Mormons

Argument 16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: 17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become aone in thine hand. Stick of joseph = Book of Mormon; Stick of Judah = Bible 3 Nephi 15:17 That other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. The other sheep Christ refers to are the people in the Americas and the people in Jerusalem 2 Nephi 29:7 Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? Rebuttal 1. Plural Gods vrs One God: Mormons believe in one God as their eternal father in heaven; However we are all able to become like our Father in heaven. That is our our reason for existence here on the earth Genesis 3:22 Man has become as one of us to know good and evil. 2. God is a spirit vrs God has a body: God has body of flesh and bones and a spirit when the book of Mormon says the spirit of the lord dwells in the hearts it is referring to the holy ghost which is part of the God head. 3. God dwells in the heart vrs doesn't dwell in the heart: when the book of Mormon says the spirit of the lord dwells in the hearts it is referring to the holy ghost which is part of the God head. 4. Creation: Jesus Christ, acting under the direction of the father, was and is the creator of all things ( D&C 38:1-4; 76: 22-24; John 1: 1-3; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:1-3; Moses 1; 2; 3. That he was aided by " many of the noble and great spirit children of the father is evident from Abraham's writings. 5. Didn't God command Adam and eve to multiply and replenish the earth? This would require them to break his commandment and partake of the forbidden fruit surely God had a purpose for giving two contradicting commands. We are to obey the lesser of two evils to bring about Gods purposes Mosiah 4:9 ( Man doth not comprehend all the things that God doth comprehend); The Sixth commandment God Commanded thou shalt not kill. God enabled and inspired David to kill Goliath. 6. D&C 82: 10 "I, the lord am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." Gods covenants and promises will all be fulfilled. God provides a way for the present. He gives us commandments to help us through our day here and now. That is why it is necessary to have a prophet. Amos 3:7 surely the lord god will do nothing but he revealth his secrets unto the prophets 7. preexistence of man: Man did not have a body in the preexistence. That doesn't mean we didn't exist. We were spirit sons and daughters of God. Our purpose of coming to earth was to gain a physical body. 8. Every living soul who has lived, lives, and will live will have the equal chance to hear the word of God. There is a time after death that every man who has not had the opportunity to receive the word of God will have an equal chance. 2 Nephi 2:27 9. Babtism with vrs without: Jesus Himself, though without sin, was baptized to fulfill all righteousness and to show the way for all mankind (see Matthew 3:13-17; 2 Nephi 31:5-12). Thus, baptism is essential for salvation in the kingdom of God. We learn in the New Testament that baptisms for the dead were done during the Apostle Paul's time (see 1 Corinthians 15:29). This practice has been restored with the establishment of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Prophet Joseph Smith first taught about the ordinance of baptism for the dead during a funeral sermon in August 1840. He read much of 1 Corinthians 15, including verse 29, and announced that the Lord would permit Church members to be baptized in behalf of their friends and relatives who had departed this life. He told them "the plan of salvation was calculated to save all who were willing to obey the requirements of the law of God" (Journal History of the Church, 15 Aug. 1840). - www.mormon.org 10: heaven and hell vrs kingdoms of glory: A person is destined for one of 4 places depending on what he has done or what he has believed. These are: outer darkness (for Satan, his demons, and extremely wicked people) or one of three "kingdoms" known as the telestial, terrestrial or celestial kingdoms. They are often categorized as Hell, being outer darkness and heaven being the three other glories. This parallels with Pauls mentioning of the three glories in (1 Corinthians 15: 40-42) 11. Murder Forgiven vrs not forgiven: Didn't God command Adam and eve to multiply and replenish the earth? This would require them to break his commandment and partake of the forbidden fruit surely God had a purpose for giving two contradicting commands. We are to obey the lesser of two evils to bring about Gods purposes Mosiah 4:9 ( Man doth not comprehend all the things that God doth comprehend); The Sixth commandment God Commanded thou shalt not kill. God enabled and inspired David to kill Goliath. 12. At various times, the Lord has commanded His people to practice plural marriage. For example, He gave this command to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and Solomon (Doctrine and Covenants 132:1). At other times the Lord has given other instructions. In the Book of Mormon, the Lord told the prophet Jacob "for there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife: and concubines he shall have none.. for if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things (Jacob 2:27-30). In this dispensation, the Lord commanded some of the early Saints to practice plural marriage. The Prophet Joseph Smith and those closest to him, including Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, were challenged by this command, but they obeyed it. Church leaders regulated the practice. Those entering into it had to be authorized, and the marriages had to be performed through the sealing power of the priesthood. In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff received a revelation that the leaders of the Church should cease teaching the practice of plural marriage (Official Declaration 1). 13. Adam in America vrs Adam in the new world: In the area of Eden and Adam-ondi-Ahman there were rivers and lands that recieved names that were later attatched to other lands and rivers. As to the location of Eden and its environs, see D&C 117:8-9. Gen. 2:13 Book of Mormon and the Bible The First two contradictions are invalid. The Book of Mormon is another witness that Jesus is the Christ. It is a record of the people in America. The arguments made are referring to the people at Jerusalem. It is a record of different people so dates and names are irrelevant. Jesus Christ vs Joseph Smith: When Christ left Prophets were to stand in his place to guide the church and that is exactly what is meant when a prophet is refereed to as the cornerstone Jesus born in Bethlehem vrs Jerusalem: The Book of Mormon does not claim that Jesus was born "in" jerusalem. It says that he was born "at" Jerusalem. This is important because the word "at", according to most, if not all, english dictionaries, not only means "in", but also "nearby", "within the vicinity of" and even "toward". Bethlehem is only six miles from Jerusalem, which is certainly "nearby" to someone thousands of miles away in the Americas. Certainly the Lord could have revealed the name of the town of Bethlehem, but it would not have mean