In order to find the right religion, sometimes we have to ask the tough questions. Time after time, I asked the tough questions of my religion and was able to get a reasonable answer that was logical, lined up with scripture, and led me to a closer walk with Jesus Christ.
I now ask that you consider for yourself the questions that may challenge your faith. Realize this, based upon your answers, these questions are going to show you a few things. They will express your worldview. They will reveal the philosophy that you live by. And they may reveal logical conflicts that should not exist in the right religion. In the Bible, it says that “God is not the author of confusion.”
Without further comment, here are the questions.
1) How did the first man appear before there ever was a God?
This question may not seem important at first. Until you realize that if man becomes a God and there had to be a first God. How did that man appear and how did he become God?
The Bible teaches us that God created Adam and made him a living being.
Genesis 2:7 KJV And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
2) Who was the first God?
If there was a Father to our Father God, that makes him our spiritual grandfather. We should know our grandfather’s name. Right?
The Bible does not teach this though. We are told that the God of the Bible is the only all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere-present God.
Isaiah 45:21-22 KJV
21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
3) Where did creation come from? May we call it creation?
We have to come to a conclusion on these thoughts. Is the universe eternal or was it created? If it is eternal, that means that our God and all other Gods are dependent on the universe. In other words, if the universe never had existed, neither would any god.
If God is eternal, the universe is then dependent on him. Here is what the Bible says:
Genesis 1:1 KJV In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
John 1:1-3 KJV
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.
Colossians 1:16 KJV
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
4) Where does God get his power? Where did the first God get his power?
This is another one of those thought-provoking questions. If God is reliant upon the universe because it is eternal and he is not, then where does his power come from? Something caused him to gain his power. The question is more importantly asked of the first God.
The God of the Bible does not have this problem. He is the uncaused one. This is what the God of the Bible said:
Psalm 90:2 KJV
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
5) Have you prayed about every one of the ten’s of thousands of religions on the planet? Could you have gotten a stronger burning in your bosom by praying for one of those?
The Bible does not ever teach you to ever pray to confirm that it is true. On the contrary, the Bible assumes that it is God’s word. It proves itself to be God’s word by fulfilled prophesies. It proves itself to be God’s word by the morality taught by it. Paul said these words,
2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
6) Are you able to find one or, better yet, two non-LDS archeologists who are able to corroborate the Book of Mormon as historically and geographically accurate?
The Bible does have a history of being accurate enough to use as a map by archeologists looking for ancient antiquities. You may go to the holy land and see for yourself what is shown in scripture. There are historical documents, physical structures, and geographical locations. You are not able to do this with the LDS scriptures. There are no historical documents, there are no physical structures, and the geographical locations are not where the LDS church teaches.
7) Has there ever been found examples of Reformed Egyptian and has it been confirmed by a non-LDS expert?
The Egyptian language is found throughout the Middle East. The Reformed Egyptian language seems not to be easily found. Expert Egyptologists will tell you this language and writing does not even exist.
In 1966, John A. Wilson, professor of Egyptology at the University of Chicago, wrote, “From time to time there are allegations that picture writing has been found in America… In no case has a professional Egyptologist been able to recognize these characters as Egyptian hieroglyphs. From our standpoint, there is no such language as ‘reformed Egyptian’.”
There are numerous expert sources supporting the lack of evidence for Reformed Egyptian. This one came from Wikipedia.
8) Which Indian tribes in North, Central, and South America have Hebrew DNA? If there is a tribe, how are you able to link them to the BOM?
There is one tribe who possibly has ties to the Hebrew people. That is the Cherokee tribe. But even that is suspect. That possible link is connected through the Scythians who were world travelers. It is believed that these Scythians transported Hebrews to North America thousands of years ago. There is no connection at all of Hebrew DNA to the natives of South America, Central America, and most or all of North America. Researchers have found that 99.4% of the DNA tested from these Indians was from Eastern China and the remaining is from European and Africans who came to America in the 1500’s and later.
9) Do you believe that there are false prophets? Could you describe a false prophet? Do you know of any? What are we supposed to do about our relationship with false prophets?
A false prophet is easy to identify. If someone makes a prediction as if the message came from God and they were wrong, they are a false prophet. There are many false prophets.
Here are two false prophesies:
1. Prophecy about Jesus’ return within 56 years–“President Smith then stated that the meeting had been called because God had commanded it; and it was made known to him by a vision and by the Holy Spirit. He then gave a relation of some of the circumstances attending us while journeying to Zion–our trials, sufferings; and said God had not designed all this for nothing, but He had it in remembrance yet; and it was the will of God that those who went to Zion, with a determination to lay down their lives, if necessary, should be ordained to the ministry, and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time, for the coming of the Lord, which was nigh–even fifty-six years should wind up the scene.” (History of the Church, vol. 2, p. 189). Matt Slick
2. Prophecy that the temple would be built in Missouri within Smith’s Generation–“Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem. 3 Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased. 4 Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation. 5 For verily this generation shall not all pass away until a house shall be built unto the Lord, and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord, which shall fill the house . . . 31 Therefore, as I said concerning the sons of Moses for the sons of Moses and also the sons of Aaron shall offer an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the house of the Lord, which house shall be built unto the Lord in this generation, upon the consecrated spot as I have appointed.” (Doctrines and Covenants 84:2-5,31.) Matt Slick
10) What exactly do your works accomplish in relation to your salvation?
The Bible clearly teaches that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. True salvation produces good works. Good works prove a person is saved. It is not part of salvation. This is important. From the perspective of the Christian, we cannot earn our salvation. If we have to work for salvation in addition to faith, that means either Christ’s blood was not enough to pay for our sins, or we are able to dilute or frustrate Christ’s work. The Christian’s work is meant to glorify God.
Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
11) What makes the LDS Church different than any other of the works-righteousness religions? What makes LDS works better than others’ works?
What many Saints do not know is that their works based theology is not much different than that of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Islam, and the Roman Catholic Church. Each adds works to faith.
12) Why should we believe that the Bible is in any way in error or unreliable (“not translated correctly”)?
There are tens of thousands of manuscripts of scripture dating back to the second century. Additionally, the Church Fathers quoted scripture liberally. Between these two very large sources of scripture, the Bible is found to be very reliable. Dr. Dan Wallace from Dallas Theological Seminary is a great resource on Textual Criticism. A person may learn Koine Greek easily with the numerous seminaries and online classes. The thought that the Bible was translated from its native languages to Latin then English, or into other languages before English is not representative of the facts.
With the amount of data out there, textual critics are able to put together within about 0.5 % the actual autographs of the New Testament. Those scriptures that are questionable are documented as so within the Bibles, such as the woman caught in adultery and a significant portion of Mark 16.
There are tens of thousands of manuscripts as well as a liberal amount of quoting of scripture by the Church Fathers.
Regarding the Old Testament, we have the reliability of the Jewish copyists. And fortunately, copies were kept in various places. We also have the Septuagint, which was translated a 100 or 200 years before Christ.
Now that you have read this far, you may be completely offended. You may be very curious. You may be very concerned about your eternal destiny and that of friends and family. I ask that you read the Gospel of Christ which comes straight from scripture.
1 Corinthians 15 KJV
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
The Gospel is quite simple. God (Jesus) came to earth and lived as a man. He lived a completely innocent righteous life according to the Law. Jesus was our sacrificial lamb. Our sins were placed upon him (imputed). In turn, when we place our faith in Him, his righteousness is placed (imputed) upon us. This process was put in to place by God to help restore man’s relationship with himself. Christ died on the cross to protect us from God’s wrath against our sinful lives. His justice was satisfied by Christ’s death on the cross. In essence, God sent Christ to protect us from what his nature requires, satisfactory punishment for our wrong choices. If we do not place our faith and trust in Christ, we will not be forgiven
and our eternal destiny will be spent receiving the just punishment that we deserve.
If you believe what I have said is true, please pray this prayer in faith to God:
Dear Lord, I am a sinner in need of a Savior. I have fallen short in every one of your commandments. I have kept none of them perfectly. I ask that you forgive me of my sins. I ask that you cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I ask that you make me the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I take myself off of the throne of my heart and ask that Jesus take his rightful spot. Jesus, I acknowledge that you are both Lord and Savior of my life. I deserved Hell. Thank you for saving me. Amen.
This prayer does not work unless it is done with true faith. Otherwise, they are just words.
If you prayed that prayer, feel free to contact us. We will gladly point you in a direction that will be beneficial to you.
Please consider visiting our website and read more about the Gospel. See the link just below.