{"id":3909,"date":"2006-01-24T16:44:05","date_gmt":"2006-01-24T22:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=3909"},"modified":"2019-07-20T09:00:43","modified_gmt":"2019-07-20T14:00:43","slug":"just-because-the-book-of-mormon-contains-errors-it-doesnt-make-it-doctrinally-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/just-because-the-book-of-mormon-contains-errors-it-doesnt-make-it-doctrinally-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Just because the Book of Mormon contains errors, it doesn’t make it doctrinally wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Your interpretations to the quotations taken from various Mormon theologians<\/a>\u00a0are gross and inaccurate. You take them out of context and obviously don’t understand what they really mean. The ancient people of America wrote the book and excused their flaws as mortal men. Never the less, being commanded to record the things of God, the doctrine and teachings of the book are true. That is what makes it the most correct book, not because the people might have written a run on sentence or two. So there is no contradiction there. You have no right to say things about which you do not understand. I know the book is true. I am an educated biochemist, have studied the Mormon church, and have concluded that it is the only true church — all others are offspring off an untrue church. A bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

Education in one field of study does not imply a good understanding of all subjects. I have a master’s degree in computer science and teach programming at college campuses, but that doesn’t prove the accuracy of the Book of Mormon or knowledge of God’s Word. Paul said, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 2:4-5). Those words, Paul said, came straight from God. “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ<\/em>” (Galatians 1:11-12). Further, Paul stated that even the choice of words was not his own. “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual<\/em>” (I Corinthians 2:12-13).<\/p>\n

You see, the Bible makes a stronger claim than the one you make for the Book of Mormon. You claim that the Book of Mormon is the product of man, containing the flaws of men, but accurate in its teachings. The writers of the Bible claim that it is the product of God who used human tools to produce His writings. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God<\/em>” (II Timothy 3:16). The word translated as “inspiration,” the Greek word\u00a0theopneustos<\/em>\u00a0literally means “divinely breathed.” The Bible claims that its written word comes straight from the mouth of God. “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit<\/em>” (II Peter 1:19-21).<\/p>\n

Since the Almighty is not a man, the work of the Almighty must be without error; otherwise, it would be impossible to distinguish the work of an imaginative man from the work of God. The Bible never hides from examination. The beauty and accuracy of the Bible is a part of the evidence that it is from God. “Tell and bring forth your case; yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me<\/em>” (Isaiah 45:21).<\/p>\n

The article “He Didn’t Write It<\/a>” documents its points from the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s writings. Citations are provided and people are encouraged to look up the statements to check the accuracy of them. You wish to claim they are taken out of context, but the context is available for people to research. I do understand your concern. You understand that the average person reading those statements for themselves will realize that Mormonism has deep problems with inconsistency. Your religion is promoted by young men and women asking people to believe the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints is true — but people are asked to believe without a foundation. Discussions of evidence are discouraged because Mormonism contains the mistaken notation that facts are contrary to faith.<\/p>\n

Oh, and in regards to my rights as a preacher to speak of these things, “Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you<\/em>” (Titus 2:15).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Your interpretations to the quotations taken from various Mormon theologians\u00a0are gross and inaccurate. You take them out of context and obviously don’t understand what they really mean. The ancient people of America wrote the book and excused their flaws as mortal men. Never the less, being commanded to record the things of God, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[687],"class_list":["post-3909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-mormons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55467,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/changing-the-revelations-of-mormonism\/","url_meta":{"origin":3909,"position":0},"title":"Changing the Revelations of Mormonism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dudley Ross Spears via\u00a0Valley View Church of Christ Website Realizing the importance of having correct copies, the leaders of the Church determined to publish them. Because the originals contained spelling and grammar errors, a Church conference moved that Joseph Smith should make the necessary corrections. (Far West Record, p.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3912,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-didnt-write-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":3909,"position":1},"title":"He Didn’t Write It","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert McKay Mormons believe that the\u00a0Book of Mormon\u00a0is a product of divine inspiration. They feel that God both caused the book to be written and provided means for its translation. Mormons are adamant in taking the position that Joseph Smith did not write the\u00a0Book of Mormon. Bruce R. McConkie\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/josephsmith.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15972,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-mormons-use-the-bible-too\/","url_meta":{"origin":3909,"position":2},"title":"The Mormons use the Bible too","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read an article by Dudley Ross Spears on\u00a0The Mormon Plan of Salvation.\u00a0 There are actually scriptures in the Bible that support their ideas.\u00a0 The Mormon church uses the Bible and Book of Mormon together and both help to clarify and interpret each other.\u00a0 Two witnesses are better\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34489,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-conversation-with-mormon-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":3909,"position":3},"title":"A Conversation with Mormon Elders","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jimmy Ferguson Many of us have received a knock on the door from young men claiming to be \"elders\" in the Mormon Church. While we admire their enthusiasm, it saddens us that these young men have been led into error. Some time ago I had an opportunity to sit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6931,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-to-use-the-book-of-mormon\/","url_meta":{"origin":3909,"position":4},"title":"How to Use the Book of Mormon","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dudley Ross Spears The \"Book of Mormon\" is one of several alleged \"revelations\" the followers of the late Joseph Smith, Jr. accept as divinely inspired. While they give some credence to the Bible, \"as far as it is translated correctly\" (Articles of Faith, # 8), the Book of Mormon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88435,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-believe-the-book-of-mormon\/","url_meta":{"origin":3909,"position":5},"title":"Should We Believe the Book of Mormon?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Paul Smithson Should we believe that God told Joseph Smith that we should all be a part of the Mormon Religion? Members of the 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' claim the Book of Mormon is of divine origin. They believe it to be a book more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}