Mormonism Introduction and Brief History

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MormonismIntroduction and Brief History

• Introduction
• The extremely aggressive evangelistic efforts of
  Mormonism have not been without success and will
  likely lead to encounters with them and those
  they are trying to proselytize. Consider the
  following statistics (according to LDS published
  information)
• Currently over 12 Million members
• Growth of between 800 and 1,000 thousand
  worldwide per day
• Current published growth rate would lead to
  around 250 million adherents within 80 years
• Over 30 billion in assets
• Mormon Church annual income of more than 6
  billion would put it in the well up in the
  Fortune500

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MormonismIntroduction and Brief History

• Mormons are generally well respected for their
  clean, honest living and strong work ethic
• Like other denominations, Mormon doctrine is
  constantly changing
• There exists an enduring doctrinal framework that
  has been and will likely continue to be at the
  core of Mormon beliefs for the foreseeable future
• These lessons will center on these fundamental
  teachings of Mormonism, what the Bible actually
  teaches regarding Mormon doctrine and how we may
  best persuade believers of this error

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MormonismIntroduction and Brief History

• Lesson Topics
• A Brief History of Mormonism
• The God of Mormonism
• Who is Jesus to Mormons?
• Mormon Scripture
• Salvation for Mormons

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MormonismIntroduction and Brief History

• A Brief History of Mormonism and Related Events
• 1805 - Joseph Smith Jr. born in 1805 in Sharon,
  Vermont
• 1820 - At age 14 he claims that while praying in
  the woods near his home, he saw a vision thick
  darkness enclosed him and two personages
  appeared. Jesus and God the Father. He learned
  from that vision that all of the churches are in
  error.
• 1823 - The angel Moroni allegedly appeared to
  Joseph Smith and told him of a book written on
  plates of gold the Book of Mormon. The angel
  then revealed to him the location of the plates
  Palmyra, New York.
• 1827- After waiting 4 years he was allowed to
  have the plates. Along with them were the Urim
  and Thummim, which he used to translate the
  reformed Egyptian writing on the plates.

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MormonismIntroduction and Brief History

• 1829 Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery
  purportedly received the Aaronic priesthood from
  John the Baptist and then baptized one another in
  the Susquehanna River near Harmony, Pennsylvania.
  About one month later, they are said to have
  received the Melchizedek priesthood from Peter,
  James and John.
• 1830 - Five-thousand copies of the Book of Mormon
  were printed. On April 6th of that year, Joseph
  and five other men organized the Church of Jesus
  Christ. Joseph declared himself a seer, prophet
  and apostle.
• 1831 - Smith moved to Kirkland, Ohio and had
  around two-thousand converts within a few months.
  Building of the first Mormon temple was started
  at Kirtland. Joseph claimed a revelation that
  Independence, Missouri was the New Jerusalem. A
  temple site was dedicated.

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MormonismIntroduction and Brief History

• 1833 The Joseph Smith Translation (JST) of the
  Bible was completed.
• 1835 Book of Commandments was revised and
  published as the Doctrine and Covenants. Twelve
  apostles and First Quorum of Seventy chosen.
  Smith purchased four Egyptian mummies and
  several scrolls of papyrus which he claimed to
  translate into the Book of Abraham (part of the
  Pearl of Great Price). The papyri were latter
  lost.
• Kirtland temple completed.
• 1837 Martin Harris (one of the three witnesses
  to the Book of Mormon) was excommunicated. One
  thousand conversions reported in England.
• 1838 - After a scouting trip to Missouri resulted
  in Smith and company being driven out at
  gunpoint, they settled back in Illinois and
  founded a city named Nauvoo. Joseph was elected
  mayor and the city of Mormons quickly grew to
  thirty-thousand. At the time it was the one of
  the largest cities in Illinois. Oliver Cowdery
  and David Whitmer (two of the three witnesses to
  the Book of Mormon) were excommunicated.

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MormonismIntroduction and Brief History

• 1840 Mormon converts from England began
  arriving in Illinois.
• 1841 Doctrine of baptism for the dead is
  introduced.
• 1843 Smith allegedly receives the revelation
  instructing plural marriage.
• 1844 - Joseph nominated for president of the
  United States. He and his Brother Hyrum were
  jailed in Carthage, Illinois for allegedly
  destroying an anti-Mormon press called the Nauvoo
  Expositor. The jail was stormed by a mob and
  Joseph and Hyrum were killed. It is generally
  accepted that Joseph was able to shoot and kill
  two of the attackers with a smuggled pistol.
  Brigham Young and Sidney Rigdon struggled for the
  leadership. Young was eventually selected in a
  vote by the membership.
• 1847 The majority of Mormons left Nauvoo with
  Brigham Young as their leader en route to Salt
  Lake City.

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MormonismIntroduction and Brief History

• 1851 The Pearl of Great Price was published.
  Brigham Young appointed as governor of the Utah
  Territory by President Fillmore.
• 1860 The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of
  Latter Day Saints set up in Amboy, Illinois with
  Joseph Smith III as the President and Prophet.
  LDS Church cited membership of 80,000.
• 1876 Brigham Young University founded.
• 1890 LDS President published a manifesto
  instructing Mormons to follow anti-polygamy laws.
• 1947 LDS reported membership reached 1 million.
• 1967 The Egyptian papyri that were the basis
  for the Book of Abraham found in the New York
  Metropolitan Museum. Egyptologists translated
  these papyri and determine that they bear no
  resemblance to the information in the Book of
  Abraham.

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MormonismIntroduction and Brief History

• 1978 Revelation received allowing black men to
  serve in the priesthood
• 1982 LDS reported membership reached 5 million
• 1997 LDS reported membership reached 10 million

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MormonismIntroduction and Brief History

• Questions For Which Mormons Claim Inspired
  Answers
• Where did God come from?
• How did Satan come to be?
• How did the American Indians get here?
• Are there differing levels of reward in Heaven
  based on people's behavior on earth?
• Is there life elsewhere in the universe?

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MormonismElohim The Exalted Man

• Introduction
• The Mormon view of God is one of the more
  radical departures from the Truth revealed in
  God's word. Most Mormons hold the following
  basic belief's regarding God
• He is not the only God
• God has a physical body
• He was once a man, but has progressed to Godhood
• He did not create the universe from nothing, but
  rather from eternally existent matter

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MormonismElohim The Exalted Man

• Plurality of Gods
• Position documented
• If we should take a million worlds like this and
  number their particles, we should find that there
  are more gods than particles of matter in those
  worlds. --Orson Pratt (Apostle), Journal of
  Discourses, Vol.2, p.345
• The Truth
• Isaiah 446,8 There is only one God.

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MormonismElohim The Exalted Man

• God Has A Physical Body
• Position documented
• That there is a God in heaven who is infinite
  and eternal who has a body of flesh and bones as
  tangible as man's, and who is in fact a
  resurrected, glorified, perfected and exalted
  Man... --Bruce McConkie (Apostle), The Mortal
  Messiah, p.21
• The Father has a body of flesh and bones as
  tangible as mans DC 13022

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MormonismElohim The Exalted Man

• God Was Once A Man
• Position documented
• It is the first principle of the Gospel to know
  for certainty the character of God, and to know
  that we may converse with him as one man
  converses with another and that He was once a man
  like us yea that God himself, the Father of us
  all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ
  himself did... Joseph Smith, Jr., Teachings of
  the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345
• Refuted
• Hosea 119 Is not a man
• Malachi 36 Does not change
• Psalms 902 He has always been God

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MormonismElohim The Exalted Man

• God Utilized Pre-existent Matter to Create the
  Earth
• Position documented
• God, the supreme Power, cannot conceivably
  originate matter he can only organize matter.
  Neither can he destroy matter he can only
  disorganize it...The doctrine that God made the
  earth or man from nothing becomes, therefore, an
  absurdity. -- John Widstoe (Apostle), A Rational
  Theology, p.12
• The pure principles of element which can never
  be destroyed they may be organized and
  reorganized, but not destroyed. They had no
  beginning, and can have no end. --Joseph Smith,
  Jr., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 350

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MormonismElohim The Exalted Man

• Refuted
• Genesis 11
• Hebrews 113
• Romans 417
• Nehemiah 96
• Romans 1136
• I Corinthians 86
• Ephesians 39
• Colossians 116
• Revelation 411
• Isaiah 4424
• Psalm 336, 9