“Why would I want to read a book
that is 2000 years old?” I was asked this question by a high schooler in a
discussion about a book by Anton LaVey. That book was the Satanic Bible. He said that he thought the Satanic Bible made more sense than the Bible, which was written over 2000 years ago. The idea here is that a book
written over two thousand years ago would not be trustworthy because it is so
old. Not only would this be an issue of absolute
truths (whether they exist or not), but also that more modern writings are supposedly
more trustworthy. If absolute truths do not exist, then we can literally know
nothing. If they do exist, then time would have no effect on such things.
Islam, for instance, came 600
years after Christ. Why should we trust what it says about Jesus? Let’s first
look at a few examples of what the Quran says about Jesus.
Surely the likeness of Isa [Jesus]
is with Allah as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him,
Be, and he was (Sura 3:59).
This is saying that Jesus is a
created being, much like what Jehovah’sWitnesses teach. The problem with this is that the first several verses
in the Gospel of John teach something else:
In the beginning was the Word and
the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through
Him all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made (John
1:1-3).
This causes us to rationalize that
if Jesus was there before the beginning, and everything was made through Him,
and there was nothing made at all unless it was made through Him, then He must
not be a created being, but He must be the creator of the universe, according
to the Bible. This is in direct contradiction with the Quran.
Speaking of contradictions and
absolute truths, both of these citations above cannot be correct. Either Jesus
was created or He was not created. Why would we have any reason to believe that
Jesus was not created? I think His miracles attest to who He claimed to be: “I
and the Father are one” (John 10:30). People wanted to kill Him for blasphemy
because He said this. Now why would we think this phrase means anything
differently today? There is no reason to think that Jesus meant something else,
because of the reaction of those who opposed Him. Jehovah’s Witnesses often
make the claim that He never meant to be worshiped, but seriously, it seems
inevitable if He was who He says He was. In any event, we have very strong evidences
to believe that John’s testimony about Him is in fact true, absolutely.
Another example that I think
shines like a sore thumb in the Quran is Sura 4:157-158:
And their saying: Surely we have
killed the Messiah, Isa [Jesus] son of Marium [Mary], the messenger of Allah;
and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so
(like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about
it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and
they killed him not for sure. Nay! Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is
Mighty, Wise.
Let’s look at what Paul says in 1
Corinthians 15:3-8 for a moment:
For I delivered to you as of first
importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance
with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in
accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the
twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most
of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to
James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he
appeared also to me.
Again, this is much the opposite
of what the Quran teaches. Either Jesus was killed, or He wasn’t. Don’t you
think the people who saw Him bleed out (see John 19:34) and those who wrapped
His dead body full of spices and buried Him (see John 19:38-42) would know if
He were dead or not? It seems ridiculous to even question such a thing.
So Islam came 600 years after
Jesus. Shouldn’t we trust documents written closest to the source? Closest to
the original?
Similarly, Mormonism was founded long after Jesus’ time on earth, but
still has much to say about Him. Mormonism came 1900 years after Christ, and
the sacred scripture to Mormonism is the Book of Mormon. Why should we trust
what it said about Christ? The answer is that we shouldn’t. For one, it also directly
contradicts things written about Jesus that are found in the Bible, and
secondly, it was written nearly two millennia after Jesus time on earth.
The message that the Book of
Mormon teaches can be summed up in 2 Nephi 25:23:
For we know that it is by grace
that we are saved, after all you can do.
This is very different from what
the Bible teaches. Consider the partial plagiarism that Joseph Smith is guilty
of from Ephesians 2:8-9:
For we know that it is by grace we
are saved, through faith, and this, not of ourselves. It is the gift of God,
not by works, so that no one may boast.
The two different messages clearly
displayed here are that either our works help save us, or they do not. Again,
this is like saying that a woman is both pregnant and not pregnant at the same
time. Both cannot be true. Should
we go by what some random dude in the 19th Century says about the
message Jesus gave us, or should we reach as close to the source as possible?
Joseph Smith, the author of the Book of Mormon, also says
this about the book he authored with frequent plagiarized citations:
I told the brethren that the Book
of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our
religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by
any other book (History of the Church, 4:461).
The most correct book of any on
earth! Wow! Not having read all of the books that were ever printed on Planet
Earth since the invention of books, myself, that seems like an enormous claim. It
would be like me saying that this article is the most correct article on earth.
I’m certain there will be a few raised eyebrows at this point, for good reason.
It is simply a ridiculous claim. If the Book of Mormon is superiorly correct,
why is it so filled with logical fallacies, plagiarism, and opposition to the
Bible? Joseph Smith claims that God translated the Book of Mormon for him
through a stone that he gazed at while it was in his hat. Why would the plates
that he found be necessary at all if he didn’t even use them to translate the
Book of Mormon, and why was the book translated into a language that was no
longer spoken at the time of the translation?
Shouldn’t we want to know what
happened closest to the source? Would we trust documents that were written
about the events of 9/11 2000 years after it happened or would the nearest testimonies
surrounding the event be more accurate?
The closer we are to the source
allows less time for embellishment. The closer materials we have to the actual
event is going to be closer to what actually happened. This is why the
Christian community gets so excited when an even older manuscript is discovered
in the archives of the world’s greatest museums. They never disagree with the
doctrines of Christianity!
Police know this tactic of sources
all too well. This is why they separate their witnesses when interviewing at
the scene of the crime. If the witness can talk with each other before they are
interviewed, then they can change their story. Partial differences are
naturally occurring, but there is never a question as to what really happened. Much
like the gospels. They have very minor discrepancies, but they all make
absolute claims that Jesus died and rose again. They do not budge on the
doctrines.
Anton LaVey died the year I
graduated high school. Class of ’97. He died in my lifetime. When someone reads
this a thousand years from now, they will look at this and trust this source
because I, the author was alive at the time of the event. Whatever legend or
misinformation someone makes about the author or his book in the future, depending on the subject matter, the
source could shut it down. That which is closest to the source is more
trustworthy than that which is further away from the source. Just go straight
to the horse’s mouth. There is a reason this idiom is so popular.
For more, see my book on Mormonism: 
Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus
© Nace Howell, 2018
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