Changing the Book of Mormon and other Mormon Absurdities
by Jefferson David Tant
One of the strange Mormon doctrines states that the reason for the dark skin of Negroes and Indians is that God cursed them as the result of sin. But as the result of these people being converted, their skin would lighten, and they would become a “white and delightsome people” (2 Nephi 30:6). Somehow, through the years, this just hasn’t worked out. So new editions of the Book of Mormon now read “… and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and delightsome people.”
Mormons claim that the Bible has been changed and that we cannot rely upon it, while the Book of Mormon was given perfectly and no changes are needed. Of course, the knowledgeable person knows that literally thousands of changes have appeared in the Book of Mormon since it was first printed in March 1830. This change is but one of a continuing series and is the result of one of those “revelations of convenience.” Perhaps some of the “elders” that come to your door might be moved to proclaim their faith in the Book of Mormon “insofar as it is accurately translated.” They have used that line about the Bible till it is worn threadbare by now.
You possibly know that Joseph Smith taught the moon was populated by people about six feet tall who dressed like Quakers. Quakers dressed very simply, with the men wearing a simple vest, unadorned shirt, and a hat. Women wore a long dress, a cape, and a bonnet. Not to be outdone, Brigham Young taught there were people on the sun. “So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain. It was made to give light to those who dwell upon it, and to other planets; and so will this earth when it is celestialized” (Journal of Discourses, 13:271).
As far back as 1837, I know that he [Joseph Smith] said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do -- that they live generally to near the age of a 1,000 years. He described the men as averaging nearly six feet in height and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style. (Young Woman's Journal, 1892 3: 263.)
Not only do humans have “pre-existent state” according to Mormonism, so do cucumbers and other vegetables. Hear Apostle Orson Pratt: “That vegetables have spirits is clearly shown from the fact that they have capacities for joy and rejoicing” (The Seer, p. 34). “When the world is redeemed, the vegetable creation is redeemed and made new…These spiritual vegetables are sent from Heaven to the terrestrial worlds, where, like animals, they take natural tabernacles… Thus the spirits of both vegetables and animals are the offspring of male and female parents which have been raised from the dead, or redeemed from a fallen condition, with the world upon which they dwelt” (The Seer, p. 38). So be careful with your next salad!
