The LDS Misleads FOX News

The following is a question-answer dialogue of sorts between FOX News and an unnamed Mormon source. A series of questions were asked by FOX News, probably in lieu of the many reports and interviews conducted with presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who is Mormon. The questions by FOX are wide-ranging, with some being better than others. The answers by the Mormons, though, are typically misleading, deceptive and shallow. Because of the nature of the Mormon responses, commentary and rebuttal has been given in blue. A copy has been sent to the local FOX News affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth. Enjoy.—Paul

21 Questions Answered About Mormon Faith

Tuesday , December 18, 2007

Mitt Romney’s run for president has put his Mormon faith in the spotlight, but the religion remains a mystery to most.

FOXNews.com compiled a list of 21 questions representing some widely held beliefs and misconceptions about Mormonism and posed them to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Church objected to answering some of the questions on the grounds that they misrepresent the basic tenets of the Mormon religion.

"Many of these questions are typically found on anti-Mormon blogs or Web sites which aim to misrepresent or distort Mormon doctrines," the Church said in a statement. "Several of these questions do not represent ... any serious attempt to depict the core values and beliefs of its members."

Here are the questions and how the Church responded:

Q: Why do some call the Church a cult?

A: For the most part, this seems to stem from a lack of understanding about the Church and its core doctrines and beliefs. Under those circumstances it is too easy to label a religion or other organization that is not well-known with an inflammatory term like ‘cult.’ Famed scholar of religion Martin Marty has said a cult means a church you don't personally happen to like. We don't believe any organization should be subjected to a label that has come to be as pejorative as that one.

First of all, it is because the critics of Mormonism do understand the doctrines and beliefs of Mormonism, as well as the doctrines and beliefs of Christianity that the Mormon Church can be labeled a cult. Moreover, when the Mormon Church is given the opportunity to rebut charges of cultism, as in this case with FOX News, instead of actually addressing the subject to show just how orthodox it is in its beliefs, it makes all kinds of specious accusations and engages in ad hominems as its preferred method of vindication. Second, Mormonism has been around for 170+ years, and it has published voluminous amounts of material. So, the novelty and obscurity rationale for rebutting the charge of cultism has no merit. Third, Martin Marty was a church historian, not a theologian or apologist. Therefore, his shallow and short-sighted definition of what he thinks a cult is ought to be taken with a grain of salt. Finally, there is nothing wrong with labeling an aberrant religion a “cult” so long as it is understood just what the term means. And since Mormonism has so badly wandered off the orthodox track of just what it means to be Christian, with its aberrant view of infinite numbers of gods and goddesses, eternal celestial sex among those same gods and goddesses, Jesus being the brother of Satan, meriting God’s grace for salvation via one’s works, and on, and on, and on, the label of “cult,” whether as a pejorative or as a definitive term appropriately applies to the Mormon Church.

Q: Does the Mormon Church believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God?

A: Mormons believe Jesus Christ is literally the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer, who died for the sins of humankind and rose from the dead on the third day with an immortal body. God, the Father, also has an immortal body.

If there is one thing indicative of the way a cult answers its questions, it is in how they manage to cloak what they really believe through brevity. Granted, the Mormon Church believes that Jesus is the Son of God, but as seen above, they manage to slip in adverbial language to both answer the question, and then not answer the question at the same time. What does the Mormon Church mean by “literal” Son of God? It means that God himself, in his physical body, made a conjugal visit one day or night to his daughter Mary, and with her he sired the physical body of Jesus. Now, some Mormons engaged in apologetic endeavors to safeguard the image of the Mormon Church will scream bloody murder that that is not what Mormonism teaches, but the record is quite clear from authors ranging from Brigham Young, to Bruce R. McConkie, to Ezra Taft Benson, et al, that that is exactly what the Mormon means by the “literal” Son of God, and it is disgusting. As for the Savior and Redeemer, and subsequent comments dealing with salvation, that is all a mirage, starting with the stealing of Christian language and then redefined to suit Mormon purposes. For Jesus, in Mormonism, given the previous discussion involving his paternity, is no more a Savior and Redeemer than is Satan. Jesus is more of a petty sin-broker who more or less made a down payment for sin, and then has left the rest up to the sinner to work out on his own. Hence, no one subscribing to the Mormon Jesus could ever be saved, simply because the real savior of the sinner is the sinner trying to save himself via his works. Finally, the Mormon Church exposes its idolatrous idea of God, claiming that he is a corporeal being, which is completely contrary to biblical teaching (Num. 23:19; Jn. 4:24), and another reason why the “cult” label is apropos.

Q: Does the Church believe in the divinity of Jesus?

Notice the evasion to the question. Instead of telling people that Jesus was not always divine, they assume that by merely repeating their previously erroneous comments that will somehow suffice answering this question. The bottom line is that Mormonism teaches that Jesus springs forth from a sort of celestial soup of “intelligences,” and then through some mystical effort on his part, he was born a “spirit child” into the family of God, then came to earth to be a man, and then has progressed through the Law of Eternal Progression unto his current divine status. Therefore, Jesus was not always God, very God, as the Early Church down to the present has taught, but that Mormonism subscribes to several different heresies involving the person of Jesus, ranging from Gnosticism to Arianism. One again, this kind of answer from the church is typical of those in the cults who do not want to divulge too much information, because they know as soon as they do then people will figure out in a hurry just how eccentric and fraudulent the group truly is.

Q: Does the Church believe that God is a physical being?

Not only is God a physical being, his being is no different than any other man’s. In fact, Mormonism teaches that God is of the same race as all human beings. It’s just that right now he is an “exalted man,” living on a physical planet nigh unto a star called Kolob with a harem of polygamously married wives, procreating spirit children through natural sexual intercourse. The founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, once wrote,

God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible,—I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form—like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another.— Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret, 1976), 345; Gospel Principles (Salt Lake City: LDS, 1995), 9.

Q: If so, does the Church believe that God lives on a planet named Kolob?

A: 'Kolob' is a term found in ancient records translated by Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith did not provide a full description or explanation of Kolob nor did he assign the idea particular significance in relation to the Church’s core doctrines.

The answer is “Yes;” Mormonism teaches that God lives on a planet nigh unto a star called Kolob. And the “ancient records” that the Mormons are speaking of here are none other than Egyptian funerary papyri that Joseph Smith mistranslated, that he claims were written by the Old Testament patriarch Abraham. Hence, there is no such record among the Egyptians of a “Kolob,” much less is there a record among them telling us that it is a star circled by a planet that God lives on. This is simply more of the Mormon ruse that they have failed to come to grips with, and when asked about it, instead of simply telling the truth, they would rather keep propagating the falsehood of it all.

Q: Where is the planet Kolob? What significance does the planet have to Mormons?

The answer is they don’t know. Why? Because in all of Joseph Smith’s wisdom, he failed to fill in the details concerning this revelation. He could take one Reformed Egyptian character that he made up and concoct whole paragraphs, but when it came to sharing the details of God’s Kolobian existence, he was more than scant. As for the significance of Kolob to a Mormon, a Mormon thinks that one day he is going to be reunited with God—if he’s good enough, and obeys all the laws of Mormonism—where the Mormon will once again be a part of God’s big, happy family. And if the Mormon is truly exceptional, then he will be allowed to progress on to godhood, where he can inhabit and populate his own planet just like his heavenly father did.

Q: Does the Mormon Church believe that God and Mary had physical sex to conceive Jesus?

A: The Church does not claim to know how Jesus was conceived but believes the Bible and Book of Mormon references to Jesus being born of the Virgin Mary.

It is always interesting that when this subject comes up, all of the sudden the contemporary Mormon Church does know how Jesus was conceived. Brigham Young knew. Bruce R. McConkie knew. Ezra Taft Benson knew. Others like John Widtsoe can write of “Eternal Sex” among the gods. But when it comes to God having sex with Mary, then low and behold, the Church doesn’t know anything. In this instance, though, as in several other instances, the Mormon Church leaders are lying, and are engaging in as much damage control as possible. When McConkie wrote,

God the Father is a perfected, glorified, holy Man, an immortal Personage. And Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real, and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events, for his is the Son of God, and that designation means what it says. (1 Ne. 11).— Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), 742,

he was giving a definitive statement about how Jesus was conceived. And all of the subterfuge about Mormons believing the Bible regarding Mary does nothing to answer the question that many Mormon stalwarts wish would quit coming up, since they know the real answer convicts them of just how perverse the doctrine is if they tell it, and eats them alive to have to lie about it. In other words, no matter how the Mormon attempts to answer this question he is in a lose-lose situation.

Q: Does the Mormon Church believe Jesus appeared in North America after his crucifixion and resurrection?

A: The appearance of Jesus in the Western Hemisphere shortly after his resurrection is described in the Book of Mormon. Mormons believe that when Christ told his disciples in the Bible He had other ‘sheep’ who should receive his message he was referring to those people in the Western Hemisphere.

Again, the short answer is “Yes;” Mormons believe that Jesus made a visit to North America upon his ascension. Mormons use poor hermeneutics to justify their beliefs, since Jesus was not talking about Reformed Egyptian Jewish American Indians when he was talking about the “other sheep.” The “other sheep” were the Gentiles. Moreover, for Jesus to show up and do as Mormonism suggests undermines what he told his disciples that they would do, namely that they would be his “witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Q: If so, when did this happen? And under what circumstances?

The event allegedly occurred shortly after his ascension. Jesus apparently made a stop-off in heaven, and then ascended to an awaiting Nephite nation, “in the land of Bountiful” (3 Nephi 11:1, 8), wherever that is. The circumstances were to fulfill a prophecy “that Christ should show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven” (v. 12). Apparently dissatisfied with what he had commissioned his apostles to do in Jerusalem, Jesus commissions twelve new apostles from among the Nephites,—three of whom are still alive today, of all things (3 Nephi 28:1-7)—he preaches the Sermon on the Mount all over again, and then abruptly departs to somewhere (v. 12). For all we know, Jesus may still be walking the earth based on the Book of Mormon record, much like the Nephites and John the Beloved. But, those are issues the Mormons are mum on as well.

Q: Does the Mormon Church believe its followers can become "gods and goddesses" after death?

A: We believe that the apostle Peter’s biblical reference to partaking of the divine nature and the apostle Paul’s reference to being 'joint heirs with Christ' reflect the intent that children of God should strive to emulate their Heavenly Father in every way. Throughout the eternities, Mormons believe, they will reverence and worship God the Father and Jesus Christ. The goal is not to equal them or to achieve parity with them but to imitate and someday acquire their perfect goodness, love and other divine attributes.

Here the Mormon representatives are misrepresenting the Bible and themselves, as well as are they avoiding answering the question. Taken in reverse, the short answer is “Yes,” Mormons do believe that if they try hard enough, they can achieve godhood, just like their “god” has. In fact, Joseph Smith told those in his day that God was a man “like us,” that he “dwelt on an earth,” and that those Mormons listening to Smith had “to learn how to be Gods” themselves” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 346). Mormon President Lorenzo Snow—who contrived the oft-quoted couplet, “As man is, God once was; As God is, man may become”—would later follow up just what it meant to become a god by saying, “Now, I have told you what Father Smith said to me, that I should become as great as I could want to be, even as great as God Himself” (The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, 2). Mormons try and allude to 2 Peter 1:4 and Ephesians 3:6 as proof that the apostles taught theosis, or the deification of human beings, but upon closer examination of just what Peter and Paul are saying, it gives no indication that believers will become like God in an ontological sense. For if one merely looks to other passages, such as Hebrews 12:10 and Ephesians 4:24, one sees that the Bible speaks of a regenerated Christian becoming holy, in a moral sense, like God, not that he can become a god through self-effort.

Q: Does the Mormon Church believe that women can only gain access to heaven with a special pass or codewords?

A: No.

While the woman doesn’t gain access through special passes and code words in Mormonism, the woman cannot gain access into heaven without her husband, and the certificate of worthiness that only Joseph Smith hands out to those on the journey. In other words, for a woman—or man for that matter—to enter the portals of heaven, she must be married to another Mormon, in the Mormon Temple, by a Mormon authority. No man or woman is allowed to enter the Celestial abode without each other, and more importantly the woman without the man. As Erasus Snow once said,

Do the women, when they pray, remember their husbands? Do you pray for brother Brigham? Yes, you should always pray for him. But when you pray for him, do you pray also for your own husband, that he may have the inspiration of the Almighty to lead and govern his family as the lord? Do you uphold your husband before God as your lord? "What!--my husband to be my lord?" I ask, Can you get into the celestial kingdom without him? Have any of you been there? You will remember that you never got into the celestial kingdom without the aid of your husband. If you did, it was because your husband was away, and some one had to act proxy for him. No woman will get into the celestial kingdom, except her husband receives her, if she is worthy to have a husband; and if not, somebody will receive her as a servant.—Journal of Discourses, 5:291.

And as for that certificate of worthiness, Brigham Young argued,

…no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith. From the day that the Priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding-up scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are—I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his consent. He holds the keys of that kingdom for the last dispensation—the keys to rule in the spirit-world; and he rules there triumphantly, for he gained full power and a glorious victory over the power of Satan while he was yet in the flesh, and was a martyr to his religion and to the name of Christ, which gives him a most perfect victory in the spirit-world. He reigns there as supreme a being in his sphere, capacity, and calling, as God does in heaven. Many will exclaim—"Oh, that is very disagreeable! It is preposterous! We cannot bear the thought!" But it is true.— Journal of Discourses, 7:289.

Q: Does the Mormon Church believe that women must serve men on both Earth and in heaven?

A: Absolutely not. Mormons believe that women and men are complete equals before God and in relation to the blessings available in the Church.

Indeed, Mormon females are so equal to the Mormon males that none of them are allowed to hold any of the hierarchical positions in the Church. Mormon females are so equal to the Mormon males that if polygamy had not been quashed by the United States Government in the late 1800s, thousands (millions?) of females would have lived in competition with each other over the right to sleep with her one husband. Mormon females are so equal to the Mormon males that even Heavenly Mother, the alleged supreme goddess wife of Heavenly Father, is kept in obscurity and mystery. That, in part, is how completely equal Mormon females are to Mormon males.

Q: Is there such a thing as Mormon "underwear"? if so, are all Mormons required to wear it? What does it symbolize?

A: Like members of many religious faiths, Latter-day Saints wear religious clothing. But members of other faiths — typically those involved in permanent pastoral ministries or religious services — usually wear religious garments as outer ceremonial vestments or symbols of recognition. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, garments are worn beneath street clothing as a personal and private reminder of commitments to God.

The amount of equivocating going on here between the accoutrements that ministers wear and the undergarments that Mormons wear is almost mind-boggling. The fact is there are not that many ministers who wear robes and vests as a part of their ministerial positions, and those who do wear them do not have them adorned with occultic symbolism stemming back to the days of the Mystery Religions and Freemasonry. Additionally, Christian ministers do not believe that by wearing their garments that they provide any exterior or interior protection from the powers or forces of the evil one. Mormons do, though. So, for the Mormon hierarchy to be trying to equate their superstitious donning of occultic underwear with the sometimes worn vestments of certain Christian ministers borders on incredulity.

Garments are considered sacred by Church members and are not regarded as a topic for casual conversation.

This is another typical maneuver by those in Mormonism who do not want the truth to be told about their religion. The claim of sacredness is substituted for an honest reply.

Q: Does the Mormon Church believe in the existence of another physical planet or planets, where Mormons will "rule" after their death and ascension?

A: No.

This is an absolute lie. It is the hope of every Mormon male to eventually evolve to the point of becoming a god, and then rule his own planet, somewhere in the universe, with his wife or wives. In the Introduction to the Mormon Church manual Achieving a Celestial Marriage it tells the reader not only about the importance of marriage, but where the marriage will ultimately play itself out in eternity.

There is probably no decision in all of life, and perhaps in eternity, that has a more profound effect on our eternal destiny than that concerning marriage. In the relationships of husband and wife and parent and child we begin to approach the divine calling of godhood. Our Heavenly Father and mother live in an exalted state because they achieved a celestial marriage. As we achieve a like marriage we shall become as they are and begin the creation of worlds for our own spirit children [emphasis added].

Why the Mormon Church would deny such an important aspect of their belief system, and then lie about it, is amazing.

Q: What specifically does the Mormon Church say about African-Americans and Native Americans?

A: Mormons believe that all mankind are sons and daughters of God and should be loved and respected as such. The blessings of the gospel are available to all.

Again, the avoidance of answering the question, when it is obvious that the questioner wants to know if the Mormon Church is still as racist as is used to be leaves one shaking one’s head. The Mormon Church believes that African and Native Americans are cursed because they supposedly did not fight valiantly in a pre-earth war. The Church has never apologized for its racist overtones, nor has it ever explained why it contradicted Brigham Young’s pronouncement that black men would not receive the Mormon priesthood until the all the worthy white males received their positions first. That contradiction took place in 1978 when Mormon President Spencer W. Kimball, for political reasons, overturned Young’s declaration. The fact remains that racism is still quite prevalent in the Mormon Church, and will likely continue to be until the old guard is removed, which in all likelihood could also spell the end of Mormonism as we know it.

Q: What are or were the "Golden Plates"?

A: The Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith from records made on plates of gold, similar to metal plates that have been found in other ancient cultures. It contained a history of peoples in the Western Hemisphere including an appearance by the Savior to them. As such, the Book of Mormon is considered a second testimony of Jesus Christ.

While the Mormon officials answer the question correctly in terms of what the Golden Plates led to, the Book of Mormon, their remaining commentary is abjectly false. There is absolutely no tangible evidence for any of the monolithic civilizations reportedly to have existed in the Book of Mormon. For years Mormon archeologists have tried to discern the location of the Lamanites and the Nephites, uncover artifacts surrounding their existence, or even historical records substantiating their existence, and nothing has been discovered; not one thing. More recently the Mormons have attempted to revise history, which would include their beliefs about the existence of Lamanite and Nephite peoples, and despite the effort to equate them with the Mayan and Aztec cultures of Central America, they still have yet to produce anything beyond mere theory and conjecture. Hence, the Book of Mormon is no more a history about peoples living in the Western Hemisphere than it is a second testimony of Jesus Christ.

Q: Are consumption of alcohol and tobacco prohibited or simply discouraged?

A: It is against the teachings of the Church to use alcohol and tobacco or to drink tea and coffee.

Finally, we get a straight answer to a straight question. Now, if we can just get all of those Albertson’s stores that the Mormons own to quit selling alcohol in them. But, whoever said that a double standard was not acceptable among Mormons so long as it provided them with a substantial financial payoff?

Q: Does the Church also ban the consumption of "hot drinks"? And does that apply specifically to caffeinated drinks?

A: It is against the teachings of the Church to use alcohol and tobacco or to drink tea and coffee.

Meanwhile, back to the obfuscation, the answer is “Yes,” hot drinks are forbidden, and “yes,” it does apply to caffeinated drinks. It is part of what the Mormon would term the Word of Wisdom. President David O. McKay stated, “A person’s reaction to his appetites and impulses when they are aroused gives the measure of that person’s character. In such reactions are revealed the man’s power to govern or his forced servility to yield. That phase of the Word of Wisdom, therefore, which refers to intoxicants, drugs, and stimulants, goes deeper than the ill effects upon the body and strikes at the very root of character building itself.”—Conference Report, April 4, 1964. Yet, once again, if the Mormons were only consistent when it comes to forbidding the sale of caffeinated drinks in their places of business.

Q: Why do Mormons go from door to door?

A: Christ admonished his disciples to take the gospel to the world. The Church follows that admonition and sends missionaries throughout the world.

Unfortunately, the Mormons do not take the gospel to the world, nor do they send out missionaries in the true sense of the world. Instead, what Mormons preach is what is biblically deemed “another gospel.” It teaches that while a Jesus made a down payment for sin, in the Garden of Gethsemane, that any desiring to experience “true” salvation, must abide by a whole list of do’s and don’ts set up by the Mormon Church, including denying oneself of all godliness, in this life, before God’s grace is sufficient (Moroni 10:32-33), as well as becoming a full-fledged tither of one’s income to the Mormon Church. As far as missionaries are concerned, from a biblical perspective a missionary was one who not only preached and taught the gospel, but he was one who started up churches, and then either remained as the pastor, or appointed others to facilitate its continued growth, while the missionary set out to start another church elsewhere. What the Mormon Church calls a “missionary” is in reality nothing more than a naïve, cheap-labor salesmen peddling faulty merchandise to those equally too naïve to know the difference.

Q: What do the Mormons believe about the family?

A: Mormons believe that the family is the foundation for this life and the life to come.

The absolute idolatry of Mormonism sticks out in this statement, if it does not anywhere else. Notice that it is the family that has replaced God as the foundation of life, whether in this life and the life to come. That is not to discount the importance of the family, as even God stressed how a man was to leave his parents and cleave unto his wife (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5), and that there was a familial pecking order that ultimately found its headship in the person of Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:22-6:4). But nowhere in the Bible is it said that the family is the foundation for life. Rather we find the apostle Paul telling us that “no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). So, in an appeal that makes everyone feel warm and gushy, the Mormon answering this question managed to expose the utter blasphemy and idolatry of the Mormon religion by placing the family as the foundation of life rather than God himself, further meaning that Mormonism is without a foundation than anyone should place their faith in, including the family.

Q: Can someone who may never marry in life have eternal marriage?

A: God will not withhold blessings from any of his children who may not have the opportunity to marry in this life.

Which answer is completely contrary to what Jesus taught, who said that “in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Matt. 22:30). Now, most Mormons have tried to twist what Jesus said by claiming that he meant that while marriage does not occur in heaven that that doesn’t preclude those already married enjoying a similar state when they enter heaven. But, if humans are like the angels in heaven, in the sense that none of the angels are married, then none of the humans will be either. Whatever marriage takes place will be between Jesus and his bride, the Church. Beyond that, whatever blessings of marriage that the Mormons are hoping for is predicated on biblical ignorance and illusion than on solid biblical principles and reality.