I know many LDS members who read these things get a "sick feeling." This is normal. It is NOT Satan, and it is not God saying this is false. This is the best way I can explain this feeling: this "sick feeling" is like if you grew up without your dad and your mom tells you your whole life he died as a hero, was a fantastic, loving dad and husband. But as a teen or adult you find out that your dad is spending a life sentence for rape, murder, and other atrocities. You would get that same sick feeling. You wouldn't want to believe it, but you know it's true. That is NOT the Devil. That is a fact that goes against everything you grew up believing. You feel like your whole life has been a lie. And no matter how painful it is, no matter how sick about it you feel, no matter how much you wish it wasn't true. The facts are right there and you now know the truth.
We believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit (Ghost) are all one God who exists in three persons. Our God is the ONLY God. There are no other gods and we cannot become gods and goddesses. Isaiah 44:6,8 “Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.” Isaiah 45:18 “Thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:18 also establishes that God himself created the heavens and earth. He did not delegate this work to Jesus (as a separate being as is taught in LDS doctrine) and to Michael the Arc Angel. Even the Book of Mormon teaches that God the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit are one being. Yet, the church does not follow their own doctrine in their own book: Alma 11:26-29 “And Zeezrom said unto him: Thou sayest there is a true and living God? And Amulek said: Yea, there is a true and living God. Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And he answered, No.” 2 Nephi 31:21 also says, “And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen.” Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. John 14:7-11 says, “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.” The apostle Thomas even declared Jesus as God in John 20:26-28 “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” Again, the LDS Church’s own book, The Book of Mormon, backs up this gospel truth but teaches against it: Mosiah 15:1-4 “Abinadi said unto them: I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people. And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son—The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son—And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth.”
God the Father, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit are one God and the ONLY God. We cannot become like God, and we cannot become a god. Isaiah 14: 12- 15 says, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” Satan fell because he wanted to be like God, even worse, he wanted to be higher than God. If we try to be like Him and try to become a god, then we will fall like Satan. There is only one God and none other! We are to follow God’s example, not become a god.
Another new belief for us is that there was no “great apostasy” where the church was completely taken away from the face of the earth. Matthew 16:18 says, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” If there was a great apostasy, then that would be classified as the gates of hell prevailing over the church. But, Jesus said that will never happen! There was no need for Jesus’ church to be restored because it was never lost to begin with. Jesus’ church survived and continued throughout time.
Because there was no “great apostasy” that would mean that salvation/exaltation was given to those during this time period other than what the LDS church has established today. As you know, the LDS church teaches that in order to enter heaven/ the highest degree of heaven we must be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, receive temple endowments, hold a temple recommend, be a full tithe payer, follow the word of wisdom, serve, follow all of God’s commandments, and many more. Nephi taught in 2 Nephi 25:23 “For we labor diligently … to persuade our children … 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 can do” Moroni said, “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32). According to Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “If we use the word salvation to mean ‘exaltation,’ it is premature for any of us to say that we have been ‘saved’ in mortality. That glorious status can only follow the final judgment of Him who is the Great Judge of the living and the dead.” (Ensign, May, 1998). According to LDS teachings, we can never know for sure if we will make it into God’s kingdom until we have died and have been judged. However, 1 John 5:13 says, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” We can KNOW if we will make it into God’s kingdom or not. We don’t have to guess or worry about it. How can we know? First, Romans 3:10 states, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” ALL of us are sinners. No one is more righteous than the other and that includes worthiness to enter a temple. Romans 5:6,8 says, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” There is no “after all we can do” because we have no strength of our own to do all we can do. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death; but, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Jesus fully satisfied “the wages of sin” when He offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. And, on the cross, He purchased a gift that He offers to all. The gift is ETERNAL LIFE! A gift is not a gift if it must be earned. Eternal life was bought and paid for by Jesus. A gift is also not ours if we do not accept the gift. We cannot earn eternal life by our works (service, temple attendance, tithing, etc). In Galatians 2:21 the Apostle Paul said, “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” If we could earn eternal life by keeping the law and working our way into heaven, which would mean making ourselves worthy, then Christ would have died in vain. But Christ did not die in vain, He died to save us. 1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” He sacrificed himself for our sins on the cross, not in Gethsemane.
If we cannot work our way into heaven, then how do we get into heaven? Romans 10:9-10 teaches, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” I know most, if not all, members of the LDS church know that Jesus sacrificed himself for us. But there is a difference between knowledge and believing with your heart. For instance, we (Braden and Shreyna) were born and raised in the LDS church. We knew (in our heads) that Jesus died for us, and because of that he forgives us with our sins. But when we did something wrong, we felt God would forgive everyone else but us. We felt everyone else was more righteous for God do forgive them. Yet, we knew that he died for us, but it was hard for us to believe he would forgive us and accept our broken heart and repentance. With believing in our heart that Jesus died and was raised from the dead, we know longer worry if God will forgive us. We know we are unworthy, because we are all sinners, but we have accepted God’s gift and invited him into our lives and heart. It’s because of that acceptance of His gift that He forgives us and we KNOW of a surety our salvation, which we did not earn through works. In Ephesians 2:8-9, the Apostle Paul preached the same message, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Grace is not granted “after all we can do” or “if we deny ourselves of all ungodliness.” Grace is God’s gift to us in spite of our unrighteousness. Grace is not grace if it must be earned. Do you KNOW if you have been saved through God gift of grace? All you need to do is A) admit you are a sinner and ask God to forgive you. B) Believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. And C) Confess that Jesus is your Lord. We know we are sinners, and we ask him every day to forgive us of our sins. Being saved from our sins by excepting God’s gift does not give us a free ticket to sin. When we are saved, we become a “new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17) with the desire to do righteous things. But we are still human, we still battle our desires of the flesh. We still need to repent of our sins after being saved. Being saved is the beginning of a relationship with God. We need to read and study the Word of God, the Bible to grow and strengthen our relationship with Him. We believe in our hearts that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. We love sharing the good news Of Jesus’ loving sacrifice and declaring him as our Lord, Savior, and God to those around us.
Below is an essay explanation of provable points as to why we have decided to leave the church. These points are not spiritual based, but fact based. These reasons are just a tip of the iceberg for us. Again, we know this is probably the longest letter you have most likely received, but we wanted to share this with you, not as “anti” literature, but to help you understand where we are coming from and where so many others like us are coming from.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints (AKA LDS church or Mormon) claims to be the only true and living church on the earth, just as it was originally established by Jesus Christ during His ministry (“Restoration”). Many members of the church believe this teaching. Still, there are some who do not believe that the church is the restored church of Jesus Christ. There is an unspoken fear of looking at the reasons why some members question and sometimes leave the church. Church leaders of today have cautioned members about looking at information about the church that is not published by the church (Uchtdorf). There used to be a time when general authority church leaders encouraged members to investigate the church and prove the truthfulness of the church. J. Reuben Clark who died in 1961 was a counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS church when he advised the members to investigate the church because it will not be damaged if it is true. If the church is not true, then it should be damaged (qtd. in Palmer 39). It is time to stop being afraid to investigate The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. With members of the church leaving their religion after finding out hidden truths, there are strong evidences that point to the church not being the only true church restored on the earth. The members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints should not believe the church's claim to being the only true church as established by Jesus Christ.
Devout members discuss the reasons why their fellow brothers and sisters of the church fall away from their religion is because they have either been offended, have a desire to sin, never gained their own testimony, studied lies about the church, or stopped doing their basic daily spiritual activities (Dehlin “Top”). These myths are a misconception to the real reasons why people leave the church. Most Post-Mormons (and those still “in the closet”) were devout, true believing members who held leadership positions in the church and served missions (Dehlin “Understanding” 5). John Dehlin conducted an online survey consisting of 3,086 disbelievers who have left or are still in the closet to figure out the real reason why once-devout-members leave the church. He discovered that in accordance with the myths, the desire to sin and being offended at church only ranked at 4% (each) of the sample. In contrast, the top four reasons for leaving are: no longer believing in the church’s doctrine/theories at 74%, studying the real church history at 70%, losing faith in Joseph Smith (the founding prophet of the church) at 70%, and no longer believing the Book of Mormon at 65% of the survey sample. The majority of the respondents had multiple major issues that helped them decide to leave the church (Dehlin “Understanding” 8). According to the study, the desire to sin and being offended are not the main reasons why members choose to leave the church.
Investigating the validity of one’s own religion is no easy task. It takes a mental and emotional toll on the student of said religion. It can feel like the world is turned upside down and the student may no longer know what is true and what is false. Regardless, in the name of seeking truth, it can be worth it if it is the student’s desire. For the members leaving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints, losing belief in the church’s doctrine and theology is the biggest proponent to leaving the church; some of which include the origins of the church, the Adam-God theory and the authenticity of the “Book of Abraham”. Examining the truthfulness of a church consists of spiritual matter, which is impossible to prove or disprove and will consist of speculations through looking at consistencies. However, there are some elements claimed by the LDS church that can be proven through science and evidence.
It is taught within the church and in the mission field that in the spring of 1820, a fourteen year old boy named Joseph Smith desired to know which church was true and he would join that church. While pondering, he came across the scripture James 1:5 which encourages readers to ask God for answers to questions. Inspired by this scripture, Smith went into the woods behind his house to pray. At the beginning of his prayer, Smith was engulfed by darkness that prevented him from praying. This darkness was Satan’s power. When he was about to give up fighting the darkness and give into it, he saw a light shining from above and slowly descend onto him. In the light he saw two people, God the Father and Jesus Christ. Jesus told Smith not to join any of the churches because they have all become corrupt. He started telling the preachers of different sects his vision. He recounted that all the sects were united in persecuting him for his vision because they believed that visions and revelations stopped when the apostles died. Smith professed the truthfulness of his vision even though no one believed him (Smith 48-51).
Joseph Smith’s first vision experience is a remarkable, faith promoting story when taken at face value. However, when the story is investigated, one can find many different versions of the first vision. The table below is a compilation of eight different accounts of the first vision and exposes the differences and similarities between each version (Church).
The table is in two separate pieces, but make one complete table.
There are enough similarities and themes throughout each version that to listeners in general would not seem enough to sound fabricated. To a trained and observant listener, the differences might seem too vast to be believable. Joseph Smith tossed back and forth between seeing a pillar of light and a pillar of fire. At one point he combined the two and said that it was a pillar of light so bright that he thought the leaves would catch on fire. He couldn’t make up his mind as to who he saw in the vision; angels, Jesus, God and Jesus, or two identical heavenly beings. With such a magnificent, spiritual event, it would be difficult to forget who exactly was seen. The personages in the vision should have stayed the same all throughout the vision. The message from the heavenly beings kept changing as well even though they had a common theme. Some messages only mentioned being forgiven of sins, others mentioned forgiveness, and to never join the abominable churches, and others only said to never join the corrupt churches. The themes stayed the same, but the stories kept changing. If Smith was standing trial in the court of law today sharing each of these eight accounts with the jury, he would be found guilty of lying. In the court, the accounts would not be used as proof in Smith’s favor, but rather to prove that he is not credible (Green, Nesson, and Murray).
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints
has admitted to the multiple various accounts of the first vision in an essay on their website. The church mentions some of the critics’ view on the different variations. They support their belief by stating that it is natural to have accounts differing in emphasis and details when discussing with different types of audiences (First). Considering the audience is an important factor when talking or writing to an audience. It happens every day. Joseph Smith most likely did consider the audience he was talking to. However, he goes beyond considering the audience. Changing the story from Jesus Christ and God as the characters in the vision to two identical heavenly beings is an example of considering the audience. Changing the characters from a host of angels to Jesus Christ and God is going beyond taking the audience into consideration; that is changing the story. Modifying a pillar of light to a pillar of fire is changing the story. Altering the message of the vision from being forgiven of sins and never mentioning the corruption of all churches to never mentioning being forgiven but mentioning all churches are corrupt is changing the story. Some would think that the altering message would be Smith considering the audience, but he, himself, said that he could not deny what he saw and heard, nor did he even dare to deny it (Smith 51). If he was so convicted and could not be persuaded to deny it, then he would have no need to change his story. He changed his story even when talking to members of the church. It would be nonessential for him to consider who he was talking to when conversing with different members of his own congregation.
Another issue with Smith’s story is the message he supposedly received that all churches are an abomination and he is forbidden to join any of the sects. The alleged first vision event occurred in 1820. In 1828, while translating the Book of Mormon, Smith joined the local Methodist Episcopal Church and had his name put on the class-book. Emma Smith’s close relatives, the Lewis brothers, who were members of the Methodist church Smith joined were not pleased by the disgrace of having Smith join the church. Smith withdrew from the church three days later to avoid having his character put on trial by the church (Wyl 80). There is also evidence that Smith’s family didn’t leave the Presbyterian Church until 1828 as well (Brodie 24). If Smith and his family completely believed in his vision and the message he received, they never would have tried to join or stayed in any other church. There is also evidence that there was no mention of angels, visions, or seeing Jesus and God until much later (Wyl 80). There was no mention of Smith’s soul shattering vision experience in the newspapers, in Lucy Smith’s 1831 letter to her brother, or anything else (Brodie 23-24). It was common during Smith’s childhood and early adult life for men and women to have similar visionary experiences, including Smith’s own father. It would not have been difficult for him to find people to believe his visions. Some of these other visionary people claimed to have had dreams or visions of Christ coming and a destruction of the majority of the world to usher in the millennium (Brodie 22). These conflicts increase the chances of Smith’s vision being a fabrication of his imagination. Smith’s claim of no one believing him and being persecuted by everyone is unsound. If he was persecuted in 1820 for his vision, it would not have been by everyone. There would have been plenty of others who would have believed him from the beginning because of their own visionary experience or simply because of believing in dreams and visions.
The children of the LDS church learn a favorite song called “Follow the Prophet.” The children are taught to always follow the prophet and never go astray from his teachings. The prophet is the only one who will always teach the people the truth and never teach false doctrine. In The LDS October 2010 General Conference, by Elder Claudio R. M. Costa of the Presidency of the Seventy reiterated in his talk “Obedience to the Prophets” the importance of following the prophet. He reminds the listeners of the fourteen essential points in following the prophet. The first point is the prophet is the only person on Earth who can communicate the Lord’s desire for everything. Second, the current prophet is more important than the scriptures (i.e. the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price). The third essential point is the current prophet is more important than past prophets who have died. The fourth point and the last one relevant to this topic is the prophet will never guide the church awry. Because of the Lord’s perfect righteousness He is not allowed and cannot allow His prophet to teach the church false doctrine. If any prophet tries to teach false doctrine, then the Lord will remove the prophet from his calling and place a righteous prophet in his stead (Costa). On April 9, 1852 the second prophet of the church, President Brigham Young introduced a doctrine that surprised his audience and followers. He taught the church that Adam, the first man on earth, is the Archangel Michael, Heavenly and Earthly Father, and God. Adam is the only God anyone needs to acknowledge. Adam created Earth and brought seeds from another planet to plant on this Earth. Adam, not the Holy Ghost and not Eloheim, is the Father of Jesus Christ. Jesus was conceived by Adam and the Virgin Mary in the same way that Adam and Eve conceived Cain and Abel. He proclaimed this doctrine as truth and it is a great mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven. The belief of the Adam-God doctrine is essential to one’s Salvation (Young “Self”). Almost eighteen years later, Young exclaimed that he had never taught a sermon that could not be considered scripture (Young “Latter”). Another three years later, Young gave another address to the members of the church stating that he is appalled by how many LDS members still do not believe the doctrine he started teaching twenty-one years ago that Adam is God and Father (Young “Discourse”) of all men. Brigham young clearly taught that Adam is not only the first man on Earth, but also the same man who created Earth, and is God. Young wanted everyone to believe the doctrine he was teaching. He didn’t just teach this one time, he taught it repetitively throughout his years as the prophet of the church. He taught that his teachings are so correct and true that it can be considered scripture. However, not everyone agreed with Young’s teachings both during and after his time. One hundred-twenty-four years later the twelfth prophet since Joseph Smith, Spencer W. Kimball, made a declaration to the church in regards to the Adam-God doctrine. He warned the members against doctrines that do not line up with the teachings of the scriptures including the Adam-God doctrine. He cautioned everyone to not believe Brigham Young’s teaching of Adam being God and other inaccurate doctrines (Kimball). It was established earlier that the prophet is the only one on Earth who will not lead God’s church astray. The current prophet is more important than the scriptures and past prophets. Because the prophet’s words are more important than scriptures, then his words do not have to coincide with the words of the scriptures. Brigham Young would then be in the right to teach a doctrine that is not in line with the scriptures. However, Spencer W. Kimball declared Young’s teachings as a false doctrine and the church now rejects it. If the prophet will never lead God’s church astray, then Young’s Adam-God doctrine would still be true today just as it was in his day. The church now exclaims it is a false doctrine. Then that would mean Brigham Young was a false prophet for teaching a false doctrine; or Kimball and every prophet after him are now false prophets because they denounce the Adam-God doctrine. Even if Kimball is correct, today’s prophet can still teach doctrine that tomorrow’s prophet will deem as a false doctrine. It has always been taught that the prophets as mortal men are fallible, but it also goes to show that when they are claiming to speak in behalf of the Lord, their words, supposedly from the Lord, can still be fallible.
Another topic of a prophet being fallible speaking as a mouthpiece for God is Joseph Smith and his translation of the “Book of Abraham.” This is another big problem for doubting members and those who have left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. In the “Book of Abraham” in the Pearl of Great Price the life of Father Abraham of the Bible is recapped and given in more detail in certain areas. The book overviews Abraham’s journeys, gives an account of a revelation Abraham is given of the cosmos, life in Heaven before coming to Earth including the great war in Heaven between Lucifer and Jesus, the creation and the fall of Adam and Eve in more detail than the Bible gives. The validity of the “Book of Abraham” and, because of modern technology, the revelation of the cosmos are the two topics of the “Book of Abraham” that is able to be proven.
In 1835 Michael Chandler presented Egyptian papyri to Joseph Smith asking him to translate it. Smith said they were the writings of Abraham and Joseph of Egypt. Smith paid $2400 to obtain the papyri and the mummies Chandler had regarding these two Biblical figures. Smith translated part of the Papyri into the “Book of Abraham.” He declared the papyri were Abraham’s writings while in Egypt, along with Joseph of Egypt’s writings (Palmer 26-27). He translated what he determined to be the “Book of Abraham.” In 1861 T. Deveria noticed errors throughout Smith’s translation which will be discussed later. The Papyri eventually ended up in a museum in Chicago. It was believed that they were lost in the great Chicago fire in 1871. The lost Egyptian papyri once owned by Smith were eventually acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. On November 27, 1967 the museum gave the eleven remnants of Smith’s papyri to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints (Ritner 162). The Papyri was once again available for evaluation and translation. Klaus Baer completely translated the remaining artifacts (Ritner 163). The real translation of the papyri regards the afterlife of an Egyptian priest named Hor. Joseph Smith’s papyri is a funerary script for Hor called the “Book of Breathing.” It is to help make sure the individual’s after life is blessed. Their status is elevated to divinity and they are promised rejuvenating powers which includes the human senses and the breath of life. For a deceased individual to have their “Book of Breathing” it grants permission to have access to the gods. The papyri absolutely never mentions Abraham (Ritner 166). Even the LDS church admits the differences in translation between Smith and Egyptologist scholars both Mormon and non-Mormon. They also point out that Abraham is never mentioned in the scholarly translation. Much of the church’s explanation for the differences is comparable to the game “telephone”; messages can change from one writer to another. The problem with this explanation is that Smith, Egyptologist scholars in the 1800’s and today all translated the same exact papyri. The particular papyri of interest was never changed or rewritten. The other explanations given by the church are all speculation, none of which are facts, unlike their scholarly counterparts. In the church’s conclusion they try to convince their readers that the debate simply cannot be settled. This statement is clearly a fallacy because the Egyptian writings have been decoded and proven for well over one hundred years. The church encourages its readers to ignore what the scholars have said and discover the truthfulness of the “Book of Abraham” through studying the teachings of the book, pray faithfully to know the truth, and have the Spirit confirm the truth to each individual (“Translation”). While this may be a good method to use on matters that require faith (e.g. the existence of God, Jesus’ redeeming grace, etc), the truthfulness of the “Book of Abraham” can be tested thanks to the remaining papyri artifacts and it should be and has been tested.
The other problem with the “Book of Abraham” is the teachings of the cosmos. In Facsimile three point five in the “Book of Abraham” Smith interprets and teaches that the sun borrows light from Kolob (the planet closest to Heaven) through a governing power. The sun only governs fifteen planets and stars including the moon. With modern day technology, it is well known that all of these claims and teachings are false (Smith 41). In the third chapter of the “Book of Abraham” these claims were given as facts (Smith 34). In addition, the people in Smith’s time believed the sun has a solid surface, and people live on the surrounding planets including the sun (qtd. in Palmer 22). The belief of inhabitants on other planets in this solar system and the surface of the sun were not taught as doctrine but were the beliefs of the people, members of the church, and scholars of the time. NASA has discovered that the sun does not have any solid surface. The sun’s core creates energy which powers the sun and supplies all the light and heat Earth receives. The sun does not borrow light from Kolob or any other planet (“Our” 6). It is now common knowledge that there are far more than fifteen stars and planets that are influenced by the sun. In the sun’s solar system, there are eight planets (including Earth), five dwarf planets, 146 moons, and twenty-seven moons waiting for formal acceptance as moons, plus all the stars that can be seen (“Our” 4). That is definitely more than fifteen stars and planets combined. It is also general knowledge that Earth is the only inhabited planet in this solar system.
There are insurmountable evidences showing that the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints should not believe the church's claim to being the only true church as established by Jesus Christ. The examples shown here are just the very beginning of the falsification of the church. The credibility of Joseph Smith is flimsy at best. False doctrine (e.g. the Adam-God doctrine) was taught and then later on covered up and pretended like it was never taught as doctrine. Because of these false doctrines being claimed as coming from God, the issues of false prophets are added into the tangled pile of issues that drive once-devout members away from the LDS church. The validity of the “Book of Abraham” has been proven false over and over again by both Mormon and non-Mormon Scholars due to the translation and the teachings of the cosmos. To be truly honest with one’s own self and be genuinely objective, anyone, including devout LDS members need to sincerely consider the facts that point against the church. There are too many facts and probabilities against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints for the church to still be true. There are spiritual aspects mentioned that cannot be proven or disproved, but there are some elements that can be and as in most everything, there are different perspectives of the issues at hand. For Post-Mormons in general, these are just a few reasons why they no longer believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints to be the only true existing church as established by Jesus Christ during his ministry.
(NOTE, not a part of the essay): Some of the sources on here are from books written by other people who have left the LDS church. I used some of these source to add more variety to the sources. If you feel so inclined, please follow the sources yourself to find the first hand source. Thank you for taking the time to read this all the way through. I am more than happy to share more information with you, but I do not need an explanation as to why I should come back to the church. Our minds have been set, and cannot be altered. This was not an easy decision for us. Why tried hard to stay in the church. We searched for explanations for these things to keep us in the church, but we could not find any. We have, as noted earlier, found a relationship with Christ! We no longer just know of Him and what He did, we now believe in our hearts of His sacrificial love for us! We have never been closer to God as we are now, and we are drawing closer to Him every day! We love you, and most importantly, God loves you!
Works Cited
Brodie, Fawn M. No Man Knows My History. United States of America: First Vintage Books
Edition, 1995. Print.
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Costa, Claudio R. M. “Obedience to the Prophet.” Ensign November 2010. Lds.org. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. November 2010. Web. 19 October 2015. https://www.lds.org/ensign/2010/11/obedience-to-the-prophets?lang=eng.
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