Teachings of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith Regarding the Godhead as Relates to Biblical Teachings

[ParkerD]

Parker - Okay, I think I am beginning to understand what you are saying.

So, this is totally an LDS teaching because one would have to believe in the visions of Joseph Smith to understand that God has changed and is not the God who appeared to Moses in Exodus? Or God is the God who appeared to Moses in Exodus but went through a transformation then appeared to Joseph Smith?

As far as God not showing His face, I think that the Israelites were very clear in their understanding of God not having a body. If Moses did not appear to Joseph Smith, would there be any other sources regarding Moses having a spriritual transformation?

Lax16,
I disagree as to whether the Israelites were “clear in their understanding of God not having a body.” I do think they centered their worship and belief on Jehovah, who was the pre-mortal Jesus and thus did not have a body during Old Testament times. Yet His spirit did have the shape and form of a body just as His physical Person looked like when He was an adult.

Peace to all, and have a good day.

 

[Third_Day]

=dianaiad;6560332]That’s not what I asked, Third Day. I ASKED (and it was a question…) whether you were one of those people who believe that this earth, “Terra” is the only planet or place in the universe where sentient life exists…or even that life exists

.
Of course it’s possible that some form of life could exist throughout the universe. Human life? I don’t believe so. That has not been revealed to us.

Is this planet all there is? Not a "new heaven’, or a ‘new earth’ that AWAITS us; I mean–other planets with other peoples upon them. You have just answered a question I did not ask, and thus avoided answering the one I DID ask.

If your’re trying to suggest that there are Mormons living on other planets throughout the universe, no I don’t believe that.

er…no…remember, we believe that God created the universe through Jesus. They were/are together, as God, outside the time They created

.
Can you give me a specific official church writing that says this.

how can we say that there was a time that either was not God, when They are the inventors of the concept? .

There was a time when Jesus was just a “spirit” child. Jesus had a gradual process to godhood during the ages before he became a man correct?

The point is, we understand that before His physical birth, Jesus was indeed God

; God or “a” God?. You believe in more that one God. Maybe this will help me understand. DId God the Father become flesh and bones before Jesus became flesh and bones?.
.

No, we pray to God the Father in Jesus’ Name, since He is the One Who 'bought us with a price," and His is the Only Name by which we may be saved. It is His role in the Godhood

.
Can you give me an example of a Morman prayer to God the father through Jesus. Can you pray to the Holy Spirit?

That was his opinion. It is not official church doctrine.

How does the Church publish what is opinion and what is doctrine. DId any “prophet” of the Mormon Church ever rule on Orson Hyde’s opinion

Though I personally think He MAY have been married, and it certainly wouldn’t upset me any if it turns out that He was—or that He was not–we don’t honestly know

.Seems like that would have been mentioned in the Gospels or the writings of the early Chruch Fathers.

After all, you don’t want me to start claiming that Catholicism believes that God invented black people for the express purpose of slavery because a couple of your Popes said so, do you?

What Pope said that?

All I ask is that you NOT use double standards here. You get to tell me what Catholics believe, and when a Pope is speaking for the church (ex cathedra) and is thus infallible, and when he’s just spouting off opinion and making political hay. By the same token, we get to tell you when something said by one of our leaders is ‘scripture’ and binding—and when it isn’t.

THe problem I have with Mormonism is that there is no Catechism. No Mormon I have spoken to can give me all of their “official” teaching in one book. They seem to be scattered all over the place. Their are many writings from Mormon apostles. How can we tell which is doctrine and which is opinion.

 

[Jay53]

Jay53,
Here was what I had written:

Evidently, if I am to take what you have written about having a desire to have the Holy Spirit in your daily life, and that you indeed do have this blessed gift and comfort, then in the first place, I would think that there would be no offense taken because one would merely think to themselves, “I know the peace and comfort I feel in my heart, and I know the voice of the Holy Spirit in my life guiding my choices, so what someone else thinks is completely irrelevant.”

I have never written that Catholics don’t have the Holy Spirit. I have made an assumption that they do. I have also assumed that if they do, and if they read the Book of Mormon with the same sincerity with which they would read the Bible, that they will find truth in the Book of Mormon and it will not be scorned en toto. This is possible without changing religions.

I never wrote that one needs the Book of Mormon to have the Holy Spirit. One can do very well with the Bible alone plus sincere prayer. The deal about the Book of Mormon was to say that a person familiar with the voice of the Holy Spirit in their life is going to expect more guidance and truth in their life than just what the Bible brings by itself. This is what Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 2 and 3. When a person is familiar with this process, then they are not going to be uncomfortable with the possibility of there being words of scripture besides the Bible in existence somewhere in the world. This is because they will understand that God gives revelation through the Holy Spirit to prophets as well as to people generally, and prophets could exist in more places and at more times than just what is recorded in the Bible. The Bible even says that by citing books that aren’t in it.

Sorry the comment rubbed you the wrong way, but I did mean what I wrote in that comment about the impact of the Holy Spirit in the personal life of a person. It is a one-to-one communication, and I assume many Catholics do have that in their life.

I read what you wrote.

I would not expect that the Book of Mormon teachings would be relevant to anyone who did not first of all have a fervent desire to have the Holy Ghost in their life on a personal, ongoing basis day by day

If you change your statement from a negative to a postive, it would read:

“I would expect the Book of Mormon teachings to be relevant to anyone who has a fervent desire to have the Holy Ghost in their life on a personal, ongoing basis day by day.”

which statement also implies that those who DO NOT find it relevant do not have this desire - which is totally false. Your comment “rubbed me the wrong way” because you were very clearly insinuating that if someone truly desires the Holy Spirit in their life then they will believe the Book of Mormon - and if they don’t believe it, then they are somehow lacking - in faith, sincerity, etc.

To Catholics, (or at least to me), the BoM is on the same level as the Quran. There may be “some” truth in either book, but that certainly doesn’t mean that either of them are from God or divinely inspired.

Also, Catholics are not “uncomfortable” with there being other revelations. What is “uncomfortable” is when said “revelations” contradict what God revealed before. God does not change His Truth.

Have you ever read the stories of lives of St. Padre Pio, St. Therese or St. Faustina Kowalska? After doing so, can you truly say that they were somehow “incomplete” (because they weren’t married) or somehow lacking in their spiritual lives because they found the Book of Mormon to be “irrelevant”?

 

[Third_Day]

=dianaiad;6560337]
I WROTE that I would respond to the constant accusations of 'Mormons believe that they will become gods with their own little planet to populate" with “I’m shooting for my own universe!” It was an exasperated joke…a reaction to this utterly insane misrepresentation of our beliefs…and YOUR reaction to it is very educational for me, if it is at all indicative of non-LDS beliefs about the universe and our place in it.

OK. Let’s settle this. Is it possible that in the next life you will become a god and greate your own universe. Yes or no

The Terrestrial Kingdom of Heaven, we believe, is pretty much the Heaven most Christians think they are headed for, so you could be right

.
Let me ask you about the other kingdom. Is the Telestial kingdom another name for hell?

Do you have a CLUE what I thought the first time someone tried to describe transubstantiation to me, or attempted to explain the Trinity (as opposed to our own idea of the Godhead, that is)? You can have no idea whatsoever how the lighting of candles, the Rosary, the annointing of statues, the reverence of the relics of Saints, the idea of limbo for unbaptized children…you have NO clue how such things appear to a person raised in the LDS faith.

Christians have been believing in all of that for 2000 years. Your beliefs are recent.
.

I still do not believe in them, and at times they still seem crazy/wierd, but I’m not going to make fun of those things that you consider sacred, because if you consider them to be sacred, and to make sense, then they are sacred and they make sense. To you.
Just because they never will to me doesn’t mean that YOU are stupid to believe in them. I have the distinct impression that you are having some difficulty returning the sentiment.

I’m not making fun of your beleifs. It concerns me becasue these are all of recent history. No one in Church history believed what you do. There is no historical proof of an apostacy of the Church so I have to conclude that Joseph Smith was a false prophet and Mormonism a false religion.

 

[ParkerD]

I read what you wrote.

If you change your statement from a negative to a postive, it would read:

“I would expect the Book of Mormon teachings to be relevant to anyone who has a fervent desire to have the Holy Ghost in their life on a personal, ongoing basis day by day.”

which statement also implies that those who DO NOT find it relevant do not have this desire - which is totally false. Your comment “rubbed me the wrong way” because you were very clearly insinuating that if someone truly desires the Holy Spirit in their life then they will believe the Book of Mormon - and if they don’t believe it, then they are somehow lacking - in faith, sincerity, etc.

To Catholics, (or at least to me), the BoM is on the same level as the Quran. There may be “some” truth in either book, but that certainly doesn’t mean that either of them are from God or divinely inspired.

Also, Catholics are not “uncomfortable” with there being other revelations. What is “uncomfortable” is when said “revelations” contradict what God revealed before. God does not change His Truth.

Have you ever read the stories of lives of St. Padre Pio, St. Therese or St. Faustina Kowalska? After doing so, can you truly say that they were somehow “incomplete” (because they weren’t married) or somehow lacking in their spiritual lives because they found the Book of Mormon to be “irrelevant”?

Jay53,
I underlined a couple of items in the quote and the beginning “if”.

The comment I had made to Catholic20064 had to do with his “fervent desire” or the lack thereof, in that he had criticized the idea of the Book of Mormon because he said it needed to have evidence outside of the book itself that it was true.

I used the word “fervent” with the word “desire” because that is stronger than desire alone. Fervent means very strong, pure, sincere, genuine, without ulterior motives, so yes that does mean with faith and with sincerity, but even more than those qualities it means with a yearning for truth.

The people you mentioned at the end of your post may have never read the Book of Mormon or even heard of it. God gives the Holy Spirit with no respecter of persons, but indeed relying on their personal sincerity and faith. The Book of Mormon explains that, as does the Bible. (As I have stated before, the Book of Mormon does not “contradict what God revealed before” (meaning contradict the Bible) nor does it “change His truth”.

The Book of Mormon does not need to be “relevant” to someone and yet not be true for other people. It can be “relevant” to many people, irrelevant to others, and all of those people can be living by truths from the Holy Spirit that are relevant to them and meaningful and they have specifically asked for help with in their life.

I don’t think a person approaching a reading of the Book of Mormon with scorn in their heart is going to get any kind of answer at all from the Holy Spirit about whether it is true, or not, or whether it contains truths, or not. The Holy Spirit does not foster scorn.

Have a good day.

 

[lax16]

Lax16,
I disagree as to whether the Israelites were “clear in their understanding of God not having a body.” I do think they centered their worship and belief on Jehovah, who was the pre-mortal Jesus and thus did not have a body during Old Testament times. Yet His spirit did have the shape and form of a body just as His physical Person looked like when He was an adult.

Peace to all, and have a good day.

Hi Parker - I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I have done quite a bit of reading/research on the subject and am very confident that Jewish teachings on the subject are very old. Who am I to argue with the Principles of Faith of Judaism?

Regarding the other part of my question re: Moses - please answer when you get a chance.

 

[Third_Day]

I think the** King James Version **serves the purposes of God very well. I also think the Joseph Smith Translation adds some wonderful insights, and can be studied with a benefit for the one who does so with a sincere heart. However one studies the Bible, I think seeking the guidance and influence of the Holy Spirit is paramount to gleaning the truths and guidance that God delights in His children seeking to find.

ParkerD, I asked this question earlier and you must have missed it…This is an important question.
Did the angel Moroni reveal to Joseph Smith in his translation of the bible that Jesus said “for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever, Amen” in Matthew 6:15?

 

[Catholic20064]

Why must you make offensive statements such as this? I, and other Catholics, most certainly DO have a desire to have the Holy Spirit in our daily lives - and we DO have the Holy Spirit in our lives. We most certainly DO NOT need the Book of Mormon to have that. You are making an offensive assertions that those who find the Book of Mormon false and irrelevant somehow are lacking in faith or lacking in a desire to be closer to God. This is completely false as well as an extremely arrogant and offensive assertion to make!

He thinks I lost the Holy Spirit when I quit Mormonism to become a Catholic. In Mormon belief I am headed to Outer Darkness because I somehow denied the Holy Spirit when I rejected Mormon teachings for Catholicism. Outer Darkness is the only real hell in Mormonism. The best way to avoid hell to a Mormon is to never become a Mormon. I truly regret becoming a Mormon when I was 19 years old. It took me 32 years to find my way out of that cult.

 

[dianaiad]

.
Of course it’s possible that some form of life could exist throughout the universe. Human life? I don’t believe so. That has not been revealed to us.

The point is, Third Day, is that if you are talking about LDS doctrine and ideas, you need to talk about LDS Doctrine and ideas in relation to what we think they are, not what you think they should be–and I’m going to address this question more completely, and offer short comments on the rest, for space only.

I’m also addressing this—not because you are especially ‘guilty’ of this; you aren’t. However, the way you are addressing LDS ideas, and me, has made me see one of the biggest problems with discussing other people’s beliefs, especially in an adversarial situation. CAF ‘non-Catholic religions’ IS adversarial in nature, though mostly very politely so. The fact that we all need moderators to ensure that politeness is actually proof of the adversarial nature of the forum!

That problem is this: in an ‘attack/defense’ situation, especially when you are on your ‘home turf’ as Catholics are here, the aim isn’t to find out what others believe; it’s to prove that your beliefs are ‘better.’ We all look at the other guy through our own religious and ideological lenses, and pass judgment. We do that instantly, and then we force everything else we may learn about that belief into those prejudices, even when they simply do not fit. We all do that, even me–and I try my utmost best NOT to. The trouble is, it’s not possible ‘not to.’ Our own beliefs about deity always interfere with being fair to the other guy. Always. The ‘other guy’ is there for one of two reasons: either to correct the misinformation (that would be me, mostly) or to prosylite.

Your comment, above, is a beautiful example of that; I claim that Mormons believe that the universe is filled with inhabited planets and I show you the writings that we believe indicate that. This is why WE believe it. We believe God created the whole shebang and is the Author and Creator of all of 'em…and this belief is one of the reasons this anti-Mormon idiotic claim that Mormons believe that we will become Gods over our own planet is utterly ludicrous.

You have made two responses to that idea: first, it simply skipped over your head; you ignored it, commented upon something else and honestly thought you had responded to what I wrote. Now you write 'it hasn’t been revealed to us."

The thing is, Third Day, it HAS been revealed to us, if by ‘us,’ you mean LDS…and since we are talking about LDS beliefs and why we believe as we do, then what we believe has been revealed is what counts, not what you accept. When we speak of Catholic doctrine and thought, you can be sure that I won’t dismiss, say, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception because I don’t believe that Bernadette saw what she thought she did at Lourdes (and yes, I AM aware that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception precedes Bernadette by many centuries! Just heading that one off.) The point is, you need to remember that LDS doctrine does not depend upon what you believe, just as Catholic doctrine doesn’t give a hoot what I do.

…next post…

 

[dianaiad]

yep…continued…

.If your’re trying to suggest that there are Mormons living on other planets throughout the universe, no I don’t believe that.

And here is yet another example of what I’m talking about. I did NOT ask if you believed that there were “Mormons on other planets.” My question was pretty specific, and you are still avoiding it, this time by ridicule; “Mormons?” REALLY? I’m certain, however, that they would, mostly, believe in a deity Who created the universe, and if God is the same everywhere, then they probably believe pretty much the same things we do about Him. Sentient peoples…made in the image of God.

.

.Can you give me a specific official church writing that says this.

There was a time when Jesus was just a “spirit” child. Jesus had a gradual process to godhood during the ages before he became a man correct?

DID He? We don’t know much about the pre-mortal existance. We do understand that God created the universe through Him, and that He did grow “in wisdom and stature” as a mortal child, though. That doesn’t seem to bother anybody.

.; God or “a” God?. You believe in more that one God. Maybe this will help me understand. DId God the Father become flesh and bones before Jesus became flesh and bones?.

There’s that time thing again, but yes, obviously we do, since Jesus was only born 2000 years ago. More or less. Before that He was a spiritual Being. This does not mean, however, that He was any less ‘God,’ does it?
.
.

.Can you give me an example of a Morman prayer to God the father through Jesus. Can you pray to the Holy Spirit?

OK, this is the other thing I’m going to address more fully. It is an innocent question that shows a profound misunderstanding of our beliefs and practices. It seems like such a simple request on the surface, but it opens a fundamental divide between us, referring as it does to our concept of the Trinity, of the roles of the Members of the Godhead, of how WE are commanded to pray…it’s simply not a question that someone famliar with us would actually ask!

It’s sort of like asking “Can you give me an example of a typical episode of glossolalia during High Mass?” There is a fundamental disconnect here that causes a problem.

First, we have VERY few ‘set prayers,’ from which I could give you an ‘example.’ Those are the prayers said while the priesthood blesses the bread and water for the sacrament, and perhaps the words said while being baptised MIGHT count, and…

well, yep, that’s pretty much it. We do not recite the “Lord’s Prayer” for instance, as a prayer; we use it as an example of HOW to pray. So the answer to your question is…sorry, we don’t have such an example, and 'all of ‘em.’ We are instructed, when we pray, to begin by addressing our Father in Heaven. We then say what we need to say…for politeness sake we do the ‘thanking’ first…and then we ALWAYS end in the Name of Jesus Christ. And no, we do not pray to the Holy Ghost, nor do we mention Him…but we know that any answer we recieve to our prayers will be from the Holy Ghost…as all confirmation of truth is. All Three are always present in our concept of prayer.

 

[ParkerD]

He thinks I lost the Holy Spirit when I quit Mormonism to become a Catholic. In Mormon belief I am headed to Outer Darkness because I somehow denied the Holy Spirit when I rejected Mormon teachings for Catholicism. Outer Darkness is the only real hell in Mormonism. The best way to avoid hell to a Mormon is to never become a Mormon. I truly regret becoming a Mormon when I was 19 years old. It took me 32 years to find my way out of that cult.

Hi, Catholic20064,
Thanks for writing this post above so I can clarify several points.

First, you do not qualify to “head to Outer Darkness”. Those who qualify for that are those who deny Christ and deny the Holy Spirit when they have full knowledge and have been bathed in the light of the revelation of the Holy Spirit yet turn against it, fight it, and deny its revelatory truth. Even the idea you expressed here shows you did not have enough understanding to have turned against revealed knowledge and started fighting against it.

What I had written, put another way, was that a person does not scorn the Book of Mormon while following the Holy Spirit, and that if they have the Holy Spirit with them while reading the Book of Mormon then they will find that the truths in the Book of Mormon “ring true” (but only if they have the Holy Spirit and not a spirit of scorn.) This does not mean one will necessarily even care to read the Book of Mormon, but if they do decide to read it and do it with fervent desire to understand truths in their life then they will not scorn it.

But as far as your religious choice, that is fine and it leads you exactly to the kinds of rewards you have been promised by your religious leaders for the resurrection you will receive after the spirit world. Outer darkness isn’t in that picture, I don’t think, unless they have told you it is.

 

[lax16]

What I had written, put another way, was that a person does not scorn the Book of Mormon while following the Holy Spirit, and that if they have the Holy Spirit with them while reading the Book of Mormon then they will find that the truths in the Book of Mormon “ring true” (but only if they have the Holy Spirit and not a spirit of scorn.) This does not mean one will necessarily even care to read the Book of Mormon, but if they do decide to read it and do it with fervent desire to understand truths in their life then they will not scorn it.

Parker - There are people like myself (and another person here on CAF that has shared her story) who have read the Book of Mormon (or at least attempted to) and did not have a “spirit of scorn” while reading it. And yet, we still found that it did not “ring true.”

I attempted this 20 years ago and knew absolutely nothing about Mormonism and had no reason to have a “spirt of scorn.” Our friends were LDS and because of my conservative nature, it seemed like a natural fit. So please, do not imply that because a person does not find the BoM to be true that they somehow have a spirt of scorn.

btw - I know practicing Mormons who don’t believe the BoM to be true. What would you say to them?

 

[twopekinguys]

On the contrary, I leave a conversation when I think it would be a waste of my time to continue the conversation, or when I have more important things to do with the limited time that I have. This happens. I am sure mature people can deal with it. They need not be offended one little bit if their particular question doesn’t get answered. For one thing, they can do their own research, of course, which is what most people would expect that one would be doing anyway who comes onto a forum such as this is.

Funny how it always seems to coincide with you not being able to prove your point, or defend something.

 

[ParkerD]

Funny how it always seems to coincide with you not being able to prove your point, or defend something.

Hi, Twopekinguys,
If you have an example in mind (other than the fact that I had described at one point having read a newspaper article and when asked to find the article to support what I wrote, it was not archived so I couldn’t find it and had not saved a copy so I just plain didn’t respond) then you may point out the example.

Have a good day.

 

[twopekinguys]

Hi, Twopekinguys,
If you have an example in mind (other than the fact that I had described at one point having read a newspaper article and when asked to find the article to support what I wrote, it was not archived so I couldn’t find it and had not saved a copy so I just plain didn’t respond) then you may point out the example.

Have a good day.

Here you go.

Look at posts #48, and #63

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=412362&page=5&highlight=take+your+marbles

See a pattern?

 

[ParkerD]

Parker - There are people like myself (and another person here on CAF that has shared her story) who have read the Book of Mormon (or at least attempted to) and did not have a “spirit of scorn” while reading it. And yet, we still found that it did not “ring true.”

I attempted this 20 years ago and knew absolutely nothing about Mormonism and had no reason to have a “spirt of scorn.” Our friends were LDS and because of my conservative nature, it seemed like a natural fit. So please, do not imply that because a person does not find the BoM to be true that they somehow have a spirit of scorn.

btw - I know practicing Mormons who don’t believe the BoM to be true. What would you say to them?

Lax16,
The words “attempted to” don’t coincide with “fervent desire”. “Fervent desire” can lead to weeks or months or years in the doing of the reading, meaning that first glances or cursory looks or casual readings do not equate to “fervent desire”.

What aspect of the Book of Mormon didn’t “ring true” if you indeed read the entire book cover to cover and thought about it and compared with the Biblical knowledge and understanding you brought to the reading of it?

There are many “practicing Mormons” who haven’t read the Book of Mormon, haven’t prayed about it, haven’t read the Bible and compared the two, and perhaps haven’t sought revelatory truths in their personal life, and get along just fine but that doesn’t mean they have the Holy Spirit in their daily personal life and it probably means they at some point are going to meet a road block or a stumbling block that either humbles them or they may weed themselves out of activity or just stay on the fringes of activity in the LDS church. It’s all OK–God is infinitely patient, and His timetable is certainly not ours.

 

[lax16]

Lax16,

What aspect of the Book of Mormon didn’t “ring true” if you indeed read the entire book cover to cover and thought about it and compared with the Biblical knowledge and understanding you brought to the reading of it?

The introduction.

How can a person read a book from cover to cover when they have questions that go unanswered? Let me guess, a person who has questions has a spirt of scorn, right?

Please give the LDS definition of a “spirit of scorn” and would this person be considered anti-Mormon?

 

[ParkerD]

ParkerD,
… If Moses did not appear to Joseph Smith, would there be any other sources regarding Moses having a spiritual transformation?

Lax16,
I am assuming that this is the question you have asked me to address. I assume you mean that Moses has been described as having been “translated” or in other words, “taken up into heaven” as happened to Elijah the Prophet.

They both appeared during a vision Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had in the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836. I assume that at that point they were resurrected and appeared in their resurrected bodies.

But you also are probably aware that Moses and “Elias” appeared to the Savior and to Peter, James and John as described in Matthew 17 as follows:

1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

So Moses in that experience was appearing in his bodily form, although not yet resurrected since Christ had not yet begun the power of resurrection on this earth.

I hope this has helped to answer your question.

 

[lax16]

Parker - Okay, I think I am beginning to understand what you are saying.

So, this is totally an LDS teaching because one would have to believe in the visions of Joseph Smith to understand that God has changed and is not the God who appeared to Moses in Exodus? Or God is the God who appeared to Moses in Exodus but went through a transformation then appeared to Joseph Smith?

Hi Parker - This was also part of the question. thanks!

 

[Catholic20064]

The introduction.

How can a person read a book from cover to cover when they have questions that go unanswered? Let me guess, a person who has questions has a spirt of scorn, right?

Please give the LDS definition of a “spirit of scorn” and would this person be considered anti-Mormon?

Mormons believe that anyone who reads the Book of Mormon with sincerity of heart will come to believe it is true. If you don’t come to believe it is true, you obviously weren’t sincere in your attempt because God’s promise is to everyone. So they would tell you to keep reading until you finally accept it as true. That is why these days the LDS Church emphasizes to its members they read from the Book of Mormon everyday. It’s more important to LDS to read the Book of Mormon than it is for them to read any other scripture. This especially began to be emphasized during the LDS Presidency of Ezra Taft Benson. I am only speculating, but this admonition may have come about because it was becoming obvious through modern scholarship that the Book of Mormon didn’t measure up. It was necessary to inculcate Mormon members with the idea the Book of Mormon was the major key to their faith. God’s approval was, in a special way, upon those who read the Book of Mormon daily and was the only way to keep from losing your faith.