Oh, thanks, for this second comparison of me to the anti-Christ! I embrace Jesus Christ --- I am His and He is mine. And I thought we were going to talk about Mormonism's view of life after death, but you want to criticize posters who have a perspective that doesn't line up with yours.
I am blessed by your accusation:
Matthew 5:11
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
You know when a person is losing an argument, he should just walk away because he can't win it by slinging mud.
Romans 12:18
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
KEEP CALM and find peace with Jesus.
What I said was; You have distorted what this passage in Alma is about, very much like the anti-christ in the Book of Mormon.
As an example Zeezrom questions Amulek and with his questions he gives a little twist to the conversation.
Alma had just given a whole discourses on the need to repent;
“And not many days hence the Son of God shall come in his glory; and his glory shall be the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father,…. And behold, he cometh to redeem those who will be baptized unto repentance, through faith on his name.” Alma 9
But when Zeezrom questions Amulek he says
“Who is he that shall come? Is it the Son of God?
And he said unto him, Yea.
And Zeezrom said again:
Shall he save his people in their sins?
And Amulek answered and said unto him: I say unto you he shall not, for it is impossible for him to deny his word.
Now Zeezrom said unto the people: See that ye remember these things; ………yet he saith that the Son of God shall come, but he shall not save his people—as though he had authority to command God.” Alma 11
So one of the prophets Alma tells the people they need to repent of their sins, Zeezrom ignores that repentance part for “they were of the profession of Nehor, and did not believe in the repentance of their sins” and asks about saving people in their sins. He’s hoping the audience will believe Amulek has contradicted what Alma has said. And then he gives a little dig about his thinking he has the authority to command God.
You have done the same as Zeezrom in your post 76. First you don’t give the background to Alma 34, you’re hoping your audience doesn’t realize he’s speaking to an apostate group;
“ the Zoramites were dissenters from the Nephites; therefore they had had the word of God preached unto them. But they had fallen into great errors…”
And that’s why he says “for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation”
Ask yourself why you did that?
Then you misrepresented just about everything with;
“Joseph Smith …..He redefined hell, said that people could repent after death, made it appear less likely that people would spend eternity in hell”
It’s Alma who teaches this in a letter to his son Corianton, he like Paul sees through a glass darkly, he is not exactly sure when the resurrection of the righteous will occur but then goes on;
“…. but this much I say, that
there is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time which is appointed of God…”
Joseph just defined the space more clearly with the teachings of Peter and the spirits in prison being taught the gospel and the man on the cross being told he would be going to paradise.
You also said “Joseph Smith decided later on that men need more opportunties and more leniency, so he came up with separate kingdoms of glory for the fence sitters and the wicked.”
Alma taught “….that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body, and be brought to stand before God, and be judged according to their works…. And then shall the righteous shine forth in the kingdom of God.
But behold, an awful death cometh upon the wicked; for they die as to things pertaining to things of righteousness; for they are unclean, and no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of God; but they are cast out, and consigned to partake of the fruits of their labors or their works, which have been evil; and they drink the dregs of a bitter cup.”
Again Joseph clarified this by using the Bible and 1 Cor 15
“40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
And having the 76th section of the D&C revealed to him what the different glories are. He goes through the three kingdoms and explains about the last two
“110 And heard the voice of the Lord saying: These all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to him who sits upon the throne forever and ever;
111 For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared;
112 And they shall be servants of the Most High; but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come,
Or as Alma puts it “they drink the dregs of a bitter cup”.
Joseph didn’t just make this stuff up out of thin air but through revelation from God he built upon what had already been revealed.
Jesus taught; “for whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance”
“Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” Isa 28: 9-10
So like Zeezrom you have misrepresented what prophets have taught but can you be like Zeezrom and repent. Alma says to him in Alma 12,
3 Now Zeezrom, seeing that thou hast been taken in thy lying and craftiness, for thou hast not lied unto men only but thou hast lied unto God; for behold, he knows all thy thoughts, and thou seest that thy thoughts are made known unto us by his Spirit;
4 And thou seest that we know that thy plan was a very subtle plan, as to the subtlety of the devil, for to lie and to deceive this people that thou mightest set them against us
Is this not you, you twist the teaching of God in order to deceive this people?
“Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and he also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which he had caused among the people by his lying words; and his soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of his own guilt; yea, he began to be encircled about by the pains of hell.”
He repents of his sins and begins to preach the true word of God also.