>>17751970
>gates of Hell will not prevail
Gates are a defensive structure, not an offensive one. As long as the church remains on the offensive against hell and evil, the church will prevail. When the church, however, retreats into being assimilated into the world, and is on the defensive against evil influence, no such promise is given. The verse simply does not mean what you want it to mean.
>>17752029
Just as retarded as comparisons to scientology. You're showing your ignorance of both religions
>>17752048
The theory that Joseph Smith plagiarized View of the Hebrews was never advanced during his lifetime. The prevailing theory of the day was the Spalding Theory, which quickly lost credibility upon the discovery of an actual Spalding manuscript in 1884 which bore no resemblance to the Book of Mormon. There are no records which indicate that Joseph Smith came into contact with the View of the Hebrews during the period of time that he was translating the Book of Mormon. No contemporary critic of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon pointed out the supposedly "obvious" connection to the View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon.
It is only with the failure of the Spaulding theory that critics began seeking a new naturalistic explanation for Joseph's production of a 500+ book of scripture.The View of the Hebrews theory was in fact first proposed by I. Woodbridge Riley in 1902, 58 years after the death of the prophet. There was, however, a reference to View of the Hebrews within Joseph Smith's lifetime, but it came from the prophet himself. In an article published in the Times and Seasons on June 1, 1842, Joseph quoted View of the Hebrews in support of the Book of Mormon.