aka Witnessing to a Mormon from the Book of Mormon
It was Mark Twain who said, "The Book of Mormon is chloroform in print." This is true. It numbs your brain from being able to think clearly. The Book of Mormon is unreliable for several reasons:
- The Mormon church has made more than 4,000 changes to the original edition of the Book of Mormon. It should not have required any changes because Joseph Smith allegedly used magic seer stones (guided by God) that infallibly translated one letter at a time for him.
- The book is undermined by its many plagiarisms from the KJV (some 27,000 words). The Book of Mormon was allegedly penned between 600 B.C. and 421 A.D., so how could it contain word-for-word quotations from the 1611 KJV?
- Virtually no archeological support exists for the cities mentioned in the Book of Mormon.
I. MAN IS A SINNER AND SEPARATED FROM GOD.
"And the days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of probation, and their time was lengthened, according to the commandments which the Lord God gave unto the children of men. For he gave commandment that all men must repent; for he showed unto all men that they were lost, because of the transgression of their parents." 2 Nephi 2:21
"For the natural man is an enemy of God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth commit to his father." Mosiah 3:19 (Italics—see 1 Cor. 2:14.)
"For behold, if the knowledge of the goodness of God at this time has awakened you to a sense of your nothingness, and our worthless and fallen state—" Mosiah 4:5
"All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all." Mosiah 14:6 (This verse is identical to Isaiah 53:6.)
"Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yeah, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them." Alma 5:7
"And now, my beloved brethren, for ye are my brethren, and ye ought to be beloved, and ye ought to bring forth words which are meet for repentance, seeking that your hearts have been grossly hardened against the word of God, and seeing that ye are a lost and a fallen people." Alma 9:30 (Italics—see Matt. 3:8.)
"Not Alma said unto him: This is the thing which I was about to explain. Now we see that Adam did fall by the partaking of the forbidden fruit, according to the word of God; and thus we see, that by his fall, all mankind became a lost and fallen people." Alma 12:22
"Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state?" Alma 26:17
"For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made." Alma 34:9
"And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence." Alma 42:14
"And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you, no not one. For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God." Moroni 10:25 (From here, you can go to Romans 3:23, etc.)