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I know it sounds confusing, but yeah, I believe in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, but I don't believe that the modern Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is led by God. They teach a lit of good and true things, but there are many other doctrines they teach (that there's a living prophet today, that the church has God's authority, that men will have the option to have many wives after this life, etc) that I simply do not believe.

There's a fallacious argument that's often taught (I know I've taught it a lot), which says that if the Book of Mormon is true, then the church that believes in it, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, must also be true. While I agree that the only logical way that the Book of Mormon can even exist is if Joseph Smith was given a gift from God to translate them, that has absolutely no bearing on the rest of Joseph's life, or the question of whether he continued to be a true prophet, whether Brigham Young was supposed to take over after him as a true prophet, or whether the LDS church is still run by prophets that talk to God today.

After carefully studying the original documents on https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/ , I've arrived at the opinion that there's no other way that Joseph could have produced the Book of Mormon, other than by the power of God. I also found writings that I believe to be real revelations to him from God. However, I also found many such revelations that were altered by Joseph and others in the years following their being given. Joseph had many weaknesses, like the tendency to attempt to take power into his own hands, rather than relying on God (like when he searched for buried treasure to help finance his new floundering church, or when he created his own bank notes for the same purpose (he was basically shitcoining ~170 years before crypto existed), or when he ran for mayor of the biggest city in Illinois, or when he ran for president), but the weakness he's blamed for most by the modern LDS church, polygamy, was definitely not one of them.

So I have quietly believed for many months now that Joseph really translated the Book of Mormon, really received other revelations, but was still a very flawed human being, just like all of us. I also, discovered, though, that the LDS church was infiltrated and taken over by some of the most evil people around at the time: Brigham Young, John Taylor, Willard Richards, and others. And the church has been lost and falling away ever since.

I hope that clears up the confusion!

Liberty Gal 1y ago

I applaud you move in the right direction in respect to Jesus Christ. I would give you these passages relating (I think) to the Book of Mormon

"8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" (Galatians 1:8-9)

"I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book." (Revelation 22:18-19)

I would argue that the Book of Mormon is not from God, but from man and that you need to use only the Bible in your search for truth and faith in God.

God bless you and enlighten you with truth and faith and the love of God and His son Jesus through the power of His Holy Spirit.

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Discussion

Jason Hodlers 🪢 1y ago

Yeah, those are common concerns about the Book of Mormon that I've heard a lot over the years. But I'm not here to argue, and I'm still a learning work-in-progress (aren't we all?), so maybe I'll eventually arrive at the same conclusions that you have. We'll see.

It's important to understand, though, that the Book of Mormon does not teach another gospel; it confirms and testifies of the gospel that's taught in the Bible. As Paul also said: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." (2 Corinthians 13:1)

Also, Revelation 22:18-19 is only referring to the Book of Revelation, not the entire Holy Library (which is what "Bible" means). The Bible was not written all at once, or in the order that the books are in today. And most scholars agree that the Gospel According to John was written after John wrote the vision that became the Book of Revelation. So if it applied to everything written after that point, then we shouldn't include the Gospel According to John in the Bible.

If we choose to apply those words to all the currently-available words of God, then we must also follow the words in Deuteronomy 4:2: "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." That would mean that everything from Joshua to Revelation would not be God's word.

Of course I don't believe that; Deuteronomy 4:2 only applied to the Book of Deuteronomy. But the point is this: Is God incapable of adding more to His words? We know from the Bible that 10 of the tribes of Israel were lost, so is it out of the question that God would have spoken to them, too, and they might have written down His words, as a testimony of Jesus Christ and the words He gave us in the Bible?

Sadly, the LDS church has done a 𝘭𝘰𝘵 to give people the wrong impression about the Book of Mormon, all in an effort to puff itself up as "the one and only true church." The purpose of the Bible is to point the reader to Jesus Christ; the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to point the reader to also read the Bible 𝘢𝘯𝘥 to point them to Jesus Christ. So if you choose not to read it, but you've already found Jesus (which it seems like you have), then it might be unnecessary for you to read it, anyway. For me, I choose to look for truth wherever I can find it, so of course I started with the Bible, but God confirmed to me personally that truth is also found in the Book of Mormon, and also in many other records from other lost tribes of Israel that haven't been discovered yet.

Thank you for your kind words! I really hope that what I said didn't sound harsh or argumentative. That's the last thing I want! We're both on a journey to Jesus; any disagreement over details along the Way is, as Jesus would say, "strain[ing] at a gnat, and swallow[ing] a camel." (Matthew 23:24)

So I'll prayerfully consider what you shared with me, and trust God to lead both of us wherever He needs us to be. I believe you'll do the same. 💜