(You guys are quick, I had not even finished my post above) ... Moses asked of God to reveal Himself and God explained that no man can see Him because He is invisible, and He is Great, and He is terrifying, and He is a Spirit. The God of scripture said He is totally unlike and un-comparable to anything in creation. He said He is unfathomable and incomprehensible to us, yet God said He 'would' describe and reveal Himself to us, but of course He has to use language from within creation to describe Himself, as that is all we can understand. He not only uses anthropomorphic terms, but uses illustrations from nature to describe Himself: lion, bear, bird, wind, fire, thunder, water, light, rock, heaven, sanctuary, fortress, shield, snare, wreath, shelter, strong tower, etc. etc. But He also makes the point that He is not to be thought of as physically being these things. The book of Job has this very same reasoning, and Job it seems predates the books from Moses.
In Job, God totally ridicules the idea of anything anywhere being compared to the one who stretched out the heavens and all creation:
“Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites? “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or fix their rule over the earth?
As early as Exodus God ridicules the idea of other gods and challenges the idea openly (this makes the Hebrew God unique to other gods also):
"Tomorrow," Pharaoh said. Moses replied, "It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the LORD our God (Exodus 8:10)
"Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders? (Exodus 15:11)
'You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully' (Deuteronomy 4:15)
'To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike?' (Isaiah 46:5)
This is not the God of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, or Mormonism.
Or the multiple gods of Mormonism. Where a man became god, and where men also can become gods. The God of Scripture creates men, and became a man, or more precisely: it says He made Himself a tabernacle, and 'came from above' in-carnate. This describes the invisible God preparing a body of flesh for Himself to live in and die, this is the opposite of a man becoming a god as Mormonism teaches.
'Here is the difference. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are not the equivalent to Jesus Christ in Mormonism. The Bible places its emphasis on Jesus' character because He, in His own Person, is the Word of God. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, on the other hand, are said to merely receive revelations of God's word' (Smaneck #426)
Even Moses as well as the other Prophets, including Jesus, were revealing the nature of God, that's what a Prophet does. We don't 'assume' Jesus is divine just because he said he was, we have to consider if what he said lines up with what the believable prophets in His line prior to him said, they have to agree. You have to put yourself in the context, many claimed divinity, but did it match the previous revelation, especially the ones concerning the promised Messiah. Yes Jesus was a Prophet, and if what he said did not agree with what I would first believe is the foundation of Gods revelation, than there would be no reason to believe Jesus either. understand that if Jesus just showed up without the foundation of the prophets that preceded Him, they would not know what on earth he was trying to say or be. Jesus used Moses and the Prophets of scripture to identify and verify Himself, exclusively.
If Gods Prophets say completely crazy things about God, teaching exactly the opposite of what has already been given, and then tell us they are correctly giving us revelation, even restoring lost revelation, even correcting everyone else, saying everyone else is wrong, including the Bible itself. Tell me again, that doesn't make a difference in what might be true or not??
Remember 'evangelicals' did not start this conversation, Joseph Smith came out of box declaring:
'My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right—and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight .... He again forbade me to join with any of them (Joseph Smith - History 1:18-20)
This reminds me of how the Mormon default is always 'the anti-mormons say this and this'. I am not anti Mormon any more than I am anti Jewish or anti-Hindu, or whatever. Same for all apologists, I would not even declare Jewish or Islamic apologists as anti-christian. We are hopefully communicating our defense, best reasons to believe, and practicing the right to research and access to information, in a free system. If there is slander it should be exposed as such, manipulation and dishonesty, should also be exposed. As Orson said:
'The Book of Mormon claims to be a divinely inspired record, written by a succession of prophets who inhabited ancient America. It professes to be revealed to the present generation for the salvation of all who will receive it, and for the overthrow and damnation of all nations who reject it.
This book must be either true or false. If true, it is one of the most important messages ever sent from God to man, affecting both the temporal and eternal interests of every people under heaven to the same extent and in the same degree that the message of Noah affected the inhabitants of the old world. If false, it is one of the most cunning, wicked, bold, deep-laid impositions ever palmed upon the world, calculated to deceive and ruin millions who will sincerely receive it as the word of God, and will suppose themselves securely built upon the rock of truth until they are plunged with their families into hopeless despair. The nature of the message in the Book of Mormon is such, that if true, no one can possibly be saved and reject it; if false, no one can possibly be saved and receive it. Therefore, every soul in all the world is equally interested in ascertaining its truth or falsity.
In a matter of such infinite importance no person should rest satisfied with the conjectures or opinions of others: he should use every exertion himself to become acquainted with the nature of the message: he should carefully examine the evidences of which it is offered to the world: he should, with all patience and perseverance, seek to acquire a certain knowledge whether it be of God or not. Without such an investigation in the most careful, candid, and impartial manner, he cannot safely judge without greatly harming his future and eternal welfare. If, after a rigid examination, it be found an imposition, should be extensively published to the world as such; the evidences and arguments upon which the imposture was detected, should be clearly and logically stated, that those who have been sincerely yet unfortunately deceived, may perceive the nature of the deception, and be reclaimed, and that those who continue to publish the delusion, may be exposed and silenced, not by physical force, neither by persecutions, bare assertions, nor ridicule, but by strong and powerful arguments--by evidences adduced from scripture and reason. Such, and such only, should be the weapons employed to detect and overthrow false doctrines--to reclaim mankind from their errors, to expose religious enthusiasm, and put to silence base and wicked impostors.
But on the other hand, if investigation should prove the Book of Mormon true and of divine origin, then the importance of the message is so great, and the consequences of receiving or rejecting it so overwhelming, that the various nations--to whom it is now sent, and in whose languages it is now published, (being the first in these latter times who have been so highly favored as to receive a preparatory message for the second advent of the Son of God,) should speedily repent of all their sins, and renounce all the wicked traditions of their fathers, as they are imperatively commanded to do in the message: they should utterly reject both the Popish and Protestant ministry, together with all the churches which have been built up by them or that have sprung from them, as being entirely destitute of authority; they should turn away from all the priestcrafts and abominations practiced by these apostate churches (falsely called Christian), and bring forth fruits meet for repentance in all things: they should be immersed in water by one having authority, and receive a remission of their sins, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
(Orson Pratt, 1811-1881, DIVINE AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON)
If you want to scold anyone who contests others ideas or statements concerning what is right or wrong, I would start with Jesus and God Himself...
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to' (Jesus)
