Major Contradictions in Mormonism
(plus some minor ones)
Compiled by Richard Packham
Why are contradictions important?
Contradictions are a mark of falseness. If two statements contradict each other, then one of them must be false. If both statements come from the same person, then the suspicion must arise that the person is lying (or at least grossly mistaken) in one of them, or perhaps both. If both of the contradictory statements are supposed to be from God, or from God's spokesman (a prophet or a scripture) then we are justified in considering this supposed spokesman to be fraudulent, since God is not supposed to lie or to make contradictory statements.
"For I am the Lord, I change not;..." -
Malachi 3:6 "God is not a man, that he should lie;.. hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" -
Num 23:19
"...with [God] is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." -
James 1:17 (see also BoM Morm 9:9, Mosiah 2:22, Alma 7:20)
Mormon leaders insist that there are no contradictions in Mormonism. Joseph Fielding Smith, the tenth president of the church, said:
If his [Joseph Smith's] claims and declarations were built upon fraud and deceit, there would appear many errors and contradictions, which would be easy to detect. - Doctrines of Salvation 1:188-189
How religious apologists deal with contradictions
Contradictions do not seem to bother religious apologists, since they have developed very clever ways of dealing with them, primarily by explaining them away with various excuses:
- One of the statements only appears to contradict the other; with the proper spirit and the proper interpretation (usually by the prophet himself, or by a later prophet), and by assigning different (special) meanings to some of the words, the contradiction disappears;
- One of the statements was not intended to be taken literally (this is a variation on the previous excuse);
- The statement the apologist likes best takes precedence over the other one, because:
- It was made earlier in time and thus has seniority;
- It was made later in time and thus supersedes the prior one;
- The other statement was made only to a limited, special audience at a limited time, and thus only applies to them;
- One of the statements is not accurately recorded; the prophet never really said that;
- The prophet was not speaking as a prophet when making the apparently contradictory statement - he was merely expressing his personal (and therefore human and error-prone) opinion;
- This is one of the Great Mysteries, which we will understand in God's own due time. Such mysteries can only make us pause in humility and in admiration of God's wisdom, since only He is capable of understanding them.
- As a last resort, the apologist simply ignores one of them.
Some Contradictions in Mormon Scripture, Teachings and Doctrine
This listing is by no means complete. It includes only those contradictions which are most difficult for Mormons to explain satisfactorily (except to a faithful and all-accepting fellow Mormon who desperately wants an explanation in order to protect his faith). It generally does not include contradictions with Bible passages, since Mormons consider the Bible to have many translation errors, and since the Bible itself is often ambiguous and subject to varying interpretations.
Abbreviations used:
BoM: Book of Mormon
D&C: Doctrine and Covenants
PoGP: Pearl of Great Price
BoA: Book of Abraham
LoF: Lectures on Faith (until 1921 part of D&C)
HoC: History of the Church
JoD: Journal of Discourses
TJS: Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith
JST Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible ("Inspired Version")
Ensign: Ensign Magazine, official publication of the church
- What is God's attitude toward David and Solomon having more than one wife? Notice that it is not a question of whether different people at different times might be commanded or permitted or forbidden to practice polygamy; it has only to do with God's view of specific acts of polygamy. And remember that God is unchanging! (BoM, 3 Nephi 24:6)
- BoM, Jacob 2:24 says that God considered David's and Solomon's polygamy as "abominable before me." (See also Jacob 1:15, 3:5.) BUT:
- At D&C 132:38-39 God says that David and Solomon did not sin in having more than one wife, and David's wives were "given unto him of me." At 2 Samuel 12:7-8 God says, through the prophet Nathan, that David's wives were given to him by God.
- Does God dwell in man's heart?
- BoM, Alma 34:36 says that "the Lord" dwells in the hearts of the righteous. BUT:
- D&C 130:3 says that the "idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man's heart" is false. (D&C 130:22 says that it is the Holy Ghost that "dwell[s] in us")
- Does God change?
- BoM Moroni 8:18, Mormon 9:9 say no:
"...God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing." (Morm 9:9)
- D&C 20:17 says no:
"...there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God..."
BUT: - Joseph Smith taught that God was once a human being like us, and became God:
"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret... It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God and to know...that he was once a man like us..." (from the "King Follett Discourse" TJS 342-343, also JoD 6:3-4)
- Brigham Young confirmed this:
"He [God] is our Father - the Father of our spirits, and was once a man in mortal flesh as we are, and is now an exalted being." (JoD 7:333):
- Does God the Father have a body of flesh and bones?
- D&C 130:22 says yes: "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as a man's; the Son also...". BUT:
- D&C 38:1-7 says that Jesus is invisible: "I am in your midst and ye cannot see me." BUT:
- LoF, Lecture Fifth, says that the Godhead consists of two personages, God the Father and God the Son, "the Father being a personage of spirit...[and] the Son,... a personage of tabernacle... and is called the Son because of the flesh..." The Son possesses "the same mind with the Father, which mind is the Holy Spirit... and these three constitute the Godhead, and are one..." [added emphasis] Alma 18:26-28 says God is a spirit, confirming John 4:24 ("God is a Spirit").
The Mormons try to explain this by saying that
of course God is a spirit, we
all are "spirit" because we
have a spirit. And so does God. However, in the LoF passage, the intent is clearly to differentiate between the Father and the Son, and the difference given is that the Son is "of the flesh." Apostle Bruce R. McConkie says that
John 4:24 is mistranslated (Mormon Doctrine, "God As A Spirit"), perhaps because in Joseph Smith's "Inspired Verson" of the Bible, that passage is omitted. He says nothing about the translation of the passage in Alma. One must wonder how a passage which is mistranslated in the King James Version appears in the very same words in the Book of Mormon, which was supposedly translated by divine power.
- Is there more than one God?
- Are God The Father and God The Son separate personages?
- D&C 130:22, PoGP JS-Hist 1:17ff (Smith's "First Vision"), LoF 5 say yes (see previous item). BUT:
- BoM Mosiah 15:1ff says they are the same.
BoM Ether 3:14 God says: "Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son."
Other passages in the first edition of the BoM (1830) said they are the same, but the text was changed in later editions to indicate otherwise, for example: BoM, 1830 edition:
1 Nephi 11:21: "And the angel said unto me: Behold, the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father!"
1 Nephi 13:40: "...the Lamb of God is the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world..."
In present editions, the words "the Son of" have been inserted before "the Eternal Father" in these (and similar) passages.
1 Nephi 19:11 says that the "God of Abraham" was Jesus who was "lifted up [and crucified]" - Can one who does not hold the Priesthood see the "face of God"?
- D&C 84:21-22 (given September 1832) says no:
"...without the ordinances thereof [i.e. of the priesthood], and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; 22 For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live."
BUT: - In Joseph Smith's story of his "First Vision" (PoGP JS-Hist 1:17ff, written about 1838), he says that he saw two personages (one of whom he interpreted to be God the Father) in 1820. There is considerable dispute about the exact dates when the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods were restored, but the earliest dates claimed are 1829-1830.
- Can the temple ordinances be changed?
- Joseph Smith said no:
"The order of the House of God has been and ever will be the same, even after Christ comes, and after the termination of the thousand years it will be the same;..." (TJS p 91)
"Ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in the priesthood, for the salvation of men, are not to be altered or changed." (TJS p 308)
"...the ordinances must be kept in the very way God has appointed; otherwise their priesthood will prove a cursing instead of a blessing." (TJS p.169)
See also Isaiah 24:5, Malachi 3:7, condemning those who change God's ordinances
BUT:
The Mormon church leaders have made numerous fundamental changes in the temple ordinances:
- about 1912 - eliminated the "Oath of Vengeance"
- in the 1930s - softened the wording of the penalties
- in the 1960s - changed the garment pattern to be worn in the temple
- 1990 - removed the penalties entirely, changed the Second Sign of the Melchizedek Priesthood, removed the Five Points of Fellowship, changed the Law of Obedience for women
- 2005 - reduced the actual washing and anointing to a symbolic daubing on the forehead
- Hundreds of minor changes have also been made over the years.
- Are "Elohim" and "Jehovah (Hebrew: 'YHWH')" different or the same?
- In a doctrinal statement by the Mormon First Presidency "The Father and the Son" (cited by Mormon theologian James Talmage in his The Articles of Faith, pp. 465ff, it states that "Elohim" refers to God the Father, and "Jehovah" refers to God the Son. This distinction is also portrayed in the Mormon temple ritual, the "endowment," where "Elohim" gives instructions to "Jehovah and Michael" and sends them off to carry them out, which they do.
BUT: - Exodus 6:2 says, translated literally from Hebrew: "And Elohim spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am YHWH [Jehovah]." The Hebrew word "Elohim" means "God" and is translated in most Bibles by "God," whereas "YHWH" - as this passage indicates, is the sacred name of God, and is translated in most English Bibles as "the LORD". In the Old Testament the terms are almost interchangeable, and frequently one version of an Old Testament story refers to the Deity as "Elohim" ("God") and another version of the same story uses the term "YHWH" ("the LORD"). There are hundreds of such examples (it was the different terms used in Hebrew for "God" that first led scholars to surmise that the first five books of the Old Testament are from differing traditions, one that called God "Elohim", and another that called him "YHWH". Here are just a few examples:
In the Flood story, God is referred to as "Elohim" in
Gen 6:9-22;
7:9,
16;
8:1,
15. But God - apparently the same God - is called "YHWH (Jehovah)" in 6:5-7; 7:1-5, 16; 8:20. In God's dealings with Abraham, God is called "Elohim" in Genesis 17, but "YHWH" in Genesis 18. It is clear that these are not two different personages, but just one God, referred to by two different terms.
Hundreds of other examples could be cited. (See any analytical concordance under "God" and "Lord" for a complete listing.)
- Are Adam and Michael the same personages, or different?
- D&C 27:11 (and the Endowment ceremony in the Mormon temple) says they are the same. BUT:
- In a vision which JS recorded in his diary for Jan 21, 1836, he "saw father Adam and Abraham and Michael...", naming them as separate personages. (This vision was recently included in the D&C as section 137, but the reference to Michael was deleted.)
- Is Adam the same personage as God the Father?
- Brigham Young on numerous occasions taught this doctrine, which came to be known as the "Adam-God" doctrine.
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie admitted that this doctrine was taught by Brigham Young in a private letter: "Yes, President Young did teach that Adam was the father of our spirits, and all the related things that the cultists ascribe to him [i.e. that Adam is God]. "
The present prophet Gordon B. Hinckley admitted that Brigham Young had taught this doctrine in an interview with the New Yorker magazine (January 21, 2002, p. 44)
BUT: - Church authorities in recent decades have repeatedly said that Adam is not God the Father. McConkie, in the letter cited above, referred to the "utter absurdity of this doctrine" and called it "totally false," saying that "This [doctrine]... is not true. He [Brigham Young] expressed views that are out of harmony with the gospel." See also Doctrines of Salvation 1:96-106, by Joseph Fielding Smith, later president of the church.
- How was Jesus conceived?
- BoM Alma 7:10 prophesies that Christ would be born of Mary, "...she being a virgin... who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost,..." BoM 1 Nephi 11, narrates a vision of Nephi. He sees the virgin Mary (v. 15-18), and then he "beheld that she was carried away in the Spirit;" (v. 19) and after a time he sees her "bearing a child in her arms" (v. 20)
BUT: - Brigham Young's stated: "When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was NOT begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family... Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven.... Now, remember from this time forth, and forever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost." (JoD 1:50-51) "The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He ...was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers." (JoD 8:115)
"The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husabnd... That very babe that was cradled in the manger, was begotten, not by Joseph, the husband of Mary, but by another Being. Do you inquire by whom? He was begotten by God our heavenly Father." (JoD 11:268)
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote: "Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers." (Mormon Doctrine, 1966 ed, 546-547)
"He [Jesus] is the Son of God in the same sense and way that we are the sons of mortal fathers. It is that simple." (The Promised Messiah, pp 467-468).
- What happens to those who teach false doctrine?
- BoM 2 Ne 28:15 says teachers of false doctrine will go to hell: "...all those who preach false doctrines,.., wo, wo, wo, be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!" Joseph Fielding Smith (apostle, later president of the church) says: "There is no greater crime in all the world than to teach false doctrines.." (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:34
BUT: - Apostle McConkie says that Brigham Young will go to the Celestial Kingdom, even though he taught false doctrine (see previous item): "He completed his work and has gone on to eternal exaltation..." (cited letter). When confronted with false teachings of earlier prophets, Mormons usually respond by saying that even prophets make mistakes, no one is perfect.
- Can a revelation contradict or rescind an earlier revelation?
- Who created the world?
- PoGP Moses 2 says "I, God [created everything]..." (see also BoM 2 Nephi 2:14, Jacob 4:9, Alma 18:26-32). BUT:
- PoGP Abraham 4 says "they (the Gods) [created everything]".
- What happens to people who die before having had a chance to hear the gospel?
- What happens in heaven to children who die before reaching adulthood?
- Joseph Fielding Smith says that those who die as children will be resurrected with bodies "the same size as it was when the child died. It will then grow after the resurrection to conform to the size of the spirit." Doctrines of Salvation, 2:56. BUT:
- Joseph Smith said: "But as the child dies, so shall it rise from the dead.... It will never grow: it will still be the child, in the same precise form as it appeared before it died out of its mother's arms, but possessing all the intelligence of a God. Children dwell in the mansions of glory and exercise power, but appear in the same form as when on earth,... with not one cubit added to their stature." JoD 6:10 (the "King Follett Discourse")
- Is murder a forgivable sin?
- BoM 3 Nephi 30:2, Alma 39:6 (also the Bible at Matthew 12:31, Jeremiah 33:8) say that murder is forgivable.Joseph Smith said: "All sins, and all blasphemies, and every transgression, except one, that man can be guilty of, may be forgiven; and there is a salvation for all men, either in this world or the world to come,... unless he has committed that unpardonable sin [the sin against the Holy Ghost]..." JoD 6:8 (the "King Follett Discourse")
BUT: - D&C 42:18 says murder is not forgivable. Joseph Smith said: "A murderer, for instance, one that sheds innocent blood, cannot have forgiveness... They [can] not be baptized for the remission of sins for they [have] shed innocent blood." TJS 339
- Where was the Garden of Eden located?
- D&C 116 says it was located at "Adam-ondi-Ahman", near Spring Hill, Missouri. (See also D&C 78:15, 107:53-57, HoC 3:35). BUT:
- PoGP (Moses 3:10-15, corresponding to Joseph Smith's "Inspired" translation of Genesis 2:10-15) says it was located in the vicinity of Assyria and Ethiopia and the Euphrates River.
Comment: Mormons try to explain this by suggesting that those Biblical names were also used in Adam's day to refer to areas and rivers in ancient Missouri. This argument overlooks the fact that the author of Genesis (or the inspired "Book of Moses" - who was the biblical Moses, according to Mormon doctrine) was writing for an audience who knew those names only as designations in the Old World, and would have understood them as such.
- What materials did Nephi have for building his temple?
- BoM 2 Ne 5:15 says supplies were abundant: "...all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance." BUT:
- BoM 2 Ne 5:16 says they were not abundant: "...save it [the temple] were not built of so many precious things, for they were not to be found upon the land.
Mormon Contradictions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks