Compare[1]
Purpose
To help students understand that there is very little that is unique to the LDS faith, and that a lot was borrowed from other sources. This plays into the LDS idea that the church came from an original church throughout the ages.
However, there are two possibilities:
1) Joseph Smith, Jr. assembled the doctrines from available sources or ideas circulating at the time.
2) Joseph Smith, Jr. restored a true church from previous pieces of an also true church.
We will be looking at each of these concepts. There may be a third option of “Joseph Smith was a voice for God and then fell” or something similar, but that consideration will be handled in a later lesson. This one is all about “The only True and Living Church,” which eliminates this third group of possibilities from consideration.
Doctrine of the Church, Key Principles
This subject is in no way a simple subject. Ask 40 mormons what the doctrine of the LDS faith is and you’ll get 42 different answers. Even General Authorities, when answering this question, only muddy the waters further[2].
So we are going to identify pieces that are distinctly mormon and are key in some way to salvation:
The List
1) Historical records are preserved from corruption by God.
2) Temples are places for God. They are the house of the Lord.
3) Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthoods existed and were the power for the church.
4) Record keeping is key, including genealogies.
5) Baptism for the dead involves (in its perfect form) 12 oxen statues filled with water in a temple and below ground level.
6) There is a prophet, a first presidency, and a quorum of apostles.
7) There are three kingdoms in heaven: Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial. Families are eternal.
8) Infant baptism is wrong. There is an age of accountability.
9) Baptism by immersion is the correct method of baptism.
10) Laying on of hands is the method of power/authority transference.
Again, these are things that are supposedly unique to the LDS faith and that are key to salvation. To anyone who wants to argue that one or more of these is a “suggestion,” the NOM groups are over here[3].
1) Historical Records are preserved from Corruption by God
Jimmy, will you hit the lights? Class movie time[4].
[Too long, didn’t watch: Most theological scholars believe (Not just scientists, but believing ones) that the Old Testament was compiled and altered to make a king look good. There are records that show that Hebrews believed very different things. The New Testament was also assembled by committee. The idea that non-inspired committees did not alter/damage the integrity of the records is laughable.]
Now I can hear the apologist groan from here. Hang on guys, I know I know, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.” This is absolutely a fair argument if the word “slaughtered” was translated to “supported.” That’s a translation error. “Re-written to be political propaganda” is NOT a translation error. “Intentionally destroying all additional copies” is NOT a translation error.
2) Temples are places for God. They are the house of the Lord.
Absolutely supported by the Bible:
Luke 9:58 “And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” that shows… well really nothing. Jesus never says the temple is his house. He does call it his father’s house… cough while he is driving money changers out of it.
Moses is commanded to build a tabernacle and, in a very confusing set of whatever, the LDS church has tabernacles that are nothing like it. Instead, it is the precursor to the temple. But whatever.
The Temple of Solomon is supposed to be based on the tabernacle of Moses.
So here is the question: because Joseph did not have access to Solomon’s temple, but DID have access to the Masonic temple, and the Masonic temple claimed to be from Solomon’s temple, which is Joseph’s temple more similar to?
Point 1: The Kirtland temple resembled buildings of the period. It was a large meeting house with a veil meant to hide the presidency from the congregation. The endowment did not involve hand movements. It had no design or structure similar to Solomon’s temple (no wall, no holy of holies, etc.). It was dissimilar from modern temples in that there were no Celestial, Terrestrial, or Telestial rooms. There was no font or baptisms for the dead. In fact, every aspect of what LDS think of as “temple” was missing.
Point 2: The Nauvoo temple was established just after Joseph attended a Masonic temple. The structures[5] are similar[6] to modern temples, including the Salt Lake Temple[7], and similar ones existing in that day[8].
The Nauvoo temple did have a different design but it was patterned after the style of the day:
Further, there is no evidence of “handshakes or grips” in Solomon’s temple, but there was plenty of it in masonic temples. These grips and key words were invented in the 1800s[10]. In fact, the first three penalties, grips, and tokens are exactly identical to masonry.
Aprons are also key to masonry in ways that match the mormon temple ideal.
TL;DR: Suffice it to say that the similarities to the the temples and ceremonies of Joseph’s day far surpass any similarity to ancient religion.
Note: Hugh Nibley, in a total lack of finding any evidence for an early endowment, went to two primary sources to show evidence for one. He agreed there SHOULD be lots of evidence. The first was the Eleusinian Mysteries[11] of which we have almost no record, and were almost certainly a sexual orgy at some point involved… cough
The second was the Egyptian temples, pointing out they had three levels and talked about resurrection. There is also a passage they read on the LDS tours of Egypt that they have translated to make it sound like the modern endowment. Have any non-LDS scholar translate it and you’ll immediately see the bullshit.
3) Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthoods existed and were the power for the church.
Not only is there a total lack of evidence for these two separate priesthoods (think of how much evidence of ordination dates/times etc. exists in the LDS faith today. They would need that many mountains of evidence and records back then, too! Every father. Every son. Every leader in the church, tracing their lineage back to Jesus…), but there is also good indications that no laying on of hands was required:
Holy Ghost given via breath[12].
Lots are used for inspiration for new apostles AND no mention of laying on of hands[13].
Mantle, or coat, signifies passing from one prophet to another. No mention of laying on of hands[14].
Now, this is not to say there could not be ANY laying on of hands, but remember, according to the LDS faith, it is the ONLY way to transfer power and authority.
But this is also not unique to Mormonism. Indeed, many other faiths use “laying on of hands” as a key doctrine[15].
4) Record keeping is key, including genealogies.
Of course, anyone who was LDS in the original church would want records of their kindred to be kept so that one day baptisms for the dead could be done for them, just like modern LDS. Where are all the early Christian baptism for the dead and geneological records?
5) Baptism for the dead involves (in its perfect form) 12 oxen statues filled with water in a temple and below ground level.
Just read the wiki and remember pi = 3[16]
6) There is a prophet, a first presidency, and a quorum of apostles.
This one has problems in the Book of Mormon, in which there are many prophets and disciples instead of apostles. No presidency mentioned, ever.
Problems in modern context: prophet and first presidency are apostles, making it 15 apostles.
Problems historically: Peter becomes prophet, despite good records of becoming pope[17], and without mention of drawing another apostle or a vacancy created when he selected his two counselors.
Problems with Joseph Smith: He was never an apostle or made part of the quorum of the twelve. Same with Sidney Rigdon and Frederick Williams, who were in the first presidency.
It’s just a rat’s nest of confusion.
7) There are three kingdoms in heaven: Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial. Families are eternal.
The concept of three kingdoms in heaven clearly comes from Emmanuel Swedenborg[18], whom Joseph quoted and was familiar with.
The idea of eternal families seems to be a uniquely Mormon doctrine. But that also means that there is no record of it in the early church. Nothing about bishops and their wives living together forever. Nothing about sealing parents to children in a temple.
8) Infant Baptism is wrong. There is an age of accountability.
As discussed before, Sidney Rigdon was in a dispute with Alexander Campbell about this very issue. It was very much a topic of discussion in Joseph Smith’s day. In addition, there are records of infant baptism back to A.D. 200 with one back in the 100s.
9) Baptism by immersion is the correct method of baptism.
Neither unique nor certain to be the only method. The assumption is “Jesus was baptized by immersion, hence everyone should do it that way,” and Nephi backs that up.
10) Laying on of hands is the method of power/authority transference.
We covered this under the above priesthood entry.
Conclusion
All the core unique doctrines seem to be identifiable as having a contemporary source, and historical sources are lacking for the particular Mormon flavor to those that could have been picked up from other religions.
“Families can be together forever” is unique but has its own issues.
It truly looks like it is one more “iron mixed with clay” religion rather than a pure, restored whole religion that perfectly matches what one should expect in “original Christianity” that was timeless all the way back to Adam.