Questions for Mormons

by Matt Slick

If the principle of "progression" is eternally true, why is it that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not gods of their own worlds?
If it is necessary to have a body in order to become a God, then how did the Holy Spirit, who does not have a body, attain the status of godhood?
If the book of Mormon is the most correct book of any on earth and contains the fullness of the gospel, then why does it not contain the essential Mormon doctrines of eternal progression, the priesthoods, the plurality of gods, that God is an exalted man, and the 3 degrees of glory?
If the book of Mormon was transmitted to us by the power of God, why does it have thousands of changes in it?
Why does the book of Mormon say that black skin is not "enticing" to God's people in 2 Nephi 5:21? “And he had caused the acursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.”
Why does the Mormon Church still claim the book of Abraham is inspired Scripture, when it has been demonstrated that it is not that, but is instead an Egyptian burial papyrus?
How could the Garden of Eden be in Missouri (according to Mormonism) when the Pearl of great Price 3:10-14 tells us it was the area of Assyria when it mentions the rivers of Eden located there?
Mormonism teaches an infinite regression of Gods, but an infinite regression of gods means that there is no first god by which his subjects were exalted to godhood. If there is no first God, how can there be a second and a third, and thus the Mormon doctrine of eternal progression?
If Elohim (which is God the Father in Mormonism) was once a man, then he changed from being a man to becoming God. How is this possible when the Bible says in Psalm 90:2, that God is God from everlasting to everlasting?
Joseph Smith said he saw God the father (and Jesus) in the first vision in 1820. Smith said he received the priesthood in 1829. In the Doctrine and Covenants 84:21-22 Smith said that you cannot see the face of God and live without the authority of the priesthood. How did Joseph Smith see God when he didn't have the priesthood?
How did Joseph Smith carry home the Golden plates when the weight of the plates, if they had been pure gold, would have been over 200 pounds?
Some later Mormon apologists are theorizing that the Golden Plates were not pure gold, but an alloy weighing as little as 50 pounds. There is no mention by Joseph Smith receiving any supernatural help carrying the plates. How is it possible for Smith to run with 50 pounds of metal plates under his arm, for three miles, while being pursued and attacked three times?
In Mormonism, the father is called Elohim and Jesus is called Jehovah. But in 1 Kings 8:60 it says that “The Lord is God.” Literally in the Hebrew it is “Jehovah is Elohim.” How do you explain this passage that says Jehovah is Elohim?
In Mormonism, God and his wife are exalted beings from another world. We know that life forms from another planet are called aliens. Therefore, isn't it true that Mormons worship an alien from another world who they call their god?
Brigham Young, the second prophet of the Mormon Church, said that the birth of Jesus was "the result of natural action" (Journal of discourses, volume 8, page 115). He also said, "When the time came that His first-born, the Saviour, should come into the world and take a tabernacle, the Father came Himself and favoured that spirit with a tabernacle instead of letting any other man do it," (Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, p. 218). In light of this, how was Jesus born of the Virgin Mary?
In light of the previous question and Mormon doctrine saying that we are all literally the children of God, then wasn’t Brigham Young teaching that God had relations with his spirit daughter?
According to Mormonism, Jesus was the one being married to Mary and Martha at the wedding of Cana in John 2. If this is so, then why was Jesus invited to his own wedding?
If the book of Mormon is true, why have both National Geographic and the Smithsonian Institute rejected it as being archaeologically reliable?
Why is it that there have been no archaeological discoveries at all that demonstrate what Joseph Smith said is "reformed Egyptian?"
Why does the book of Mormon contain the word "church" in 1 Nephi 14:3, 9, 10, 12 which was set around 600 BC, yet the word church was not used until the time of Jesus (Matt. 16:18)?
Why is the French word "adieu" in the book of Mormon in Jacob 7:27?
Why should I become a Mormon if when I die, I go to the middle level of heaven when that is where most Mormons will go anyway?