Mormon Dilemma 81

17 October

Mormon Dilemma 81

Journal of Discourses, 1:39;There is not that being that ever had the privilege of hearing the way of life and salvation set before him as it is written in the New Testament, and in the Book of Mormon, and in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, by a Latter-day Saint, that can say that Jesus lives, that his Gospel is true; and at the same time say that Joseph Smith was not a Prophet of God.” – Brigham Young

 

Mormon Doctrine, pg. 842;These Three Witnesses later left the Church and became enemies of the Prophet, but throughout their entire lives each of them remained steadfast in bearing testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, in their latter years, returned to the Church and died in full fellowship. (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, pp. 222-228.)

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pg. 1566;After Whitmer left the Church, he moved to Richmond, Missouri, and opened a livery stable, which he ran until 1888. A respected citizen in the community, he served on fair boards, was a member of the city council, and was elected mayor. Over his lifetime, hundreds of visitors inquired about and heard his testimony of the Book of Mormon. A year before his death Whitmer wrote a pamphlet, An Address to All Believers in Christ (1887), apparently to justify his separation from the Church. In the pamphlet, he again gave witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon, but claimed that Joseph Smith drifted into errors after completing the translation.

I’ve learned over the years there is no such thing as coincidence and today is one of the proofs if you will, of what I mean.

I placed an article on the site earlier today and just as I do each day I also placed a witnessing tip of the day. 

http://lifeafterministry.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/book-of-mormon-witnesses

http://lifeafterministry.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/tip-of-the-day-october-17

Now I wrote this calendar for witnessing tips about ten years ago.  Each day I copy and paste the entry for that day of the year on the site without having to give much thought to the order of things because I’ve already done those years ago.  (The entry for the Journal of Discourses was the witnessing tips; the other two are from the article.)

Tonight as I was looking over the witnessing tip I noticed the teaching from the Mormon Church completely contradicted one of the quotes I had used in my article for the Book of Mormon witnesses. 

The reason I’m making such a big deal about this is because of the importance of the subject matter.  The Mormon Church has emphatically taught the Church rises and falls on the Book of Mormon; without it they have no religion.

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 70; “Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none…”

Take a look for yourself and I pray you use these findings as a witnessing tool for the Mormon in your life!  Thank you Jesus!

With Love in Christ, Michelle

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One Response to “Mormon Dilemma 81”

  1. shematwater October 19, 2011 at 7:47 pm #

    Once again, the only contradiction comes from not understanding the words of great men. If we go back just a few paragraphs in President Young’s address we read the following.

    “Though others may say in all good conscience they believe he lives − who knows the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ to be true? There is one class of people, and one only, that live upon the face of the earth, who so know it; and that class of men and women are those that keep his commandments, and do his will; none others can say it. None others can declare with boldness, and emphatically, that Jesus lives, and that his Gospel is true. Upon the plain and simple principle of logical and philosophical deduction, we learn this from his own words, as written by one of his disciples − “They that do my will, shall know of my doctrine, and they that love me will keep my commandments;” and I will add, “they that know and love me,” says Jesus, “will keep my sayings.”

    So, what is he saying. Those who have lived the gospel and been faithful to the point of gaining actual knowledge cannot say, in good conscious, that Jesus Christ lives, and yet say that Joseph Smith was not a prophet. Only those who do his will and obey his commandments can truly know that he lives, and those who truly know cannot deny Joseph Smith without denying their own conscious.

    In the case of David Whitmir, he never actually denied Joseph Smith was a prophet, but held that he had fallen from that calling. However, at this time he was not obedient to God, and as such could not say with boldness that Christ lived (according to Brigham Young) and thus the quote from Brigham Young does not apply to him, for he was talking about the truly faithful.

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