FAQ: MY CHALLENGE TO MORMONS
I know that the Church is true. Your website is full of lies and misconceptions! Practically everything you say there has been disproven.So you have borne your testimony to me. Now, grant me the same courtesy and allow me to bear my testimony to you. I know, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that Joseph Smith was a liar, a fraud, a lecher, and a wicked man who deceived many. The religion he founded is founded on lies. If there is a God, you will someday stand in judgment before him, and he will ask you, "My dear child, couldn't you SEE that? Why didn't you ask more questions? How could you fall for such a scam? Didn't I give you a BRAIN? What do you think it was for?"
Your testimony is based, I presume, on "inspiration" of the "spirit," on a "burning in the bosom," on answered prayers. Like the testimonies of believers of all religions - the same kind of "evidence" that proves to them that their religion is true. You might do well to consider the possibility that you have allowed yourself to be duped by brainwashing and by self-induced hallucinations. Mostly, I presume, by ignoring facts that would show you clearly that you (and your religion) are wrong.
My testimony, however, is based on cold, hard facts. I have summarized those facts in my article To Those Who Are Investigating Mormonism: What The Missionaries Won't Tell You, at http:/packham.n4m.org/tract.htm.
I get a lot of e-mail from Mormons saying more or less what you have said to me. I respond with this challenge, which I also make to you.
I suggest that you point out to me some factual statement I made on my website, and you show me with counterfacts that I'm wrong. Something major. Pick one thing (to keep things from getting too big) that I say in my articles about Mormonism which - if correct - would mean that Mormonism was not what it claims to be, and prove to me that I'm wrong. Not just an "explanation" (like, "we'll know the answer to that when we get to heaven" or "you must simply have faith that it's true" or "God is testing you"), but real facts. And something that - given all the facts - there is only one possible conclusion that can be reached.
I assure you that I am sincere in making this request. I am not a dishonest person. I respect the truth and I hate a lie. If I have said anything about Mormonism that is not true, then I have done so by mistake, not by intention, and I would be grateful for correction. I have, on several occasions, made such corrections when my errors were pointed out to me by Mormons such as yourself. (None of them were anything really major, however).
I find, however, that rarely do Mormons accept my challenge, even though I think it is a reasonable one.