Browse >
Home / Archive by category 'Answering Your Questions'
Answering Your Questions Articles
Was the Prophet Joseph Smith a Lazy, Immoral Person?
Many people have tried to attack the character of Joseph Smith, to make him seem like a liar or a money grubbing charlatan. They think that if they discredit Joseph Smith by pointing out his flaws, then they will discredit his teachings about God and Jesus Christ. Certainly Joseph Smith was not perfect; he was a man. In the New Testament we read, “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months” (James 5:17). Joseph Smith commented on this verse referring to himself and said:
I was this morning introduced to a man from the east. After hearing my name, he remarked that I was nothing but a man, indicating by this expression, that he had supposed that a person to whom the Lord should see fit to reveal His will, must be something more than a man. He seemed to have forgotten... Read the rest of this article »
Do Mormons Worship Joseph Smith?
Because Mormons frequently discuss the Prophet Joseph Smith, some people get the false impression that they worship him. However, as can be clearly shown from the true name of the Mormon Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is the central figure of Mormon belief. For Mormons, Joseph Smith is a prophet just like Moses, Isaiah, or Paul in the Bible. Just as Protestants and Catholics quote the writings of Paul as scripture and as a source of doctrine, Mormons quote the revelations given to Joseph Smith in addition to those scriptures recorded in the Bible.
Read More →
Did Joseph Smith Make a False Prophecy About the Second Coming?
Many people, even some Mormons, believe that Joseph Smith prophesied that the Second Coming would take place around the year 1890, however, he never made any such statement. He actually said that the Second Coming would not happen before 1890, but that ultimately he did not know when it was. In 1843, America was stirred up by the claim of a man named Alexander Campbell who said that Jesus Christ would return to the earth in 1844. Many people were talking about this prophecy, including the Mormons. Joseph Smith characteristically prayed to God about it. This is what happened in his own words:
I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the following: Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man; therefore let this suffice, and trouble me no more on... Read the rest of this article »
Did Prophets End With the Old Testament Bible?
God has always called prophets since the days of Adam. When most people think of a prophet, they think of someone who tells the future, but that is only one aspect of a prophet’s mission. A prophet’s real mission is to teach and testify about Jesus Christ and to speak the words that God gives him through the Holy Ghost. A prophet is called by God to be a witness of Jesus Christ to the whole world. In Acts chapter 10:43 we read:
To him [Jesus] give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
No prophet has ever lived who did not teach about Jesus Christ. In Revelation 19:10, it says that, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Critics of Mormonism claim that prophets ended either with the Old Testament or with the Bible as a whole. It is easy to show that there were prophets after the Old Testament since Jesus... Read the rest of this article »
Does the Book of Mormon Contradict the Bible?
Critics of the Book of Mormon often try to say that it contradicts the Bible. They do this by taking one passage from the Book of Mormon out of its context and placing it next to a biblical verse and saying, “See, look, they’re different.” This sort of trickery is dishonest and, as many Mormons can testify, nowhere does the Book of Mormon contradict the Bible. Instead, it confirms and validates the meanings and doctrines of the Bible. Some biblical doctrines are examined and explained in the Book of Mormon, making them easier to comprehend.
One of the most common claims is that the Book of Mormon contradicts the Bible by teaching that Jesus was born in Jerusalem, not Bethlehem. However, these critics do not quote that verse in its full context. The passage reads:
For behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth. And behold, he shall be born... Read the rest of this article »
Did the Three Witnesses deny their testimonies about the Book of Mormon?
In the introduction to the Book of Mormon there is section entitled “The Testimony of the Three Witnesses” This testimony was given by three men–David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris–each of whom saw the plates from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. According to their account, they gathered with Joseph Smith to pray in the woods and while praying an angel appeared to them and showed them the plates and other artifacts.
Over the next several years, these three witnesses faced many challenges and left the Mormon Church. Two, Harris and Cowdery, later returned, humbly repenting of their mistakes and pride which had led them out of the Mormon Church. Whitmer never rejoined the Mormon Church, but he never denied his testimony. Instead, he claimed that everyone else in the Church had gone wrong, but that the Book of Mormon and his testimony... Read the rest of this article »
Does the Book of Abraham Prove that Joseph Smith was a False Prophet?
In 1835, Joseph Smith and members of the Mormon Church in Kirtland, Ohio, purchased some papyrus scrolls and mummies from a traveling showman named Michael Chandler. Joseph Smith had realized that some of the scrolls, but not all, contained writings by the ancient biblical prophet Abraham. Over the next few years, whenever he had free time, Joseph Smith translated portions of the text and eventually published it as the Book of Abraham in 1842. When the Mormons were expelled from Illinois in 1846 after Joseph Smith’s murder, the mummies and papyrus remained behind and were eventually lost. This book has become very controversial among critics of the Mormon Church who claim that the Book of Abraham could not have come from those papyri as Joseph Smith claimed.
In the 1960s a few fragments of the original papyri were found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and... Read the rest of this article »
Why Do We Need the Book of Mormon?
Some people wonder why we need the Book of Mormon if we already have the Bible. The Bible, they say, is the complete word of God. However, the Bible never claims to be complete, and even today different churches use different Bibles. The Catholic version of the Bible includes 14 books not found in the Protestant Bible, and Eastern Christian Churches have books not found in any Western Bible.
The Book of Mormon helps us more fully understand God’s teachings about Jesus Christ and about salvation through Him. The title page of the Book of Mormon proclaims that its aim is to
“Show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers.”
“[T]hat they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever.”
“And also to the convincing of the Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.”
The... Read the rest of this article »
Did the Mormon Church Change the Book of Mormon?
Anti-Mormon critics and others assert that the Mormon Church has made over 4,000 changes to the Book of Mormon. They claim that if the Book of Mormon was true and “the most correct book” as Joseph Smith described it, then it could not be changed, and since (as they claim) there have been changes, it is not true.
There are two arguments here. The first is that there have been changes to the Book of Mormon and second, that changes to the Book of Mormon would prove that it was false. Neither of these arguments is valid. It is true that there are differences among the printed versions of the Book of Mormon, but the number 4,000 is misleading. Most of the changes were made by Joseph Smith himself and were changes for clarification in meaning and style or correction of grammatical and spelling errors that crept into the published manuscript. Joseph Smith never claimed that the text was perfect. ... Read the rest of this article »
Why All the Secrecy About the Mormon Temple? Didn’t Jesus Tell His
Disciples to Preach All His Teachings Openly?
Critics of Mormonism and of Mormon temples in particular like to claim that Mormons have secret teachings that they do not share with new members or others investigating the Mormon Church. They claim that Mormons have secret, unchristian temple rituals. All of these attacks are unfounded. Mormons believe that temple ceremonies are sacred, and just as God commanded the ancient Israelites in the Bible to build a temple for special ceremonies and rituals, so today God has commanded His people to build temples. However, no doctrine is taught in the temple which is not taught publicly, only some of the ordinances and covenants of the temple are kept private to guard their sacred nature.
There were times when Jesus commanded his disciples to keep certain things to themselves. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and... Read the rest of this article »
