Good News for our Mormon Friends

What the Book of Mormon Teaches

The Book of Mormon is called the "fullness of the everlasting Gospel" in Doctrine and Covenants 20:9 and 27:5 and in the Pearl of Great Price Joseph Smith 2:34. It should, therefore, contain the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

"And, moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given or any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men only in and through the name of Christ the Lord Omnipotent" (Mosiah 3:17; 2 Nephi 31:21)

Only Christ Jesus alone can save. The fact that Christ Jesus alone can save means that no other religion, church, ritual, endowment, organization, or individual can save.

"For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved after all we do" (2 Nephi 25:23).

Works cannot and will not save, only grace through faith (in Christ Jesus) can save from "endless torment."

"O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment" (2 Nephi 9:19).

Those "saints" (whose names are found written in the Book of Life) who are saved by grace - "not of works" - through faith in Christ Jesus will escape "endless torment."

"...for the Lord covenanteth with none save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the Holy One of Israel" (2 Nephi 30:2b)

The initial step toward receiving eternal life - being saved - and escaping "that lake of fire" (2 Nephi 9:19) is to believe on the Son of God.

"and if he confess his sins before thee and me and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him also" (Mosiah 26:29b).

Another step toward receiving eternal life (the result of cleansing of and pardon for our sins) and escaping "that lake of fire which is endless torment" (2 Nephi 9:19) is to confess one's sins.

"Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me" (Mosiah 26:30).

The next step toward receiving everlasting life and escaping "that lake of fire" is to repent of - turn from - one's sins.

"And if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity, he is nothing, wherefore he must needs have charity" (Moroni 7:44b).

Then one must confess Christ - not some church, ritual, heritage, program, temple, organization - which is receiving eternal life and escaping "that lake of fire" (2 Nephi 9:19). Moreover the Book of Mormon states that only with godly love ("charity") and through the power of the Holy Ghost (John 3:5; Acts 1:8) - which only a Christ believing sin-confessing, penitent, born again (see Mosiah 27:24-28; Alma 5:14,26), Spirit-filled follower of Christ possesses - can one thus confess the Lord Jesus Christ.

Both the divinely-inspired Bible and the Book of Mormon, which claims no divine inspiration teach:

  1. That God is a Spirit and not a flesh-and-bone man (John 4:24; 2 Corinthians 3:1 7; Hosea 11:9; Numbers 23:19; Romans 1:22-23; Alma 18:24-28 and 22:9-11).
  2. That God is eternal, omniscient, unchanging, and, therefore, not progressing daily (James 1 :17; 1 Timothy 1 :17; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; Mormon 9:9-10, 19; Moroni 7:22 and 8:18).
  3. That there is only one God (I Timothy 2:5; I John 5:7; Ephesians 4:6; Alma 11:22, 28-29; Mormon 7:7).

What the Book of Mormon Does Not Teach

It does not teach that there are many gods.

The prophet Joseph Smith, contradicting the Book of Mormon (Alma 11:22, 28-29 and Mormon 7:7) taught: "In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted a plan to create the world and people in it" (Journal of Discourses, VI, 5).

It does not teach that God is a polygamist.

Bruce R. McConkie, contradicting the Book of Mormon, which states that God "created Adam of the dust of the earth" and does not state that one of God's wives gave birth to Adam (Mormon 9:12, 17), wrote: "Implicit in the Christian verily that all men are the spirit children of an Eternal Father is the usually unspoken truth that they are also the offspring of an Eternal Mother" (Mormon Doctrine, p. 516). Orson Pratt, also contradicting the Book of Mormon, which contains not the slightest hint that God was married, stated: "We have also proved most clearly that the Son followed the example of his Father and became the great Bridegroom to whom kings' daughters and many honorable Wives were to be married. We have also proved that both God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ inherit their wives in eternity as well as in time." (The Seer, p. 172).

The Book of Mormon does not teach that God has begotten children.

Orson Pratt, contradicting the Book of Mormon's statement that "man was created" (Mormon 9:17) taught: "We have also proved...that God the Father has already begotten [not created?] many thousand millions of sons and daughters and sent them into this world to take tabernacles" (The Seer, p. 172).

The Book of Mormon does not teach that God is an exalted man.

The prophet Joseph Smith, contradicting Aaron's statement in the Book of Mormon that God "is that Great Spirit" (Alma 22:10) preached that "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345) This concept is echoed by Bruce R. McConkie: "According to revelation, however, he [God] is a personal Being, a holy and exalted Man, a glorified, resurrected [who was once dead?]. Personage having a tangible body of flesh and bones [not a Spirit?], an anthropomorphic Entity, the person Father [not Creator?] of the spirits of all men" (Mormon Doctrine, p. 250). The Apostle Paul warns of the great danger in changing God into a man: "And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man...Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves" (Romans 1 :23a-24).

The Book of Mormon does not teach that men can become gods.

Joseph Smith, again without the slightest parallel in his own Book of Mormon, told his followers: "...and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you - namely, by going from one small degree to another and from a small capacity to a great one" (Journal of Discourses, Vl, 4). Bruce R. McConkie cites this same non-Book of Mormon doctrine of man's progression to godhood: "Man...is capable, by experience through ages and aeons, of evolving into a God" (Man: His Origin and Destiny, pp. 354-355; Mormon Doctrine, p. 250). This doctrine of men's becoming gods originated with the devil in Genesis 3:5. Note also Isaiah 14:14-15, where the devil, Lucifer, who wanted to be like God, "the most High," failed and ended up in hell, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, where the beast or antichrist "that man of sin" sat himself up in the temple as God; he also ended up in the lake of tire (Revelation 19:20 and 20:10).

The Book of Mormon does not teach that Jesus was married to several wives.

Orson Hyde, without the hint of a parallel in the Book of Mormon, which, according to the prophet Joseph Smith, contains "the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews also" (Doctrine and Covenants 20:9) preached: "It will be borne in mind that once on a time, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and on a careful reading of that transaction, it will be discovered that no less a person than Jesus Christ was married on that occasion. If he was never married, his intimacy with Mary and Martha and the other Mary also whom Jesus loved must have been highly unbecoming and improper to say the best of it." (Journal of Discourses, IV, 259; see also Journal of Discourses, I, 346; II, 80-83; and The Seer, p. 172)

The Book of Mormon does not teach that Jesus begat children.

Orson Hyde, contradictory to any concepts of Christ in the Book of Mormon, stated: "I shall say here, that before the Savior died, he looked upon his own natural children, as we look upon ours; he saw his seed, and immediately afterwards he was cut off from the earth." (Journal of Discourses,II,82)

The Book of Mormon does not teach that Jesus was not conceived of the Holy Ghost.

Brigham Young, contradicting the Book of Mormon (Alma 7:10b) "...who [Mary] shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God", taught: "Now, remember from this time forth, and forever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost." "When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family." "...our father Adam...is our Father and our God, and the only God with whom we have to do." .... I [Brigham Young] replied to this idea - "lf the Son was begotten by the Holy Ghost, it would be very dangerous to baptize and confirm females and give the Holy Ghost to them, lest he should beget children, to be palmed upon the Elders by the people, bringing the Elders into great difficulties" (Journal of Discourses, I, 50-51 passim).

The Book of Mormon does not teach that Jesus was a spirit brother of Lucifer, the devil.

Milton R. Hunter, of the First Council of the Seventy, contradictory to any concepts of Christ Jesus in the Book of Mormon, wrote: "The appointment of Jesus to be Savior of the world was contested by one of the other sons [not creations?] of God. He was called Lucifer, son of the morning. Haughty, ambitious, and covetous of power and glory, the spirit-brother of Jesus desperately tried to become Savior of mankind" (The Gospel Through the Ages, p. 15; see also Doctrines of Salvation, 1, 19; and note Luke 1 :34-35).

The Book of Mormon does not teach that the living can be baptized for and to save the dead.

Joseph Fielding Smith, contradicting the Book of Mormon (Alma 34:34-35) and misinterpreting I Corinthians 15:29, taught: "Any person in this Church who has been baptized and confirmed and is in good standing may go into the temple to be baptized for the dead...How glad we should feel to have the power to help others to salvation in this way and give somebody else a chance to obtain eternal life, which they could not receive without our help (Doctrines of Salvation, 11, 162).

Further, the Book of Mormon does not teach celestial marriage, three degrees of glory, preexistence, temple worship, sacred undergarments, the Mormon-type priesthoods of Aaron and Melchizedek, and a heavenly mother.

But the Book of Mormon, for which none of its writers claim any type of divine Inspiration, and God's divinely Inspired Holy Bible -- the only two books listed on the LDS "Articles of Faith," which "Articles" exclude the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price as "the word of God" - do teach that if you "believe in his Son," "confess your sins," "repent [turn from your sins]," and "confess...that Jesus is the Christ," then your name will be "found written in the book of life," you will not be cast Into the "lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment" (2 Nephi 9:16, 19, 26, 34, 36), and you will, thus, escape being "tormented day and night forever and ever" (Revelation 20: 10, 15).

What You Need To Do

If you have not been born again and, thus, do not have eternal life, let me encourage you to take the first steps of this process by merely talking directly and sincerely to the Lord In this simple prayer of salvation:

"Lord Jesus, I want You to come into my life right now. I am a sinner. I have been trusting in myself and In my own works. But now I put my trust In You. I accept You as my own personal Savior. I believe that You died for me. I receive You as my Lord and Master over my life. Help me to turn from my sins and to follow You. I accept Your gift of eternal life. I am not worthy of it but I thank You for it. And I thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit into my life and for letting me be born again. Amen."