hey i got some Mormon friends and my religion (southern baptist [please no haters]) teaches that they are all going to hell. Mormons claim that they're Christians, but how can that be when they believe that god was a man and they can be a god or goddess one day (blasphemy?) and that the christian religion needed cleansing? if Jesus built the christian church and said that it will never fail, why would the church need cleansing?
i am not judging them, i simply want reassurance that half of my friends aren't going to hell.
the reason i am worried is because my pastor says that Mormons are going to hell. i believe that he is a man of god and he is an ordained, practicing minister. he would not lie to me or tell me something unintentionally that is not true
southern baptist dint have radically different ideas than other Christians. we still believe in the same god and basic things, but we have small differences. i would feel perfectly comfortable with going to a baptist church or any other christian church. but i would be outright afraid in a Mormon church
Geeky McNerdy pants, you need to chill. why do you care? if you think I'm lying to myself and there is no afterlife, why not just leave me to believe what i want to?
Just Ducky: thank you, you are the kind of person i was looking to talk to. and i believe i showed how Mormons are radically different when they believe that god was once a man? the bible teaches that god was the creator of everything? please don't think I'm trying to tell you what you believe, and correct me if I'm wrong.
and god is not an invisible man in the sky. just hearing you say that hurts me on the inside. please know what you are talking about and be rational before you go trying to explain your beliefs. or lack thereof...
Christ never called humans gods. i would need to see your scripture behind that. in a bible. NOT a mormon bible. because i don't believe that the mormon bible is anywhere near true.
i am a young christian and not thoroughly acquainted with the language of the bible. i will bring this topic up with my pastor on sunday. however there are still things about the LDS religion that don't add up. such as god was once a man? And...was Joseph Smith really the only one to ever see the book of mormon? i know his buddy (forgot his name, sorry) "helped" him, but it seemed to me that he never really saw it, just wrote it down under Smith's dictation. a veil? covered the book or something?
who were the other 11? and it is a scientific impossibility for plates of gold to hold writing as far as i know. isn't solid gold malleable (moldable, soft)? wouldn't the plates just squish together? and who is this angel Moroni? I have never heard anything about him...
who is Moroni?
SORRY! when i said mormon bible, i meant book of mormon! sorry sorry sorry!
i have a friend who says moroni was once a man. is that true?
Do Mormons add on to the Bible? If so, why?
how is it possible that a man became an angel? i didn't think that was possible. and if mormons didn't add on to the bible, what is the book of mormon and the pearl of great price? are those not as important as the bible?
I cannot say that i understand what you're telling me about angels. Are you trying to tell me that angels are just men that God is using for messengers? Because I don't think that that's true. Angels are separate from humans. If they weren't, why would they be called angels and not just messengers or prophets?
And how is Moroni the angel a prophet? Wouldn't he be Moroni the prophet? Honestly, your explanation makes no sense so i am assuming it is false
And as for the lady who said that her Mormon church put down no other churches, how does your spiritual leader feel about Satan worshipers? They have churches too babe...
The Bible is the rule book, the love letter, the history, and the promise. No other book is equaled to it and no other book is needed. At least this is what I believe and have been taught. It makes sense.
There are no errors in the Bible. God would not allow it.
Because the Mormons are a fake religion, it was made by a man who had no money at the time and concocted the idea of two golden tablets that an angel gave him to get people to follow him and give him money.
How can you claim you're a Christian when you're judging your friends for their choice of religion? Doesn't the Bible say "Judge not, lest ye be judged"?
(I'm an atheist, by the way)
Edit:
According to your religion, half of your friends are headed straight for the fires of Hell! OH NOES!!! Try harder to convert them, quickly! Or just leave them alone and you can all be disappointed when you find out that death is just death, there's probably nothing after it and there is no god.
Edit again:
He wouldn't lie to you? Really? He's preaching from a fictional book about an invisible man in the sky. Or if you need something else; he's not even sure your god exists, yet he preaches his existence as if he knows for certain there is a god. Maybe try a different church, or start asking questions and don't stop asking until reason and logic enter your head for the first time and you realize that organized religion is just a way to control the masses (He...punny)
They hate anyone who isn't white, they have to wear special underwear and bras and the men believe that when they die they get a planet to themselves to repopulate with like 30 wives.
They are crazy. They are harmful. Do not trust them.
As an atheist I can answer this one for you. I am truly not trying to be a "hater" so please don't take offense. There are literally hundreds of religions across the globe, with all different denominations and spin offs of other larger religions. Every single one presumes it is the only correct one so it doesn't surprise me at all that this conflict exists from other denominations of Christianity. Unfortunately most Christians just choose to blindly believe that their denomination is the correct one. Some of us... on the other hand just think it is all hocks pocks.
I have to correct someone on here. My religion does NOT believe we're the only correct one.
Now to the questioner. What you believe has no bearing on reality. I am not being mean, but truthful. You believing that half your friends are going to hell doesn't make it so. It's called belief for a reason.
Rather than go through all that, I'll just give you something to think about, OK?
The Mormon sect of Christianity has existed longer than the southern baptist sect of Christianity has.
If everything was perfectly hunky-dory with "the church," why did the southern baptists feel the need to break away from the main US baptist sect, and start their own "church?" Hmm?
Peace.
p.s. there's no evidence of any god or any "hell," so don't worry about it.
I think your pastor is confused, like many people who speak out against the LDS church. You said
"southern baptist dint have radically different ideas than other Christians. we still believe in the same god and basic things, but we have small differences"
It is the same with us. We believe in God, the eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. The most important thing to us is the Atonement of Christ. That is what makes us Christian.
We don't believe that the the "christian church needed cleansing." We believe that the original priesthood authority was lost after the death of the apostles of the New Testament, so it needed restored. If you have questions about the LDS faith, please visit WNW.mormon.org. If you want to learn more about our Saviour, please visit http://jesuschrist.lds.org/SonOfGod/eng/
There is nothing to be afraid of in an LDS church. We believe that all people are God's children!
Hi! In answer to your last question, here is a scripture from the KJV of the Bible, which we study all the time:
John 10: 33The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, make st thyself God.
34Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
35If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blaspheme st; because I said, I am the Son of God?
And
Psalms 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High
If you want to know more, you can visit the websites I posted above, or you can email me by going to my profile and clicking on the "email" link.
Edit
Do we believe that God the Father was once a man? I think that a lot of us do believe that. We also believe that He has a glorified body, just as Christ does. How did Christ get a body? By living as a man on Earth. I am not sure if this is doctrine, but it is the way I think about it. But we do not believe that we are equal to Him in our current state. He is the Father of all creation, the God of everything we know. We worship Him, and want to be with Him after we leave this Earth.
As far as the Book of Mormon....It was translated by Joseph Smith from metal plates. We believe that an angel named Moroni, who was a prophet in the Book of Mormon, showed him where the plates were hidden. There were 11 other people who saw the plates in their original state.
your friends will be all right.....they also believe in the same God of the bible, they rely on and worship Jesus the Christ as the Savior and Son of God.....you only fear what you do not know and have had made seem strange to you by others who do not understand it.
interestingly enough - while your pastor condemns your friends to hell - the LDS would tell you that you (or your pastor) are NOT condemned to hell simply because of the religion you have chosen.... and really, may I recommend that you read your bible - you will find that it is God who has said that we, as His children, (that includes you and your pastor) can be like Him - Jesus the Christ is the one who called us gods and said that we were joint heirs to all the Father has with Him.....the bible tells us that ---
we were created in the image of God
God is the father of our spirits
we are His offspring
Christ calls us gods
man has become as God
we will inherit all things
we will be co-heirs with Christ of all things
we will be partakers of the divine nature of God
we will be one with God
we shall be like Him
so do you really want to Cy blasphemy? and if you read your bible - you will also see that the bible both predicts and chronicles a falling away from the word.
edit: there is no "Mormon bible" the LDS use the KJV bible......you want some scripture references - here's a few.....
Hebrews 12:9, Acts 17:28, Acts 17:29, Genesis 1:26, Psalms 82:6, John 10:34-35, Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:22, Genesis 3:24, Revelation 2:7, Revelation 22:14, John 17:20-23, Ephesians 3:19, 2 Peter 1:3-4, Revelation 21:7, Romans 8:14-18, Revelation 3:21, Phillipians 3:21, 1 John 3:2, Matthew 5:48, 1 Peter 3:7
the bible tells us - "I have said, ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." (psalms 82) Jesus Christ Himself said we were gods: "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken." (john 10) and Christ pointed out that Psalm 82:6 was not a mistake or a fluke, when He continued "and the scripture cannot be broken" right after it, stressing that it was accurate and that its meaning could not be argued away.
however - you should understand that the LDS know that even though the bible and Christ have said we can be called gods......we are NOT on the same level as God the Father. we are like Him in that we have potential.
edit again: too many questions to answer here - you can email me if you want.....
It's not up to us to judge who is going to hell and who isn't. I understand your question and feel for you. You honestly care for your friends and don't want them to go to hell. God judges the heart and he is filled with compassion. Your LDS friends want to be loved and have a sense of belonging which the LDS church does very well. Know that it is very difficult to leave the LDS church once you are in. NOT because it has the fullness of the gospel but because of the extreme consequences that lie in leaving. The best thing you can do is be the best witness you can. Show what Christ means to you by loving them and sharing his word. A lot of LDS believe that other faiths can be corrupt for the way they treat them. They have it in their heads that other Christians are "jealous of them". So be the best you can be, love them as Christ has commanded you too. Plant seeds of what Christ did for you. LDS DOCTRINE is not biblical Christianity. However, there are Mormons who are true Christians. They are busting at the heart for a way out of the church. Be that bridge, the sight of a Mormon who finds the true Christ is very powerful.
Hang in there you have a rough road ahead of you. I have been there, Christ said that there would be difficulty in defending his name. In the past people died for sticking up for him. You shouldn't have to worry about that though.
Your religion teaches wrong. We Mormons that live according to the gospel of Jesus Christ will return to live with God the Father and Jesus Christ. We are Christians.
"when they believe that god was a man"
Why do you think God the Father is God the FATHER, He, Him? Man does not necessarily mean mortal.
"but how can that be when they believe that god was a man and they can be a god"
Because that comes straight out of the Bible.
"if Jesus built the christian church and said that it will never fail, why would the church need cleansing?"
The people in the church were subjected to sin. That's how it fell. I know the scripture you're referring to about how the rock, Peter, & all that. "And the gates of hell shall not (can't remember exactly) prevail against it". The key word is IT. IT is the rock. A rock is a foundation. Jesus Christ is the foundation of His church so the IT in that verse is referring to the rock which is referring to Christ. To put that verse how it means, the gates of hell shall not prevail against Christ.
"i believe that he is a man of god and he is an ordained, practicing minister. he would not lie to me or tell me something unintentionally that is not true"
No, your pastor is no man of God. I know that kind of attitude. I have a cousin that's a baptist pastor. He was ordained by the state, not God. You go to college to become a preacher/pastor. Not exactly how a man of God was called in the scriptures was it? Yes, your pastor is misleading you. Sorry but any baptism your preacher or any others of other faiths aren't worth the paper they're written on. We have a member that was a baptist preacher before and those were his words. He's the one that told us how pastors get their "authority". Go to college, graduate, & the state says they are preachers. They are not called of God.
"southern baptist dint have radically different ideas than other Christians. we still believe in the same god and basic things, but we have small differences. i would feel perfectly comfortable with going to a baptist church or any other christian church. but i would be outright afraid in a Mormon church"
Going to a Mormon church would be going to a christian church. What are you afraid of, the truth?
"thank you, you are the kind of person i was looking to talk to. and i believe i showed how Mormons are radically different"
That's because we actually teach what the Bible teaches. Others, your pastor included obviously, twists the Bible.
"Christ never called humans gods. i would need to see your scripture behind that. in a bible. NOT a Mormon bible. because i don't believe that the Mormon bible is anywhere near true."
1st, there's no such thing as "Mormon Bible". There's the Bible, we use the King James Version, and the Book of Mormon which is another testament of Jesus Christ. And If I feel like it I will use any verse from the Book of Mormon because it is equal in divinity to the Bible.
John 10:34Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? 35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Including Joseph Smith, 26 people saw the golden plates. http://moroni10.com/witnesses/golden_plates.html
"who were the other 11? and it is a scientific impossibility for plates of gold to hold writing as far as i know. isn't solid gold malleable (mold able, soft)? wouldn't the plates just squish together? and who is this angel Moroni? I have never heard anything about him..."
Nothing says they were gold at all. That was how they looked.
Moroni was the angel the Lord spoken of who would visit Joseph. People try to say Moroni was a demon. That would be against Christ's teachings. Christ taught that who says the Lord has come and that Jesus is the Christ is a messenger of the Lord. Moroni told Joseph that Christ has come and testified of Jesus Christ. Satan cannot testify of Christ because he cannot divide against himself. That's what Christ taught. So Moroni is verified by the scriptures as a true angel of the Lord.
Yes, Moroni was a man once.
No, we haven't added to the Bible. If you're talking about Revelation 22 it's only talking about Revelation. The Bible didn't exist then. Besides, those verses say anyone that adds to Revelation will be plagued. We haven't been plagued so we, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon aren't guilty of anything. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and is true.
They are as important as the Bible but they are not an add to the Bible.
There are errors in the Bible. Not the teachings but the literal words. This comes from human error. If there wasn't errors why would we have 91 versions of the English Bible?
Mormons don't believe God was once a man. That stems from "As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become." Some interpret this to mean God went through some sort of testing period like unto our own, but it's completely up in the air on how this works. Our finite minds cannot understand the infinity of God.
The Bible teaches that there would be a falling away from the Gospel of Christ, and Revelation talks about an angel coming in the last days to restore the fullness of the gospel to the earth. If you are Baptist, you must believe there was some sort of falling away, else you would be Catholic. Protestants believe the Catholic Church added things to religion thus making it corrupt and a need for a reformation. Study Martin Luther, Calvin and the other Protestant leaders for further detail.
Mormons believe that the restoration would come from God, not from man (Luther, Calvin) and that only through the authority of God could Christ's Church return to earth.
edit:
gold is malleable, which is exactly why it was chosen to write such a lengthy text on. There is worldwide proof of the ancients writing texts on gold plates. Here is a link. Scroll down a bit and you will see a small page from a book made out of gold with writing on it.
Wow! This is a long question. I can't answer it all here, but I want to ask you one and hope you will really think about it.
Do you really think that your Pastor is a man of God if he openly puts down the Mormon church or any other church for that matter and says that they AR going to hell? I have been a member of the Mormon church for over 48 years and never once has any leader in our church put down another religion!
I think that you can tell if someone is trying to live a Christ-like life by his or her actions. Are they Christ-like themselves?
Jesus himself said: Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringer forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringer forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringer not forth good fruit is hen down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
An angel is a messenger from God. They were symbolically represented as having wings, since they come from the heavens, but angels don't really have wings. They are not separate creatures, just men who have been called as messengers.
Moroni was a prophet in life. He was sent by God to introduce the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith.
Several people saw the Book of Mormon. Their testimonies can be found in the preface. It was probably made from a gold/copper alloy. Witnesses said it weighed about seventy pounds. The Mayans had an alloy called Tumbaga. It looked like gold, and was suitable for engraving.
We believe that the Bible contains a collection of inspired books, but we don't believe that it contains all inspired books. The Catholic priests who assembled the Bible picked and chose from thousands of manuscripts - none of which contained the books of Nephi, Alma, Mosiah, Helamen, Mormon or Moroni. These prophets lived in a different hemisphere and were unknown to the Catholic priests. Further, we believe that God can and still does inspire men to write. We are a long way from knowing all the knowledge of God. God loves his children today as much as he loved his children two thousand years ago.
PS. The English word originated from Latin, angel us, which is itself derived from the Greek S's,S'sgelos, meaning "messenger" (double gamma "??" is pronounced "ng" in Greek). The closest Hebrew word for angel is ????, mal'ach Hebrew word #4397 in Strong's, also meaning "messenger".
How could we believe that it is not robbery to become like God, being created in the image of God, if it were not possible for that to happen? Something your church will never tell you is that Jews and the Jewish Christians of Jesus' time believed in a much closer, more immediate God than most Christians today do. Back then, people still knew that we are divine beings, the children of God. So if God by some means became what and who he is today at some point before he created our universe, it would make no difference to us and our salvation. The facts of salvation would still be the same. The Bible teaches that we are God's children, not his pets. We can grow up to be like him, but never equal to him. That's the catch. We will always love, need, and worship him. It isn't blasphemy if it's true, by the way.
Jesus' heavenly church and kingdom will never end. Neither will he ever change the ways he does things in this regard: He commissions ordinary people and makes them extraordinary as his apostles and prophets. When he does anything major with the world, he gives fair warning to his prophets, as taught in Amos 3:7. But the early Christian church fell to no earthly power. It was not overthrown by any outside agency. It was overthrown by corruption from within, as bemoaned at least by Paul. The Catholics have done the best they could, and in many regards they've done a fine job and are a good church, but they only picked up the pieces after Christ's church was destroyed.
When Oliver Cowdery received the Lord's permission to try to translate, he worked with the plates directly. He was one of three men who saw the angel and the plates. The other two were Martin Harris and David Whitmer. None of these three ever denied his testimony nor recanted it, although Oliver and Martin had been excommunicated and later sought out the Church to rejoin it.
Eight other honest men from the community risked reputation, livelihood, and sometimes life and limb to attest that they had seen and handled the plates and had examined the portion thereof that Smith said he translated. They were Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, Jr., John Whitmer, Hiram Page, Joseph Smith, Sr., Hyrum Smith, and Samuel Harrison Smith. None of these men ever denied his witness, even though Hiram Page was later disciplined for receiving revelations from somebody other than the Holy Ghost.
The squish ability of the plates has not been established. There are gold plates or other implements that have ancient writing on them. It depends on how they're handled. Further, the plates "had the appearance of gold." That doesn't make them gold. Tumbaga, a eutectic mixture of gold and copper, has been suggested as the material of the plates. Because gold and copper are immiscible at room temperature (or at least in solid form), a thin layer of gold atoms coats the surface, and a darker copper substrate would make it possible to scratch characters on the surface rather than deeply engraving or embossing them.
Why would you have heard about Moroni outside of references to his ministry? Besides, most angels minister anonymously until it becomes an issue. You know that. ("Behold, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God.") But your not having heard of him doesn't make him not exist.
Righteous people frequently minister to others after they die. Just what did you think that angels are? Harp-addicted, winged freaks?
If we did add on to the Bible, it would only be at Christ's instruction. No, the closest we get to adding to the Bible is in comparing translations, correcting errors, general critical reading stuff. Jesus' Bible was the Jewish Bible. So you'd have to admit that the earliest Christians and the Catholics added to the Bible. We do have other books of scripture, but they were given by the will and power of God for the benefit of his children.
"The Bible is the rule book, the love letter, the history, and the promise. No other book is equaled to it and no other book is needed. At least this is what I believe and have been taught. It makes sense."
No, it doesn't make sense. Jesus never taught that the canon had to be closed. And what of the prophecies and promises of actual revelation in the last days, or of the everlasting gospel being restored to the earth in the last days so that it can be preached in all the world? A lot of good that's going to do if nobody writes it down, and if somebody does write it down, it becomes scripture. Whether you agree with my church or not, when Jesus does establish his church and kingdom again, he's going to do it very much like how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints got started: With revelation to a prophet, new scriptures, corrected misunderstandings, etc.
Wow after the first few answers I've read, I just lost total concentration. I myself cannot stand Mormons, I #$%Inga hate them. Their religion gives the whole term "Religion" a bad name. Between you and me, ALL religion is wrong. I'm not atheist, screw that. I'm just smarter then your average brainwashed human being. Religion was created to keep men and women down on their knee's robbing them of their full potential.
Also note: Have you noticed how the topic of "Religion" always leads into an argument? Religion is also responsible for so many blood stained wars. Religion only causes more fighting and wars. Why would you fight over a figure that most likely doesn't even exist? The series of rules listed in the Mormon book are completely ridiculous. I literally think that the guy who wrote it set those rules so he could see if some brainless idiot would fall for it and get a laugh out of it. (This also applies for the rest of the worthless text added to it.)
Now when I say religion is wrong, I am not saying that a "God" or "Supreme Creator" is fake. I don't think it is wrong to ONLY be spiritual. As long as you live your life morally good without any shackle binding religions, why should you deserve an eternal damnation? Religion goes way back thousands of years. Its kind of sad to think we haven't matured out of it yet. There is a greater source of knowledge that reaches far beyond this worthless topic. It is up to you to seek it. Do what 95% of the human race cannot do.
2 Thessalonians 2: 3 says "that day [the second coming of Jesus Christ] shall not come, except there come a falling away first". Mormons call this 'falling away' the apostasy, when things were gradually lost or changed from the gospel as Jesus himself taught it. There are hundreds of Christian denominations today as a result of people trying to find their way during the apostasy.
You sound like a good Christian and a good friend for being concerned about your friends. If you are truly concerned, I think you should find out more about what they believe and make your own judgment whether you think they are going to hell or not. Ask a Mormon friend a question, go to church with a Mormon friend, or look up their church's official website at WNW.mormon.org.
Also, from the types of questions you're asking, I think you should also stop by this website:
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
and scroll down to where it says: "Questions About LDS Beliefs." Everything you're asking here is addressed there. It's not an official site of the church, but written by a well-spoken member of the church in Wisconsin who I believe represents Mormon beliefs very well.
Keep asking questions. Keep looking for the truth. Remember that people make mistakes, and all you read, or all you hear in church is not necessarily true. I'd suggest you talk to the Mormon missionaries who can walk you through your questions. There are good solid answers, which make a lot of sense, to your questions.
God loves us all and he is not going to send anyone to hell to stay for eternity because they honestly had a difference in opinion on theology. Mormons are trying hard to live the truth and follow God as best they can. Maybe we make some mistakes, maybe our churches makes some mistakes. God is not an intolerant hater.
Was God a man? Do you not believe that Jesus was God, and that He took upon Himself mortality by being born of Mary, thus becoming a man for the purposes of His mortal ministry? He is now exalted, and has become as His, and our, Father in Heaven. He has commanded us to follow Him, His example and teachings.
In John 10:30-36, and there referring to Psalm 82:6, Jesus says exactly what you claim He never said.
Your pastor is, I assume, honestly teaching what he was taught when he prepared for the ministry. Concerning The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he received a whole lot of wrong information. It is the same way the Jews were led by their religious leaders to mistakenly reject Jesus as their promised Messiah. By the typical definition, Mormons accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, and aim to follow Him and keep His commandments, repenting and doing better each time we sin, so why should we be going to hell, since we are Christians? As for cleansing the Christian church, the need is more evident that, with so many opposing denominations, something happened to the one, original, united Church of Jesus Christ. We proclaim to all the world that Jesus Christ has personally restored His original New Testament church to the earth; He did that through a prophet, just as God has always called prophets to fulfill His purposes. This prophet's name is Joseph Smith. Of course if true doctrines needed to be restored to the earth to unify all believers in Christ, replacing the diversity of men's doctrines with the pure doctrine of Christ once again, you should expect The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to have some doctrines in common with your faith, but also some with which your church and thus your pastor might differ at present. The "Mormon Bible" is not an appropriate term. We use the King James Bible as our official Bible version. The Book of Mormon is an additional volume of scripture, a companion to the Bible, of which the Bible itself testifies in such places as Ezekiel chapter 37 (records of both Judah and Joseph, the Bible being for Judah, the Book of Mormon the record of Joseph) and Isaiah chapter 29 (the sealed book there, which is not the sealed book of Revelation; it even says this book will bring men to understanding, referring to unity in the true faith).
As for the plates, gold is both readily indescribable because it is relatively soft, and lasts about forever because it will not corrode under normal circumstances, even buried in the ground for many centuries. Silver coins will corrode in the ground, but gold coins will come out centuries later appearing just as when they were lost/buried (for anyone lucky enough to find one). No, gold plates would not mush together. God's law of witnesses (two or more needed) required that others see and bear witness of the existence of the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph and 11 others were thus shown them.
Angels and men a alike the children of God. All existed with Him as His spirit children before the earth was created for us to come here and obtain mortal bodies through birth, through Adam and Eve whom God created here for that purpose. Satan and his angels rebelled, and thus will not receive mortal bodies, which is why they have tried to possess men's bodies, and would even settle for entering swine. When Jesus returns, the angels accompanying Him will include His resurrected prophets and other faithful saints. The pattern of Jesus' Prue-mortal life with God, His mortal birth, life experiences, death, and resurrection is the path we all will follow who are mortals here. The difference is He is God, our Savior, and His atonement for our sins and His resurrection makes possible that which would be impossible for us to accomplish for ourselves.
Also, our additional scriptures come from God, not man, just as with the Bible. Man cannot add to God's word, and we do not. But God does add to His own word as He sees fit. The Bible never said God was through speaking. Hope this all helps.
Mormons? I have questions?
