How stable is the mormon religion?

Question

IF all documention and supplies given to leaders say "this is unoffical" and can therefore be changed at any time to fit what they believe at the moment........ Where as the bible never changes.........Hmmmmmmmmm?

Paul was thaught different before Jesus came. Jesus set him straight and then it never changed again.

If their docterine never changes.....why did they once believe in poligomy and now dont?

Answer 1

Ask them why they get their Holy Scriptures like the "Book of Abraham" from traveling circuses instead of God. Joseph Smith purchased 2 mummies and their burial scrolls from a traveling circus in 1838. Back then nobody could read Egyptian yet and ol' Joey wanted to impress his new flock of believers . He proceeded to "Translate" the burial scrolls and the end product was the "Book of Abraham" allegedly an original document written by Father Abraham himself over 4000 years ago. Amazingly, as the current story goes, "Very well preserved and still rollable". Naturally they somehow lost it and now nobody knows where it is. But they didn't loose the burial scrolls that were also purchased with the mummies. Facsimiles of the burial scrolls were published by the church in the pearl of great price and represented to be the Book of Abraham . Undeniable proof of the prophetic power of Joseph Smith. That is, until the Rosetta Stone was discovered and Egyptian could be translated. When the Egyptologists arrived to examine the Book of Abraham papyri, they found them to be ordinary burial documents for the mummies they came with. Total Fraud. I don't know what the official church line is on this one but members claim the existence of the rollable 4000 yr scroll that is allegedly now lost.
If true, the Book of Abraham would have been the most astonishing archaeological discovery of all time. A "well preserved rollable scroll" written by Father Abraham himself over 2000 years older than the Dead Sea Scrolls. But, oops, they lost it. I suggested to one of my Mormon acquaintences that instead of going to church on Sunday we should go to the circus. The kids all agreed. I told the parents that instead of 10% of your income it would be about 25 bucks. We might even run into some new Scriptures out there for the Prophet to translate. I hear the books of Isaac and Jacob have been floating around over at Ringling Brothers.

Answer 2

Actually, I think you may not have an understanding of the mormon religion in this respect. Please let me clarify. All documentation doesn't say unofficial. Many, many documents are official. This means that they have been recieved as revelation from God for the church. This means they are doctrine. The official doctrine of the church. If the information is encouraged or informational then it's unofficial. It's not the actual doctrine. The doctrine never changes, but God reveals more of what has always existed. In that way the actual doctrine of the church is very stable, and will never change. Documents that are informational or the opinion of a church leader is not something different from other religions. In fact, I believe most religions have leaders that write books and make statements that are technically "unofficial".

Answer 3

Not all documentation and supplies given to leaders says this. The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, etc do not change.

As the Bible goes, we never know if there be better source materials discovered or a better translation, while the Book of Mormon was translated correctly and exactly by the power of God.

Answer 4

The main reason Mormonism changes from time to time is to look a little more like Christianity. It is deceptive.

Note to hibby 76: If the Bible really has changed "drastically", then how is it that the "modern" Hebrew still spells out the Hebrew word for "Torah" every fifty letters in the Old Testament? If it had been changed, the Hebrew text of today would not reflect such accuracy. Your accusations are groundless.

Answer 5

your logic is seriously flawed.

The bible changed drastically from old to new testament. It's a record of 4000 years. Any truth that wasn't taught at the beginning would be a "change" to previous doctrines. If this were the case, shouldn't Adam have written the entire bible himself, never to be touched again???

Mormons believe that Christ leads their church directly. Christ inspires the prophet to teach the world what the world needs to hear at that time. In 20 years, the world changes. Eternal truths do not change, however what people need to hear at any given time does.

Answer 6

If it is in the scriptures, then it is not opinion. It can't change.

Plural marriage didn't change. God excused us from it's practice for the time being, since the government outlawed it.

The Bible never changes, but man changes it's interpretation, it's translation, etc. The Book of Mormon never changes, and neither does the Doctrine & Covenants or the Pearl of Great Price. That's where our doctrine is. But, that's not where anti-Mormons get "our doctrine". Yes, what is in the Journals of Discourses, or History of the Church, or whatever, can change and many times does. But, that's not the source of our doctrine.

Answer 7

I personally find it difficult to believe the same god that is credited with creating the entire universe is the same god who commanded the 'Jaredites' to build such an unseaworthy craft, created nearly a year-long storm in which to 'push' said boats across the Atlantic, when they could have swam it in less than half the time - presuming they existed at all.
The standard mormon apology is, "The boats where built by man, therefore subject to man's follies", and my favorite cop-out: "God was testing their faith by subjecting them to such terrible conditions". The god described by the book of mormon is a vengeful, forgetful, ignorant and deceitful character, curiously much like it's author and proprietor.

Answer 8

Interpretations of the Bible change all the time.

Churches change all the time: eg Paul was against women speaking in church; now we have women preachers (and quite rightly, too).

Answer 9

In the final analysis, I have found the non-Christian religions, such as Mormonism, to be philosophically indefensible, being internally incoherent or undermining human reason and experience.

If you are confident enough in your own beliefs, then you will have no problem with reading some other analyses of your faith, such as the items shown below.

Mormonism Summary:
http://www.carm.org/lds/nutshell.htm

Is Mormonism Christian?

Mormons deny the following statement: There is ONE God who eternally exists in three different persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all of whom are fully God, all of whom are equal. That denial alone is enough to assert that Mormons are not Christians. There are many more Mormon doctrines that are contrary to Christian beliefs, e.g., that we existed as spirit beings before we were born on this earth or that God’s final revelation given to the forty authors of the bible is incomplete and needed Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon. Either a few million Mormons are Christians and the billion plus Christians are not, or Mormonism is a heretical system of beliefs. See: http://www.irr.org/mit/Is-Mormonism-Christian.html

No single orthodox Christian denomination recognizes Mormonism as a Christian belief system.
1. Statement of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod:
http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=2239

2. Statement of the Presbyterian Church (USA):
http://www.pcusa.org/interfaith/study/lds.htm

3. Statement of the Roman Catholic Church: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20010605_battesimo_mormoni_en.html

4. Statement of the Southern Baptist Convention:
http://www.namb.net/atf/cf/%7BCDA250E8-8866-4236-9A0C-C646DE153446%7D/BB_Mormons.pdf

5. Statement of the United Methodist Church:
http://www.gc2000.org/pets/cal/TEXT/c0806.asp

More information about Mormonism…

Doctrinal Writings of Mormon Leaders:
http://www.carm.org/lds/lds_doctrines.htm

For those wanting to go deeper:
http://www.mormonchallenge.com/ref_compare.htm
http://www.exmormon.org/
http://www.mormoninformation.com/
http://www.carm.org/mormon.htm
http://www.mrm.org/

There are many members of heretical religious groups that have staked their eternal souls on their beliefs without searching the scriptures and reviewing the doctrinal writings of church leaders to satisfy themselves that what they have been told is sufficiently rational and worth believing. Don’t let yourself be one of these persons. Mormons must ask their stake and ward leadership about the things that they have read above. Observe if these leaders are willing to enter into an honest and frank discussion about these matters versus telling them to avoid readings outside of your own faith. If they do the latter, such a dismissal of honest inquiry should be an alarm bell.

Answer 10

There is no stable religion. They are all flawed and man-made.