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Revision as of 14:16, 9 March 2010


Section 2
A FAIR Analysis of:
Watchman Fellowship
 		Section 4

Index of Claims in "Mormonism Overview"

Claim
The Book of Mormon claims that there is only "one God in the Godhead."

Author's source(s)

Response

  • Note that the word "Godhead" does not appear in the Book of Mormon.
  • Latter-day Saints believe in "one God." They recognize three individuals who are properly termed "God"—the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They understand this unity differently than the creeds.
  • For a detailed response, see: Nicene creed


1830 (a)

Claim
The Book of Mormon states that David and Solomon's polygamy "was an abomination to God."

Author's source(s)

Response


1830 (b)

Claim
The Church was originally founded with the name "Church of Christ."

Author's source(s)

  • David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, p. 73.

Response


1832 (a)

Claim
The earliest account of the First Vision states that Joseph was "in the 16th year of [his] age," and he does not mention seeing the Father.

Author's source(s)

  • Joseph Smith's 1832 Diary

Response


1832 (b)

Claim
Joseph gave a "false prophecy" that a temple would be built in Independence, Missouri.

Author's source(s)

Response


1833 (b)

Claim
The name of the Church was later changed to "The Church of the Latter Day Saints."

Author's source(s)

  • David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, p. 73.

Response


1834 (c)

Claim
Joseph gave a "false prophecy" that the Saints would prevail against their enemies in Independence, Missouri.

Author's source(s)

Response

  • The scripture says that the saints would "begin to prevail"—but, only if they "hearken from this very hour unto the counsel" that God gives them. The Saints' prosperity was conditionally linked to their faithfulness in heeding the word of God.


1834 (d); 1835 (a)

Claim
Oliver Cowdery reports in the Messenger and Advocate that Joseph Smith's age at the time of the First Vision was "the 15th year of our brother J. Smith Jr.'s age" and then corrects it to be "the 17th."

Author's source(s)

  • Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1834, Vol. 1, p. 42.
  • Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1835, Vol. 1, p. 76.

Response


1838 (a)

Claim
Joseph Smith receives revelation to send David Patten on a mission, but Patten is killed during a battle.

Author's source(s)

Response


1842 (a)

Claim
The Lectures on Faith describe the Father as a "personage of spirit."


Response


1842 (b)

Claim
Orson Pratt is claimed to have been excommunicated for disagreeing with Joseph Smith regarding polygamy and "Smith's sexual advances to Sarah Pratt, Orson's wife."

Author's source(s)

  • Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi, pp. 269-270.

Response


1843 (b)

Claim
The authors claim that "historical records show Joseph Smith was sexually involved with women other than his legal wife Emma" long before the 1843 revelation was written.

Author's source(s)

Response


1843 (b)

Claim
Joseph Smith denies polygamy.

Author's source(s)

  • History of the Church 6:411

Response


1844 (c)

Claim
The Nauvoo Expositor accused Joseph of "practicing polygamy and teaching polytheism."

Author's source(s)

Response

  • It is unsurprising that a hostile paper attacked Joseph's teachings. This does not mean that the attack was accurate, complete, or fair.
  • No informed historian or Latter-day Saint claims that Joseph did not teach or practice plural marriage in Nauvoo.
  • For a detailed response, see: Nauvoo Expositor


1844 (e)

Claim
The authors claim that Joseph killed two men at Carthage Jail, and that Joseph cannot be called a martyr because he fought for his life "with an illegally obtained weapon."

Author's source(s)

  • History of the Church 7:103.

Response


1845 (b)

Claim
The "Oath of Vengeance" is added to the temple ceremony.

Author's source(s)

  • Diary Journal of Abraham H. Cannon, quoted in Tanner, Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?, p. 475

Response

See also: Review of the Tanners' notoriously misleading Shadow or Reality


1851

Claim
The Book of Abraham is claimed to have become the scriptural basis for denying the priesthood to Blacks.

Author's source(s)

Response


1854 (a)

Claim
Brigham Young teaches the "Adam-God doctrine."

Author's source(s)

Response


1853

Claim
Jedediah M. Grant quotes "with approval pagan philosopher Celsus" that Jesus was persecuted because he "had so many wives."

Author's source(s)

Response


1854 (c)

Claim
Orson Hyde preaches that Jesus Christ was married and had children.

Author's source(s)

Response


1855 (a)

Claim
The authors claim that Brigham Young said that the Lord did not come during the First Vision:

The Lord did not come with the armies of heaven.... But he did send His angel to this same obscure person, Joseph Smith jun.,...and informed him that he should not join any of the religious sects of the day, for they were all wrong"

Author's source(s)

Response

  • This is a well-known heavily edited version of the quote by Brigham that originated with the Tanners. The quote has been edited in such a way as to alter its meaning.
  • For a detailed response, see: Brigham Young said the Lord didn't appear


1855 (b)

Claim
Brigham taught that "if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise you that you will be damned..."

Author's source(s)

Response


1856 (a)

Claim
Brigham Young taught "Blood Atonement."

Author's source(s)

Response


1857 (b)

Claim
The Mountain Meadows Massacre


Response


1866 (a)

Claim
Brigham Young states, "And when all the rest of the children have received their blessing in the Holy Priesthood, then that curse shall 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."

Author's source(s)

Response

See also: Protestant critics' double standard on race


1866 (b)

Claim
Brigham states, "The only men who become Gods, even the sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy."

Author's source(s)

Response


1867

Claim
Brigham states that "the God that I serve is progressing eternally..."

Author's source(s)

Response


1870

Claim
Brigham states that he believes that the Sun is inhabited.

Author's source(s)

Response


1871

Claim
Orson Pratt states that the Independence Temple will be built within the current generation.

Author's source(s)

Response


1879 (a)

Claim
John Taylor is claimed to have provided "New First Vision information," when he stated, "None of them was right, just as it was when the Prophet Joseph asked the angel which of the sects was right that he might join it. The answer was that none of them are right....the angel merely told him to join none of them that none of them were right"

Author's source(s)

Response

  • This is an amazing claim, since John Taylor talked specifically of the visit of the Father and Son during the First Vision numerous other times, including another sermon delivered the very same day! It also seem rather silly to state the John Taylor didn't understand the nature of the First Vision, since the official account of the vision had been published in the Pearl of Great Price years before this discourse.
  • For a detailed response, see: John Taylor's understanding of the First Vision


1890 (b)

Claim
Church leaders continued to practice polygamy after the Manifesto.

Author's source(s)

  • D&C Official Declaration-1

Response


1921

Claim
The Lectures on Faith are removed from the Doctrine and Covenants.

Author's source(s)

  • Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 20, No. 3, p. 71.

Response


1922

Claim
B.H. Roberts "finds several serious problems" with the archaeological and scientific content of the Book of Mormon.

Author's source(s)

  • Studies of the Book of Mormon

Response


1926

Claim
The "Oath of Vengeance" is removed from the temple ceremony.

Author's source(s)

  • Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 20, no. 4, p. 55.

Response


1945 (b)

Claim
An article in The Improvement Era states: "When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done."


Response


1945 (c)

Claim
Joseph Fielding Smith, who the authors note "would become the tenth prophet," expresses his opinion on the "Curse of Cain" as it was applied to Blacks.

Author's source(s)

  • The Way to Perfection, p. 101.

Response


1954 (b)

Claim
Mark E. Petersen states that "our performance in the pre-existence" affected what race we were born into.

Author's source(s)

  • "Race Problems - As They Affect the Church," Aug. 27, 1954, p. 4.

Response


1963 (a)

Claim
Joseph Fielding Smith "admits Mormon doctrine that Jesus was married."


Response


1966

Claim
Book of Abraham "manuscripts" are discovered.

Author's source(s)

  • Tanner, The Case Against Mormonism, Vol. 3, Preface.

Response

  • Fragments from the papyri owned by Joseph Smith were discovered. Aside from Facsimilie #1, they do not contain the text of the Book of Abraham, and the Church has never claimed otherwise.


1967

Claim
Book of Abraham "papyrus manuscripts" are turned over the the Church, after which "noted Egyptologists translate them and declare that the text if from the Book of Breathings. The authors state: "Despite this exposure as a fraud, the Book of Abraham continues to be published as scripture by the church."

Author's source(s)

  • Tanner, The Case Against Mormonism, Vol. 3, Preface.

Response


1980 (a)

Claim
The Mark Hofmann forgeries.


Response


1981 (b)

Claim
The Book of Mormon has over "4000" changes since its first publication, and the phrase "white and delightsome" is changed to "pure and delightsome."


Response


1990

Claim
The authors state that "drastic changes" were made in "secret Mormon temple rituals."


Response


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