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Claim
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Response
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Author's sources
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179
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- Author's quote: [I]n keeping with the acceleration of cult propoganda [check spelling] everywhere, the Mormons have around 50,000 "missionaries" active today
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180
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- The book claims that Latter-day Saints are cautioned against the use of "caffeine-bearing drinks, such as Coca-Cola."
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181
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- Tithing is claimed to be one-tenth of gross income.
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181, n3
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- Utah "shows that rates of divorce, child abuse, teenage pregnancy, and suicide are above the national average and climbing."
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182
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- Author's quote: Mormons…flourish a pseudo-mastery of Scripture before the uninformed Christian's dazzled eyes and confuse him, sometimes beyond description.
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182
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- The book refers to the "young and boastful Joseph Smith…"
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182
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- It is claimed that Joseph Smith's statement that "no man knows my history" resulted in "endless suspicion by Mormon historians and non-Mormons" who began researching it.
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- This claim is absurd. The history of the Church has been of intense interest to historians since the Church was formed.
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182
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- Joseph Smith practiced "occult peep-stone seeking."
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182
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- Joseph Smith practices "treasure digging."
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182
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- Joseph Smith committed "adultery before the polygamy prophecy."
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182
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- Joseph Smith proclaimed that the Book of Mormon "is the most correct of any book on earth."
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182
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- Joseph Smith said "I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam…"
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- History of the Church, 6:408-409
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183
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- According to D. Michael Quinn, Joseph Smith Sr. was a "mystic" and a treasure digger.
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183
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- Joseph Smith Jr. was "interested in treasure seeking even after he became president of the LDS Church.
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183
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- D. Michael Quinn was excommunicated "after refusing to keep silent about his unflattering research."
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184
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- Brigham Young wanted to suppress Lucy Mack Smith's history because it had "many mistakes."
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- Millennial Star, 17:297-298, personal letter dated January 31, 1885.
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184
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- Author's quote: It is interesting to observe that Smith could not have been too much moved by the heavenly vision, for he shortly took up once again the habit of digging for treasure along with his father and brother, who were determined to unearth treasure by means of 'peep stones,' 'divining rods,' or just plain digging.
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184
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- Joseph is claimed to have gone "on record as denying that he had ever been a money-digger."
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- Joseph Smith, History, 1:55
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184
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- Joseph "took part in and personally supervised numerous treasure-digging expeditions" and "claimed supernatural powers."
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- The claim relies upon a hostile source Gleanings by the Way (1842) , written by the Rev. John A. Clark. There are no sources provided for Clark's statements, although it is likely that he relies upon the Hurlbut affidavits:
"...Jo Smith, who has since been the chief prophet of the Mormons, and was one of the most prominent ostensible actors in the first scenes of this drama, belonged to a very shiftless family near Palmyra. They lived a sort of vagrant life, and were principally known as money-diggers. Jo from a boy appeared dull and utterly destitute of genius; but his father claimed for him a sort of second sight, a power to look into the depths of the earth, and discover where its precious treasures were hid. Consequently long before the idea of a GOLDEN BIBLE entered their minds, in their excursions for money-digging, which I believe usually occurred at night, that they might conceal from others the knowledge of the place where they struck upon treasures, Jo used to be usually their guide, putting into a hat a peculiar stone he had through which he looked to decide where they should begin to dig.
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- Rev. John A. Clark, Gleanings by the Way, (Philadelphia: W.J. and J.K. Simon; New York: Robert Carter, 1842), 225 off-site
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184
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- A hearing 1826 ruled that Joseph was "guilty of money-digging."
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186
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- The angel Moroni was originally identified as Nephi.
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- 1851 edition of the Pearl of Great Price.
- Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism—Shadow or Reality?, 5th edition, (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1987), 136.
- Times and Seasons, vol. 3, 753
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186
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- Author's quote: This unfortunate crossing up of the divine communication system was later remedied by thoughful [check spelling] Mormon scribes who have exercised great care to ferret out all the historical and factual blunders not readily explainable in the writings of Smith...
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187, n10
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- "Reformed Egyptian" has never been seen by any "leading Egyptologist.
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188
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- The book claims that Sidney Rigdon "virtually challenged the whole state to do pitched battle with the 'Saints'" and as a result they were "subsequently persecuted and expelled."
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- Partially true. Sidney did indeed make an inflammatory speech. This did not, however, initiate persecution against the Latter-day Saints. Sidney's speech was prompted by the persecution that the Saints had experienced so far, including his own tar and feather experience and the expulsion of the Saints from Independence, Missouri.
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189
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- Author's quote: [I]n Kirtland, Nauvoo, Jackson County, etc., the Mormons had a chance to win converts to Smith's religion because they were strangers and the character of the prophet was unknown in those areas.
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189-190
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- It is claimed that Eber D. Howe "did tremendous research during Joseph's lifetime" on Joseph's character, and that Joseph "never dared to answer Howe's charges."
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190
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- Latter-day Saints "pretend" that Howe's work was the result of a "revengeful vendetta of one Dr. Philastus Hurlbut." The "fact" that stories published by Howe were "publicly circulated previous to Hurlbut's excommunication" is claimed to be "incontestable."
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190
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- It is claimed that there are "no contemporary pro-Mormon statements from reliable and informed sources who knew the Smith family and Joseph intimately."
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190
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- John C. Bennett, one of Josephs "former assistants" is claimed to have "boldly exposed the practice of polygamy in Nauvoo."
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191
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- Author's quote: "Each succeeding president of the Mormon Church claims...an infallible prophetic succession."
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191-192
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- Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows massacre.
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193
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- Author's quote: [T]he god of Mormonism elevates "white" races as supreme and has demeaned African-Americans and Native Americans as "unrighteous."
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193
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- The Book of Mormon describes the "Native-American" curse as a "skin of blackness."
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194
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- Editions of the Book of Mormon printed after 1981 changed the word "white" to "pure" in order to "delete" "racist overtones."
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194
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- Brigham Young made degrading comments about race in the Journal of Discourses.
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194
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- The Urim and Thummim were "supernatural spectacles."
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- The Urim and Thummim were never described in the Bible, nor in Church history as being "supernatural."
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194
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- The first edition of the Book of Mormon listed Joseph Smith as "author and proprietor."
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- It should also be noted that the following page in the 1830 Book of Mormon describes how Joseph translated the plates, and clearly states that he is a "translator."
- Joseph Smith and Book of Mormon copyright
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195
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- Author's quote: The conflicting methods Smith used for translating the Book of Mormon leaves little doubt that the story changed often through its progressive history.
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- The author wishes to contrast the story of the translation using the Urim and Thummim with the use of a seer stone placed in a hat. In reality, both methods are believed to have been employed and the timeline documenting their use is consistent.
- Book of Mormon translation method
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- David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 12.
- Deseret News Church Section, September 20, 1969, 32.
- Emma Smith, The Saint's Herald, 310.
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197
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- Charles Anthon claimed that he never told Martin Harris that the translation of the characters from the gold plates was correct.
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- Letter from Charles Anthon to E.D. Howe, Feb. 17, 1834.
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199
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- Nobody has found "the slightest trace" of a language known as "reformed Egyptian."
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200
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- The book claims that archaeological evidence refutes the Book of Mormon.
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200
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- The Smithsonian Institution has refuted Book of Mormon archaeological claims.
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201
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- The author states that "elephants never existed on this continent."
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- Actually, Mastodons and Mammoths did exist on the American continent. The question is whether or not they existed into the Jaredite timeframe before they were hunted to extinction in the Americas. Note the the only mention of elephants in the Book of Mormon relates to the earlier Jaredite civilization.
- Book of Mormon anachronisms/Animals
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201
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- The book claims that the metals described in the Book of Mormon "have never been found in any of the areas of contemporary civilizations of the New World."
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201
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- BYU professor Thomas Stuart Ferguson called Book of Mormon geography "fictional."
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- Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Ferguson's Manuscript Unveiled, 1988.
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202
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- "Mormon theology" claims that Native Americans are "descendants of the Lamanites" and that they are "of the Semitic race."
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- W.C. Boyd, The Contributions of Genetics to Anthropology.
- Bentley Glass.
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202
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- Author's quote: Now, if the Lamanites, as the Book of Mormon claims, were the descendants of Nephi, who was a Jew of the Mediterranean Caucasoid type...
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- The statement is incorrect. The Book of Mormon does not claim that the Lamanites were the descendants of Nephi." Also not considered are the Mulekites, the Jaredites, and the likely presence of people on the continent before Lehi's arrival.
- Amerindians as Lamanites
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202-203
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- The Book of Mormon was "corrected" without "consulting the missing golden plates."
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203
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- The name "Benjamin" was changed to "Mosiah" in Mosiah ꞉21.
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203
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- The Book of Mormon plagiarizes the King James Bible.
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204
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- Martin Harris is claimed to said that he saw the plates with his "spiritual eyes" rather than his "naked eyes."
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- Recollections of John H. Gilbert, 1892, Typescript, BYU, 5-6.
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204
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- Author's quote: The Mormons are loath to admit that all three of these witnesses later apostatized from the Mormon faith and were described in the most unflattering terms ("counterfeiters, thieves, [and] liars") by their Mormon contemporaries.
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- The author's claim is false. The fact that the witnesses left the Church is actually taught in Church. The fact that none of them ever denied their testimony that they saw the angel and the plates, despite the fact that they all disagreed with Joseph Smith later in their lives when they could have "exposed the fraud" so to speak, makes their testimony even more powerful. New documents, such as the recently discovered William McLellin notebook, continue to provide proof that the witnesses never denied their testimony of the Book of Mormon.
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204
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- The book claims that Joseph Smith "wrote prophecies and articles against the character of the witnesses," and that this makes their testimony "suspect."
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- DC 3꞉12
- Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 3:228. Volume 3 link
- Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 3:232. Volume 3 link
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204
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- Oliver Cowdery is claimed to have denied his testimony in the Times and Seasons.
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- The source is a poem by Eliza Snow, the first part of which reads:
Amazed with wonder! I look round Or prove that Christ was not the Lord
To see most people of our day, Because Peter cursed and swore?
Reject the glorious gospel sound, Or Book of Mormon not his word
Because the simple turn away. Because denied, by Oliver?
Or does it prove there is no time, Or prove, that Joseph Smith is false
Because some watches will not go? Because apostates say tis so?
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- Times and Seasons, 2:482.
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204
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- Martin Harris is claimed to have "denied the teaching of Brigham Young" after he was rebaptized.
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204
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- David Whitmer is claimed to have said that "it was a vision and not an actual visitation by an angelic person."
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- David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, p. 32.
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204-205
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- The Book of Mormon contains passages from the King James Bible.
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205
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- Some of Christ's words in 3 Nephi are a paraphase of a sermon made by Peter, before Peter had made it. According to the author, 3 Nephi "makes Christ out to be a liar" because Christ "attributes Peter's words to Moses as a direct quotation," while Peter was actually paraphrasing Moses.
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205
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- The Book of Mormon is said to "follow an error" in the King James Bible in Isaiah 4꞉5 (2 Nephi 14꞉5). The phrase "For upon all the glory shall be a defense" should actually be "For over all the gloary there will be a canopy."
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205
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- The Jaredites are claimed to have "enjoyed glass windows" in their barges.
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205
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- The Book of Mormon mentions "steel" and a "compass."
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205
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- Laban uses a steel sword and Nephi had a steel bow.
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205-206
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- The Jaredites had steel swords, but "steel" in the Bible is actually bronze or iron.
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206
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- Interpreting "steel" as "bronze" undermines the claim that the Book of Mormon was translated correctly.
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- William Hamblin, "Handheld Weapons in the Book of Mormon" 1985, FARMS.
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206
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- The compass was not yet invented. "Mormons" are claimed to defend this by using Acts 28:13, which is correctly rendered as "circle" instead of "compass".
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206
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- The Bible says that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, but the Book of Mormon says that he would be born "at Jerusalem."
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206
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- The Bible is claimed to contradict the Book of Mormon teaching that children cannot sin under eight years of age.
- The Bible is claimed to place sin at the point of conception.
- Author's quote: Anyone who thinks that children under age eight cannot sin has not visited the classrooms of today's schools.
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207
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- The Book of Mormon and D&C are claimed to contradict one another. According to the author, the Book of Mormon states that ""remission of sins is the accomplishment of baptism,"" while the D&C states ""the direct opposite,"" by claiming that remission of sins occurs before baptism.
- The author claims that "Mormon theologians conspicuously omit any serious discussion of the contradiction."
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207
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- The author claims that the Book of Mormon condemns polygamy, and that this contradicts the D&C.
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207
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- The Book of Moses and Book of Abraham are claimed to be in conflict with one another. The Book of Moses talks of one God creating the earth, while the Book of Abraham talks of more than one god creating the earth.
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207
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- Joseph Smith's "Civil War Prophecy" is claimed to have been "drawn chiefly from material already published at the time."
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- Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 1:301. Volume 1 link
- Boston Daily Advertiser & Patriot, December 10, 1832.
- D&C 87
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208
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- Joseph "prophesied that he would possess the house he built at Nauvoo 'for ever and ever,'" yet the Nauvoo House was never completed.
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- DC 124꞉22-23
- DC 124꞉59
- Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 1:160. Volume 1 link
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208
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- It is claimed regarding Joseph's prophecy concerning the restoration of Israel that he expected it to occur within his lifetime, when in reality the prophecy in Ezekiel 37 "began to be fulfilled in 1948, more than a hundred years after Smith's death."
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- The statement from Joseph occurred around 1832 (see History of the Church, 4:375. Volume 4 link where Hyde dates this to ""about nine years"" before 1841).
- The author's grasp of Zionism and Israeli history is poor. European Jews began immigrating in large numbers to Palestine in 1882, and immigration was already increasing from the 1840s-1880s. The ""gathering of the Jews"" began well before the establishment of the state of Israel, as the author appears to believe (see [here]).
- The author does not believe that a dedication by Hyde has any effect, but he cannot prove that it did not, just as those with faith cannot prove that it did.
- This claim is also made in One Nation Under Gods: p. 463, 617n18
- Ezekiel 37
- No source provided for Joseph Smith's prophecy of the restoration of Israel.
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208
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- The author claims that "numerous students of Mormonism" such as E.D. Howe, Pomeroy Tucker and William A. Linn believe that the Book of Mormon was based upon the writings of Solomon Spalding. Spalding is claimed to have "written a number of 'romances' with biblical backgrounds similar to those of the Book of Mormon."
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209
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- It is claimed that the "theological portions" of the Book of Mormon were added to Spalding's writings by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon.
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210
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- Author's quote: It is fairly well established historically, then, that the Mormons have attempted to use a manuscript that is admittedly not the one from which Smith later copied and amplified the text of what is now known as the Book of Mormon…
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- This is an Absurd claim. It is easy for critics to postulate the existence of a second manuscript which cannot be produced.
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210, n15-16
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- It is claimed that the Spalding Manuscript "Manuscript Story" contains at least 75 similarities to the Book of Mormon.
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211
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- The author claims that Deuteronomy 13:1-10 "perfectly" describes Joseph Smith.
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211
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- The Bible prohibits adding to the Word of God, and "[i]t does no good for the Mormon to argue that Revelation 22:18-20 only pertains to the book of Revelation," since in 1981 the Joseph Smith Translation modified it.
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212
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- Joseph is claimed to have "declared theological war on Christianity" by branding "all Christian sects as 'all wrong'."
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212
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- The book claims that the LDS brought persecution upon themselves and that they were the "initial antagonists."
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213, n20
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- It is claimed that Blacks were denied the priesthood because they were "under a curse for their lack of valiance in their premortal existence."
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214
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- According to Hebrews 7, Jesus Christ changed the priesthood and eliminated the need for the Aaronic Priesthood.
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215, n21
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- Jesus' priesthood is said to be "untransferable." The LDS claim that Melchizeded conferred his priesthood on Abraham "finds no support in scripture."
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216
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- The priesthood is the "priesthood of all believers."
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216-217
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- LDS look forward to "communication with the dead."
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- The "Mormon author" Joseph Heinerman also appears in the anti-Mormon film The God Makers
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217
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- The author claims that Latter-day Saints show a "denial of the true deity of Jesus Christ."
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218
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- Author's quote: [A]ll church theologians from the earliest days of church history have affirmed that Christianity is monotheistic in the strictest sense of the term.
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219
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- "God is spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth"
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219-220
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- LDS "misuse" John 10:34, which claims "Ye are gods" to "falsely" imply that Jesus "endorsed godhood for man." The author claims that this does not agree with the context of John 10:24-36
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220-221
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- Adam-God doctrine taught by Brigham Young
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221-222
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222
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- The book claims that Latter-day Saints "attempt to veil their evil doctrine in semi-orthodox terminology."
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222
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- "Mormon doctrine" is that "God the Father is a mere man…"
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- The author's claim is false LDS do not consider the Father "a mere man."
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223
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- The author equates the word "spirit" with "immaterial nature."
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223
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- Author's quote: Mormons indeed have sworn allegiance to a polytheistic pantheon of gods…
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224
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- The "Mormon teaching" that God was seen "face to face" in the Old Testament has been "refuted" through language and comparative textual analysis. God said that that no man could see His face and live (Exodus 33꞉20
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225
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- Biblical scriptures describing God's body parts are claimed to be metaphorical. Why then does God not have feathers or wings, as described in the Bible?
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227
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- The author claims that it is a contradiction that D&C 20:37 states that baptism follows repentence while 3 Nephi 12:22 and Moroni 8:11 states that repentence follows baptism.
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227
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- The Holy Ghost is referred to as "it."
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- Charles Penrose, Mormon Doctrine (1888).
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228
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- The book claims that for LDS, God is not "incomprehensible."
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229
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- Brigham Young said that Jesus was not begotten by the Holy Ghost.
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229
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- "Mormon theology" is claimed to teach that "polytheism is the divine order" and that these gods are "polygamous."
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- Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, 23.
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229-230
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- LDS are claimed to teach that Jesus was conceived "by actual sexual relations" with Mary.
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231
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- Brigham Young is claimed to have denyed the virgin birth. The author refers to Adam-God as "Brigham Young's doctrine of the virgin Birth."
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232
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- It is claimed that "no General Authority has ever contradicted" Brigham Young's teachings on Adam-God.
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233
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- Brigham said that "keeping the commandments of God will cleanse away the stain of sin." According to the author, "Apparently Brigham was ignorant of the biblical pronouncement that 'without the shedding of blood there is no remission [of sin]"
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- This is an absurd claim. The author is implying that Brigham Young did not understand the need for Christ's atonement.
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234
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- LDS believe that Adam and Eve "were foreordained to sin" and that the Fall of Adam was necessary.
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235
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- The author states that Joseph Smith said that the Garden of Eden was located in Missouri rather than Mesopotamia.
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235
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- The Book of Moses is claimed to state that Cain was the "progenitor of the Negro race" and that his "black skin" was the result of a curse by God.
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235
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- LDS are claimed to believe that blacks were "less than valiant" in the "war in heaven."
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235
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- The Indians "have allegedly been cursed by the Mormon deity with dark skins."
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235
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- Author's quote: Mormonism, then, is clearly a religion with a shameful history of white supremacist doctrines and practices.
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236
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- According to Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ was "the spirit brother of the devil."
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236
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- LDS are claimed to believe that Jesus Christ was married to Mary, Martha and "the other Mary" at Cana.
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236
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- Brigham Young taught that the shedding of Christ's blood was not sufficient to cleanse all sins.
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243
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- The author claims that Latter-day Saints believe in "infallible prophets."
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