Monday, May 31

The Bible vs. Joseph Smith-Nephi

I just got this great documentary and was super excited to watch it. I even took notes! This dvd follows a Christian and a Mormon having a discussion about the prophets of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The challenge is simple. These two men put certain prophets to the test found in Deuteronomy 18:20-22- "But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death. You may say to yourselves, 'How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?' If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him." This says that you can test the prophets very simply. Did what they prophecy come true? Did it happen? Because only God knows what the future holds so only true prophecy is from God. If a "prophet" says something that does not actually happen, that message is not from God and he shall be put to death, or be made separate. The first prophet put to the test is the prophet Nephi of the Book of Mormon. I Nephi 13:16 says "And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away." Nephi claims that the Bible in accurate and the early church scribes corrupted the Bible by taking out "plain and precious" parts of scripture. That the Bible is incomplete. The "abominable church" mentioned is the Christian church. The Mormon church claims that monks copying the scriptures used one manuscript to copy from and when it became faded, they made another one to copy from. Historians tell that during the time of the early church, the gospels were needed at many places at once so the originals were copied and the copies sent to new churches. These churches then copied these copies and sent them to other new churches. If they were changed in any way, the change would stick out among all the others that were the same. Also, careful time was devoted to the copying of scripture. They say that if even one iota (the smallest mark in the written language) was wrong, they started over. Noone would be able to get away with taking out so much "plain and precious" parts of the Bible. Not only that, but with the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we have been able to compare these ancient scrolls with the modern Bible. These comparisons have proven the Bible to be accurate. Of course minor translations and changes have been made, but only things such as using the word "but" instead of "however." Nothing along the lines of what the Book of Mormon claims to have happened during the time of the early church. Certainly nothing that would change the content and meaning of what is being said. By this evidence that the Bible has not been corrupted or had parts removed from it, Nephi has failed the test of the prophets. The prophecy is false and is not from God. Therefore, as Deuteronomy says, he shall be put to death. This could also mean be made separate from. One should separate himself from Nephi and his teachings because it is not from God.

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