The Mormon Contradiction—Were Truths Lost or Never There?

There is a contradiction at the core of Mormon theology—one that cuts to the heart of the Latter-day Saint (LDS) claim to be the “restored” church of Jesus Christ. According to the Book of Mormon, “many plain and precious things” were removed from the Bible after it was compiled (1 Nephi 13:28). Yet, in the same breath, Mormon prophets and apostles have taught doctrines that were never in the Bible to begin with—doctrines like eternal marriage, men becoming gods, and temple ordinances requiring secret handshakes and ritual garments.

So which is it?

Was the Bible originally complete but later corrupted? Or did God withhold vital saving truths until the 1820s when He revealed them to Joseph Smith—a farm boy with a reputation for digging for treasure and defrauding neighbors (see Vogel, Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet)?

These two claims cannot both be true.

If the Bible once contained these “plain and precious” truths, there should be some manuscript or historical evidence of their existence before Joseph Smith. Yet, there is none. Not one fragment of ancient Christian or Jewish literature ever mentions God once being a man, humans becoming gods, or the need for secret signs to enter the afterlife. These ideas are completely foreign to both Old Testament Judaism and New Testament Christianity. They were introduced—not restored—by Joseph Smith.

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear” (Matthew 24:35, NLT). That is a divine promise. If Christ’s words are eternal, the idea that they were lost for nearly two millennia until 1830 is a direct denial of His authority and trustworthiness. The apostle Peter writes that God’s divine power “has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him” (2 Peter 1:3, NLT). Nothing about hidden truths or extra-scriptural revelations.

The Mormon story collapses under the weight of its own logic. Either the Bible was sufficient and preserved as Jesus promised, or it wasn’t. Either the “truths” restored by Joseph Smith were once part of Christianity and later removed, or they were never part of Christianity at all. If they were never part of Christianity, then Mormonism cannot be a restoration—it is an invention.

The gospel is not up for revision every time someone claims a new vision. The apostle Paul warned, “If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed” (Galatians 1:9, NLT). And John said, “Do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God” (1 John 4:1, NLT).

Joseph Smith fails that test. His doctrines contradict the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. The Book of Mormon contradicts the very Bible it pretends to support. The LDS Church preaches another gospel entirely. And the notion that God waited 1,800 years to reveal His “full truth” to a man accused of fraud, polygamy, and false prophecy is not just implausible—it’s spiritually dangerous.

Christianity stands on the finished work of Jesus Christ and the Word of God that endures forever. Mormonism stands on shifting sand, built on contradictions and claims that cannot bear scrutiny. You cannot restore what was never lost. And you cannot rewrite the gospel without incurring the judgment of the God who gave it.


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Works Cited:

The Book of Mormon. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981.

The Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers, 2015.

Vogel, Dan. Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet. Signature Books, 2004.

Doctrine and Covenants. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981.

Smith, Joseph. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, Deseret Book, 1976.


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