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Theology & Politics

In Defense of the Truth — Volume 1

Every Mormon teaching systematically put to the test in the light of the Holy Bible

  • 362 pages
  • 2021
  • Pocket 105×148 mm
  • pt
  • en
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In this book the critical points used by many to disqualify the Mormons as non-Christians are taken up one by one — and addressed from the point of view of those who raise them. Using the very tool they use, the Holy Bible, the arguments are compared with the text, to give the reader a second point of view capable of taking him out of a hostile paradigm and letting him understand for himself whether Mormons are Christians or not, and whether Mormonism agrees with the Bible.

Underneath almost every accusation lies a single difference: the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not depend entirely on the Bible, while other Christians accept the Bible as the only book containing all the truths God has given to men. The Mormons hold that if every Bible in the world had been destroyed, the doctrines and teachings of the Church would still agree with that same Bible — because they were received by direct revelation — and that they appeal to the Bible only to prove that what they received agrees with it.

From there the book follows the history of the accusations, with the dates. On 11 June 1829 Joseph Smith registered the Book of Mormon as author and proprietor of the copyright, to comply with the press law — and from the outset he refused the authorship, attributing divine origin to the book. The manuscripts were delivered night after night to the printer E. B. Grandin, in Palmyra, New York, as a safety measure. Printing ran from August 1829 until almost 26 March 1830, and a week after the book was advertised for sale the Rochester Daily Advertiser was already calling it «the vilest imposture ever practised».

Then come the explanations, each replacing the last as it falls. Alexander Campbell, founder of the Church of Christ, published in February 1831 the demonstration that the origin was human — reprinted in 1832 under the title «Delusions», it became the first worldwide-accepted explanation. Four years later the authorship thesis no longer held: the book vastly exceeded what a twenty-year-old farmer with very little schooling could write, and everything indicates that Campbell himself acknowledged the error of his first judgement. An educated man behind the curtain then became necessary, and they chose Sidney Rigdon. And a document became necessary: the authors of «Mormonism Unveiled» declared they held a manuscript of Solomon Spaulding, which they refused to publish. It fed fifty years of literature against the book. In 1884 the manuscript was found and published, and it was proved that its contents had nothing to do with the matter.

The book also deals with the pamphlet attributed to David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses, whose truthfulness and source were never established — and with what Whitmer had published in the New York Times shortly before he died: that he had always been faithful to that testimony, and that he submitted it to the world with God as judge of the sincerity of his motives. Many of the most notable citizens of his town signed a certificate attesting to his integrity. What stands is the sentence with which Orson Pratt framed the question in 1840, and which is the only honest way to frame it: «If true, it is one of the most important messages ever sent from God to man. If false, it is one of the boldest, most cunning and most wicked impostures ever spread in the world.»

In this book

12 chapters · 67 sections

  1. 01 Chapter 1 — Are Mormons Christians?
  2. 02 Chapter 2 — The Visit of the Father and the Son to the Young Joseph Smith 1
    • ACCOUNTS OF OLIVER COWDERY
  3. 03 Chapter 3 — Important Considerations from Joseph Smith's Account 3
    • TESTIMONY OF THE EIGHT WITNESSES OF THE BOOK OF MORMON
    • THE RESTORATION OF THE AARONIC AND MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOODS
    • THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
  4. 04 Chapter 4 — Was Man Created in the Image and Likeness of God? 6
    • GOD THREE AND ONE OR THREE IN ONE?
    • DIVINITY AND DISTINCTION OF GOD THE FATHER, JESUS CHRIST THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
    • JESUS CHRIST IS JEHOVAH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
    • ADAM IS MICHAEL, THE ARCHANGEL?
    • MOSES' TESTIMONY CONCERNING THE PERSONALITY OF GOD
    • PAUL'S TESTIMONY CONCERNING THE PERSONALITY OF GOD
  5. 05 Chapter 5 — The Sacred Books for Mormons 8
    • THE BOOK OF MORMON
    • Testimony of the Twelve Apostles to the Truth of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants
    • TRANSLATION AND HISTORICAL AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM
    • THE TRANSLATION AND THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM
    • THE PAPYRI
    • THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM AND THE ANCIENT WORLD
    • CONCLUSION OF THIS CHAPTER
    • RESOURCES AND SOURCES FOR THIS CHAPTER
  6. 06 Chapter 6 — Mormon Doctrines: The Articles of Faith and Article 1
  7. 07 Chapter 7 — Mormon Doctrines: Article of Faith 2 — The Transgression 1
    • TRANSGRESSION AND ITS RESULTS
  8. 08 Chapter 8 — Mormon Doctrines: Article of Faith 3 — Salvation by Grace 4
    • ARTICLE OF FAITH 3
    • SAVED BY GRACE OR BY WORKS
    • CAN FLESH AND BLOOD INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
    • SHEDDING INNOCENT BLOOD OR DENYING THE HOLY GHOST HAS NO FORGIVENESS
  9. 09 Chapter 9 — Mormon Doctrines: Article of Faith 5 — Authority in the Ministry 3
    • LEGITIMATE AND FALSE TEACHERS
    • PAID CLERGY
    • ANCIENT APOSTLES AND PROPHETS
  10. 10 Chapter 10 — Mormon Doctrines: Article of Faith 6 — The Organization of the Church 11
    • CAN ANY CHURCH LEAD US TO CHRIST?
    • IF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS IS TRUE, WHY ARE THERE FEW PEOPLE IN IT?
    • THE ONLY CHURCH THAT POSSESSES GOD'S PRIESTHOOD
    • JESUS CHRIST AS HEAD OF THE CHURCH — MORMON OR JOSEPH SMITH?
    • THE SAME ORGANIZATION AS THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
    • WHO COMES FIRST, APOSTLES OR PROPHETS?
    • THE APPEARANCE OF MORONI
    • THE RESTORATION OF THE PRIESTHOOD
    • THE CONTROVERSIES OF THE RESTORATION OF THE PRIESTHOOD
    • FULFILLED PROPHECIES OF JOSEPH SMITH
    • UNFULFILLED PROPHECIES – ACCORDING TO THE ACCUSERS
  11. 11 Chapter 11 — Mormon Doctrines: Article of Faith 8 — The Book of Mormon 4
    • THE BOOK OF MORMON IS ALSO THE WORD OF GOD
    • LOST SCRIPTURES
    • CONTRADICTIONS IN THE HOLY BIBLE
    • IDENTICAL PROPHECIES AND PASSAGES IN BOTH THE BIBLE AND THE BOOK OF MORMON
  12. 12 Chapter 12 — Mormon Doctrines: Various Doctrines 26
    • IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?
    • WILL ONLY 144,000 STAND BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD?
    • GENEALOGY
    • BAPTISMS FOR THE DEAD
    • WORD OF WISDOM
    • MUST MISSIONARIES (ELDERS) BE MARRIED?
    • CAN WE BECOME AS GOD IS?
    • WAS GOD ONCE A MAN?
    • ETERNAL MARRIAGE
    • POLYGAMY. IT IS A PRINCIPLE OF GOD
    • ELIJAH AND THE PROPHET ELIAS
    • MARRIAGE
    • WAS CHRIST MARRIED?
    • IS GOD MARRIED?
    • OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE NAMES OF JESUS CHRIST AND OF JOSEPH SMITH
    • JOSEPH SMITH MEETS ALL THE REQUIREMENTS OF A PROPHET OF GOD
    • THE NEED FOR REVELATION
    • MORMONS HAVE REVELATION
    • MIRACLES IN THE MORMON CHURCH
    • THE SYMBOLISM OF THE SACRAMENT OR THE LORD'S SUPPER
    • POSSIBLE PROPHECY OF THE RISE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON
    • POSSIBLE DOCTRINAL CONTRADICTION IN THE BOOK OF MORMON
    • THE DOCTRINE OF ATONEMENT BY THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD
    • THE PRIESTHOOD DENIED TO BLACKS
    • THE GREAT APOSTASY – THE FALLING AWAY FROM TRUTH AFTER THE DEATHS OF CHRIST'S APOSTLES
    • A PROPHETIC PROMISE TO THOSE WHO READ THE BOOK OF MORMON

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