Why is Joseph Smith being visit by the angel Moroni stupid but St. Paul being visited by a ghost of Jesus not?

Question

He even admits that Jesus had been dead for some time.

Answer 1

it's about the same amount of stupid.

Answer 2

You can answer the question about Paul without answering the other question. Though I am a Catholic, I have little doubt that a spirit calling himself Moroni could have appeared to Joseph Smith. But I don't think even you would say that God would contradict Himself and send one message and then a contradictory message. The question is, good spirit or bad ? Admit even a speck of evil in the world and you have allow for it in the spirit world. Anyway you have to separate belief from opinion. You wouldn't truly believe something if you said, "Well, I believe fo now but if somebody like a Moroni comes along I'm reconsidering."

Answer 3

Well, I prefer the term Spirit to "ghost", but regardless,
everybody in Paul's day knew who Jesus was. Paul wasn't wanting to see a vision of Jesus--he had actually been persecuting some of the early Christians. It's like someone who is actually on the prosecution team suddenly presenting evidence for the defense--that makes it even more believable to me because what motive would he have had to want to say it? He himself became persecuted after that, when before he was a highly respected Jewish leader. However, those early Christians he had been persecuting were proclaiming that they had seen the resurrected Jesus after his crucifixion and His body was missing from the garden tomb, so there is at least some basis for having Jesus appear to him.

On the other hand, no one before or since that I am aware of has ever heard of the angel named "Moroni" and it even almost sounds like the word moron, which makes it sounds even stupider. I know very little else about Joseph Smith and the Mormons, but from what I have heard and read their beliefs are very strange and not really based on Scripture.

Answer 4

Moroni is a demon, whereas Jesus is the Son of God.

"However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to you as good news something beyond what we declared to you as good news, let him be accursed.  As we have said above, I also now say again, Whoever it is that is declaring to you as good news something beyond what you accepted, let him be accursed." -Galatians 1:8, 9

Furthermore, Jesus wasn't dead when he spoke to Paul. The Bible makes it clear that after 3 days, Jesus was brought back to life as a spirit person. A spirit is not a dead person. A spirit is a living person in a spiritual body.

"Why, even Christ died once for all time concerning sins, a righteous [person] for unrighteous ones, that he might lead you to God, he being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit" -1 Peter 3:18

The dead are not living. A dead person is unconscious, without life (Ecclesiastes 9:5; John 11:11-14). Jesus was dead for 3 days. Afterward, God resurrected him as a spirit (as he was before he came to earth).

Answer 5

Paul never saw a "ghost" or spirit.

Act 9:3 But in the going it happened! He drew near to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the heaven shone around him.
Act 9:4 And falling on the earth he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute Me?
Act 9:5 And he said, Sir, who are You? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute; it is hard for you to kick against the goads.
Act 9:6 Both trembling and being astonished he said, Lord, what do You desire me to do? And the Lord said to him, Rise up and go into the city, and it will be told you what you must do.
Act 9:7 But the men traveling with him had been standing speechless, indeed hearing the voice, but seeing no one.
Act 9:8 And Saul was lifted up from the earth, but his eyes being opened he saw no one. And leading him by the hand they brought him to Damascus.

Jesus was only dead for three days, He arose from the dead. Notice there were others there when Paul was called, I believe Smith was alone when he supposedly was visited, yes? So there were no witnesses to this event. Also, there is no angel named "Maroni" anywhere in Scripture.

Answer 6

Well, among the problems for many people is that we don't believe that miracles are still going on, especially in industrial USA - Catholic countries are foreign and thus OK. The name of the angel unfortunately reminds us of moron. And we are not bound up in the relgious ferver of Smith's times when several dozen other religions and sects were founded and have since (mostly) disappeared.

Answer 7

If you believe what Joseph Smith said and that which is written in the Book of Mormon, stick to your beliefs. If you feel strong enough in your beliefs, contradict what others are saying. The person who said it is stupid probably doesn't know the full story of Joseph Smith.

Answer 8

Not stupid, but false

Did you ever notice that every Angel in the bible ends with the letters "el"? Yet Moroni (mentioned no where in the Bible as an angel, but in the "Clavicle of Solomon", written around 1200AD there is a similarly named demon) does not.

Galaitans 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

Answer 9

So that's where we got the word moron!.
Read the last verses of Revelation, and you will see what God says about people who try to add to the Bible with scriptures of their own creation.

Answer 10

I believe that they are equally stupid. It's not it the Bible yet cause it's a newer kind of stupidity.
It doesn't seem any more unlikely than the story about the dead guy that came to life though. And I don't mean Lazarus either.

Answer 11

This is what happens when books go to war nothing. It's the people who do the fighting.