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Video transcript:
Let me be clear: It’s totally fine to have sincere questions — that’s someone trying to understand someone else’s perspective, and I’m here for it. But this video isn’t about questions, it’s about accusations — accusations that Latter-day Saints deal with all the time and that we’ve got pretty reasonable answers to. So my hope is that we can just put these to bed once and for all, or at least replace these accusations with conversations.
Number 5: Joseph Smith was a fraud because Latter-day Saint temple ceremonies were just ripped off from Freemasonry.
Here’s the deal: Joseph Smith absolutely used aspects of Freemasonry to construct a framework for the temple endowment. This was no secret. The first nine people to receive the endowment from Joseph Smith were Freemasons. Steven Harper wrote that “Joseph picked these men specifically, maybe in part because they were Masons, and began teaching in a way they understood, starting where they were and leading them to more light and knowledge.”
Joseph was trying to restore divine truth, but contrary to some assumptions, it didn’t happen all at once, and it wasn’t necessarily a process that happened completely independently from environmental or cultural factors. And I think that is a scripturally supported claim to make.
For example: It was only after the prophet Abraham’s visit to Egypt that circumcision was instituted as a sign of the Abrahamic covenant. Interestingly, circumcision had already been a long-standing practice in Egypt. Coincidence? Probably not. But it doesn’t mean Abraham was a fraud or that the new symbolism was invalid. God adapts or repurposes things all the time, and teaches us truths in ways we can understand and relate to. So instead of making this accusation, let’s have a conversation and try to reach a point of mutual respect and understanding.
Number 4: The Book of Mormon can’t be true because Revelation 22:18-19 says that you can’t add or remove anything from the Bible. There can’t be any more scripture beyond the Bible.
In Revelation 22, John writes: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life….”
Many people assume that the book John is referring to is the Bible as a whole. The problem is that the Bible as we know it today didn’t yet exist when John wrote this. John was referring to the book he was writing — the Book of Revelation — the book of “this prophecy.” In fact, some translations, like the NIV and YLT, use the word scroll instead of book, reinforcing this point even more. There’s plenty more that could be said on this, but really, this alone should be enough to put this claim to bed. People don’t have to believe in extra-biblical scripture, but ruling it out based on Revelation 22 just doesn’t work. I have quotes from Church leaders addressing this same claim as far back as 1853. It’s been addressed in general conference multiple times. We need to let this one go.
Number 3: No one except Joseph Smith ever saw the alleged golden plates. Obviously, they never existed.
This is an interesting one. Members of the Church and even mildly experienced critics are well aware of the testimonies of the 11 official witnesses of the golden plates, as recorded in the preface to the Book of Mormon itself. But every once in a while, I still see less-informed commentators claim that Joseph never even attempted to show them to anyone. And I’m so sorry, JK Rowling. Harry Potter was a huge part of my childhood, but I’m looking at you.
Now, people do try to claim that the witnesses only saw the plates in vision or only hallucinated seeing the plates — I don’t think those claims have a leg to stand on, but that’s still a very different scenario than this persistent image of a Joseph Smith who just never showed the plates to anyone. We have the witness statements — both from the official witnesses and various other unofficial witnesses. I have over 60 statements cataloged on our Keystone Instagram Story highlights if you want to dive into what they experienced. Joseph Smith’s claims become a lot harder to explain away when suddenly it’s not just him who has seen the plates, but over a dozen others as well.
And I will say, to JK Rowling’s credit, that later that same day, she did at least acknowledge that other people had indeed claimed to have seen the plates.
Number 2: Latter-day Saint prophets have to be false prophets because Jesus was the last prophet!
This is a quick way to shrug off Latter-day Saint claims, but the reality is that the Bible itself mentions prophets, by name, that were active even after Christ’s death. Between Acts 11 and 15, we hear about prophets named Silas, Judas, Agabus, Barnabus, Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen. And of course, we’ve also got Revelation 11 which prophesies of two prophets to come in the future.
Yes, the Bible does warn about false prophets, but warning about false prophets implies that there are also going to be true prophets — otherwise, they would have just said there won’t be any prophets at all. It’s like if you’ve got a bag of Bertie Botts Every-Flavor Beans — you’re not going to warn people about the bad ones if they’re all bad ones. Some interpret Hebrews 1:1 or Luke 16:16 to mean that there won’t be any prophets after Christ, but again, it seems like that interpretation is undercut by the very fact that the Bible continues to talk about prophets after Christ.
Ephesians 4 teaches that prophets and other leaders are given “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith….”
Number 1: Latter-day Saints believe in a works-based gospel — they believe they can work their way to Heaven, or earn Heaven without Jesus.
This claim is most often based on a single verse from the Book of Mormon, which says that “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” The confusion there is warranted. It’s even been misunderstood by some church leaders in the past. But when we look at how the phrase “after all we can do” was used in the 1800s, it becomes very clear that the intended meaning here is that we are saved by grace despite all we can do. And that makes sense in the wider context of the Book of Mormon as well, which repeats over and over again that we are indeed saved by Jesus. Literally 3 verses before the controversial verse, we read: “There is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ … whereby man can be saved.”
But don’t Latter-day Saints believe that some ordinances are required for the highest form of salvation? Yes, but similar to how many Christians view righteous works, we view participation in temple ordinances as a result or expression of our faith in Christ, but not at all as a replacement for faith in Christ. This does raise the question, though, if we’re saved by grace, through faith, what is the point of the ordinances? Righteous works of all kinds are clearly important, but what role do they play? Well, that is precisely what Brother Brad Wilcox and I talk about in this interview. I highly recommend you go check it out, and have a great day!