{"id":88435,"date":"2025-07-05T14:20:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T19:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=88435"},"modified":"2025-07-05T14:20:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T19:20:15","slug":"should-we-believe-the-book-of-mormon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-believe-the-book-of-mormon\/","title":{"rendered":"Should We Believe the Book of Mormon?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Paul Smithson<\/p>\n

Should we believe that God told Joseph Smith that we should all be a part of the Mormon Religion?<\/p>\n

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 important than the Bible, for they do not think the Bible, as we have it, is correctly translated. Mormons contend that Joseph Smith, Jr., born in Vermont in 1805, received visits from the Father and the Son, and from an angel named Moroni in 1820 and 1823. He also supposedly received ancient writings (600 BC – 421 AD) on golden plates that were hidden in a hill near Palmyra, New York, in 1829. The Book of Mormon, published in 1830, is said to be Smith’s translation of the alleged golden plates.<\/p>\n

However, The Book of Mormon is not <\/b>of divine origin, and there are many ways in which this fact can be proven. In our limited space, we list only a few of them.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Book of Mormon denies the claim of inspiration by its own words. The Book of Mormon says in\n
      \n
    • 1 Nephi 1:3, “I make it according to my knowledge.”<\/li>\n
    • 1Nephi 19:6 says, “I think it to be sacred…and if I do err…”<\/li>\n
    • Jacob 7:26 says, “I have written according to the best of my knowledge.”<\/li>\n
    • Mormon 8:12 states, “Because of the imperfections which are in it.”<\/li>\n
    • Ether 5:1 says, “I have written the words according to my memory.”<\/li>\n
    • Jacob 1:2 says, “I should write upon these plates a few of the things which I consider to be most precious.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThus, these statements from the Book of Mormon itself are proof that it is of human origin.<\/li>\n
    • The Book of Mormon reveals itself to be a fraud through the use of copied words from the King James Version of the Bible. There are over 25,000 words taken directly from the King James version of 1611. How could the Book of Mormon have originated from the years of 600 BC to 421 AD and be written in the King’s English of 1611 AD? For example, Mosiah 3:24, supposedly written in 124 BC, reads, “Whereof they shall be judged, every man according to his works, whether they be good or whether they be evil.” Anyone can turn to II Corinthians 5:10 of the King James Version and see where these words came from. For other examples of this, see 2 Nephi 7, 8, and Moroni 7:45.<\/li>\n
    • The Book of Mormon contradicts the Bible in many places. The following are just a couple of examples. The Book of Mormon says Jesus was to be born “at Jerusalem” (Alma 7:10). The Bible says, “in Bethlehem of Judea” (Matthew 2:1). The Book of Mormon has the church in existence more than a century before Christ (Mosiah 18:17). Jesus said, ten months before His crucifixion, “I will build My church<\/em>” (Matthew16:18). No one can believe both the Bible and the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      This is only a small portion of the overwhelming evidence that supports the human origin of the Book of Mormon. Jesus instructed His apostles to teach “all things whatsoever I have commanded you<\/em>” (Matthew 28:18-20). The apostles did not teach the Book of Mormon, for it was not published until 1830. Therefore, Jesus did not command the Book of Mormon. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide the apostles into all truth. When the Holy Spirit came, He did not guide the apostles into the Book of Mormon. Therefore, the Book of Mormon is not <\/b>the truth, and we should not believe it (Galatians 1:6-9).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      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 important than the Bible, for…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[687],"class_list":["post-88435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-mormons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34489,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-conversation-with-mormon-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":88435,"position":0},"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":3912,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-didnt-write-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":88435,"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":6931,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-to-use-the-book-of-mormon\/","url_meta":{"origin":88435,"position":2},"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":57718,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/joseph-smith-or-jesus-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":88435,"position":3},"title":"Joseph Smith or Jesus Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gilbert Alexander God has spoken to us in these last days by His Son, whose name is Jesus or Immanuel (Matthew 1:21,23; Hebrews 1:1-4). His message is the New Testament, the gospel of Christ, the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Hebrews 8:6; Mark 16:15-16; Romans 10:16;\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":49043,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-mormons-are-in-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":88435,"position":4},"title":"The Mormons Are in Town","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Not too long ago when I was taking a walk in the large park which is across the street from our house and had sat down for a moment to rest on one of the benches, I was approached by two nice-looking, clean-cut young men in\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":88504,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-test-of-a-prophet-and-joseph-smith\/","url_meta":{"origin":88435,"position":5},"title":"The Test of a Prophet and Joseph Smith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steve Monts In the Bible, we see that a prophet is likened to the mouth of God (Exodus 4:16; 7:1 - Aaron was called Moses' prophet, as he was his spokesman). They did not claim their message was theirs. They prefaced their message with, \"Thus saith the Lord\", and\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\/88435","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=88435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}