The Logical Fallacy of the LDS Church

We have an informal study group in our ward called Empty Nesters. We are a group of seasoned adult leaders whose children are adults and no longer at home. In our group there are former and current bishops and Relief Society presidents, high council members and seminary teachers. Our numbers were recently reduced. Eight members of our group are now away serving missions.

We meet every other Monday night at each other’s homes to discuss the current Come Follow Me reading assignment. Last Monday night we discussed D&C sections 12 through 17 about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Our friend Richard, a former bishop, led the discussion. He related a tender moment when he first prayed about the Book of Mormon as a young adult.

Richard shared that he was in college but was not LDS at the time. He was studying to be an engineer. He encountered friends who introduced him to the Book of Mormon. He read the book and prayed about it as we are urged to do in Moroni 10:4. He shared the common experience of so many of us. He felt a burning witness that the things he read in the Book of Mormon are true.

The Foundation of our Testimonies

Richard’s engineering friends tried to talk him out of being baptized. They pointed out how illogical it was to join a church that had taught and embraced polygamy. I never experienced this growing up but, like you, have heard the stories of many of my friends and fellow ward members who have. When I prayed about the Book of Mormon before my mission, the answer was, “Tim, you already know it is true.” I said, “Yes, but I want to be able to say I too have prayed about it.”

Richard, in response to the arguments of his friends, said, “What do I do about this revelatory experience I had when I prayed to know if it was the word of God?” They could not talk him out of it. He ignored their words about polygamy in the LDS church and was baptized. That’s the strength of the millions of good people all over the world who know the Book of Mormon is true. I am one of them. I know the Book of Mormon contains the word of the Lord for our day.

Introduction of the Logical Fallacy

Unfortunately, he then used the same logic that I have heard so many times in my life, which I disagree with: If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and therefore, by extension, the church the Lord founded through him is “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.” (D&C 1:30) I hear this same fallacy repeated almost every fast Sunday in our testimony meetings. It is only partially true, meaning there is a time that it was true. But we have to be careful when we think about it today.

That declaration by the Lord was true when it was received by Joseph on November 1^st of 1831, although the Lord said less than a year later that the people stood condemned. We should always remember this later statement from September 1832 when we read the first from 1831. I have it cross-referenced in my scriptures. President Benson used this later statement of the Lord as a hallmark of his teachings as the President of the LDS Church (1985-1994). Here is that scripture about the church being under condemnation as found in D&C 84:54-58:

54 And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—55 Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. 56 And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all. 57 And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—58 That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion.

Rejected as a Church

I now have another cross-reference that I did not refer to very much if at all, as I served in various positions in the church over the years. I believe this scripture has been ignored and misunderstood in the curriculum in the church. I feel that the Lord’s words in D&C 124:28-48 (January 19, 1841) were an even stronger condemnation:

28 For there is not a place found on earth that he may come to and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the priesthood. 32 But behold, at the end of this appointment your baptisms for your dead shall not be acceptable unto me; and if you do not these things at the end of the appointment ye shall be rejected as a church, with your dead, saith the Lord your God. 45 And if my people will hearken unto my voice, and unto the voice of my servants whom I have appointed to lead my people, behold, verily I say unto you, they shall not be moved out of their place.

46 But if they will not hearken to my voice, nor unto the voice of these men whom I have appointed, they shall not be blest, because they pollute mine holy grounds, and mine holy ordinances, and charters, and my holy words which I give unto them. 47 And it shall come to pass that if you build a house unto my name, and do not do the things that I say, I will not perform the oath which I make unto you, neither fulfil the promises which ye expect at my hands, saith the Lord. 48 For instead of blessings, ye, by your own works, bring cursings, wrath, indignation, and judgments upon your own heads, by your follies, and by all your abominations, which you practice before me, saith the Lord.

This very clearly refers to something that was lost (the sealing power) and the fact that the Saints would later be moved out of their place (Nauvoo) because they had been secretly practicing the abomination of polygamy. As a result, the whole church was rejected. They brought cursing, wrath, indignation and judgements upon their own heads. These facts seem clear to me as I have prayed about this. This was not taught to me as I was growing up in the LDS church.

This is not the way the scripture is interpreted by the LDS Church leadership or in the official curriculum. Instead, it (the sealing power) is presented as something that was lost to the world and restored through Joseph. True, the sealing power was given to Joseph, but was taken away again. The fulness of the priesthood was precisely what the Lord, through Joseph, offered to reveal upon the completion of the Nauvoo temple. It was never completed and thus never received.

Judged and Cursed

No matter how Brigham and others tried to spin it, the fact that they were forced to leave Nauvoo should say something to us. We need to ask ourselves why this happened. We need to answer the question, “What was taken away?” We also should ask and answer, “Was the church rejected? If so, why?” These are hard questions that most people do not consider in their study of these verses. To me, it is clear. The church was rejected, and the saints were cursed as they fled Nauvoo. They were also cursed after they arrived in Utah and continued this abomination.

Look at the history. Look at how much the saints suffered because of their own works. It’s funny how, growing up, I never heard this discussed. To me, it is obvious. The Lord said they would be rejected as a church and would be moved out of their place. They were forced to leave Nauvoo in the dead of winter. There’s no way anybody could construe that as a blessing and not a curse. Something was going on in Nauvoo that was not pleasing to the Lord, and it was not pleasing to Joseph.

The Abomination of Polygamy

So many died, all because of the abomination of polygamy that Brigham brought to the church. And yet, I heard it spun exactly the opposite in the few General Conference talks that mention this period of history. We sing about the “Blessed, Honored Pioneers.” The problem is that so many of the General Authorities, especially in the Twelve, were proud descendants of Nauvoo. As Denver wrote in PtHG (page 113):

Ever since the expulsion of church members from Nauvoo, the highest leadership positions in the church have been held by Nauvoo’s proud descendants. The interpretation of these events by these proud Nauvoo descendants has become the official view. As a result of this interpretation, by this group of people, the possibility of a general rejection of the fullness by the saints in Nauvoo is never even considered.

We can Correct the Fallacy

It is the Book of Mormon that brings the witness of the spirit to those who pray about it. Through logic you can infer that Joseph was a prophet. I have no doubt about it. I have a witness from the Lord and from Joseph that he was a prophet. Like my friend Richard, nobody can take that away from me. I know what I heard that night as I prayed to know if what I had read in Doctrine and Covenants was true. The answer was different from when I prayed about the Book of Mormon.

And yes, that same logic will allow you to conclude that the church organized by Joseph in 1830, at the Lord’s command, after the publication of the Book of Mormon, was, at the time the Lord pronounced it in D&C 1:30 (1 Nov 1831) “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.” The Lord declared it, Joseph recorded it, and we can read it and pray about it. But, is that still true today? Again, the Lord declared it so it must be true, right? If it was true then …

Brigham Young Lied About Joseph

But what about today? What happened in Nauvoo? Why were the saints kicked out? What did they do that caused the Lord to allow their enemies to have power over them? They practiced the abomination of polygamy. It’s an abomination because they pronounced it a sacrament. They claimed something was holy that was clearly a sin. Brigham taught that a man must take plural wives to be exalted. That is not true, and the LDS Church today rejects this teaching of Brigham Young.

Brigham lied about this, claiming that Joseph taught it. He did no such thing. We have been lied to by the leaders of the LDS church for a long time. The history of the church was doctored to make it look like Joseph endorsed the practice or that he participated in it, and even that he concealed it from the people. I do not believe that. He neither taught it nor practiced it. Of this I am certain. I prayed about it and received confirmation that Joseph was innocent of this great sin.

Continue to Love and Support

But I did not bring any of this up. These good people are my brothers and sisters. We find fellowship and support with one another. We uplift and strengthen each other by sharing our testimonies of the Book of Mormon, or of the Covenant of Christ, and of personal revelation. Carol needs this comfort and strength we receive from each other as she passes through a difficult time dealing with cancer once again. I will never come between her and that strength and comfort she seeks and needs.

Note: In case you don’t recognize it, the logical fallacy employed by many members of the LDS Church is a combination of two fallacies known as “appeal to tradition” and “the unchanging state.” It is bolstered by the fact that we accept the revelations of Joseph Smith as the word of the Lord. Since we also believe that the Lord is unchanging, therefore what He declared at one point in time about a group or organization must still be true today, even if His later words revoke that declaration.