Jesus in America?
Recently two Mormon missionaries invited us to meet with them at the nearby Mormon meeting-house. This seems to be a new strategy to build relationships and to help people feel comfortable about attending the LDS church. Maybe it was to try to impress us - the LDS Church does have very nice buildings. In Mormonism, feelings and appearances are very important - much more than substance and facts.
After the tour, they asked us to read a passage from the Book of Mormon, which purports to be an account of Jesus’ visit to ancient America after His resurrection. By reading this part of the Book of Mormon, one can readily see that Mormonism contradicts itself.
For example, this passage teaches that the Law of Moses was fulfilled in Christ, that it ended, that it had been given to lead people to faith in Christ, and that people are now to look to Jesus. While this agrees with the Bible (Galatians), it contradicts modern Mormonism, which requires Mormons to live parts of the Law of Moses and many other “laws and ordinances” in order to earn eternal life.
This passage also states that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one. But again, while this agrees with the Bible, it contradicts today’s Mormonism, which teaches that they are three separate beings.
This passage also contains statements that are self-contradictory. For example, when Jesus appears, a small voice causes the people to quake. In fact, the text states that it took three tries for God to even make Himself heard. How can such a small voice cause people to quake?
This passage states that America was promised to the people who would be those we now know as the American Indians. However, we all know that settlers from Europe took the land from the Indians and relegated them to reservations.
In another part of this passage, Jesus states that he did not tell the Jews of Palestine about the American people. Yet, just a few sentences later, Jesus admits that he did tell them!
A lying Jesus is a big problem, isn’t it? For, if Jesus is lying, or at the least cannot make his mind up about what he told people in Jerusalem, then we cannot trust him at all for anything. If Jesus is this confused, it would be foolish to trust any of this other words in the Book of Mormon. It would be even more foolish to trust him for salvation.
Thus, we can see that the Book of Mormon does not strengthen faith in Jesus Christ. Rather, it undermines faith by describing him as vacillating or even lying.
In the Bible, we see no vacillation on the part of Jesus Christ. The wise person will stick with this (the Bible) reliable account of Jesus.