Mormonism
versus
The Bible
What are some of the core differences between what Mormons call "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" (LDS Church) teaches, and what the Bible teaches?
What you need to know.
The LDS Church Teaches
About God
“God “was once as one of us””
[From: “LDS Topics - Becoming Like God”]
“The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s”
[From: “Doctrine & Covenants 130:22”]
The Bible Teaches
About God
The LDS Church Teaches
About Jesus
“Jesus is the firstborn of the spirit children of our Heavenly Father”
[From: “LDS Bible Dictionary - Firstborn”]
“Jesus was the only person to be born of a mortal mother, Mary, and an immortal father, God the Father.”
“Students should identify the following doctrine: God, the Eternal Father, and Mary are the parents of the mortal Jesus Christ.”
(For more information on this topic, go to our page: "Virgin Birth")
The Bible Teaches
About Jesus
The LDS Church Teaches
About Humanity
“We are all literally children of God, spiritually begotten in the premortal life.”
[From: “LDS Topics - God the Father”]
“So far as innocence is concerned, they enter this world alike; but so far as circumstances are concerned they are not alike… Some spirits take bodies in the lineage of the chosen seed… others receive bodies among the African negroes or in the lineage of Canaan whose descendants were cursed… Now if all the spirits were equally faithful in keeping the laws thereof, why are they place in such dissimilar circumstances in their second estate?”
[From: “The Seer”, page 56 (see photo at bottom of this page)]
“God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.”
[From: "Book of Mormon - 2 Nephi 5:21"]
(For more information on this topic, go to our page: "Race and Mormonism - Dissimilar Circumstances".)
Joseph Smith Jr. (Founder and 1st President of the LDS Church) said: “You have got to learn how to be a god yourself in order to save yourself— to be priests Kings as all Gods has done— by going from a small degree to another from exaltation to ex[altation]— till they are able to sit in glory as doth those who sit enthroned.”
[From: “Discourse, Apr. 7, 1844” Select page 14]
(For more information on this topic, go to our page: "Humanity")
The Bible Teaches
About Humanity
Acts 10:34-35; Genesis 4:15 (Cain’s mark was for protection, not racial identification); Genesis 3:20, (all are descendants of Adam and Eve. Therefore all are equal. See also Romans 12:5; Galatians 3:28); Genesis 12:1-3; Malachi 3:12
The LDS Church Teaches About Salvation
“Through the grace of Jesus Christ, all will be resurrected and will live forever.”
[From: “LDS Topics - Grace”]
“… and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”
[From: “Book of Mormon - 2 Nephi 25:23”]
(For more information on this topic, go to our page: "Salvation?")
The Bible Teaches
About Salvation
Latest comments
14.09 | 00:17
Is it your intent to share your faith with me? I'm a devout Latter-day Saint.
30.06 | 17:21
Let's add, the keys to Death and Hades (Revelation 1:18) the key of David (Rev. 3:7) the key of knowledge (Luke 11:52) and the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt.16:19) only given to Simon/Peter.
24.05 | 06:04
Intuitive
10.02 | 23:31
Checked out the great video. 👍 Thumbs up!
The Mormon Religion was officially founded by Joseph Smith Jr. on April 6. 1830 after the Book of Mormon (BOM) was published in that same year.
Joseph Smith Jr. was born in Vermont on December 23, 1805. He claimed that when he was 14, he received a vision from God the Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees near his home where he received instructions not to join any of the Christian churches because they were all wrong.
Three years later, Smith claimed that an angel named Moroni (a character found in the BOM) appeared to him in his bedroom whom he said revealed to him that he was selected to translate "Reformed Egyptian" (a language that does not exist) from gold plates into old English. These plates were supposedly hidden near Palmyra, New York and are said to be written around the 4th century. The BOM was named after Moroni’s father, Mormon. Mormons view the BOM as sacred. No one is able to study the original plates because Joseph Smith claimed the angel took them back on May 2, 1838 (History of the Church 1:60).
Smith had a scribe named Cowdery. Smith did not actually translate directly from any plates. Rather, in his writings, he said he placed a "seer stone" in a hat and covered any light from entering it as he placed his face in the hat. According to Martin Harris, “By aid of the seer stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet . . . , and when finished he would say, ‘Written,’ and if correctly written, that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until corrected,” Smith said, “By the power of God I translated the Book of Mormon from hieroglyphics".
Despite such methods of translation, there have been at least 3,913 changes made in the BOM from the time it was first published. Joseph Smith stated, “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” Smith also claimed that John the Baptist appeared to him on May 15, 1829 while he was translating the BOM, and instructed him to restore the church by preaching the only true gospel.
Mormons regard the BOM as sacred writings, and view it in higher standing than that of the Holy Bible. Mormon Missionaries will ask you to pray that it is true. (See our page Pray to Know)