Mormonism: Contradictions Within
Itself and Between the Bible
Mormon Doctrine vs. the Bible
According to The History
of the Church Vol. 6 p. 476, Smith ridiculed the doctrine of the trinity.
He stated: “Many man say there is one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost are only one God. I say that is a strange God any how – three in one and
one in three. It is a curious organization. All are to be crammed into one God
according to sectarianism. It would make the biggest God in all
the world. He would be a wonderfully big God – he would be a giant or
monster.”
The Bible teaches that there are 3 persons each called
God and that there is only one God. The Father is called God (II Peter
According to Joseph Smith, God
used to be a man and then was exalted to godhood. In the Journal of
Discourses, Vol. 6 p.3, Smith states: “I will prove that the world is wrong
by showing what God is … I will go back to the beginning before the world
was.... God Himself was once as we are now and is an exalted man and sits
enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the Great Secret. We have imagined and
supposed that God was from all eternity. I will refute that idea…”
The Bible teaches that God existed as God from all
eternity. Isa. 43:12b, 13 says, “…And I am God.
Even from eternity, I am He.”
Psa. 93:2 states, “Thy throne is established from of old; Thou art from
everlasting” (see also Psa. 90:2, 4; Isa. 44:6; Rev. 1:4). Since God existed as
God from eternity past, He could not have been a mere man who was exalted to
godhood. Also, God is a Spirit (John
According to Mormon
Doctrine p. 164, Jesus and Lucifer are portrayed as spirit-brothers who bid
to see which one would be the redeemer on earth. However,
Jesus and Lucifer cannot be spirit-brothers. The Bible teaches that Jesus is
God from all eternity who became flesh (John 1:1, 14; Micah 5:2 with Mt. 2:1, 2)
and that Lucifer (Satan) was only an angel (II Cor. 11:14; Matt. 25:41; Jude 8,
9) who was created by God (Eph. 6:11, 12 with Col. 1:16), so it is impossible
for Jesus and Lucifer to have been spirit-brothers.
According to The
Doctrine of Salvation, Vol. 1, p. 18, Jesus was not begotten of the Holy
Spirit: “Christ was not begotten of the Holy Ghost... Christ was begotten of
God. He was not born without the aid of
Man, and that man was God.”
This completely contradicts the teaching of the
Bible. Matthew
Mormons teach that the “third”
God, the Holy Ghost is a limited God, like the Father and the Son who cannot be
everywhere present. Bruce McConkie (late apostle) in Mormon Doctrine, p. 539, states:
“The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead. He is a Personage of Spirit, a Spirit Person,
a Spirit Man, a Spirit entity. He can be
in only one place at one time.” Mormons make a distinction between the “Holy
Ghost” and the “Holy Spirit”. The “Holy
Ghost” is a limited God who can only be in one place at one time; whereas, the “Holy
Spirit” is an impersonal force. Bruce McConkie, on
page 753 of Mormon Doctrine, states: “The Spirit of God which emanates
from Deity may be likened to electricity.... which fills the earth and the air,
and is everywhere present.”
In the Bible, the “Holy Ghost” and the “Holy Spirit”
are just two varying translations of the same words - they refer to the same
person and are not two separate entities.
The Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit is not a force, but is the third person of
the Trinity and is referred to by personal pronouns (He, Me, I, etc. – John
14:26; 16:13; Acts 13:2). He has an
intellect (I Cor. 2:10, 11), a will (I Cor.
The Mormons completely
misunderstand the Bible’s teaching regarding faith and works. In Romans 3:28, the Bible states that a
person is justified (declared right with God) by his personal faith in Jesus
Christ and not by keeping any works of the law.
In fact, Romans
Mormons not only teach that
God was once a man and worked His way to godhood, but also teach that eternal
life for every worthy Mormon man will consist in learning to become god
himself. Joseph Smith states: “Here then
is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God, and
you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves” (The Teachings of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 346).
The Bible teaches that there is only one true God and
that there have never been, nor will there ever be, any Gods besides Him (Isa.
43:10, 11; 44:6; Deut. 6:5; I Tim. 2:5).
Mormon Authority & the Two Priesthoods
Mormons claim divine
authority for all their ministries and testimonies. Founder Joseph Smith claimed that he was
visited by two deities during a prayer in a grove. He claimed that his purpose for the prayer
was to find out the one true church.
When he asked the two deities who appeared to him which church was right,
Joseph stated, “I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all
wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all the creeds were an
abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt” (Pearl of
Great Price, p. 49). According to Joseph, God’s church had completely
vanished from the earth, and he was given exclusive Divine authority to
re-establish God’s church. According to
the final form of Joseph’s story, this authority centers in two
priesthoods. John the Baptist appeared
to him and restored the lower or Aaronic priesthood in 1829. Shortly after, the apostles Peter, James, and
John returned to earth and restored the higher Melchizedek priesthood.
The Mormon concept of the priesthood contradicts the
Bible. In the Bible, a prophet is God’s
spokesman to man. The purpose of the
priest was to offer up sacrifices to God for man. Mormon priests do not offer up sacrifices, but
only perform religious duties in the church. The Mormon priesthood contradicts
the Bible in other ways:
Wrong
Tribe – First of all, Mormons belong to the wrong tribe for
the Aaronic priesthood. Most Mormons
claim that they are descendants of the tribes of Ephraim or Manasseh. According to the Bible, in order to be in the
Aaronic priesthood, one has to be born of the tribe of Levi, specifically a
descendent of Aaron (Num. 8:18, 19; Exod. 28:1; Num. 18:1, 7).
Wrong
Time – Mormons are also in the wrong time period to claim the
Aaronic priesthood. According
to Hebrews 7:12; 8:3-13, the Aaronic priesthood was abolished at the death of
Christ.
Wrong
Title – Finally, the wrong title is used when the Melchizedek
priesthood is distorted into an office to be held by men. Hebrews chapter 7 makes it clear that only
Jesus is the high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He alone ascended into heaven and lives to
make intercession for us. In fact, one
of the requirements for being a priest after the order of Melchizedek was that
one have an unchangeable, unending, everlasting life, which
only Jesus fulfills. Hebrews
The Mormon religion not
only contradicts the Bible, but also contradicts itself in many ways. Let’s
take a look at how it does this.
Joseph Smith and the Validity of the Book of Abraham
Joseph Smith is the founder of Mormonism and
writer/translator of three of the four Mormon Scriptures. In 1835, Joseph Smith identified one of
several Egyptian papyri, known as the “Sen Sen” text, as being “the Book of Abraham.” “The Book of Abraham” is now part of The
Pearl of Great Price, one of the four “standard works, “which Mormons
consider to be the word of God. When
Egyptologists translated the piece of the papyrus from which Abraham 1:1-2:18
was derived, they found that it contained absolutely nothing concerning
Abraham. Instead it turned out to be a
pagan funerary text known as the Book of
Breathings. Professor Richard A.
Parker, Chairman of the Department of Egyptology at
“(1)
[...] this great pool of Khonsu (2) [Osiris Hor, justified], born of Taykhebyt,
a man likewise. (3) After (his) two arms are fastened to his breast, one wraps
the Book of Breathings, which is (4) with writing both inside and outside of it,
with royal linen, it being placed (at) his
left arm (5) near his heart, this having been done at his (6) wrapping
and outside of it. If this book be recited for him, then (7) he will breathe
like the souls of the gods for ever and (8) ever.” (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1968, p. 98)
From this very text, Joseph Smith translated 49 verses
in the “Book of Abraham” (1:1-2:18). These 49 verses are composed of more than 2, 000
words in English. It is obvious that the
“Sen Sen” text bears no
relation to the “Book of Abraham” and that Joseph Smith is a fraud.
Joseph Smith contradicts himself:
According to The Evening
and Morning Star, the first Mormon newspaper that contained early
revelation of Joseph Smith, Smith stated that he was commanded by the Lord that,
“...thou [Smith] shall consecrate all properties to the church [Mormon
Church]....” Thus, the early Mormon church was to be
based on a communal system. When this
system broke down, this revelation was changed and Smith settled for 10%. He
later argued against communalism calling it folly. He wrote: “I didn’t believe
the doctrine!”
Mormon prophecy contradicts itself:
Doctrine and
Covenants section 84 verses 1, 3, 4
state that the temple was to be built in Independence,
‚
According to The
History of the Church Vol. 2 p. 182, Jesus Christ should have already
returned. It states: “…the coming of the Lord, which was nigh – even 56 years
should wind up the seen.” This revelation, given in 1835, specifically dates
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ before the year 1891. Since Christ hasn’t
returned yet, Smith proves himself to be a false prophet!
ƒ Another
prophecy made by Smith in Doctrines and Covenants section 117 concerns
Oliver Granger. Smith stated: “And again, I say unto you, I remember my servant,
Oliver Granger; behold, I verily say unto him that his name shall be held in
sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord.” However, when inquiring of Mormon leaders
and elders of today, hardly anyone seems to know who Oliver Granger is, much
less having kept his name in sacred remembrance! If the Lord said that Oliver
Granger would be remembered and that his name would be held in sacred
remembrance, don’t you think that all Mormons would know who this character is?
This failed prophecy again shows that Mormonism is a hoax! A false religion
portraying itself to be another Christian denomination!!
„ Not all
of Smith’s statements took the form of a direct prophecy. Some claim to be
special information that Smith claims to have been through a divine vision from
the Lord. Such is the case as found in the personal diary of an early Mormon, Oliver
B. Huntington. He recorded Smith as saying that the “…inhabitants of the moon
are of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the earth, being about 6 ft. in
height. They dress very much like the Quaker style and are quite general in
style or the one fashion of dress. They live to be very old; coming generally
1000 years. This is the description of them given by Joseph the Seer, and he
can see whatever he asked the Father in the name of Jesus to see.” The moon
landing of American astronauts proved an embarrassment to Smith’s moon-men
vision. There is and has never been any known inhabitation of the moon.1
… Spencer
W. Kimble, former president of the Mormon church, said that “The Church and
Kingdom to which we belong will become the kingdom of our God and his Christ, and
brother Brigham Young will become the president of the United States” (Journal
of Discourses Vol. 5 p. 219). Well, as
you and I both know, “brother” Brigham never
became president of the
† There are
also contradictions within the Book of Mormon itself. In the 1st edition
of the Book of Mormon, II Nephi 11:32 read, “…yea, the Everlasting God, was
judged of the world.” At first, Smith taught the extreme unity between the
Father and the Son so that the Father was the Son and the Son was the Father.
As Smith began distinguishing the Father from the Son, the subsequent editions
of the Book of Mormon were changed to say: “…yea, the Son of the
everlasting God was judged by the world.” Since its 1st printing, some
4000 changes have been made in the Book of Mormon and are still being made
today.1
According
to
‡ According
to Mosiah 3:5, God is eternal. However Smith states
in the Teachings of Joseph Smith that “We have imagined and supposed
that God was a God from all eternity. I will refute that then and take away the
veil so you may see.”
ˆ
According to Journal
of Discourses, Vol. 1 p. 50, Brigham Young stated:
“Now hear it, O inhabitants
of the earth, Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner! When our father Adam came into
the garden of Eden, he came into it with a celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives, with him. He helped to
make and organize this world. He is Micheal,
the Archangel, the ancient of days! about whom holy
men have written and spoken – he is our father and our God, and the only God
with whom we have to do. Every man upon the earth, professing Christian or
non-professing, must hear it, and will
know it sooner or later.”
From this, we see that the
early Mormons believed that Adam was God. However, former Mormon president, Spencer
W. Kimball denounced the Adam-God doctrine as heresy. He stated:
“We warn you against the
dissemination of doctrines which are not according to the Scripture and which
are alleged to have been taught by some of the general authorities of past
generations such; for instance, is the Adam-God theory. We
denounce that theory and hope that everyone will be cautioned against this and
other kinds of false doctrines” (Church News, Oct. 9, 1976).
‰ For years,
the Mormon church taught that blacks had no right to the priesthood. In a
sermon given on Feb. 5, 1852, Brigham Young said: “…the first presidency, the
Twelve, the high Counsel, the Bishoprick, and the
elders of Israel, suppose we summon to appear here, and here declare that it’s
right to mingle our seed with the black race of Cain, that they shall come in
with us and be partakers with us of all the blessings God has given to us. On
that very day, and from the hour we should do so, the priesthood is taken from
this Church, and the kingdom God leaves us to our fate. The moment we consent
to mingle with the seed of Cain, the Church must go to destruction – we should
receive the curse which has been placed upon the seed of Cain and never more be
numbered with the children of Adam who are heirs to the priesthood until that
curse be removed.”1
Despite
Brigham Young’s grave warning that the Church would lose its authority when
they admitted blacks into the priesthood, a new
revelation was given to the world on June 9, 1978. This revelation allowed
blacks into the priesthood! Although it was morally correct to allow blacks
into the priesthood, the Mormon Church branded as false teachers its leaders
who insisted that blacks should never
be allowed into the priesthood.1
Š Another
shift in Mormon theology moved the church from monogamy to polygamy. The clear
teaching of the Book of Mormon shows that polygamy is an abomination to
God. Jacob 2:24 states: “Behold, David and Solomon had many wives and concubines, which things was abominable before me, saith the Lord.” However, by 1843 Smith had formulated his
revelation on polygamy. Doctrine and Covenants section 132:1 clearly
shows that the Mormon god had changed his mind concerning this manner. Section
132:1 states: “Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you
my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and
understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and
doctrine of their having many wives and concubines.” Here we see that the
Mormon god justified in David and Solomon what the Book of Mormon declared was
an abominable practice by them.
Conclusion: Deuteronomy 18:20-22 states: “But the prophet who shall speak a word
presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded
him to speak, or which he shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet
shall die. And you may say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the
Lord has spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord [as Joseph
Smith, Brigham Young, Spencer Kimball, and other Mormon presidents claim to
have done], if the thing does not come about or true, that is the thing which
the lord has not spoken. The
prophet has spoken presumptuously…” According to this passage of Scripture, the
leaders of the Mormon religion are false teachers and the Mormon religion is
based on false teaching. You have seen this for yourself! The God of the Bible
says that He is not a God of confusion I Cor. 14:33, as the Mormon god
apparently is. According to I Samuel 15:29, God does not lie,
as the Mormon god apparently has.
1. Mormonism: The Christian View, Personal Freedom
Outreach, 1989.