Why I Reject Mormonism

The easiest way to begin is to explain why I ever believed in the first place. I, David, having been
born of goodly parents, was instructed in the ways of the Mormon faith from an early age. As the third
of eight children, I watched as my brothers were baptized, confirmed, ordained the priesthood, served
missions and I followed in that same pattern. I believed my parents when they told me that there was a
divine plan of salvation: that I lived in heaven a long time ago with them and with everyone else in the
universe and that I chose to experience mortal life where I could accept Mormonism and convert as
many people as I could during my brief sojourn in this tabernacle of clay. As a teenager I weighed my
options carefully. I decided that if I could get a testimony like everyone said I could, then I would pray,
pray and obey until the end of my days. I read the Book of Mormon and found that as I read it, I had a
desire to be a better person. I considered this to be sufficient evidence of my religions divinity and
continued this practice of reading the Book of Mormon until adulthood. During my two-year mission for
the church, I felt more and more certain that Mormonism was true. At the same time, I observed plenty
of people in other faith systems living happy lives. I believed that they must be missing out on the added
light and knowledge that Mormonism has to offer. I also believed that every good thing that happened
in my life was a direct result of my accepting Mormonism and followings its teachings. Since I lived a
tame life, with clear life goals and a healthy dose of discipline, I remained convinced that Mormonism
had blessed me with everything I had. At one moment before my mission, I had encountered what I
would term anti-Mormon literature which described some of the more controversial teachings of the
prophet Brigham Young. These historical facts concerned me, but I dismissed them concluding that they
must not be true. Later on, however, I revisited these facts and many others that I had only briefly
considered during ten years as a faithful Mormon.

After graduating from a Mormon university, I boldly (and perhaps foolishly) struck out on my
own with my wife and two kids to seek work in a strange new land called South Carolina. As a smart
graduate, I was convinced that I should have no problem finding sufficient employment right off the bat.
In fact, I already had prospects with a piano store in Charleston. Whats more important, my wife and I
had prayed about going to Charleston versus my prior commitment to become a school teacher in
Georgia before beginning dental school. We felt good about Charleston, and off we went. It was during
my time in Charleston that I realized that God was not there for me. Upon arriving in Charleston, I
struggled for five months to find sufficient employment. As our meager funds evaporated, I went to the
bishop, seeking financial assistance. Ironically, my local church congregation was very supportive. My
bishop was patient, understanding and used ward funds to help us pay our bills and provided us with
food until I found a full time job. At the same time, I was applying for dental school. For five months I
had waited for interviews but received none. Many students were already accepting offers of admission.
I, who had superior credentials had nothing. I thought: Surely, a just God would bless me with an offer
of admission already. What is he waiting for? I am living all of the commandments and doing my very
best. Why would he do this to me? Finally, after bugging the admissions offices of the schools I applied
to, I got three interviews. At that point, I believed that God was just trying my patience. But after acing
my interviews and waiting another three months with no offers, I wondered again what God was up to.
It was not until I called the last school that had not rejected me every other day for two weeks that they
finally offered me a spot (because someone else had turned it down). By this point, I began to get the
idea that the antichrists in the Book of Mormon were right. Every man prospers according to his wisdom
and cunning. During the months preceding being accepted to dental school, I had begun to study the
history of the church. While I continued to browse church magazines from time to time and studied my
scriptures every day, I bravely began to explore other sources that detailed the history of the church.
During those months, I learned that my understanding of Mormonism was incomplete and based on

some ideas that were not factual. The discoveries that most challenged my testimony were the
following: 1) Joseph Smiths history, character, polygamy, and eventual demise 2) The origin of the Book
of Mormon 3) The origin of the temple ritual 4) The Book of Abraham 5) other teachings and actions
from the prophets that followed Smith. After nearly a year of feeling that God was far away, I began to
accept and believe that Mormonism was not what it claimed to be. While I still believe that it can bring
about good in the lives of some people, I now believe that good can be found everywhere and there is
no such thing as a true religion or a false religion. Religion is a tool to help people and it is up to each
person to figure out which religion best helps him or her to meet his or her goals in life. But the points
which shattered my testimony merit further exploration. I will address each of them in order, using
historical documents and logical arguments to present why I believe what I believe. And I hope that you
will see that with or without spiritual witnesses, it is difficult to accept Mormonisms claims once all the
facts are presented.

Joseph Smith: American Con Man or a Pious Fraud?

From his youth, Joseph Smith enjoyed impressing others by any means necessary. His first major
achievement was a criminal charge for glass-looking, a magical technique used to locate buried treasure.
Besides his interest in folk magic, he had an interest in the history of the Native Americans. His family
members recall Josephs vivid descriptions of the former inhabitants of the American continent dating as
early as (find this source). His fame began when he and Oliver Cowdery published the Book of Mormon,
a purported history of the Native Americans who originally came to the Americas from Jerusalem.
Originally, Joseph intended to turn a profit by selling the copyright. Unfortunately, no publishers were
interested, so the book became proof of Josephs prophetic calling. Josephs claims of diving
manifestations became more and more extravagant as time passed. After the Book of Mormon, Joseph

claimed that God had called him to organize a religion and that they should build a temple where they
should worship their God. At some point during the 1830s, Joseph claimed that angelic messengers had
ordained himself and Oliver Cowdery to the priesthood and that as a result of that event, the Church of
Christ (later to be renamed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was the only true church on
the earth and that all the other sects were an abomination in Gods eyes. Additionally, between 1835
and Josephs death in the 1840s, Joseph made several claims to have had a vision where he saw Jesus
Christ when he was a teenager. Joseph and others give several conflicting accounts of this event. The
most likely timing for this vision was following a revival in his neighborhood around 1824 (Joseph
mentions the revival in relation to his vision). The first account, while impressive, is unremarkable as it
relates to Josephs claim to hold the mantle of prophet. As time passed and Josephs authority was
called into question, his accounts of this first vision became more and more extravagant. The main
evidence used to prove Josephs calling as a prophet was the mere presence of the Book of Mormon.
The church seldom used it to preach but utilized its mere existence to gain converts in the US and in
Europe. The Book of Mormon is a problem because there is no archaeological evidence corroborating
the history suggested in the book. Whats more, the book contains numerous anachronisms, some
historical, others theological. Other problems with the Book of Mormon are its similarities to
contemporary works (King Benjamin discourse, bible passages, The Late War, etc.) While Joseph
included witnesses to the book as part of its publication, the first three never physically saw any golden
plates. The eight witnesses who said they handled the plates physically disagree as to whether they
physically handled the plates or some object that they believed to be the plates but was covered in
burlap. Whats more, all of the witnesses have issues of credibility because of their relationship to
Joseph. Whats more, is that Martin Harris copied a transcript of what Joseph said were the reformed
Egyptian characters that the writers of the Book of Mormon employed. Martin took the transcript to a
professor at Dartmouth who informed Martin that Joseph was most likely trying to con him for his

money. While Martin claims that Professor Charles Anthon verified that the characters were genuine,
Martins credibility is questionable as well. He was well-known in his community for beliefs in the occult
and other supernatural phenomena, and if he was wrong about the Book of Mormon, not only would
that make him look like a fool, but he would have wasted the money from mortgaging his farm on a
fraud. Whats more is that contemporary analysis of a copy of the Anthon transcript proves that the
characters have no relationship to Egyptian or Hebrew. Faced with these facts, it is difficult for me to
believe that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be. While it does have some good messages (all of
which are biblical in origin or borrowed from contemporary religious sects) there is no evidence to
suggest that it is an historical document. On the contrary, the Smithsonian institute rejects is historicity
outright.
The next big issue for me is how Joseph conducted himself as prophet. Josephs problems as
prophet really began when he and other church leaders began to discuss the idea of spiritual wifery. By
the late 1830s, Mormons were marrying polygamous wives, and in some cases Joseph secretly
celestialized with other mens wives. In most of these cases, polygamy was carried out in secret. It is
unclear whether or not Josephs first wife, Emma, was aware of the full extent of Josephs polygamous
activities. Some evidences suggest that she was and that she hated the practice and sought an additional
husband for herself. Other evidences suggest that perhaps Joseph accomplished his polygamous
relationships without her knowledge (deathbed declaration). In either case, an ominous shroud covers
the practice of polygamy and continues with the church with regards to that doctrine to this very day.
Joseph had other questionable activities as well. Joseph not only caused his own death by engaging in
treason, but previous to that event had the council of fifty declare him King of the earth. I believe that
Joseph enjoyed the attention he received as prophet, and it seems clear to me from the evidence that
Joseph conjured up revelations to justify his actions. I do not find sufficient evidence to conclude that he
was called of God to be a prophet.