Questions For Mormons

1—Who exactly, mistranslated the Bible?

2—What parts of the Bible are mistranslated?

3 – Are there any historical documents that could shed light on where the trusted translations are located?

4 – Why would Heavenly Father desert His creation and what purpose did that serve us and Him?

5 – Why do millions of people continue to use the Bible if it’s not translated correctly?

6 – Does anyone today speak the same languages the people from biblical days spoke?

7 – When did the Bible become corrupt?

8 – Where did the reputable translations go?

9 – How did everyone go the way of corruption when Jesus promised in the Bible that the gates of hell wouldn’t prevail?

https://lifeafterministry.com/2018/06/02/witnessing-tip-of-the-day-june-2-no-christians-on-earth/

Proof That Irenaeus Did Not Affirm Roman Catholic Transubstantiation

"For when the Greeks, having arrested the slaves of Christian catechumens, then used force against them, in order to learn from them some secret thing [practiced] among Christians, these slaves, having nothing to say that would meet the wishes of their tormentors, except that they had heard from their masters that the divine communion was the body and blood of Christ, and imagining that it was actually flesh and blood, gave their inquisitors answer to that effect. Then these latter, assuming such to be the case with regard to the practices of Christians, gave information regarding it to other Greeks, and sought to compel the martyrs Sanctus and Blandina to confess, under the influence of torture, [that the allegation was correct]. To these men Blandina replied very admirably in these words: ‘How should those persons endure such [accusations], who, for the sake of the practice [of piety], did not avail themselves even of the flesh that was permitted [them to eat]?’” (Irenaeus, Fragment 13)

Quick Refutation Of The Roman Catholic History Argument

• Discussion:

          -The Roman Catholic Church is known for making outrageous claims of possessing the fullness of God given truth, starting with the Lord Jesus Christ allegedly giving the authority of the keys exclusively to the Apostle Peter so as to start an unbroken chain of apostolic successors who preserved inspired tradition for the past 2,000 years. Following are a handful of points to keep in mind when confronted with this Romish propaganda:

           1.) Church history is descriptive, not prescriptive, in nature.

           2.) Even if we unanimously agreed to accept Papal authority, that would only eliminate doctrinal conflict in a circular, tautological sense. That would still not reveal to us whether we should be in communion with the Roman Bishop (i.e. whether we are right or wrong in our decision making). It still does not build a case for Roman Catholicism.

           3.) Both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches make identical claims of being established directly by the Lord Jesus Christ, but maintain contradictory oral traditions and dispute each other's claims.

           4.) The church fathers sometimes contradicted each other and themselves, which is the underlying reason for us not putting them on par with the authority of divine Scripture. These men, no matter how theologically gifted, were not inspired by God. The writings of these people are not to be treated as a smokescreen against the plain reading of Scripture. Divine revelation exists independently of the writings of so-called church fathers.
             
           5.) Many people considered to be church fathers lived relatively late in church history, several hundred years after the preaching of the apostles. There were church fathers who were in fact not familiar with the inspired languages of the Bible, which of course weakens the notion that they had any better interpretive insight than do we. Modern scholarship has greater advantages in comparison to bishops living in the third or fourth centuries.

           6.) Roman Catholics cannot know with certainty who exactly constitutes the church fathers, which early Christian writings are to be deemed authoritative, and that all of the father's teachings are correct without resorting to circular reasoning. For them, it is thus because the Church of Rome declared matters to be thus.

            7.) If we can read the writings of the church fathers or the official catechism of the Roman Catholic Church, then why not simply use the inspired Word of God to discern truth from error? Only the cults demand blind submission to an earthly charismatic leader. If the Catholics want to consistently apply their method of validating Roman Catholicism by resorting to the early church fathers, then why not start with the inspired authors of the New Testament?
           
            8.) We do not have every document written by each particular church father on every subject. Neither were we present in the early church to take surveys of what everybody believed. Although this argument may aggravate devout Roman Catholics, it nevertheless demonstrates their claims of unanimous consensus in church history to be vacuous.

            9.) There exists no reliable record of the Apostle Peter being the first bishop of Rome. There exists a fictional narrative of Peter presiding over the Papacy for a time span of about twenty-five years that has been dated back to the third century, which contradicts details set forth in the Book of Acts. It ended up getting propagated by later Roman bishops who had itching ears. The distinction between the offices of elder and bishop was not made until 150 AD. The Roman bishop eventually ended up taking on titles once belonging to the Roman Caesars. Former Anglican turned Roman Catholic convert Cardinal Newman once declared, "To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant." Yet, there are so many reputable non-Catholic scholars and historians. Such bald-faced lies from Romish officials only prove their religion to be man-centered:

                 "that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another." (1 Corinthians 4:6)

The Invention Of Apostolic Succession

"They began to be concerned with their own history…The Marcionite church had is beginning with Marcion…The Montanists went back to Montanus…All of these bore the names of founders whom people knew, while the Christian churches normally went back beyond the turn of the first century into the time of the apostles. Only that which can trace its history back into the earliest time, either directly or through fellowship with churches which are able to document it directly, can be genuine. In this way the concept of apostolic tradition developed and along with it, apostolic succession.

In this context people sometimes proceeded quite liberally in building the chain of tradition...Then, as now, historical thinking was overlaid with wishes. 

The idea that both of them [Peter & Paul] first came to Rome after the church had already existed there for a longer time had no place in early Christian thinking, which in this case wanted to forge a connection between something they knew and the earliest and best-known men whose names they knew. 

In the first century and the beginning of the second, the Roman church was led by a college of presbyters, as we learn reliably from 1 Clement which we have frequently mentioned. We can no more speak about an apostolic succession, by which Peter passed on the episcopal office by a laying on of hands, than we can about many other things. This idea was a product of the second century when the idea of apostolic succession inevitably developed from the concept or requirement of apostolic tradition. Both existed only after the second half of the second century." (K. Aland, A History of Christianity (Fortress 1985), 1:118-120)

A Critique Of David J. Stewart's "If Saved, Always Saved"

• Discussion:

          -Quite simply, the purpose of this article is to address a question that David J. Stewart, author of the Independent Fundamental Baptist website called Jesus Is Savior, posited in one of his lengthy diatribes against Christians who reject eternal security:

          "If I cannot do good works to get saved, then how can I do bad works to lose salvation?"

          

          If I am understanding the author correctly, then I take it that he is saying that works either control everything in regards to our salvation or they do not matter at all. But this would only be the formation of a false dichotomy, since there is a more realistic approach that we can take on the relationship between good works and salvation.

          The reason that we cannot merit eternal salvation with God in heaven is that we have fallen short of His eternal glory. Mankind is under condemnation due to having a stained record. That is one of the devastating consequences of the fall. We need the perfect righteousness of Christ and His atonement in order to be saved. We are redeemed in the Lord Christ Jesus alone (Galatians 3:8-9). We absolutely need His imputed righteousness.

          Notice what the Lord Jesus Christ affirmed during His sermon on the mount regarding the sins of adultery and murder:

          "You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." (Matthew 5:21-22)

           "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28)

          The context of this passage from the Sermon on the Mount is about adhering to the spirit of the law, not just the letter. God does not only examine behavior, but also the heart. People practice various sins because their hearts are already dedicated to unrighteousness. Our deeds are the evidence of our current spiritual state. Folks like King David did not "practice" adultery and murder, but got ensnared by those sins during a period of spiritual vulnerability.

          The loss of salvation is generally not caused by a single bad work, but is a slow, gradual process that takes place over time. We do not do bad works to "get unsaved". Bad works are the evidence, not the cause, of a declining faith or hardening heart. God examines our hearts. We are justified by faith, apart from the merit of any good works (Romans 4:2-8). We are saved by faith in Christ and His gospel. We obtain mercy from God through heartfelt repentance.

          If the lives of professing Christians are characterized by sin, then yes, they have sufficient reason to question the validity of their salvation experience.

          It is technically not 'easy' for a Christian to lose his or her salvation. God is slow to anger (Psalm 145:8). He is rich in mercy (Ephesians 1:7-8). He doe not will that any man perish (2 Peter 3:9). He is faithful even during our times of unfaithfulness. The Holy Spirit continually convicts the conscience of sin. But He can still cast off bad branches (Romans 11:16-25). We can walk away from our salvation because God has given us free will.

          If a Christian holds fast to the gospel by faith, and that alone, then he or she can rest assured of entering Paradise in the afterlife. We are kept in by the same way that we entered the Kingdom of God: faith (Galatians 3:1-3). Belief in eternal security is not by any means a requirement for subscribing to Sola Fide. Loss of salvation simply denotes the loss of benefits from the Cross of Christ.

          Let it be said that it is indeed possible for one to lose salvation, as Scripture passages such as 2 Chronicles 15:2, Luke 8:15, 1 Corinthians 15:2, 1 Timothy 4:16, 2 Timothy 1:14, Revelation 3:5-12, and many others plainly attest. There are no passages in Scripture exempting Christians from the consequences of sin. There is nothing we can do to merit our salvation, since God demands perfect obedience. We can have great assurance of salvation. It is not as though we have to wring our hands every time we make a mistake or be in constant fear. There is no opportunity for boasting in the Christian life because justification is by faith alone. It is not devoid of good works. It is evidenced by good works. The Holy Spirit keeps us in the kingdom of God by faith. But we must make a choice to be saved. We who profess Christ simply need to periodically examine ourselves in light of God's Word (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Affirmation Of Miracles Among The Ancients Was Not A Result Of Wrongly Perceiving The Universe

"...it may be stated at once that this view is quite wrong about facts. The immensity of the universe of the universe is not a recent discovery. More than seventeen hundred years ago Ptolemy taught that in relation to the distance of the fixed stars the whole Earth must be regarded as a point with no magnitude. His astronomical system was universally accepted in the Dark and Middle Ages. The insignificance of Earth was as much a commonplace to Boethius, King Alfred, Dante, and Chaucer as it is to Mr. H. G. Wells or Professor Haldane. Statements to the contrary in modern books are due to ignorance."

C.S. Lewis, Miracles, pg. 78

Belief In Miracles Was Never A Result Of Scientific Ignorance

"When St. Joseph finally accepted the view that his fiancee's pregnancy was due not to unchastity but to a miracle, he accepted the miracle as something contrary to the known order of nature. All records of miracles teach the same thing. In such stories the miracles excite fear (that is what the very word miracles implies) among the spectators, and are taken as evidence of supernatural power. If they were not known to be contrary to the laws of nature how could they suggest the presence of the supernatural? How could they be surprising unless they were seen to be exceptions to the rules? And how can anything be seen to be an exception till the rules are known? If there ever were men who did not know the laws of nature at all, they would have no idea of a miracle and feel no particular interest in one if it were performed before them. Nothing can seem extraordinary until you have discovered what is ordinary."

C.S. Lewis, Miracles, pg. 74-75

Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist: Transgender is ‘Mental Disorder;' Sex Change ‘Biologically Impossible’

"Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgenderism is a “mental disorder” that merits treatment, that sex change is “biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder.

Dr. McHugh, the author of six books and at least 125 peer-reviewed medical articles, made his remarks in a recent commentary in the Wall Street Journal, where he explained that transgender surgery is not the solution for people who suffer a “disorder of ‘assumption’” – the notion that their maleness or femaleness is different than what nature assigned to them biologically."

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/johns-hopkins-psychiatrist-transgender-mental-disorder-sex-change

One Of The Greatest Questions Ever Asked

        "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36-37)

        We live in a culture that is obsessed with material gain. Many in human civilization waste hordes of time daily on keeping up with the latest fashion trends or vehicle models. Commercials that we hear on the radio and on television oftentimes announce various ways to improve and simplify the quality of virtually every facet of our lives. Businesses concentrate on accumulating large masses of wealth. Gullible customers concentrate on getting the best material items possible. This is ultimately rooted in pride, selfishness, and greed.

        There is one thing of utmost importance that society has overlooked, the gospel. The vast majority of people seem to be totally unconcerned regarding their sinful condition and need of a redeemer. This is the underlying reason for the gospel needing to be preached. Our Lord Jesus Christ eloquently revealed the ultimate futility of striving to reach top dog status according to worldly standards.

        Even if a person became so popular that he or she could instantaneously claim possession of any desired object, that position of earthly supremacy would be worthless in the sight of God. Nothing is more precious than the soul. Nothing in this life should be regarded as being more significant than our eternal destiny. God is no respecter of persons. If people do not repent at the preaching of the gospel, then they will perish eternally. Material possessions can always be stolen or destroyed. We cannot take them to heaven or hell when our souls pass into the supernatural realm. All things created by man belong to God, since He created all the particles which constitute the composition of everything we see.

        This is not to suggest that we cannot find enjoyment in the things that we do have. We are not to allow our material possessions to rule over us. We are not to allow ourselves to become preoccupied with them to the point where they control our lives. In that case, possessions become idols. Our focus should be on God. We should thank Him continually for the things we do have.

Experiencing The Joy Of God's Providence

        From a consistent secular materialistic perspective, the Christian life is easily comparable to a complicated maze of edicts, burdens, and legalism. It is ordinarily perceived by the world to be enslavement of the human will, but the reality of the matter is that everybody is a slave to something. We can either be servants of God or servants of iniquity. Any imagined concept of middle ground on this crucial matter is illusionary. We can either experience a temporary perversion of joy through self-indulgence which if left unforgiven by God will eventually result in the soul perishing eternally, or can receive the crown of eternal joy which consists of salvation, reconciliation, and fellowship with our Creator.

        One need not be discouraged in his or her personal relationship with God in the midst of daily stressors, temptation, or ruthless persecution. One need not discard the precious gems of gospel truth in view of the moral turbulence the world presents. It must be recognized that nothing transcends the power of God, and that He can use whatever seemingly disastrous occasions as instruments to accomplish a greater good. We must allow the Holy Spirit to impart His grace so as to console our troubled minds. The world is not the way it is supposed to be. It has been tainted by sin. It is not our home because we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. So we should not try to seek comfort and pleasure by the means that the world provides.

         Christians have been called to exercise spiritual discernment. To act foolishly while claiming superficially that God will provide is not trust, but presumption. The gospel is not an invitation to prosper financially, but a call to be reconciled with the Lord. It is a call to love, know, and serve Him through faith. We experience the goodness of God through being in communion with Him. We experience the peace that surpasses all understanding through being in communion with God. He is not a means to an end, but a means in Himself. He designed us with the freedom of choice so that He could have a close relationship with mankind.

        We should be leaning on the righteousness of God, and trusting in His divine plan to restore creation back to its original state of perfection. We should be striving for spiritual maturity through prayer, conquering fleshly lusts, and mediating on the principles of Scripture. We must act from the heart in accordance to our religious profession in order to truly experience the unfathomable goodness of God. We must entrust our cares to Him. We must express gratitude for whatever blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon us. We must rejoice continually in the tender mercies He gives. We must express contentment despite our sufferings. The Lord is our strength and our song.

         "O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" (Psalm 34:8)

         "like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord." (1 Peter 2:2-3)

         "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15)