Is the Book of Mormon Credible?

In 1823, the angel Moroni allegedly visited Mormon prophet Joseph Smith and divulged the location of some golden plates containing the "fullness of the everlasting gospel". These plates - abridged by Moroni and his fater, Mormon, 1400 years earlier - were written in "reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics." Along with the plates, Smith found a pair of magical eyeglasses that he used to translate the cryptic writing into English. The result was a new revelation called the Book of Mormon and a new religion called Mormonism. How millions can take the Book of Mormon seriously is almost beyond comprehension.
First, while Smith referred to the Book of Mormon as "the most correct of any book on earth and the keystone of our religioun" its flaws run the gamut from the serious to the silly. In the category of serious, the Book of Mormon contains modalistic language that militates against the biblical doctrine of the Trinity (Ether 3:14). In the category of silly, a man struggles to catch his breath after having his head cut off (Ether 15:31).
Furthermore, while archeology is a powerful testimony to the accuracy of the Bible the same cannot be said for the Book of Mormon. Not only is there no archeological evidence for a language such as "reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics," there is no archeological support for lands such as the "land of Moron" (Ether 7:6) Nor is there any archeological evidence to buttress the notion that the Jaredites, Nephites, and Lamanites migrated from Israel to Americas. On the contraty, both archeology and anthropology demonstrate conclusively that the people and places chronicled in the Bood of Mormon are little more than the product of a fertile imagination.
Finally, Joseph Smith asserted that the golden plates were translated "by the power of God" and produced "the most correct of any book on earth". Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of the Mormon church, went so far as to say that the words were not only correct but "every letter was given to (Smith) by the gift and power of God." In reality however, the Book of Mormon has had to be corrected thousands of times to compensate for Smith´s poor grammar and spelling. The Book of Mormon is fraught with other errors as well. For example, "Benjamin" was changed to "Mosiah" when Mormon leaders realized that in the chronology of the Book of Mormon King Benjaming had already died - thus he would have been hard pressed to "interpret" the engravins mentioned in Mosiah 21:28. Perhaps the greates crack in the credibility of the Book of Mormon is that whole sections were derived directly from the King James Version of the Bible - this despited the fact that according to Mormon chronology, the Book of Mormon predated the King James Version by more than a thousand years.
Little wonder that Mormons accept the Book of Mormon based on a "burning in the bosom" rather than on history and evidence.

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or and angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemed! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, le him be eternally condemed!."
*Taken from The Bible Answer Book by Hank Hanegraaff editorial house

Is Mormonism Christian?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was birthed in 1820 by an alleged vision in which two celestial personages appeared to Joseph Smith claiming all existing churches were wrong, all their creed were an abomination, and all their professors were corrupt.
According to these personages, Smith had been chosen to restore-not-reform-a church that had disappeared from the face of the earth. The Mormon doctrines that evolved from this vision compromise, confuse, or contradict the nature of God, the authority of Scripture, and the way of salvation.
First, while Christians believe that God is spirit (John 4:24), Joseph Smith taught, "God Himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!" Mormonism also holds to a plurality of gods and contends that "as man is, God is, God once was; as God is, man may become." Additionally, the Latter-day Saints compromise the nature of the God-man, Jesus Christ. In Christianity, Jesus is the self-existent creator of all things (Colossians 1:15-20). In Mormonism, he is the spirit brother of Lucifer who was conceived in heaven by a celestial Mother and came in flesh as the result of the Father having sex with the Virgin Mary.

Doctrinal perversions exclude Mormonism from rightly being called Christian.

Furthermore, in sharp distinction to orthodox Christian theology, Mormos do not believe that the Bible is the infallible repository for redemptive revelation (2 Timothy 3:16). In their view, the Book of Mormo is "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion." Two further revelations complete the Mormon quad, namely Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Doctrine and Covenants is a compilation of divine revelation that includes the doctrine of polygamy. Not until threatened by the federal goverment did Mormon president Wilford Woodruff receive a revelation relegating polygamy to the afterlife. The Pearl of Great Price is no less troubling; this extrabiblical revelation was used by Mormonism to prevent African-American from entering the priesthood and from being exalted to godhood.
Finally, while Christians believe that they will stand before God dressed in the spotless robes of Christçs righteousness (Romans 3:21-22; Philippians 3:9), Mormons conted that they will appear before heavenly Father dressed in fig-leaf aprons holding good works in their hands. According to the Latter-day Saints, virtually everyone qualifies for heaven. Murderes, unrepentant whoremongers, and the world´s vilest people make it into the Telestial Heaven; lukewarm Mormons, religious people, and those who accept the Mormon gospel in the spirit world typically enter the Terrestial heavens; and temple Mormons make it to the Celestial heaven. Only those who are sealed in secret temple rituals, however, will make it to the third level of the Celestial kingdom and become gods of their own planets.
These and many other doctrinal perversions exclude Mormonism from rightly being called Christian.
"You are my witnesses," declare the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was form3ed, nor will there be one after me." Isaiah 43:10

*Taken from The Bible Answer Book by Hank Hanegraaff editorial house

Is the New World Translation of the Bible Credible?

Jehovah´s Witnesses claim that the New World Translation (NWT) is the "work of competent scholars." Conversely, they contend that other Bible translations are corrupted by religious traditions that are rooted in paganism. In reality, the NWT is the work of a Bible Translation Committee with no working knowledge of biblical languages. Their bias is so blatant that Dr. Bruce Metzger, professor of New Testament at Princeton, not only characterized the NWT as a "frightful mistranslation" but as "erroneous," "pernicious," and "reprehensible."
First, the NWT mistranslates the Greek Scriptures in order to expunge the deity of Jesus Christ. Against all credible scholarship, Jesus is downgraded from God to "a" god in John 1 and demoted from the Creator of all things to a mere creature who created all other things in Colossians 1. According to the translation committee of the Watchtower Society, Jesus was created by God as the archangel Michael, during his earthly sojourn was merely human, and after his crucifixion was recreated an immaterial spirit creature.
Furthermore, the Translation Committee has sought to conform the NWT to their religious traditions by replacing the croww of Christ with a torture stake. Matthew 10:38, for example, has been altered to read, "And whoever does not accept his torture stake and follow after me is not worthy of me". In Watchtower lore, the cross is a pagan symbol adopted by an apostate Christianity when Satan took control of teh early church. JW´s view wearing a cross as a blatant act of idolatry. Conversely, Christians wear crosses as a reminder of what was at once the most brutal and beautiful act in redemptive history.
Finally, the Watchtower Society claims that the Christian Scripture have "been tampered with" in order to eliminate the name Jehovah from the text. In reality, it is the Translation Committee of the NWT that can rightly be accused of tampering. In well over two hundred cases the name Jehovah has been gratuitously inserted into the New Testament text. In passages such as Romans 10:13 this is done to obscure the unique deity of Christ. In other passages, it is done under the pretext that referring to God as Lord rather than Jehovah is patently pagan. Ironically, in the Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Watchtower translators themselves fall into this "pagan" practice by translating the Greek word kurios as Lord even in cases where it specifically refers to the Father.
For these and a host of others reasons, Greek scholars across the board denounce the NWT. Dr. Julius Mantey, author of A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, called the NWT a "shocking mistranslation," and Dr. William Barclay characterized the translators themselves as "intellectually dishonest".
"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." Revelation 22:18-19

*Taken from The Bible Answer Book by Hank Hanegraaff editorial house
*Taken from The Bible Answer Book by Hank Hanegraaff editorial house

Are Jehovah´s Witnesses Christians?

Like Mormons, Jehovah´s Witnesses believe that Christianity died with the last of the apostles. They believe Christianity was not resurrected until their founder, Charles Taze Russell, began organizing the Watchtower Society in the 1870s. In their view the cross is a pagan symbol adopted by an apostate church and salvation is impossible apart from the Watchtower. While the Witnesses on your doorstep consider themselves to be the only authentic experssion of Christianity, the Society they serve compromises, confuses or contradicts essential Christian doctrine.
First, the Watchtower Society compromises the nature of God. They teach their devotees that the Trinity is a "freakish-looking, three headed God" invented by Satan and that Jesus is merely a god. In Watchtower theology Jesus was created by God as teh archangel Michael, during his earthly sojourn became merely human, and after his crucifixion was re-created an immaterial spirit creature. JW´s also deny the physical resurrection of Jesus. According to Russell, the body that hung on a torture stake either "dissolved into gasses" or is "preserved somewhere as the grand memorial of God´s love".
Furthermore, while Christians in " a new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1, 22:17) the Watchtower teaches that only 144,000 who get to go to heaven and a "great crowd" of others who are relegated to earth. The heavenly class are born again, receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and partake of communion; the earthly class do not. To substantiate the notion that heaven´s door was closed irrevocably in 1935, JW,s point to "flashes of prophetic light" include Watchtower predictions of end-time cataclysms that were to occur in 1914......1918.......1925.......1975.
Finally, under the threat of being "disfellowshipped," Jehovah´s Witnesses are barred from celebrating Christmas, birthdays, or holidays such as Thanksgiving and Good Friday. Even more troubling are Watchtower regulations regarding vaccinations, organ transplants, and blood transfusions. In 1931, JW´s were instructed to refuse vaccinations - by 1952, this regulations was rescinded. In 1967, organ transplants were ruled a forbidden form of cannibalism -- by 1980, this edict was erased. In 1909, the Watchtower produced a prohibition agains blood transfusions. No doubt, this too will one day become a relic of the past. In the meantime, tens of thousands have no only been ravished spiritually by the Watchtower Society but have paid the ultimate physical price as well.
While Watchtower adherents are often willing to do more for a lie than Christians are willing to do for the truth, these and a host of other doctrinal perversions keep JW´s from rightly being considered Christians.

"If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him" Deuteronomy 18:22

*Taken from The Bible Answer Book by Hank Hanegraaff editorial house

The Reason

The reason, I created this blog, is to post in it christian articles read on books that impacts my life and to post Bible verses that teach me important lessons of life that I want to learn and never forget.