Is the Book of Mormon Reliable?

[polonius]

One writer summarizes the Book of Mormon's creation thus:

“The Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith in March 1830. Smith claims that the prophet who last contributed to the work returned to earth as an angel and told him where to find it. This angel then helped Smith translate the work from “reformed Egyptian� characters into English. However, no such ancient language has ever existed.�

Is this credible?

[onewithhim]

[Replying to post 7 by Checkpoint]

No.

[onewithhim]

Do you think what Mormons teach and believe will result in their salvation?

To the extent that John 3:16-18 is authoritative, yes.

How so? Would you explain?



.

[Difflugia]

Do you think what Mormons teach and believe will result in their salvation?

To the extent that John 3:16-18 is authoritative, yes.

How so? Would you explain?

According to John 3:16-18, belief "in the name of the only Son of God" is both a necessary and sufficient condition of salvation.

Every Latter-day Saint that believes in her heart the words of 2 Nephi 25:20 has met the requirement:

And now, my brethren, I have spoken plainly that ye cannot err. And as the Lord God liveth that brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and gave unto Moses power that he should heal the nations after they had been bitten by the poisonous serpents, if they would cast their eyes unto the serpent which he did raise up before them, and also gave him power that he should smite the rock and the water should come forth; yea, behold I say unto you, that as these things are true, and as the Lord God liveth, there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ, of which I have spoken, whereby man can be saved.

[sleepyhead]

One writer summarizes the Book of Mormon's creation thus:

“The Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith in March 1830. Smith claims that the prophet who last contributed to the work returned to earth as an angel and told him where to find it. This angel then helped Smith translate the work from “reformed Egyptian� characters into English. However, no such ancient language has ever existed.�

Is this credible?

Hello Polonius,
I was raised Catholic and later converted to the LDS faith many years ago.
Your 1st question was in the BOM credible. Assuming your referring to the historicity of the BOM my answer is no. There are multiple reasons why the BOM can't be a true historical account which I will leave for others to expound.
Is the BOM reliable. The BOM was written by someone. It appears to me, that he had some viewpoints with regards to Christianity as practiced at the time. Some of his views made it into the BOM. The part that I found most significant were Lehi's dream, the warning against Priestcraft, and Jesus defining the gospel.

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 1 by polonius]

I dont know much about the Mormon religion and I'm not against divine revelation (it is, after all how we got much of our own scripture) but it seems to me the God of the bible does not ask us to accept everything on faith alone. He expects us to be men and women of faith and not seek confirmation of every little detail but he has condesended to give us enough physical verifiable evidence to build real faith (as opposed to credulity).

Look at Moses...he comes down from a mountain and says "I was just talking to God" the Israelites are, "Yeah sure you were..." but then YHWH (Jehovah) allowed him to perform miracles to provide the Israelites the basis to believe. That's why the Jews mocked Mohammed. He said "I too was up on a mountain and talked to God" and the Jews of the time apparently said "Fine show us some signs" Mohammed declined.

I had a discussion a while back on this site with someone challenging my faith in the Prophets of the bible, asking me what if a spirit appeared to me and said he was God or Jesus...I said I'd take them to the local cemetery wave at a tomb and say "Over to you". So if some one comes to me saying God is speaking to them (we even have someone here that claims Jesus tells her things) my response is... fine lets go to tthe nearest lake and you just walk across it. Then you can tell me what "Jesus" told you.

If there were Mormon Prophets fine, but the God of Abraham may communicate in private but his signs are for all the world to see.



JW

[polonius]

JW posted:

(quote) "...lets go to the nearest lake and you just walk across it. Then you can tell me what "Jesus" told you. "(quote)

RESPONSE: I can never understand this type of thing being a miracle. I've walked on water many times. I knew where the rocks were just like Jesus.

[Checkpoint]

[Replying to post 15 by JehovahsWitness]

If there were Mormon Prophets fine, but the God of Abraham may communicate in private but his signs are for all the world to see.

Can you please specify and/or explain what "His signs"are?

[Difflugia]

I dont know much about the Mormon religion...

If you are interested, Church History in the Fulness of Times is a textbook published by the LDS Church for its seminary. A kind missionary lent me his dog-eared paper copy thirty years ago and in my opinion, it's still the best overview of Mormon history that I've read.

The PDF link above comes from this page with a big selection of Church-published materials in various ebook and audio formats.

[onewithhim]

Do you think what Mormons teach and believe will result in their salvation?

To the extent that John 3:16-18 is authoritative, yes.

How so? Would you explain?

According to John 3:16-18, belief "in the name of the only Son of God" is both a necessary and sufficient condition of salvation.

Every Latter-day Saint that believes in her heart the words of 2 Nephi 25:20 has met the requirement:

And now, my brethren, I have spoken plainly that ye cannot err. And as the Lord God liveth that brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and gave unto Moses power that he should heal the nations after they had been bitten by the poisonous serpents, if they would cast their eyes unto the serpent which he did raise up before them, and also gave him power that he should smite the rock and the water should come forth; yea, behold I say unto you, that as these things are true, and as the Lord God liveth, there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ, of which I have spoken, whereby man can be saved.

Believing in the Son of God is a sufficient condition of salvation? The brother of Jesus begs to disagree, as does Jesus himself. The DEMONS believe! Yet they shudder.

"The demons believe and shudder..... do you care to know, O empty man, that faith without works is USELESS?" (James 2:19b,20)

The Mormons believe this and that, but their actions leave MUCH to be desired. Look behind their fluffy words about families, and peer into what they are really teaching and doing.

[onewithhim]

One writer summarizes the Book of Mormon's creation thus:

“The Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith in March 1830. Smith claims that the prophet who last contributed to the work returned to earth as an angel and told him where to find it. This angel then helped Smith translate the work from “reformed Egyptian� characters into English. However, no such ancient language has ever existed.�

Is this credible?

Hello Polonius,
I was raised Catholic and later converted to the LDS faith many years ago.
Your 1st question was in the BOM credible. Assuming your referring to the historicity of the BOM my answer is no. There are multiple reasons why the BOM can't be a true historical account which I will leave for others to expound.
Is the BOM reliable. The BOM was written by someone. It appears to me, that he had some viewpoints with regards to Christianity as practiced at the time. Some of his views made it into the BOM. The part that I found most significant were Lehi's dream, the warning against Priestcraft, and Jesus defining the gospel.

Very interesting, sleepyhead. May I ask (not sarcastically!), do you really look forward to having your own planet some day and be on the same level as the God of the Bible is now? Do you believe that YHWH the Most High of our earth, was once a man like you?