Worldview and Other Religions
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Mormonism/ The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints/LDS (not Jehovah's Witness) Joseph Smith
Mormonism Key Figure in History: Joseph Smith (1805-1844; founded on April 6, 1830) Followers: (2007) World: 13.2 million US: 5.7 million in all 50 states 1 Authority: Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and KJV Bible as far as it is translated correctly Salvation: All people have eternal life, but only the most faithful Mormons have godhood or enter the celestial kingdom. In order to obtain this ultimate step, Mormons must exercise faith in the God of Mormonism, its Christ, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; exercise repentance; and be baptized in the LDS Church. Additionally, Mormons must abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine; tithe to the church; attend weekly sacrament meetings; support the Mormon prophet; do temple works; and be active in their support of the church. 1. From 4truth.net: http://www.4truth.net/mormons/
The Beliefs of Mormonism One True Church: The Mormon church claims to be the only true church. In God's supposed revelation to Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ told him to join no other church for "they were all wrong... their creeds were an abomination... those professors [members] were all corrupt" (The Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith-History 1:19). Mormons teach that after the New Testament, all churches became heretical and no true saints existed until the "Church of the Latter-day Saints" was organized, hence their name. 1 (they reject the witness of the church after the NT, but reject the NT if not understood according to Mormonism) Biblical Response: Jesus promised to be with the church to the end of the world (Matt 28:20), that He would build the church and even the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt 16:18), and that His word would be preserved through all time (Isa 40:8; 55:11; Matt 24:35). The church must remain true to the doctrine and witness of the apostles concerning Jesus (Acts 2:42; Eph 2:20; Eph 4:11-13; Heb 1:1-2). Note: They point to our numerous denominations as proof that the one true church was lost, but LDS has several splinter groups (cf Q1 of 10 Questions and Answers on Mormonism pamphlet) 1. From 4truth.net: http://www.4truth.net/mormons/
The Beliefs of Mormonism Authority of the Prophet: The president or prophet of the Church is thought to be the sole spokesman and revelator of God. Joseph Smith was the initial prophet, but each successive president holds that position. Through him, God's will can be made known to the Church. All revelations are made scripture and no Mormon can attain godhood without accepting Joseph Smith as a true prophet. 1 Biblical Response: God provides two main tests for Israelites to determine whether a self-proclaimed prophet was legitimate. First, he must represent the true God of the Hebrews.(Deut 13:1-3). Second, they were to reject professing prophets who incorrectly foretold the future (Deut 18:20-22). They were also commanded not to add to or take away from the revelations God had given them (Deut 4:2; Prov 30:6). Joseph Smith denied the biblical view of God. He falsely predicted that a war between the States would literally become a world war. *and+ produced his own version of the Bibe in which he took out some parts and inserted others. 2 1. From 4truth.net: http://www.4truth.net/mormons/ 2. From 10 Questions and Answers on Mormonism pamphlet, Rose Publishing 2006. Q2
The Beliefs of Mormonism Mormon Scripture: The King James Version of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price. The Bible is missing "plain and precious parts" according to the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 13:26) which the other three volumes complete (Joseph Smith made over 600 "corrections" to its text). The Book of Mormon has "the fullness of the gospel" and tells the story of a supposed migration of Israelites in 600 B.C. to the American continent. These Israelites subsequently lapsed into apostasy although their story was preserved on golden plates written in Reformed Egyptian. Joseph Smith, it is said, translated the plates by the "gift and power of God" (Doctrine and Covenants 135:3). Reformed Egyptian does not exist as a language. The golden plates were returned to the angel Moroni after they were transcribed and Moroni returned them to heaven. The Book of Mormon does not contain explicit Mormon doctrine. Doctrines and Covenants contains the revelations of the Mormon prophets-138 in number along with two "declarations." Here, most of Mormon doctrine can be found including the priesthood, baptism for the dead, godhood, and polygamy. The Pearl of Great Price contains Smith's religious history, the Articles of Faith, the Book of Abraham, and the Book of Moses. 1 1. From 4truth.net: http://www.4truth.net/mormons/
Incredible Reliability of Scripture & THE Church The Preservation of Scripture The greatest amount of manuscripts of a document, next to the New Testament, is Homer s Iliad with fewer than 650 Greek manuscripts. The New Testament has more than 5000 Greek manuscripts. There are 8,000 to 10,000 Latin Vulgate manuscripts 8,000 Ethiopic, Slavic, and Armenian All together, there are a total of about 24,000 manuscripts of the New Testament There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament (F.F. Bruce) Out of those manuscripts, most differences do not significantly change meaning and none effect the testimony of Scripture that the Father God sent the Son Jesus Christ to give salvation to the world through the Spirit s regenerating work, and that there is salvation in no other way than to have faith in Jesus as the Son of God Himself (the second person of the Triune Godhead) and His finished work on the cross and resurrection. WE CAN BE CONFIDENT THAT THE SCRIPTURES WE HAVE ARE ACCURATE COPIES OF THE ORIGINALS WE CAN BE CONFIDENT THAT THE CHURCH HAS ACCURATLEY HANDED DOWN TO US THE TRUE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL FROM CHRIST & THE APOSTLES THEMSELVES
Application Beware of new ideas! When it comes to the gospel truth, the orthodox foundations of the faith, you should always be asking yourself, Does this agree with what the church has taught through the ages? Love the old. To do otherwise is to say that you know better than two millennia of faithful and intelligent followers of Christ Be thoughtful and patient when you witness to Mormons Son of God, God, etc. means something completely different to them than to us Allow for time to show the difference between Mormonism and Christianity and realize that they do not know much about their religion beyond what they are taught, but they are ready with lots of answers and strategies to convert Christians