A List of Reasons to Doubt Mormonism

Let's have another little post about Mormonism! I compiled this little list last night around 3am and I briefly looked over it again just now ... and I think it's all okay. Lol. I tried to be as open as possible being that I don't really collect books or works on ''anti-Mormon'' literature, but this is the stuff that seems about right in my mind, so here goes:

Reasons to doubt Mormonism:


Book of Abraham
1 – Joseph Smith used the old incorrect version of translating hieroglyphs. He thought one figure was a word or phrase or even sentence or paragraph. Hieroglyphs are phonetic sounds, such as “ph.”
2 – We have proofs of this in Times and Seasons (Nauvoo newspaper) and/or his personal notes where he shows the hieroglyphs and his translation, proven false by scholars for years.
3 – We have the original papyrus scrolls which show us what he was using leaving little to doubt, though the scrolls are damaged and some parts missing.
4 – Scholars said that the facsimile of Abraham is actually a burial scroll, a common and cheap gift to the dead, and stated which parts were possibly drawn in by Joseph Smith – namely the head, hands, and part of the bird. Needless to say these areas were damaged or torn out of the original scrolls so Joseph did draw them in.
5 – Given these things many of the possible theories are thrown out at the onset due to the evidence being in our possession or available to the public. Joseph Smith either never believed people would translate these or never got the chance to get rid of the scrolls.
6 – In fact all the facsimiles have been viewed and researched by scholars and not one thing Joseph Smith did with them lines up with what they really are, such as the last one being a deceased person going to hell, not Abraham on the Pharaoh’s throne.


Adam-God Theory
1 – The church and apologetics say we just don’t know enough history, or have scattered accounts, etc…. and cannot make any decisions. Sometimes these are outright lies.
2 – Brigham Young did teach this once at General Conference, and then many more times. He taught the Adam-God theory for nearly three decades.
3 – It was part of the Temple ceremony.
4 – Many apostles did not agree with the theory, and some stood up against Brigham and said it was heresy or blasphemy. This doctrine was removed with Brigham’s death.


Polygamy
1 – It may be a marriage “style” still practiced today and even more in history, but should raise an eyebrow and some inquisitive inquiry.
2 – The church never followed the declaration of 1890, and didn’t fully follow the 2nd declaration in the 1900s. It wasn’t till two apostles were excommunicated that the church officially stopped practicing polygamy around 1910.
3 – The church “stopped” when the government stepped in.
4 – The church generally leaves out the more odd circumstances with polygamy, probably following the rule of the truth not always being useful.
5 – 14 y-o girls getting married was not uncommon, but was to 70+ y-o men, which was far more common in Mormonism than other cultures at that time period.
6 – Joseph began polygamy with Fanny Alger in Kirtland, but no one seems to have known except him and her till they were caught. Oliver Cowdery said Joseph was a fallen prophet because he was committing adultery with Fanny. This eventually led to Oliver leaving the church.
7 – Joseph regularly started polygamous marriages without Emma’s knowledge, and sometimes telling his wives to not let her or others know. One being Emma’s friend, Eliza R. Snow.
8 – Polyandry was practiced at least by Joseph Smith to multiple women, meaning he married other men’s wives, such as Orson’s wife while he was away on a mission. Brigham Young and other authorities eventually took on polyandrous marriages as well, not just Joseph Smith.
9 – Brigham Young said the church would fall if it stopped practicing polygamy.


Blacks and the Priesthood
1 – Brigham Young also said the church would fall if blacks received the priesthood.
2 – Blacks received the priesthood once the government stepped in (again) and parades/protests were on the streets of SLC in support of civil equality.
3 – Many church leaders had many bad things to say about blacks, such as the Blood Atonement ‘practice,’ interracial marriage, Martin Luther King being a pawn of communism, and that blacks would always be servants.
4 – 33 years later and there still are no black apostles or presidents of the 70?


Book of Mormon
1 – Still no concrete evidence for the Book of Mormon.
2 – Different authors seem to have written different books or sections. This would agree with Mormonism except linguistic and writing style studies show that different writers authored different books together, or sections out of different books. A possible example of what this is would be the first half of Alma and 2nd Nephi being the same author. This is merely a possible example, not a recorded one.
3 – As a minor note, Joseph Smith did not take 60-70 days to translate but ‘had’ the plates for over a year and a half, making it roughly only a couple hours a week worth of work to write the whole Book of Mormon if they were simply translating at a small fraction of the average reading speed. The time ratio allows for a lot more work being done on the book.
4 – Joseph Smith did say that events took place in North America and later said Central America could be the location as well. Regardless he kept going with the best possible locations but after he made definite claims such as the white Lamanite being from the Midwest.
5 – Many inconsistencies and oddities that apologists have answers for, however, these pile up on each other.


Women
1 - Just about everything. May have been good originally, but it has gone way off kilter.
2 - Okay, don't wish to look like I'm being lazy on the women - First women gave blessings and took part in baby blessings an such, but no longer do so.
3 - Many callings were made in priesthood only callings within the last 80 years, therefore removing women from most callings in the church.
4 - Women are more pure and spiritual than men ... yet don't have any authority? Vice-versa men are just pigs and dogs and unspiritual and look at porn, the sexism is going both ways now from the same old men.
5 - The church almost exclusively does not believe porn or masturbation is a problem for women at all. Sadly (if you believe these things are possibly good) they are right in many cases since many women in the LDS faith show much less interest in sex than there fellow age category peers.
6 - Women should stay in the home, and fathers who do are 'odd.' It is beneficial for a parent to be home for the kids, but studies show it isn't always all that important especially once the kids are out of the toddler age.


First Vision
1 - Noticed I had put the 1st vision pic up in an earlier post and was like, "Hey, I should add this in, so ..." - Usually people embellish stories over the years, the folklore episode on Mormon Expression talks about this a lot. Joseph Smith did just the same thing.
2 - Like the picture says, there's some odd differences. One account I read about recently said that is was an angel, and possibly one of the characters in the BoM.
3 - At first it was simply one heavenly messenger and it didn't deal with a restoration, even after 'restoring' the church.
4 - Then it was two, but maybe not God and Jesus, then it was Father and Jesus.
5 - The age differences are a little fishy.
6 - Satan was only mentioned later I believe.
7 - Point is that the accounts get more and more extravagant just like any folklore piece, or myth, or made-up story.

I immensely enjoyed choosing the pictures.