Alright, a little more back story for those who haven't caught on: I grew up LDS (Mormon). My entire life I believed without any doubt in my mind that the LDS Church was the 'One true Church' and had the 'fullness of the gospel'. Recently, a very good friend of mine asked me where reference to one of the Mormon beliefs could be found in the bible. I didn't know, but I promised to find it and show it to him. There was one problem though: it was not there.
That piqued a lot of interest, so I started studying that particular Mormon belief, and was shocked to find a few other things with which I had a serious problem. I started doing research. First I only used Church-friendly sources, and that raised more questions, as several things contradict themselves. Then I started looking into neutral areas, veering clear of all anti-Mormon literature. Then I looked at some of the anti-Mormon literature that was actually respectful (and by that I mean did not try to bash the church or make public sacred things, and only used reputable facts). To say I was shocked and appalled was a bit of an understatement. Here are a few of my findings:
Joseph Smith was married to 34 wives. That part I knew. What I did not know was that 11 of those wives had living husbands. I also did not know that some were as young as 14.
I learned growing up that the reason there was polygamy was because the men were being killed off and the widows needed someone to support them. While this was true, I have recently learned that many wives that were taken on by married men actually were not widows (though many others were).
I learned that it used to be taught that in order to get into the Celestial Kingdom (the highest Kingdom of Heaven) a man had to have more than one wife. That is no longer taught. Another thing that is no longer taught is that black men and women will only get to the Celestial Kingdom as 'servants' (now it is taught that they will have the same Glory as anyone else). These teachings would obviously be disturbing to me, even if they are no longer taught. Furthermore, the fact that the teachings changed only goes to show that the Mormon doctrine has changed over time (as evident in other cases, as well). Well if it's God's Word, isn't it supposed to stay the same yesterday, today, and forever??
I learned that a couple of things that Joseph Smith translated from Ancient Egyptian papyrus(located at the end of the Mormon scriptures) mean absolutely *nothing* close to what Joseph said that they meant. In fact, they are traditional funeral script. Alright, well tell me this: how on earth could the 'Book of Abraham' that the Mormons have actually come from traditional funeral script which actually has nothing at all to do with Abraham?
These are just a few things, but they are very large in importance. So I decided to ask someone from the church about them.
Yesterday I had the LDS missionaries over to my house. My intention was not at all to disprove them, or to try to convert them away from mormonism, or anything of the sort. I merely wanted answers. If they had the answers I sought, I would be happy and could easily continue practicing mormonism. However, they had no answers.
Instead, they told me to ignore all of that. They said that as long as the Book of Mormon was true, none of that mattered. Their were probably answers, but were they really important when it came to my Salvation? They challenged me to stop researching these questions - at least for a time - and focus solely on reading the Book of Mormon and gaining a testimony. Because, after all, it is the cornerstone of our faith.
I had a few problems with that. First of all, the Book of Mormon should not be the cornerstone of our faith. Christ should be. End of story. Even the Bible, as great of a tool as it is, is not the cornerstone of Christianity; Christ is. If they had said it is *a* cornerstone, I could have lived with that. But my whole life I have been taught to believe that the Book of Mormon is the cornerstone, that it is what we build our church off of. Because after all, if it is wrong then mormonism is completely incorrect. But my faith is in Christ, as it should be, with tools and resources to support His word.
Second of all, why tell me to stop seeking answers?? Aren't we taught in the Bible "Ask and it shall be given unto you; seek and he shall find," (Matt 7:7)? Is that limited strictly to those converting *into* Christianity and Mormonism, and exclude those already there who are having questions? Yes, we are told to have faith, but should that faith be blind?? I think not, and Proverbs 14:15 supports me: "The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going." I'd rather not be 'simple'.
Thirdly, my findings do matter, and not just for myself! Let me ask you this: Let's say you are a devout believer in Christ. Now let's say that someone comes to you and says "I can *prove* to you that he married a woman who already had a *living husband*, he faked many of his miracles, and he lied to many people", and they actually could *prove* it. Not with biased, possibly forged documents or hear-say, but with reputable, hard-core facts. Wouldn't that make you rethink some things? And don't say to yourself "Well no it wouldn't, because He is the Savior and nothing is going to change that." I know He's the Savior. You know He's the Savior. We both know that that couldn't and won't happen. But work with me here, and for argument's sake, pretend that it could, and that it did. I'm sorry, but only the very simple minded *wouldn't* seek answers to those questions. It might be upsetting, but each of us would be forced to face those facts, would we not?? If those things had happened, that would mean He could not be the Savior.
Likewise, if the things I learned about Joseph Smith are true, he simply could not be a Prophet of God. A Prophet of God upholds God's commandments. Joseph Smith often didn't even adhere to the Word of Wisdom, let alone more important laws such as avoiding adultery (because marrying someone who already has a living husband is definitely adultery. Sorry, but it is). And I highly doubt that God would call someone who is making a mockery of His word to translate another Testament of Christ (the Book of Mormon). If He did, He would be contradicting everything we know to be true from the Bible. Therefore, if these things that I've found out are true, then Joseph Smith was not a Prophet of God. If he was not a Prophet of God, then the Book of Mormon is not true. If the Book of Mormon is not true and Joseph Smith wasn't a Prophet of God, then the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not the One True Church. So yes, it matters. It matters very much.
Unfortunately I could not get any answers from the missionaries, though they've promised to get me the number to the Stake President. I will go to him with my questions to get answers - again, my goal is *not* to disprove anyone; I just want the truth - and see if he has them. In the mean time, I will continue my research. But I must say, with every passing day I am more and more convinced that the Mormon Church is nothing more than a hoax that a man from New York put together. Yes it teaches good morals and has good doctrine, but a hoax is a hoax, no matter how it is portrayed. And that is something I will not be part of.
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