摩門教是真的嗎？

 2019年，社會運動讓我對人生的看法有了一個極度不同的結論。在得知教會有教友支持政府的殘忍無理的打壓，我真的是十分傷心失望，特別是連我的表哥一家人也在網上發表對於年輕人的泯視，真的是十分心痛，又很憤恨，我當時在想，為什麼在神唯一真實的教會裡，竟然會有信徒甘願去埋沒良心去支持邪惡政權？我當然明白他們是打著遵守當地律法的概念來說三道四。說到底，一班年紀已長的教友，正在享受表面社會穩定所帶來的成果，當然是不想毅然放棄既得利益了。

緊隨之後是新冠肺炎在全球蔓延。教會再次讓人失望。Russell M. Nelson決定捐以過百萬計的口罩到中國大陸。我也明白這是一種向政權示好，希望可以向中共表達友好，讓教會可以更加深入大陸發展。也許這只是Nelson的個人想法，整件事不知有沒有真的對教會有沒有幫助，但肯定讓我很反感。也確實是時間吻合，我在Facebook上見到傳道同伴Andrew Morrison所發放出來的文章，顯示了他已離開教會。在對教會極度失望的情況下，我發了個訊息給Morrill，問他有關他分享的來源。從此之後，我便開始閱讀對摩門教背後真相的文章，及巷看有關YouTube channel。

第一個 我認識的網頁是mormonthink。在網站內讀到很多有關教會歷史、經文，以及教儀的問題。之後認識到很多不同的YouTube channel，其中包括Mormon Stories, Nemo, Dan Vogel, Radio Free Mormon等等。我想把這些問題歸納一下。

有幾個問題在看完Mormon stories podcast之後，特別讓我有印像，而且也曾祈禱問神，答案是叫我安心，因衪也見到問題所在。

第一個是多重婚姻Polygamy。在傳教時，傳道部要求我們對於從前多重婚姻的解釋，是由於先驅者們的丈夫或父親在教會早期因西遷而導致身亡，出現了不少孤兒寡婦。為了照顧他們，教會安排了一些已婚的弟兄去照顧。當然，這是對外人的解釋。我們當時被教導事實是主定下的規條，要有部份的聖職兄弟進行多重婚姻，以實行永恒家庭的祝福。但為什麼只有少數，在約瑟斯密身邊的人才會有多重婚姻？是怎樣去決定誰有權享有多重婚姻？又為什麼會出現Polyandry?也就是那些姊妹的丈夫還沒過身，就已被許配給一些在權力圈的兄弟？更甚者是，約瑟斯密為了要迎娶某位姊妹，會將她的丈夫調去遠方做傳道，從而可以納該姊妹為妻。這些記錄在現時的互聯網很方便的年代都一一被人去披露出來。那就是證據確鑿了。

那到底是發生了什麼事呢？我們暫時是沒法去百份百肯定是什麼原因。但也不是完全無法推論。

首先我們必需要了解，所有人都會犯錯，不管是先知、使徒也是一樣。在基督時代，就已經出現了一個猶大，甚至彼得也在基督被行刑前三次不認主，並在之後與使徒保羅對於傳道給外邦人的分歧上出現爭議。種種事情顯示，作為基督的跟從者，不一定就是毫無過失，正所謂「聖人也有錯」。繼續去宣揚領袖必然正確是其中一個讓很多教友離開的原因。領袖也是人，與我們無異。為什麼他們卻可以進化成無罪？教會內也宣揚了Calling and election make sure很多年，就是企圖去讓每位教友都會盲目地相信教會領袖。的確這樣做是可以更有效管理教會。但這又跟獨裁政權有什麼分別呢？

"In today’s world, information is easy to access and share. This can be a great blessing for those seeking to be educated and informed. However, many sources of information are unreliable and do not edify. Some sources seek to promote anger, contention, fear, or baseless conspiracy theories (see 3 Nephi 11:30; Mosiah 2:32). Therefore, it is important that Church members be wise as they seek truth.” (Official Church Handbook)

以上是由教會的手冊中節錄。如果神的教會會有所偏離，出現不是來自神的安排，為什麼神不去馬上消滅這種情況？ 如果神會馬上滅火，那就好像路西弗的建議那樣，所有事物都會跟隨既定的路向行走，對於整個世界並沒有益處。所以當時天父也拒絕了路西弗的建議。歷史一而再，再而三的顯示，神的教會每每都會在不信中衰落。聖經時代如是，摩門經時代也如是。其實，這也是一種考驗，不只是考驗我們要對神忠信，更考驗我們如何去分辨是非。天主教曾經因要維護自身利益而將福音美好的部分刪除，到了近代，摩門教會也在做同樣的事情。畢竟人無完人，當世上的教會要由人去管理，就必然會出現此情況。神也知之甚詳，所以衪沒有馬上出手去毁滅衪的教會，因為今世者十分需要有教會的設立，所以衪仍讓教會屹立。但同時，衪也要對人類公平。衪讓互聯網興起，讓我們可以有更多渠道認識真理，並且學習如何去實踐與運用。如有天衪覺得需要，也許會再復興另一間教會。

根據教會教導，多重婚姻的出現是因為約瑟斯密在翻譯經文時讀到有關古代先知三妻四妾的故事時，特意去求問神有關情況。然後神就著此問題而帶出多重婚姻，及之後的永恒家庭安排。但在此前，神的啟示已清楚告訴我們一夫一妻的誡命，那為什麼仍會有多重婚姻的出現呢？唯一解釋就是多重婚姻根本不是來自神的，是約瑟斯密自已自私的決定。重讀一下教義和聖約132章，及其中的譴責，真的感到愛瑪斯密的悲慘。https://www.ldsdiscussions.com/polygamy

Garden of Eden

Generally speaking, people choose to believe that Adam and Eve have brought us the original sin. This is a paradoxical issue, for which it had troubled me for a long time. Our God was very smart to put this situation on board and it is still the best way to test our faith, I think.

Needless to say, it is easier to believe the original sin than the reality behind. Most people, probably many of them are LDS, believe that our first parent on earth was beguiled by the serpent, failed the test and broke the commandment from the Lord. And, Eve, was the first one that failed from the temptation of the serpent. Therefore, she should be blamed about the original sin. At least, I was taught about that while I was during my elementary school years.

This makes much sense about how Adam and Eve were tempted and given in. The only record that mentions about the Garden of Eden is the Old Testament. This scripture was written and edited by many groups of people without divine authority. Without a doubt, it could not be very accurate. Hence, we should not only blame those people who follow this world belief during the dark ages. These were the people that trying to bring us the truth, as least the partial ones, without any motive on getting gain or being famous. The historical background is also a critical reason for influencing the scholars to edit the Scriptures by that time.  As a result, the Old Testament only mentions how they are tempted and broke the commandment in just several verses. It does not tell much about it. When you get to know more about the truth, you would appreciate more on our modern-day prophet, Prophet Joseph Smith. Or else, we would be still cheating by the false history.

In the Beginning
After Adam and Eve were created, they were put to live in the Garden of Eden, with some certain laws and commandments. In the Book of Genesis, the authors, or those groups of scholars, did not write down much information about that. We just know from the Book of Genesis that God has created the whole earth, and then the last masterpiece was this couple. 

The Partnership System Was Formed

Adam was first being put to this Earth and was put to the Garden of Eden.  He received a project from God about naming all the living creatures in the Garden. According to the Book of Moses, he probably needed to learn to know all the animals and plants. (Moses 3: 19-20) At least, they took quite some times to learn about the Garden while there were no MacBook or IPad to help them.While he was giving the names, he was seemingly found no help from others, while there was actually no others in this Earth. God made Adam asleep and took out his rib for making a partner to him. 

The very first couple was then living in the Garden. We do not know how they spent their time in the Garden.  From verse 19 and 20, we saw that God appointed Adam as the one that manage the animals (living creatures). From this we may assume the patriarchal authority of the house has been granted to our first father in this temporal world. We may also put this as a similitude of a priesthood system. Even now, the father of the family would be ordained as the priesthood leader or adviser of the family.

Here we can find two great principles. The first one is: we cannot work out things by ourselves only. God even uses this principle in the way of bearing testimony. In second Corinthians, we read that “In the mouth of two or three witness shall every word be established.” (2 Corinthians 13: 1) The formation of the leadership of our Church perfectly presents this principle: one president with two counselors in every leadership of the presidency and auxiliary groups. The following scenario is self-explanatory. A bishop received a call that a member from his Ward was injured and went to the hospital due to an accident. During that time, the bishop supposed to catch up a flight in an hour and go to a family reunion. However, as a shepherd of the local church, it was his stewardship to care and strengthen the member. In this critical moment, he decided to call his counselor to go to hospital on behalf of him. This bishop has wisely and thoroughly applied this principle to create a win-win situation.

The second principle is about the metaphor of the rib from Adam. Lots of Christian preach and believe that Eve was literally made from Adam’s rib. It is actually not true, however. This is one of the beautiful expressions ever in the Old Testament. It did not mean literally, but symbolically. It just told the readers that Adam and Eve were very close to each others, as likely as they could be combined to one physical body.  This is a foreshadowing to Adam’s statement: bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh, with the commandment from God, “therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh”.(Genesis 2:24/Moses 3:2)  Since the rib bone was from Adam, being back together is very reasonable and necessary. To use this figurative expression, it states out the real relationship of a married couple should have.

The Forbidden Fruit
Afterwards, God told them not taking the fruit from the tree of knowledge which was located in the middle of the Garden, or else they would die. Obviously, this was a commandment for our first Couple. 

We all know that they finally broke the commandment and ate the forbidden fruit. From that on, our first Couple has been blaming as bringing us the original sin ever since. Fortunately, our God did not let the truth being buried for too many centuries.

What Exactly Happened in the Garden? - Forbidden Fruit Lesson No. 1

We can assume that they spent their time in the Garden to learn about the Garden and God. They could reach Heavenly Father, Son of God and other angels. They might have heard about the Creation, Atonement and Plan of Salvation. Nevertheless, they should not have a very clear picture of the above three items. It is an innocent period. Without fear or joy, worry or content, they were only staying in a beautiful greenhouse, the Garden of Eden., but have limitation to progress.

When staying in the Garden, God gave them two paradoxical requirements, or commandments:

1)    Do not eat the fruit from Tree of Knowledge, or else they would die. (Genesis 2:17 / Moses 3:17)

2)    They are the first pair that came to this earth. They were told to “be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth…” (Genesis 1:28 / Moses 2:28) But, not until they were cast out from the Garden, they could not bear any children. (Moses 5:11) This is about the physical condition before and after the Fall of our first couple. Before they partook the forbidden fruit, the body was staying in the terrestrial condition, for which Eve could not give born of child.

During the time in the Garden, they could not bear any child. To follow No. 2 commandment, they needed to do something to change the physical status. The only way was to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Nevertheless, God has told them not taking it, No. 1 commandment. Therefore, it is impossible for them to follow both requirements at the same time. Either you stay away from the fruit from the tree of knowledge, or you take it.

At that moment, they should not have such knowledge on how paradoxical the two commandments were. They needed someone to hint them. God and His angels should be the appropriated ones. Why they did not do it? Think about if your boss asks you to do something, it is not your decision but just follow the order. That could take out of a chance for you to learn and experience on how to choose. God did not want to manipulate the first couple, but wanted them to keep their agency.  Lesson number one is to learn how to choose.

Forbidden Fruit Lesson No. 2
The other main character in the Garden is Satan. The serpent only knew the No. 1 commandment from God. Being rebellious and therefore wanted to oppose and destroy every thing from God, Satan did not miss out this opportunity to tempt the first couple.

What Satan could see was, if he could deceive them to eat the fruit, that would be a way to break the commandment. When he would put all his effort to stop, or even slow down, any plan from God, he would not miss out the chance. However, since he only knew the great plan from one side, he was actually part of God’s plan. Hatred made Satan running out the wisdom, and even the understanding heart.

Here, it seemed that God has given a paradoxical set of commandments. From other point of view, however, this is just a big commandment with another bigger one. There is no win-win situation, you need to pick up either one. God was using His wisdom, love and patience to start up this plan. He grants everyone a free agency, meaning we all can choose what to do. He used this principle in the situation in the Garden of Eden as well. He let the first couple to choose. In fact, He could hide out the tree, or even not plant it there. As part of His plan, He put the tree in the middle of the Garden, which was, Adam and Eve could see it easily. He wanted the first couple to make the decision themselves. Yes, they could not eat the fruit, because it would make them from immortality to mortality. And, that’s it! In order to follow the bigger commandment, they must sacrifice the immortality.

When the serpent lied to Eve that she would not die by taking the fruit, Eve did not attend to it. What she thought was, “……the tree was good for food, and that is became pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make her wise…”(Moses 4:12, italic added) Interestingly, in the dream from Lehi, he expressed the similar emotion of joy after taken the fruit. (1 Nephi 8:12) Now, Eve saw that the fruit could make her wise, which could, let her understand and experience the contrast of everything, emotionally and knowledgeably. Could we say this is a human nature to learn and experience new thing? I guess we could. Remember the first couple could not taste good or bad feeling by that time. When the serpent approached Eve, she saw the opportunity to learn and experience. She might somehow know that she needed to change the physical state in order to be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth. Eve, in such situation, made the decision. She stepped out of her comfort zone and chose to transgress the big commandment, in order to follow the bigger one.

Adam knew that he could not be parted from Eve, for they should cleave together. Therefore, he chose to follow her and took the fruit.

What if the serpent did not beguile Eve to take the fruit? Sooner or later, Adam and Eve would understand the importance of the bigger commandment and do what they need to do. And, God knew that Satan could not hold and constrain himself for not doing it. While Satan wanted to destroy the plan of Salvation, he has actually helped to make it move.

From the experience in the Garden of Eden, we learn that God somehow would give us two or more commandments (orders or requests) that seem like against each other. Nonetheless, we only need to prioritize the importance of them.

Without Adam and Eve, we might be still in the status without physical bodies. They have sacrificed much that to get the Plan of Salvation coming along. We should not blame them for the original sin, for there is no such thing. We have to appreciate them and learn from their courageous, determination and obedience.s

God has shown His wisdom in the Garden of Eden. We now have only learned some elementary information about Kingdom's mystery. Hopefully, when we are ready, He will show us His wisdom and mystery bit by bit more.  

Life is just one part of the Eternity

Upset, sad, grief and sorrow, etc. were the feeling that my family and I felt in these few days.  Mother could not get to the lunar new year of Dragon and passed away in the mid-night on Jan 22, 2012. I got a call from my sister after she found mother was fell off in the bathroom. In this phone call, I heard my sister's voice was trembling and full of fear. I tried hard to calm myself down while heard it. I got myself ready and went to the hospital with Sissy. When I had got there, I saw my sister was crying. She could not help herself but bursted out to tears. At that moment, I knew that there would be a bad news. My feeling was, unfortunately, quite right.

It was a wonderful night, mother, my sister and one of my aunts moved to their new house and had a home-warming and gathering dinner. Most of the family, except my cousin, his girl friend and my wife, showed up in the new house. We had an enjoyable night and thought we might have a good start for the year of dragon. After 11pm, everyone had left, mother went to the bathroom as she might want to clean up herself before going to sleep. Since she always stayed in the bathroom for while at night, my sister and aunt did not notice her staying too long. Until about an hour later, they found it strange and tried to knock the door. When they knocked down the door, mother was found laying on the toilet seat with unconscious.

My mother's life was ended in such a short notice. We all were not ready for the tragedy. This Chinese New Year, our houses were clouded with upset and grief.

This tragedy reminded me my father's passing away 22 years ago.  My father was in and out the hospital during his last few years. Usually, it was the times that my mother and I were not around when my dad was sent to the hospital. The last time he was sent to the hospital was the malfunctioning of his heart. His staying at the hospital was during the famous "June 4" campaign. Most of the doctors and nurses were joining the protesting gathering and very few of the staff were staying in the hospital. One day, my father was found coma and falling off on the ground in the bathroom. The doctor said he might have experienced an extreme heart attack and could not stand it.

After a couple weeks of my mother's tragedy, her funeral service was set in Kowloon Funeral, the one that couple blocks from our Tai Kok Tsui home. Before the service, I was so tense because of worrying others' comments on the funeral, some tricky things happened during the funeral and stuff like that. Fortunately, the whole service was done with peace.

I am still trying to cope with the loss of mother. I am doing pretty good!

A letter to my friend whose in the mission field

(I haven't asked my friend about posting the letter out, therefore, I put down all the names, except mine, to anonymous.)

Dear Elder XXX,

Hello, how are you doing in your mission? Sorry that I have not sent you any words after you have gone for your mission. Actually, I have been going through some tough times since this spring. Luckily, I am going out of the tough loop and getting way much better now.

Anyway, Brother YYY told us that you were having a hard time and depressed in the mission. I hope everything is better right now.

In the issue of Aug 2011, the Church magazine "Ensign" has a wonderful article named "Taking His Name Upon Me". Here is the quote from the article: "A few weeks into my mission, I began to feel lonely and a bit homesick. I loved being a missionary, but the work was much harder than I had anticipated. I missed my friends, my family, and all the familiar things I'd left back home. During my personal study one morning........As I looked at my name tag, I noticed that although my first name was absent from the tag, I saw my family name, the name of the Church, and the name of the Savior printed on it. Suddenly I recognized something that changed both my outlook and my attitude. I realized that as a missionary I wasn't there to represent myself. Instead I was serving to represent my family back home and, most important, I was representing my Savior and His Church." When I have read this part of the article, I thought about you, and my own mission experience.

On my first several months of the mission, before my mission trainer went home, we had a great man from Mainland China which was in our investigator list. He was a doctor and an atheist back in the Mainland. It was his first time that hearing about Jesus Christ.  I could tell during our lessons that he really wanted to believe and be converted. However, since the Gospel and the message about prayer were way too different from what he has learned, he could not just take it and claim he believed. My trainer and I were very frustrated on doing so, we could only prayed for his acceptance to the Gospel. Although he did not believe completely, he still let us went to his place and took the lesson. Finally, we got through until the last session. We planned to commit him again to get baptized and shared the last session. His friend was supposed to drive us there as he had been doing it ever since we started the lesson.  However, a couple hours before our lesson started, he friend suddenly called and told us that his car was broken while on the way to our apartment. So, now was the time for us to figure out how to get there by taking bus, subway or even ferry. (BTW, he was living in an island.) We never took any public transportation to get to his house. Plus, we did not know the exact address of it. According to some unclear memories, we tried everything we could to ask the people on the street and even the bus driver about that investigator's neighborhood. Finally, we used almost 3 hours to get to the house, for which it took us triple times more than usual. My trainer told me that accidents always happened when the investigators were going to accept the baptism. He told me that satan would try everything he could to prohibit anyone to get into the Kingdom of God. After we had arrived, we had a wonderful and spiritual lesson with the investigator. He was committed to get baptized at last. I have learned so much through this experience. I am so glad that I learned it when I was still a junior missionary. This experience has strengthened my faith and testimony.  If we gave up, or set up the other time to go, we might miss the time to commit the investigator. Moreover, we might not learn to rely on our God in Heaven.

I know that you have gained so much spiritual experience while you are out there. Remember, ".....with an eye single to the glory to the God.......", then you would understand more why you are out there. You are not doing anything for yourself, but our Father in Heaven and our Lord who is the only Begotten.

You have gone to the path so far and don't give up!!! Stay closed to the Lord. Stay focused to your work. Stay patient to your investigators, members and companions. You can do it, I know that!!!!

Take good care!!!!!!

With love,
Thomas

"This is my work and my glory!"

Moses 1





This year, we are going to learn Old Testament in Sunday School. Old Testament has the most complicated and resourceful material, comparing with the other Standard Works. We, as well as all other Christians, always pay little attention on this collection because of the complication and difficulty to understand. After the first lesson, I learned so much from the Sunday School teacher last Sunday.



Moses wrote down his experience when seeing and talking to Jehovah, our Creator. This record was probably written before he took the Israelites and separated the Red Sea. During the passage, God had shown Himself unto Moses and taught him many things. The first thing when Jehovah saw Moses was confirmed his royal identity. In Chapter One, God said, ".....thou art my son....."; "....and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior...."; "....this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son......" After He has told Moses His identity, He confirmed that Moses was actually a noble man, who was from the lineage of God. From studying the youth development, some scholars hypothesised that we would doubt about our identity during the adolescent years. If we do not handle it well, we may have troubles after grown up. This is called "Identity Crisis". If we all know and understand that we are actually from the lineage of God, will we still have that kind of crisis? God was strengthening Moses by baring a testimony of his Identity, so that Moses would have faith and courages to do whatever he was told by God. We all know that the task of bringing Israelites out of Egypt was not an easy and comfortable one. That was why Moses needed to be pumped up before he did it.



Moses saw many great things, including the worlds' creation and all the people that were ever created. It is certainly an eye-opened experience. If I were him, my jaw would be fallen and I could not pick it back up.

替代教儀 (為先人施洗)

在普遍基督教派中，均相信人在過世後，便沒有機會再接受洗禮。當這些基督徒們知道耶穌基督後期聖徒教會有如此教儀時，便一口咬定這教會為異端邪教。首先，我先引述我們一位總會七十員Elder G. Todd Christopherson的解釋：

基督教神學專家長久以來均在爭論一個問題，就是那些沒有認識到有關基督的福音便死去了的人，他們的命運會如何呢？對於這些人，在基督教裏是有數個意見，例如：由莫明奇妙地否決了被救贖的可能，到在離世一刻有天上使者在其夢中救贖了那些不論相信基督與否的人等等。有一些卻相信那靈魂在死後聽到有關基督的事情，便被救贖了。沒有一個可以解釋到如何能做到基督所說過的人必須從水和靈而生，才能進入天國的要求。（約翰福音3章3至5節）在沒有了最早期教會的知識之下，這些真誠的求知者唯有被迫在沒有接受洗禮之下仍可進入天國，及一位殘暴的神會懲罰無知的人兩者中選其一。 

藉着基督復興了的福音，我們可以知道如何神救贖那些沒有接受過洗禮的先人們及神是如何完美、公正和仁慈。 

當基督還在世時，祂曾預言祂會向死了的人傳福音(約翰福音5章25節)。彼得告訴我們祂是在死去後及復活前完成的。(彼得前書3章18至19節)　但是，有些人卻誤會並假設那些靈是在不知情之下被洗進了摩門教；又或者是那些其他教會的教友可以被加諸摩門教派在其身上。他們以為我們不知怎地擁有了力量去強行使那些靈魂去相信。當然，我們並沒有以上各種力量。神已在最初時付予了我們自由選擇權。”那些已侮改，並已接受了神國的教儀的人是會被救贖的。＂但是那些人必須願意去接受教儀才會生效。後期堅徒教會不會把他們也列入教友名冊中。 

我們對於救贖死者的焦慮，及我們在遵守這個承諾時所付出的一切時間和資源，就顯現我們對耶穌基督的見證。這個教儀就正是對基督的神聖特質及使命的一個有力的說明。這教儀目證了，第一，基督的復活；第二，祂無盡的救贖；第三，祂是救恩的唯一來源；第四，祂建立了救恩的條件；第五，祂會再來到這世上。 

John A. Tvedtnes, 一位近代後期聖徒學者指出有一些早期基督教會教友及猶太團體都曾經進行過為死人替代教儀： 

保羅在他寫給哥林多人的書信中，曾指出早期門徒曾進行活人替代死人接受洗禮教儀，這教儀象徵了將來的復活及審判。大多數的非後期聖徒學者都沒有注意到這章節。有些學者覺得這是一種原本教會的過時習慣；有些則相信這節是有關判教及異端的教儀。但這一段在歷史的記載是十分清晰。早期教會一直也有執行為先人洗禮。直到公元397 年，被迦太基會議中的第六本正典所否決了。但仍有一些規模比較小的宗派依然奉行，例如在四世紀時的馬吉安派(Marcionites)，Epiphanius曾寫道：「在這個國家(我意思是指亞洲)及加拉太，它們的學校都曾明顯地將那傳統伸延到我們這裡，那傳統就是他們會替還沒有接受洗禮仁，但又已過世的人們，找一些在生的人代替那些先人接受洗禮。他們這樣做是怕那些沒有接受洗禮而過世的人會在復活中受到懲罰。 

在早期的猶太教中，也有同樣的替代教儀在執行。在公元前163年，Marisa之役之後，那些戰死沙場的猶太士兵被放了一些異教的神像在他們的衣服裏。為了能救贖這班士兵，一位猶太大祭司及軍隊指揮官Judas Maccabaeus向生還者收集了一些金錢，然後買了一些動物去為他那些已去世的同袍獻祭。當那指揮官收集了那些銀圓之後，他便將錢幣送到耶路撒冷來做贖罪祭。在這裏，我們可以看到他是很在意那復活的事宜。若他不相信死後會復活，那他所做的贖罪祭及為已死去的同袍祈禱便會是多餘了。另外，他也覺得死在神的懷抱中是十分之神聖及是一種好的思想。因此，他為了那些死去的同袍做了贖罪儀式，好使他們可以脫罪。{參考麥卡比後書12章43至46節(旁經)}

一個經常會被人挑戰的問題-多重婚姻

多重婚姻 (一 夫多妻)

很多人都對教會有一個很大的攻擊，那便是他們覺得教會於成立初期奉行一夫多妻制是一個非神所吩咐的行為。於是，他們便以之為邪教的證據。由於大部份人均沒有認真地研究及追查事實真相，所以造成了不少誤會。其實只要他們好好地研究一下，便會知道真正的端倪。

首先，一夫多妻是神所頒布的。祂是允許的。只要是合乎要求，這是符合神的律法。有那些要求及條件讓一夫多妻成為合乎神的意向呢？

１）決定權不在於自己，而是在於神。

在撒母耳記下12章8節：

我 將 你 主 人 的 家 業 賜 給 你 、 將 你 主 人 的 妻 交 在 你 懷 裡 、 又 將 以 色 列 和 猶 大 家 賜 給 你 ． 你 若 還 以 為 不 足 、 我 早 就 加 倍 的 賜 給 你 。

請留意，中文版的‘主人的妻’，在英文版中是‘thy master’s wives’即多於一個妻子。即表示神已給予大衛很多妻妾。

２）那些妻妾不會將你帶離神。

在列王記上11章3至4節：

所 羅 門 有 妃 七 百 、 都 是 公 主 ． 還 有 嬪 三 百 ． 這 些 妃 嬪 誘 惑 他 的 心 。所 羅 門 年 老 的 時 候 、 他 的 妃 嬪 誘 惑 他 的 心 、 去 隨 從 別 神 、 不 效 法 他 父 親 大 衛 、 誠 誠 實 實 的 順 服 耶 和 華 他 的 　 神 。

３）不娶過量的妻妾。

在摩門經的雅各書2章24節，神說大衛及所羅門王所娶的那麼多妻妾是在神眼中所感到邪惡的。 

大眾對於真正多妻律法的反對是源於神對於大衛及所羅門王所作的憎行的責罵而成。在申命記中，神說：「他也不可為自己多立妃嬪、恐怕他的心偏邪…..」 

對於這兩位歷史人物，他們被定罪的原因並不是如坊間那樣一般。

大衛王：

在撒姆爾記下11章1至11節裏，大衛的罪行是由於他在看見烏利亞的妻子拔示巴之後，他竟然將烏利亞殺掉，然後將他的妻子據為己有。在27節中寫道‘大衛所作這事、耶和華甚不喜悅。’

然後，在12章7至10節，先知拿單道出，若大衛會奉公守法，他是可以被加倍祝福擁有更多的妻妾、財寶及權柄。可是，他卻去犯了殺人及佔有他人妻子兩大誡命，所以神十分憤怒。

所羅門王：

他的問題也不是娶多過一位妻子，而是他的妻子中，有很多不同國籍的女子。這些女子都有一個共同點：會把所羅門王帶離神。但從頭到尾，經文上都沒有任何一句說話是有關所羅門有很多妻妾是種罪。

其實，在經文中，有些先知及義人都曾經有過不只一位太太。但是神都沒有因此而怪責他們。像亞伯拉罕，他有撒萊、夏甲、基土拉及一些妾士。而雅各有利亞、拉結、辟拉及悉帕。摩西有西坡拉及一位埃塞俄比亞女人(但可能這兩位女士是同一位人物)。

後記

在申命記中，有一節是談論到有關多於一個妻子的誡律。在21章15節中：「人若有二妻、一為所愛、一為所惡、所愛的所惡的、都給他生了兒子、但長子是所惡之妻生的。」若果神是對一夫多妻有所責難，便不應有以上這條誡命了。再有一段在出埃及記21章10節中，「若另娶一個，那女子的喫食、衣服、並好合的事，仍不可減少。」如果是違誡，為何還會有以上的律法呢？

在以上的一些經文中，我們讀到有關神厭惡所羅門王娶很多女子的章節，但我們應該要明白到，神所厭惡的原因是因為所羅門王在沒有神的允許情況下，自己去娶了不少他國(也可能有些是以色列國的)的女子。影響深遠是他因此而開始不再祟拜耶和華，及神已經給了他不少妻妾之下，他還要私自討來不少妻妾，其所不容也。