Journey through these years and ask yourself, does this sound like a God of certitude who proclaims "unalterable...decrees?"
Two anti-certitude verses:
* "Let there be a craft made, or bought, as seemeth you good, IT MATTERETH NOT UNTO ME... (Aug. 8, 1831 D&C 60:5)
* AND: "And then you may return to bear record, yea, even altogether, or two by two, as seemeth you good, IT MATTERETH NOT UNTO ME;" (Aug. 13, 1831 D&C 62:5)
If God took the time to communicate on something, then it matters to Him! Is this "mattereth not" god the Ultimate God you want to worship?
Another anti-certitude voice:
"And verily I say unto you, the rest of my servants, go forth AS YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL PERMIT..."... (September 22-23, 1832, D&C 84:117)
Wow! Such sovereignty of the Mormon god in action! 'Circumstances rule permissions...NOT the Lord!'
How about Book of Mormon voice of "prophetic narratives" where the narrator just can't make up his mind within the same given point of history?
* Supposed timeframe: 74 BC: "...there BEGAN to be CONTINUAL PEACE throughout ALL the LAND." (Alma 30:2)
* Supposed timeframe: 74BC: It mentions the Ammons leaving one land & heading for another -- and then having the armies engage in warfare in that other land. (Alma 35:13)
So, yes, while it's another land that might be distinct from the other, why bother highlighting "continual peace" being jumpstarted if it didn't continue within even the same year??? Sorry, Alma as any kind of historian thereby flunks any credibility right there!
* "Wherefore, at that day when the book shall be delivered unto the man of whom I have spoken, the book shall be hid from the eyes of the world, that the eyes of NONE shall behold it SAVE it be that three witnesses shall behold it, by the power of God, besides him to whom the book shall be delivered; and they shall testify to the truth of the book and the things therein." And there is NONE other which shall view it, SAVE it be A FEW according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto thei children of men; (2 Nephi 27:12-13)
Ask yourself: Is a specific God going to use the word "NONE" right before mentioning three exceptions and then decides to tack on "a few" -- which, it turns out, wasn't supposedly a "few" at all-- but was eight? Which is it? None or 3? 3 or 8? "A few" or 8? "None or 8?" What a maddening god who on the one thing that there is a clear absolute on -- numbers -- can't even figure it out in two sentences!
And speaking of numbers, how many times did the Mormon jesus ascend into heaven?
And while they were overshadowed he departed from them, and ascended into heaven. And the disciples saw and did bear record that he ascended into heaven. And now it came to pass that when Jesus had ascended into heaven..." (3 Nephi 18:39 - 19:1)
Note: The Bible wasn't "carved up" into verses until the 12th century. Hence, what you don't notice about 3 Nephi 18:39-19:1 is that it's the last verse of one chapter, and the first verse of the next chapter. I doubt that in AD34, this Nephi was chopping up these sentences into chapters as he supposedly carved them on gold plates. My point? Think of it: The character "Jacob" in the Book of Mormon has already gone on record, saying: "I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates." (Jacob 4:1) Now think of YOU writing on such "plates." Are you going to etch three back-to-back sentences in which within 33 words, you've used the "ascended" three times, "heaven" three times, "into" three times, and the word "departed" once? Does that make sense that you would do that?
You see, this last reiteration was a pure creation of Smith to set up another chapter when we know that ancient writers didn't do those chapter & verse demarcations. But guess what this writer (a third Nephi) THEN says happen as he gets further into chapter 19. He's already emphasized beyond any necessity that Jesus departed via ascension. Look at v. 15: "And it came to pass that while the angels were ministering unto the disciples, behold, Jesus came and stood in the midst and ministered unto them." (So now the ascended Jesus is immediately back? Why make such a big deal about his ascension if he's doing a quick u-turn?) The other thing ya gotta know is how Mormons tend to ignore 3 Nephi 19, anyway...because it repeatedly stresses Mormon disciples praying DIRECTLY to an already-ascended Jesus. That's a Mormon doctrinal no-no-- to pray directly to Jesus. They are told to pray ONLY directly to the Father (in Jesus' name).
"And whoso believeth in me and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. And whoseo believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned. Verily, verily I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost...Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. And whoso shall declare MORE or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them." (3 Nephi 11:33-35, 39-40)
OK, so what do we have here? Supposedly this Nephi writer mentions "doctrine" (singular) twice. What points does it cover? Belief in Jesus, baptism, repentance (not covered above, but mentioned in v. 38), a visitation of "fire and the Holy Ghost," and also -- in vv. 37-39 -- twice emphasizes becoming like a litle child to inherit God's kingdom. That's essentially it. And this Nephi then says if you "declare MORE...than this" as new established doctrine, you're "evil" to the of being hell-bound!
* “Wherefore, at that day when the book shall be delivered unto the man of whom I have spoken, the book shall be hid from the eyes of the world, that the eyes of NONE shall behold it SAVE it be that three witnesses shall behold it, by the power of God, besides him to whom the book shall be delivered; and they shall testify to the truth of the book and the things therein.” And there is NONE other which shall view it, SAVE it be A FEW according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto thei children of men; (2 Nephi 27:12-13)
If you remember, Colofornian, there were but three who were shown the plates “by the power of God” — Martin Harris, David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery. They saw the angel who laid the plates before them, and they also heard the voice of God commanding them to bear witness.
The eight witnesses did not see the plates under supernatural circumstances — Joseph Smith allowed them to examine the plates.
Best,
Normandy