What's the Deal With Mormons, Anyway?

    My goal with this article is not to insult Mormonism, but to show why I would never believe it, and why maybe - just maybe - Christianity is preferable.

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    Are Mormons Christians? They say they are! So why shouldn't they be? They believe in Jesus, and that he  is the son of God, and that he died for our sins...and that he came to North America after he was resurrected? What? 

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It looked exactly like this.

    Mormons are people. Usually, they are wonderful people. They are kind, loving, and according to their commercials, they do many things that other humans do like art and ride bikes to work and tell jokes. One of my very favorite musicians of all time is a Mormon. The United States almost had a Mormon President! 

    The one thing that I've yet to hear a Mormon admit in any one of their public appearances or commercials is that they are aware of and accept the many contradictions between their core beliefs and history. 

     The New Testament is the most historically reliable collection of ancient texts that exists. It contains hundreds, possibly thousands verified eyewitness accounts of the events it describes. It is all written by either first or second generation storytellers and shows no evidence of legendary development, and because it is written so early, it is nearly inconceivable that any legendary development could have occurred. It contains numerous references to historically known people and places, and there are numerous other ancient works which confirm the existence of the people and places within (there are just as many secular ancient authors who reference Jesus as there are secular ancient authors who mention Tiberius Caesar, the Roman Emperor at the time of Jesus).

    Also, we have thousands of fragments that add up to many whole New Testaments that date back to within a few hundred years of the original manuscripts. These fragments come from multiple places across the Middle East (one of the earliest writings was found in Egypt). They have all been copied with immense precision, with almost no errors to be found anywhere, including things like spelling and punctuation. This is very important, because we know the Bible exists.

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    The Book of Mormon is said to have been translated from Revised Egyptian (a language that shows no evidence of having ever existed) by one man, Joseph Smith. He is said to have found it on some golden plates in a hill near his home in New York after being led to them by the angel Moroni (who took them back to heaven with him when Joseph was done translating, because of course he did). There were exactly 11 witnesses that said that the plates existed, the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses (all of the first three took back their affirmation during Joseph's lifetime, although two did claim to go back to Mormonism before they died). There are no outside sources, or archaeological evidence, to confirm any of the people or places in the Book of Mormon that are not from the Bible. 

    Not to mention the numerous and somewhat massive incongruities between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The style of writing is much more similar to Renaissance or even 18th/19th century literature. It references animals and technologies that did not exist in America at the time. Even though most in the LDS church would view the Book of Mormon as a history of the Native Americans, all genetic evidence points to most Native American peoples having originated somewhere in Russia, not the Middle East. 

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But look at how nice and well dressed he is! Surely he speaks truth!

    I've tried to read the Book of Mormon multiple times, and it always give me a headache. Literally. I actually get headaches from reading it. It's like a bad fan fiction of the Bible! Everything is kinda similar, but it's written so horribly that it is clear to me that God would not let it be his representation of Himself to humanity.

    I don't believe the Bible because I'm a Christian; I'm a Christian because I believe the Bible. That's the key difference between blindly following and intrinsically understanding. If anyone can show me a way to reconcile the incongruities between the two texts, then give me a reason to believe that the Book of Mormon is necessary as apposed to just believing the Bible, and show me historical evidence for the narrative told in the Book of Mormon, then they will be the person who has a chance of converting me to their religion. 

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And they won't get to me through this guy.

    And yes, Mormonism IS a different religion. There is no getting around that. Mormonism has many doctrinal differences that set it apart, such as...

    - They reject the Holy Trinity; God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are three separate "spirit beings" who are "one in purpose".

    

    - They believe we were all once "spirit beings", and that when we die we go to the spirit world until the Resurrection, where we will be reunited with our bodies.

    - They believe that all receive a second chance after death, during a period of  "learning and preparation", and that even most people do not go to Hell forever, but only for a short time.

    - They believe in Baptism of the dead (some 300,000 Holocaust victims were baptized into Mormonism before a public outcry from the Jewish community put a stop to it).

    - They deny original sin.

    - They believe God has a physical body, as do all spirit beings.

    ...and many more. Put quite simply, Mormonism is an offshoot of Christianity, much in the same way Christianity was an offshoot of Judaism. However, one main difference in the way they spread is that Christianity spread because of persecution, and Mormonism fled because of persecution. 

    The early Mormons removed themselves from society, and when Joseph Smith was killed by a militia in Illinois, the small group of believers elected Brigham Young as their leader, and he led them to Utah, where they grew on their own for some time before moving out and preaching their gospel.

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Also, this. 

    The early Christians boldly preached to anyone and everyone who would listen, and even though they were killed by the hundreds, their numbers increased exponentially. Thousands were killed or tortured for their faith just today, yet Christianity is spreading fastest in countries where it is dangerous to be a Christian. 

    I'm not intending to make Mormons sound cowardly, I'm simply making a comparison. And you have to wonder: Why would Christianity spread in the face of persecution, unless it was true? 

    No one will die for a lie that he knows to be a lie. Joseph Smith died jumping out of a window, trying to escape his murderers. If he was so sure of his destiny, as the Christian martyrs were and are, then why not face his assailants with pride and hope?

    Yes, there are many LDS martyrs of recent years. There are also thousands of radical Muslim martyrs of late as well. While no one will die for a lie that he knows is a lie, one might die for a lie he believes to be the truth. This is the crucial difference. Just because some religion has martyrs doesn't mean it's true; it just means that they were made to believe it.

    Obviously, a bunch of people think Mormonism is true. There are nearly 15 million Mormons in the world today, and that number is quickly growing. How are they converting so many, if there are this many things apparently wrong with the belief? 

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Possibly through their nefarious Mormon cookies.

    I'll tell you how: Miscommunication. Many Mormons think they are Christian because they don't know about these things. They become Mormons because they are looking for hope and a knowledge of the nature of God, and some Mormon missionary just gives them the bare bones of their beliefs. 

    The missionary probably doesn't even mention all the weirder stuff like the temple undergarments or the idea that we're all spirits but don't remember it (because that sounds really similar to Scientology). Essentially, they preach them the Christian Gospel, which is a large part of what Mormon beliefs are based off of. As soon as they decide they want to be Mormon, they are repeatedly told that they are actually Christians, but that other Christians don't think that they're Christians, and that counts as persecution, which is a good thing. 

    Or something.

    Honestly, I'm not sure. That's just my theory. All I do know is that if Mormonism were more believable than Christianity, I'd be a Mormon. I'd say the same about Islam. Or Atheism. Or any other religion. I am a Christian because of evidence and logic.

    In my opinion, Mormonism has neither of those things.

I really love this video. And it's relevant (if not somewhat offensive).