongs to those who made the contribution, and not to the world." - Gordon B. Hinckley (No members have access to this information!)
  • ""The best thing you can do for a single frustrated women... Is work on the Man" - Elder Oaks
Investigating the Truth is a Glorious action. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence:
 Favorite Quotes about Seeking Truth:
  • “If we have the truth, it cannot be harmed by investigation. If we have not the truth, it ought to be harmed.” - J. Reuben Clark
  • "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." - George Albert Smith
  • "Well, it's either true or false. If it's false, we're engaged in a great fraud. If it's true, it's the most important thing in the world. Now, that's the whole picture. It is either right or wrong, true or false, fraudulent or true. And that's exactly where we stand..." Gordon B. Hinckley
  • "I think a full, free talk is frequently of great use; we want nothing secret nor underhanded, and I for one want no association with things that cannot be talked about and will not bear investigation." - John Taylor
  •  "Convince us of our errors of Doctrine, if we have any, by reason, by logical arguments, or by the Word of God and we will ever be grateful for the information and you will ever have the pleasing reflections that you have been instruments in the hands of God of redeeming your fellow beings." -Orson Pratt
  • If intense pressure is used to dissuade people who wish to talk with former members or critics, it is a clear sign of information control. Controlling information is one of the most essential components of mind control.” -Steven Hassan, Mental Health Counselor specializing in recovery from mind control cults for over 30 years
  • “For faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction --- faith in fiction is a damnable false hope.” - Thomas Edison
  • "If you are comfortable with a lie, you will never look for the truth." - Anon
  • You can’t use reason to convince anyone out of an argument that they didn’t use reason to get into.
  • "Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? There isn't a religion on the planet that doesn't long for a comparable ability - precise, and repeatedly demonstrated before committed skeptics - to foretell future events. No other human institution comes close." - Carl Sagan
  • “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  • "When I became convinced that the universe is natural—that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust." -Robert G. Ingersoll
  • "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." - Sherlock Holmes
  • The problem with ideology is it gives you the answer before you look at the evidence. So you have to mold the evidence to get the answer you've already decided you've got to have. - Bill Clinton
  • "Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons." - Michael Shermer
  • All scientific work is incomplete – whether it be observational or experimental. All scientific work is liable to be upset or modified by advancing knowledge. That does not confer upon us a freedom to ignore the knowledge we already have, or to postpone the action that it appears to demand at a given time. Who knows, asked Robert Browning, but the world may end tonight? True, but on available evidence most of us make ready to commute on 8:30 the next day. -  Sir Austin Bradford Hill
  • Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Once we take ownership of an idea - whether it's about politics or sports - what do we do? We love it perhaps more than we should. We prize it more than it is worth. And most frequently, we have trouble letting go of it because we can't stand the idea of its loss. What are we left with then? An ideology - rigid and unyielding. - Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
  • “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation.” - William Paley (Question all answers)
  • Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe. It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. - Thomas Paine
  • The religious seek comfort, not reality. They seek comfort from reality. - Rick Fetters
  • The chief difficulty I see in the sceptical movement is in its polarization: Us vs. Them – the sense that we have a monopoly on the truth; that those other people who believe all these stupid doctrines are morons. - Carl Sagan
  •  "Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right." - Larry Mundinger
  • The skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who investigates or researches, as opposed to him who asserts and thinks that he has found. - Miguel de Unamuno
  • The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." -Daniel J. Boorstin
  • "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." -- Philip K. Dick
  • "I'm sure you believe the church is true, but I have a different method of determining truth than you. I've learned to trust facts and evidence over what I want to be true just because it feels good. And this is what the evidence leads me to believe. If you want to disregard evidence because that's not how you find truth, you can, and I will disregard your testimony for the same reason."
    Websites/Papers/Research Material from others:

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    2 comments

    1. Stephen MayOctober 22, 2013 at 5:41 PM

      Thank you so much for the time and energy it took for this excellent and SUPPORTED research.

      I was an "investigator" after two Mormon Missionaries came knocking and wanted to look into their claims myself because it all sounded just a little too neat . . . an answer for everything and it always seems to come from the Book of Mormon on the toughest questions, not the Bible.

      Anyway, part of my "investigation" led me to this website and I can say now, without hesitation, "Thanks, but NO thanks!"

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      Replies
      1. ChrisJanuary 24, 2014 at 1:55 PM

        Brig, as a seminary graduate and former ward missionary, I testify that the vast majority of these items are true. I witness to you that I became much happier and more successful after leaving the church. I invite you to look up the definition of frisson, and to read testimonies from other religions. Mormonism is not only a fraud, but at its core, it's not even particularly unique or inspiring.

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