And now behold, I say unto you that if it had been possible for Adam to have partaken of the fruit of the tree of life at that time, there would have been no death, and the word would have been void, making God a liar, for he said: If thou eat thou shalt surely die.
24 And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.
Read the book and you'll quickly find out why people think that it's ridiculous. It's sort of like the Star Wars Holiday Special--people have talked a lot about how dumb it is, and when you see it for yourself, you're surprised only by how absolutely correct they are.
Over-exaggerate? There is nothing to over-exaggerate on. Joseph Smith was who he was, did what he did and saw what he saw. And the Book of Mormon, well, read for yourself. My point being though, no, they dint.
No, they really don't exaggerate it and Joseph Smith was a total nut. Then again, if i had so many not good looking wives, I would probably go insane too
I think the South Park episode pretty much summed it up.. But seriously the Christian bible is just as silly. 5000 year old religion is all DUMB and bordering on comical if not for the nut job followers.
The answer is both yes and no to that question.
The yes part, they who have never studied the religion seem to think we believe in a different Jesus Christ than other Christians and that is not true.
The no part. The L.D.S. religion has additional scriptures that support the bible in every way. And with that support it also clarifies many things in the bible as well as give additional commandments and shows Jesus is a living God and does still command and guide his people and his church. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God and with out excepting that many people are like the Jews of old who stoned and killed the prophets in their time. So with out believing these facts you cannot believe the church is true therefore you must ridicule and over exaggerate the church.
What is to exaggerate? We have plenty of irrefutable facts, like the list of children and women he married, the court records for his arrests for fraud, the books he claims God gave him that are inaccurate.
Perhaps they do. When Joseph Smith saw the angel Moroni, he reported:
?He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kind reds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people. "
Joseph Smith History
http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bm/jstestimony
This prophecy certainly seems to have come to pass. Venerated by Mormons as Prophet, Seer and Revelator - he is despised by anti-Mormon antagonists as a conman, liar and fraud. One only hopes that people will turn to God for the truth of the matter.
No, it is not over exaggerated. The man was as much of a womanizer as they say and involved in many things that the church does not tell is members about today.
No, the Book of Mormon phenomenon is not new and members don't hear about the history of the area and how it was not the first book to be pulled from the ground by people in the USA before that time.
If God did indeed speak to mankind in this day and age, and restore Christ's gospel again to the earth in its fullness, would not that be something to cheer about...? Satan seems to think so, and continually gathers his efforts to speak out in opposition to the great work of the Restoration. Just sit back and read all of the anti-Mormon propaganda here on forums such as Yahoo Answers. The LDS Church has been around now, for over 180 years, and continues to grow.
If indeed Joseph Smith was someone of no consequence, he and his work would have disappeared a long long time ago. Yet, the more and more that the work of the Lord progresses, Satan's efforts increase as well. This is what has been said about the LDS Church.
Our missionaries are going forth to different nations?.The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.
It depends on which people you are talking about. If you are referring to the Mormon church, then yes, they do exaggerate/flat-out lie about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon stuff. If you are referring to the people who know the truth about Joe Smith (that he was a fraud, a con-man, and a pervert) then no, they are not exaggerating at all.
You need to ask yourself who is doing the over-exaggerating. Mormons tell you what they believe to be true through testimonies. They share the same stories about Joseph Smith, and ask you to pray and determine whether or not it's true for yourself.
The following are exaggerations I've heard about the Mormons from people of other religions:
Mormons have horns
Reading the Book of Mormon will brainwash you into becoming Mormon
Merely TOUCHING the Book of Mormon will brainwash you
Mormons wear magic underwear (since when does calling something holy make it magical?)
Mormons believe Native Americans are Jews
Mormon men expect to rule personal planets and have sex with multiple wives after death
Mormons worship Joseph Smith
Those are just a few of many many things people say about Mormons that they know are not true.
I've learned about Joseph Smith from the sources that are not trying to downplay his honor or intelligence and there are a lot of amazing things he did that are not exaggerations but yes there are a lot of exaggerations that are untrue.
Do most people over-exaggerate all the Joseph Smith and the Book Of Mormon Stuff?
