1. Are the decrees of God changeable?

2. What is the sign of God's curse on the Lamanites?

3. What shall happen to anyone who "mixes with [the Lamanites'] seed"?

4. Who was Nephi?

5. Who was the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph's sons?

6. According to Mormon genealogy, who are the ancestors of Joseph Smith and of most Mormons?

7. Is anyone prohibited from holding the priesthood of Melchisedek?

8. From whom was Pharoah descended?

9. Who were the ancestors of the Egyptians?

10. So anyone who is descended from an Egyptian cannot hold the Priesthood, by an unalterable decree of God, because of the curse, right?

11. But Manasseh's and Ephraim's mother, Asenath, was an Egyptian. So according to the Book of Abraham, all who trace their lineage to Manasseh or Ephraim, have absolutely no authority to claim to hold the Priesthood...by an unalterable decree of God. ?????? {can't be Levitical or Aaronic priesthood; only Levi's sons can hold}

It has been proposed that Potiphera was NOT an Egyptian so that his daughter, Asenath, would not have been descended from Egyptus.  It is said that, even though his name is Egyptian, so was the name Pharoah gave to Joseph, implying that Potipherah was not his original name.  But based on what we know from an abundance of Egyptian documents, the probability of the High Priest of On (Heliopolis: City of the Sun) being a non-Egyptian is slim to none. On was a major city of central importance at that time, due chiefly to the presence of the temple.  That Potiphera was the High Priest, and not just any priest, is shown by Pharoah's wanting to honor Joseph and marry him into high society.  To do anything else would have been incompatible with the high status Pharoah had given Joseph (Gen 41:40).
 
1. Negroes in this life are denied the priesthood; UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty. ... Negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned... Mormon Doctrine, Bruce McConkie, pg 527.

2. ...but they (i.e. negroes) cannot hold the Priesthood by divine decree, as pointed out in the Book of Abraham. (letter from) Joseph F. Smith, 5/9/66.

3. Which God then, told President Kimball to admit the negroes of South America to the Priesthood? (his prophetic announcement of 6/9/78).

12. What was the land like in which Nephi and the Lamanites settled?

13. What was the temple like that Nephi built in that land?

15. So which was it, the temple was, or was not, like Solomon's temple, because there was, or was not, a great abundance of precious metals?

15. Who do Mormons acknowledge as their God...what is His name?

16. Where did we come from?  Where were we before we were born?

17. Why was it necessary to be born into this world?

18. What does it mean "to be perfect, like the Father"?

19. Why is it important to have a physical body?   [Note: the Holy Spirit has no body]

20. So that is why it was important for Jesus to be incarnated, to obtain a body?

21. Was Christ's blood shed for the remission of all the sins of whoever believes in him?

22. Will shedding a sinner's or your own blood (unto death) save that person?

23. Since God in the Bible (Ex 28-31; Num 3:7; Neh 7:63,65; Heb 7:12-14) clearly says that only Levites can offer sacrifices according to the law of Moses (God's Law), and since the Book of Mormon states that no sons of this tribe of Israel left the land of Israel with Lehi-Nephi, by what authority did King Benjamin's citizens offer up burnt sacrifices to God? (BofM, Mosiah 2:3)

24. Is it possible for everyone to be saved?

25. God says of himself (Isaiah 43:10) "...before me there WAS NO GOD formed, neither shall there be after me." and (Isaiah 44:6) "...I am the first and I am the last and beside me there is NO GOD. In BofM (2 Nephi 31:21) it is claimed, "...this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is ONE GOD, without end." In BofM (Alma 11:28-39) Zeezrom declares there is NOT more than one God, "...there is but one God." Joseph Smith himself claims (D&C 20:28) that the "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ARE ONE GOD, infinite and eternal without end. To this the whole Bible, the whole host of heaven, all Jewery, and all true followers of Christ would say, Amen!  Why then does the PGP (Ab. 4-5) teach that there are GODS?  [This paraphrase of Genesis 1 translates Elohim as "the Gods" which correctly reflects the plural form of the noun, but fails to notice the consistent use of the singular verbs and pronouns in the Hebrew when referring to the Creator. cf vs 27, 29 & 31. All the more significant then is the use of the plural pronouns in vs 26, 3:22, and 11:7.]  Does Mormonism teach that there is but ONE God as the Bible, the BofM, and Joseph Smith does, or many Gods as the PGP, Book of Abraham does?

26. The Mormon pamphlet "Plan of Salvation" (PTM10024 5/83) page 6, says, "It is necessary for man to learn by actual experience the difference between good and evil."  But according to the Bible, the only way for him (Adam) to do this was to disobey God and sin. In fact the BofM (2 Nephi 2:21-22) agrees with the Biblical teaching that Adam's act was a  transgression. But in the pamphlet a little further on we are told, "Man's sole duty is...to keep God's ommandments..."  How is it possible to fulfill his duty and to complete the necessity at the same time?   [This makes God the ordainer of sin!]

27. In BofM (2 Nephi 2:23-25) it is taught that it is impossible for someone as innocent as Adam was before the fall to experience joy because we can only know joy as a comparative to the experience of misery. It also teaches that in that innocent state Adam could do no good.  This not only contradicts reason but also Biblical teaching. Isaiah 7:15 tells us that the promised child shall start out eating "butter and honey" so that he will know to refuse that which is evil and choose the good. This teaches that it is possible to recognise goodness (and joy) without experiencing their opposites. How could Adam and Eve not be joyful in the experience of walks and talks with their Creator? (Genesis 3:8) And rather than joy they experienced misery indeed after they sinned, not only in having to face God in the midst of their shame (vs 3:7-10), but more especially when they were cast out of the Garden and had to fend for themselves apart from God's presence.  (Genesis 3:16-19, 23-24)  Therefore, is it necessary for someone to experience hate in order to know love? And if they did no good, then it must have been evil.

28. In the above passage and other Mormon writings concerning this subject it is taught that the "Fall" was necessary in order that Adam & Eve would bear children and so beget bodies for pre-existent spirit children to inhabit.  Nephi says that "they would have had no children" as long as they remained innocent, and so would have been unable to comply with God's commandment (Gen 1:28) to be fruitful.  But God ordained marriage before the fall (Gen 2:24-25) for Eve is called Adam's WIFE before they sinned.  The doctrine that they could NOT have children before they sinned is a figment of the BofM and other heretical writings from the 1800's and cannot be found anywhere in the Bible.

29. In BofM (Alma 13:9-10) it is said that "there were MANY who were ordained and became high priests of God." Even if this is supposedly of the order of Melchisedek this is an impossible state regarding ANY priesthood. There can only be ONE valid HIGH priest at a time. Alma 13:14 also says that Melchizedek was a high priest, but the Bible nowhere makes this claim. The Bible does, however, take care to make clear that Jesus was made a HIGH priest (Heb 5:10). If Jesus is a High priest, how can Melchizedek be a high priest at the same time, seeing as how the office is held for the life of the priest?

30. In Alma 13, all those who were ordained priests after Melchizedek's order must still be alive since "after the order" means "in the likeness of" and the likeness in the case of Melchizedek has reference to his endless life. (Heb 7:16) But since Jesus was not granted this ordination until after his resurrection (vs 12), and those people and Joseph Smith himself have died and not resurrected, they could not hold the priesthood of Melchizedek--especially not while they lived.

31. ***** Alma 13:18 says that "Melchizedek...did reign under his father."  No matter what explanation is given for "father" this is a direct contradiction with the clear words and teaching of the Bible in Hebrews 7:3 which says, "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life."  The D&C 84:14 repeats Alma's false teaching when it says, "...Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek, who received it through the lineage of his fathers..."  The Bible also nowhere says that Abraham was a priest of any kind.  Since the Bible was written first and this verse by an apostle, let us judge the BofM and D&C by the Bible's teaching and not the other way around.

32. ***** D&C 84:18 says that the Aaronic/Levitical priesthood "...continues and abideth forever..." But the Bible (Heb 7:12, 8:13-9:1) teaches that this priesthood was "vanished away" when the new covenant with Jesus Christ was established!

33. The Bible (Deuteronomy 18:20-22) teaches us that if a man claims to be a prophet and "presumes to speak a word" in God's name which God "did not command him to speak...THAT PROPHET SHALL DIE!" God also says that we shall be able to tell such a false prophet, "When a prophet speaks in the name of God, if it does not happen ...GOD has not spoken..." In D&C 84:2-4 we find "Joseph Smith the Prophet" uttering "the word of the Lord" and saying that the New Jerusalem would be "built, starting at the temple lot...in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri ...which temple shall be reared in this generation."

From September, 1832, when he had this revelation to the present, no such temple has been erected in such a location, nor has the New Jerusalem been built there. [Not to mention that John says (Rev 21:2, 9-10) that the city shall descend from heaven already prepared--not needing to be built and that it is the Bride of Christ!  i.e. the Church]  Let us therefore pick up stones...

34. The papyri from which the Joseph Smith supposedly translated the Book of Abraham was given to the Mormon church by the Metropolitan Museum of New York.  Hugh Nibley recommended that Apostle N. Eldon Tanner give photos of these papyri to Dee Jay Nelson, the most qualified Mormon Egyptologist.  After Nelson retranslated the copy Nibley called the translation, "...a conscientious and courageous piece of work...supplying students with a useable and reliable translation."

What did Nelson find? The papyri were Roman period portions of the Book of the Dead, giving spells to assist the dead on their journey beyond the grave.  In one place 46 Egyptian characters were translated by Smith into 1,125 words!  In another place a character which means "lake/pool" had been translated into 76 words!  In still another place the character for "this" was translated into 59 words!  In Smith's comments about one of the picture scenes of the papyri, he describes the scene as being an attempted sacrifice of Abraham by an "idolatrous priest of Elkenah" when in reality it is an embalming scene for an Egyptian named Hor!

35. In D&C 27 the preface states that the section records a revelation given to J.Smith on August 1830, a portion of which was written then and the remainder the following month.  In the original D&C however, only the first 5 1/2 verses, verse 14, and parts of verse 15 and 18 are to be found.  If the remaining 11 verses + two halves were written the following September, why did they not show up in any copy of D&C until YEARS later?

36. In D&C 131-132 the twin doctrines of the "NEW and EVERLASTING/eternal marriage covenant,...also plurality of wives" are set forth. J.S. says that if a man does NOT enter into this covenant, he cannot attain to the highest celestial heaven.  Not only so, but 132:4 emphatically states that whoever does not abide that covenant is damned!  Yet less than 50 years later, Mormon President Wilford Woodruff rescinded this EVERLASTING covenant with respect to plural wives because the U.S. Government passed a law against polygamy. President Lorenzo Snow in 1890 along with the General Conference affirmed this rescission. Are they then greater then the God who supposedly ordained this ordinance?  Did they not thereby damn themselves and all future Mormons?  [And, since the Holy Spirit is still a spirit, then he could not have been incarnated in a body in order to be eternally married and beget children...how could he be "a" god?]

Curiously, the BoM records God telling his people, "...many wives [are] abominable before me..." and "there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none". BoM, Jacob 2:24,27

37. In D&C 7 is found an ammended version of the original revelation recorded by J.S. in the Book of Commandments (the original D&C), BofComm 6.  However, D&C is 252 words long compared with only 143 words in the original.  That is almost  twice as long as the original!  Who changed the original revelation, and Why?  Also, by what authority were "God's words" changed.

38. Similarly, D&C 5 records an ammended version of BofComm 4 is found.  Of particular interest and difficulty is D&C 5:4 compared with Bof Comm 4:2.  In the original of 1833 J.S. was ONLY given "a gift to translate" yet in D&C since 1835 this has been changed to add, "...this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you."  Also in the original he was commanded to "PRETEND TO NO OTHER GIFT, for I will grant NO OTHER GIFT."  However, between the first "gift" and the word "for" in the D&C have been added, "until my purpose is fulfilled in this;" with "until it is finished" being added at the end.  So, according to the original revelation, Joseph Smith could not claim to have a gift of prophecy, healing, speaking in tongues, revelation, office of apostleship or priesthood, OR ANY OTHER GIFT!  But he changed the record of what supposedly were God's words to suit himself...or else God lied.

39. Mormons claim that the BofM is more trustworthy than the Bible because the BofM has only been translated once compared to the numerous translations of the Bible.  That this comparison is not only unjust but untrue is clear not only from the fact that the BofM has been "translated" into many other languages than its original English translation, but even more so from the fact that the original English "translation" has been changed in almost 4000 different places according to the Tanners, who were once Mormon elders/leaders themselves.  If the original English translation was translated by a divine gift-of-translation, as the Mormons claim, then the original is by definition without error, since God doesn't make mistakes. (A gift of translation is NOT the same thing as being inspired.)  Since what Joseph Smith dictated was supposedly what the "Urrim and Thummim" revealed to him that the English should be, then any other English version is in error. Apparently, the Mormon leaders who made the nearly 4000 changes did/do not really believe J.S.'s translation to have been made by a divine gift.  On the other hand, NO informed Chrisitian claims that any particular translation of the Bible in whatever language is without error, but rather that the teachings it contains coming from God are trustworthy and accurately depict reality.  However, the accuracy of any particular translation of the Bible can be judged by anyone who is willing to spend a little time learning some Greek and Hebrew, without in any real sense having to become an authority in those languages.  But the accuracy of the BofM can only be judged on the testimony of the highest of Mormon leaders.  Although J.S. made at least partial copies of the text of the alleged golden plates, these have not been made available to the world's linguists for study.  Why not?  If as the Mormons claim that God wants us to believe the accuracy of the BofM by faith, why did not the angel confiscate these copies at the same time he rescinded the golden plates?  And why did God provide so many manusripts of the O.T. and N.T. scriptures?  Again, if the issue is to be settled by blind faith, why have nearly 4000 changes been made in the original?

40. In the BoM, at 1 Nephi 11:21, the words, "the Son of" do not appear in the 1830 original edition of the BoM.  Again, if J.S.'s translation was by divine gift and power, then why did later editors feel that the original needed changing?  Indeed, the original agrees with Amulek's words (Alma 11:39) more than the new, unauthorized version.

41. In several places in the books of Mormon canon and their pamphlets direct reference is made to the closing verses of Mark 16 regarding the manifestation of spiritual power.  What is unfortunate for their testimony is that Joseph Smith did not know when he "translated" the BofM and recorded the "revelations" in D&C--and apparently contemporary Mormon writers still are unaware of--is that the verses contained in the passage Mark 16:9-20 do not appear in any N.T. manuscript before about the 5th century, nor are they quoted by any Church father in any of their sermons, teachings, or arguments until after that time.  The obvious conclusion is that some scribe added these verses while making a copy.  The 1611 translators in King James' day also did not have access to this information, which is why they are present in that translation.  It is also rather an obvious conclusion that J.S. did not "translate" any such thing from some golden plates as representing God's revelation but rather copied and paraphrased from the King James translation. It is further noteworthy that the O.T. and N.T. writers wrote according to their own personal styles. [Mark has rather rough and simple grammar and a limited vocabulary; Luke's grammar is polished and his vocabulary extensive and precise.]  How strange it is then, to find several thousand verses in the BofM quoted virtually word for word from the King James translation, which words are placed not in the mouths of the O.T. prophets and N.T. writers but in some supposedly ancient writers on the American continents--reflecting the identical styles as the writings from which the verses were plagiarized!  An objective person should question the actual source of Joseph Smith's supposed "translation."

42. Genesis 1 in the Bible tells that Elohim created the heaven and the earth, and everything on the earth; it also claims that he created the sun, moon, AND STARS also.  John 1:3 testifies that the Word made ALL things and that nothing that is made was made by anyone else.  Paul agrees with both these witnesses when he says (Colossians 1:16) that Jesus created ALL things "in heaven, on earth, visible, invisible, thrones, authorities, principalities, OR POWERS."  The term "all" that John and Paul used is an inclusive term in Greek, UNLESS the writer qualifies it; in the absence of a limiting qualifier then, John & Paul both MUST be understood to be saying what Genesis clearly describes: EVERYTHING that has existence in the universe was created/made by Elohim/the Word/Jesus--with absolutely NO exceptions!

The Mormons claim that Elohim created only this particular solar system and that other stellar systems were created by other gods, as we ourselves might one day also create.  But Genesis says that Elohim created those other stars.  John and Paul both--by the inspiration and revelation of the Holy Spirit--testify that ALL things that were created/made exist as a result of a creative act of the Word/Jesus.  Let the Bible be true and every Mormon a liar when they say there are many gods and when the God who revealed himself to Isaiah testifies:  There is NO OTHER GOD...I know of none!  [Either Isaiah's God is not all-knowing, or Mormons are deceived about this matter.]  Mormons claim there are many gods, but they worship only one: the Father.  Why do they not do what the Father commands even the angels to do and worship Jesus, the only begotten son? (Hebrews 1:6)

43. Mormons often say they believe the BoM to be absolutely true and without error or falsehood, and they believe the same about the Bible--"as far as it is translated correctly."  They have been so indoctrinated with this qualifier that they seldom examine the Bible for accuracy of translation.  In their thinking, if the Bible contradicts or opposes the BoM--or Mormon teaching--the translation must be faulty and the Bible untrustworthy.  It is a simple task for any casual Greek or Hebrew student of the Bible to point out translation errors in most texts.  The problem for Mormons is that very few of these translation errors are Bible texts that conflict with the BoM or with Mormon teaching!  THOSE texts have yet to be challenged by Mormon leaders or teachers with anything other than denial.  A case in point is John 4:24, "God is a spirit..." which is from the Greek: "pneuma o theos...".  Any beginning Greek student can verify that the usual English translation is an exact rendering of the Greek text.  Nor are there any known variant manuscripts for this passage.  It is clear this text greatly conflicts with the teachings that Joseph Smith saw God, the Father, with a physical body, and that God the Father has a body, for:  "...a spirit has not flesh and bones..." (Lk 24:39)

If Mormons doubt the accuracy or trustworthiness of a Bible translation (as they are right to do in some cases!), let them learn Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic so that they can make their own translation--as Jehovah's Witnesses have (much to the deception of those who do not know Greek or Hebrew!). Then they need only depend on the many ancient manuscripts that are available in the original languages--which is something they CANNOT do with the Book of Mormon!

44. When Mormons are confronted by objective, verifiable evidence which conflicts with their teachings and beliefs, they fall back on the testimony of  "a burning in the breast" as the certain test of truth.  As with everthing having to do with faith in God and His revelation, He has provided a test as to the accuracy of this truth claim of subjective testimony.  The test is in the form of a statement, the truth--or falseness--of which is discernible and verifiable by simple visual observation.  The statement is this:  There are an infinite number of stars in the universe.

Now, since nothing is hid from God, let the God of the Mormons provide an answer which is consistent with observable reality...let them seek for the testimony of the truth in a burning of the breast--the statement above is either true or false--but let them also seek the explanation of the correct answer.  If a Mormon cannot achieve this simple task, then like the prophets of Baal in the contest of truth with Elijah, let them fear the God who is God and seek to know Him according to his word.