The importance of the Mormon “Testimony” cannot be overstated. It is the Mormon’s last bastion of safety in any discussion. The most common response a Mormon will give to an attack on his faith by an appeal to the facts is his testimony. Of course this does not make the facts go away but it does make him feel virtuous for having a testimony in the face of the facts, and removes the expediency of having to face those facts. It is almost as though he is saying, “I don’t care what is written, or what reason makes of it; I have a testimony.” Facts only interest the Mormon so long as they serve him. When they cease to serve they are ignored in favour of feelings. “It must be true, I have a testimony.”
A Mormon testimony is the ultimate delusion and a denial of reality. This chapter is about those facts, that reality that Mormons so often testify away as though of no importance. However, they are important because they show the real confusion and the plethora of contradictions that is Mormonism. The emphasis is added in the following quotes to highlight the differences.
GOD – One or One of Many?
The Bible
You are my witnesses. Is there any God beside me? No, there is no other Rock. I know not one. (Isaiah 44:8)
The Book of Mormon
And Zeezrom said unto him: Thou sayest there is a true and living God? And Amulek said: Yea, there is a true and living God. Now Zeexrom said: Is there more than one God? And he answered, No. (Alma 11:26-29)
The Pearl of Great Price
…I am the Lord God Almighty,… There is no God beside me… (Moses 1:3-6)
And I, God said: Let there be light; and there was light. And I, God saw the light; and that light was good. And I, God divided the light from the darkness. (Moses 2:3-4)
And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light. And they (the Gods) comprehended the light, for it was bright; and they divided the light from the darkness. (Abraham 4:3-4)
The Doctrine and Covenants
…Then shall they be gods, because they have all power,…they have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels but are gods. (Section 132:20,37)
GOD – A Spirit?
Bible
God is spirit,… (John 4:24)
Book of Mormon
And the king said: Is God that Great Spirit that brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem? And Aaron said unto him: Yea, he is that Great Spirit,… (Alma 22:9-10) €À
The Doctrine and Covenants
The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s;… (Section 130:22)
GOD – Dwells in hearts?
Book of Mormon
…the Lord hath said he dwelleth not in unholy temples, but in the hearts of the righteous doth he dwell;… (Alma 34:36)
Doctrine and Covenants
…the idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false. (Section 130:3)
GOD – Cannot Lie?
The Bible
He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie… (1 Samuel 15:29)
The Book of Mormon
…Yea Lord, I know that…thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie. (Ether 3:12)
Wo unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to hell. (2Nephi 9:34)
The Pearl of Great Price
…the Lord said unto me: Behold, Sarai, thy wife, is a very fair woman to look upon; Let her say unto the Egyptians, she is thy sister, and thy soul shall live. (Abraham 2:22,24)
GOD – Decrees unalterable?
The Bible
He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; (1 Samuel 15:29)
The Book of Mormon
Now the decrees of God are unalterable… (Alma 41:8)
The Doctrine and Covenants
Wherefore I, the Lord, command and revoke, as it seemeth me good;…Wherefore, I revoke the commandment … and give a new commandment. (Section 56:4-5)
GOD – Unchangeable?
The Bible
I the Lord do not change. (Malachi 3:6)
The Book of Mormon
For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity. (Moroni 8:18)
Joseph Smith
…for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see. (Teachings of to Prophet Joseph Smith,p.345)
JESUS – Born of the Spirit?
The Bible
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary… was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit… …an angel of the Lord appeared to him [Joseph] in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18-20)
The Book of Mormon
…she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God. (Alma 7:10)
Brigham Young
Now remember from this time forth, and forever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. (Journal of Discourses,vol.1,p.51)
MAN – Made Of the Dust?
The Bible
…the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground… (Genesis 2:7)
The Book of Mormon
…the Lord God sent our first parents forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground, from whence they were taken… (Alma 42:2)
The Doctrine and Covenants
We are to understand that God…formed man out of the dust of the earth… (Section 77:12)
The Pearl of Great Price
And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground… (Moses 3:7)
Brigham Young
You believe Adam was made of the dust of this earth. This I do not believe, though it is supposed that it is written in the Bible; but it is not, to my understanding…I do not believe that portion of the Bible as the Christian world do. (Journal of Discourses, vol.2,p.6)
MAN – Natural Man an Enemy of God?
The Bible
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor.2:14 KJV)
The Book of Mormon
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord… (Mosiah 3:19)
Brigham Young
Paul says, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of God.” but I say it is the unnatural man that receiveth not the things of God. (Journal of Discourses, vol.9, p.305)
MAN – Sinful by Nature?
The Bible
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world… Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. (Eph.2:1-3)
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5)
Apostle Hugh B. Brown
Our doctrine is positive and life affirming… We refuse to believe, with some churches of Christendom, that the biblical account of the fall of man records the corruption of human nature or to accept the doctrine of original sin. (April 1964 General Conference)
MAN – Fate Sealed By Death?
The Bible
Just as Man is destined once to die, and after that face judgement… (Hebrews 9:27)
The Book of Mormon
For behold this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labours…for after this day of life…then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labour performed. Ye cannot say when ye come to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay ye cannot say this;… For behold, if you have procrastinated the day of your repentance even unto death, behold, ye have become subject to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his…and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked. (Alma 34:32-35)
Doctrine and Covenants
Behold these are they…who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it. (Section 76:72,74)
Apostle Bruce R McConkie
By accepting the gospel in the spirit world, and because the ordinances of salvation and exaltation are performed vicariously in this world, the worthy dead can become heirs of the fulness of the Father’s kingdom. (Mormon Doctrine p.673)
POLYGAMY – Right or Wrong?
The Bible
Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife… (1Tim.3:2)
An Elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife(Titus 1:6)
A deacon must be the husband of but one wife. (1Tim.3:12)
The Book of Mormon
Behold David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. (Jacob 2:24)
The Doctrine and Covenants
I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines-… (Section 132:1)
-if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then he is justified; he cannot commit adultery… (Section 132:61)
FORGIVENESS – Can It Be Bought?
The Bible
Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. (Isaiah 55:1; cf. Matthew 10:8;Rev.21:6;)
The Book of Mormon
Yea it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven sins. O ye wicked and perverse and stiff-necked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get gain?(Mormon 8:32)
The Doctrine and Covenants
Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming. (Section 64:23)
ADAM – In New World or Old World?
The Bible
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four waterheads. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds throughout the entire land of Havilah,…[Arabia,cf. Genesis 10:29;25:18]. The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. [Ethiopia]. The name of the third river is the Tigris;…and the fourth river is the Euphrates. (Genesis 2:10-14)
The Pearl of Great Price
And the name of the second river is called Gihon; the same that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. (Moses 3:13)
The Doctrine and Covenants
Three years previous to the death of Adam he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah…with the residue of his posterity…into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman… (Section 107:53)
Spring Hill [Davies County, Missouri] is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman… (Section 116)
It is noteworthy that the tenth President of the Mormon Church, Joseph Fielding Smith, said of Joseph Smith:
If his claims and declarations were built on fraud and deceit, there would appear many errors and contradictions, which would be easy to detect…The world has been unable to place a finger upon anything that is inconsistent, or out of harmony in the revelations to Joseph Smith, with that which has been revealed before, or predicted by the prophets and the Lord himself. (Doctrines of Salvation, vol.1, pp.188,189)
