Berlin chronologist
Dr. Eduard Meyer
doubted Moses
Part Three:
Meyer described Mormons
as “Mohammedans of America”
“It is
possible without the slightest exaggeration to designate the Mormons both in
their public activities and in their thought forms as the Mohammedans of
America.
Eduard Meyer
At: https://sites.lib.byu.edu/nibley/1900/01/01/eduard-meyers-comparison-of-mohammed-joseph-smith/
we
read about:
Eduard
Meyer’s Comparison of Mohammed & Joseph Smith
January
1, 1900 by
Ben Crowder • Book of Mormon, God, Islam, Joseph Smith Jr., Mohammed, Mormon(s), Mormonism, Qur'an, revealed religion, revelation(s), Three Witnesses
G-2
Report No. 4
In this
report we follow Eduard Meyer’s Ursprung
und Geschichte der Mormonen. (1912) Why?
Eduard
Meyer (1855-1930): “His Geschichte
des Altertums is considered to be the last word in
modern historiography and the most perfectly documented and soundly reasoned
resumé of what is actually known about the peoples of antiquity.” (Enciclopedia Ilustrada).
“Possessing a perfect knowledge of the Classic World, both Greek and Roman,
master of the languages of Hebrew and Egyptian) … he had the qualities
necessary for the undertaking … The project was not original, but never before
(or since) had it been undertaken by anyone with a comparable
preparation.” (Enciclopedia
Italiana). “He had a special preference for the History of
Religion which never left him, from his Dissertation (at the age of twenty) to
the great work of his old age, The
Origin and Beginnings of Christianity.”
(Brockhaus)
The
great Classical scholar, Prof. W. Jaeger, says Meyer’s lectures were only
interesting when he spoke about the Mormons. Only then, according to
Jaeger, was the lecture-hall packed.
p.
1. “Among the religious innovations of our time, Mormonism
excited my interest at an early age, before all else because of the surprising
analogy extending even to the smallest details, between it and the fundamental
drives, external forms, and historical development of Islam: here one might
hope to discover significant clues for a proper understanding of Mohammed and
his religion. But no less in its own right is Mormonism one of the most
instructive phenomena in the whole area of Religious History; and it is most
remarkable (though not without many parallels in every area in the most remote,
inaccessible, all but incomprehensible religions of the past, have kept
themselves strictly aloof from Mormonism and disdained the rich instruction it
has to offer …”
67.
“It is possible without the slightest exaggeration to designate the Mormons
both in their public activities and in their thought forms as the Mohammedans
of America. Hence, there
is hardly another historical parallel as instructive as this one …
It is impossible to
undertake the scholarly investigation of the one without a closer acquaintance
with the other. The parallels between Joseph Smith and Mohammed was often
pointed out by the contemporaries of the prophet of the Mormons and it is
indeed so striking, that it can hardly be overlooked … It is directly apparent
in the fundamental idea in which the appearance of either prophet is rooted,
and accordingly runs through the whole activity and achievement of both.”
NOT just another church:
2.
“The uniqueness of Mormonism is … that it is NOT just another of countless
sects, but a new revealed religion …. We can study its origin and history from
an exceptionally rich contemporary store of documents both by its members and
their enemies … What in the study of other revealed religions can only be surmised
after painful research is here directly accessible in reliable witnesses.
Hence, the
origin and history of Mormonism possesses great and unusual value for the
student of Religious history …”
50.
The common claim that Joseph Smith borrowed from the sects around him will not
hold up: “The agreements – literal interpretation of the Bible, nearness of the
Millennium, baptism by immersion and the rejection of infant baptism – do not
go beyond the scope of things
which anybody can take directly from the Bible, and are
hence frequently met with among the sectarians, for example, the Baptists.”
32.
“It is a basic teaching of Protestantism that the times of miracles and
revelations are past … In Joseph Smith’s revelations there is no sign of conscious
deception or
of outside influence.”
49.
“But the
Book of Mormon is nothing but religion; remove
the religious parts of it, and the whole book collapses. The very
skeleton of the narrative is full of religious tendencies and associations … In
other words: if we remove from it what certainly comes from Joseph Smith, as
good as nothing remains.”
Joseph Smith, a clue to all the
Prophets:
11.
“To say he was simply a swindler no more explains J.S. than it explains Amos or
Isaiah or Mohammed or Jeanne d’ Arc … At all times J.S. has the same complete
ascendency over his followers [including Sidney Rigdon] that Mohammed had over
Abu Bekr and Omar; none of them ever expressed the slightest doubt of his
inspiration, let alone laying bare any purported deception, even though many of
them fell out with him and were put out of the Church.”
53.
“Never has a seer or prophet described in such a lucid manner (as in D&C 9)
what goes on in his consciousness (Innera),
as it is here given in perfectly understandable terms. This is exactly
the manner in which All prophetic utterances arise; these are the same
spiritual things as those experienced by an Isaiah or Jeremiah, a Zoroaster or
Mohammed, and countless others – or, for example, by the Maid of Orleans …
Smith also mixes honest conviction with self-deception and with lies and
forgery, which are entirely characteristic of this state of mind.” (Meyer
believes that all prophets
are self-deceived.)
13.
It is easier to reach a confident conclusion about Mohammed, Abu Bekr, Omar,
than about Joseph Smith or Brigham Young in spite of the relatively much
greater amount of material surviving concerning the latter … But even where the
material is as scarce as it is about Amos and Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah or
Zoroaster and Hesiod, the psychological problem remains the same. It is
the case of Joseph Smith that sheds
light on all the others and helps us reach an
understanding of the fundamental problem.”
[End
of quotes]
My
(Damien F. Mackey’s) belief is that the so-called Prophet Mohammed (Muhammad),
or Mahomet, was not a genuine historical character of the C7th AD, but a
(mainly biblical) composite. See e.g. my article:
White elephant in the realm: Birth of Mohammed, Reformation
Brother Andrew also finds “Islamic
and Mormonism Similarities”:
- "Modern Mohammedanism has its Mecca at Salt Lake... Clearly the Koran was Joseph Smith's model, so closely followed as to exclude even the poor pretension of originality in his foul 'revelations.' " (The Women of Mormonism, Frances E. Willard, 1882, Introduction, p. xvi)
- "The student of Mormonism will be struck with the similarity of experience and claims of Joseph Smith and Mohammed." (The Rocky Mountain Saints, T. B. H. Stenhouse 1873, p 2)
- "even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed" Gal 1:8
....
| |
Islamic And Mormonism Similarities
Similarities between Joseph Smith and Muhammad:
1.
The followers of Muhammad and
Joseph Smith both killed innocent "infidel" on the same date of 9/11.
On September 11, 1857, Mormon militia massacred about 140 men, women and
children under the authority of Brigham Young. However 17 very young children
were spared and adopted into Mormon families. They were in fact sold to the
highest Mormon family bidder and resold and traded many times afterwords [sic].
This event is called "The Mountain Meadows" massacre. Mormon leaders
engaged in a deliberate rewriting of history to deny they were behind the
murders. On September 11, 2001 Muhammad's followers, using the Koran as a
guide, sent two airplanes into the World Trade Center killing 3000 innocent
men, women and children. Muslims today have a PhD in rewriting history and
preach in the mosques that Jews were
actually driving the planes, not Muslim terrorists.
2.
Both were visited by an angel.
Joseph Smith was visited by the angel "Moroni" and Muhammad by
Gabriel. Galatians 1:6-9 says, "I am amazed that
you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a
different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who
are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even though
we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that
which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before,
so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that
which you received, let him be accursed."
3.
Both were given visions.
4.
Both were told that no true
religion existed on the earth. In the published account of his life, Joseph
Smith related that he became very disturbed when he was a youth because of the
"strife among the different denominations," and this "cry and
tumult" led him to ask God "which of all the sects were right — and
which I should join." He was told that he must "join none of them,
for they were all wrong... that all their creeds were an abomination in his
sight; that those professors were all corrupt..." (Pearl of Great
Price, Joseph Smith 2:8-19) N. J. Dawood says that Mohammed was also
concerned with the fact that the Jews and Christians had "divided
themselves into schismatic sects." In the scriptures given by Mohammed, we
read: "Yet the Sects are divided concerning Jesus.... Truly, the
unbelievers are in the grossest error." (The Koran, translated by
N. J. Dawood, Surah 19, p. 34) In Surah 30, page 190, this warning appears:
"Do not split up your religion into sects, each exulting in its own
beliefs." In Surah 3, page 398, we read: "The only true faith in
Allah's sight is Islam. Those to whom the Scriptures [i.e., Jews and
Christians] were given disagreed among themselves through jealousy only after
knowledge had been given them."
5.
Both were to restore the long
lost faith as the one true religion. Islam makes claim that Adam and Abraham
were Muslims, a claim that is as ridiculous as it is undocumented from either
history or archaeology. Mormons make the unsubstantiated claim that the church
in the first century were Mormon.
6.
Both wrote a book inspired by
God.
7.
Both claimed to be illiterate
or uneducated and used this as proof the book was inspired. "How could an
illiterate man write the Koran or the Book of Mormon?" Joseph Smith is
claimed to have only grade three education.
8.
Both claimed the Bible was
lost, altered, corrupted and unreliable.
9.
Both claimed their holy book
was the most correct and perfect book on earth.
10.
Both claimed that their new
"Bible" was based upon a record stored in heaven. With Islam, it is
the "mother book" that resides in heaven with God. With Mormonism, it
is the golden Nephi plates that the angel Moroni took back to heaven.
11.
Both claim that the version we
have in our hands today are identical to what the prophet revealed and that
parts are not lost, altered and corrupted. Of course the proof that these
claims are invalid is found in two books. The Mormon claim is proven false by a
book called "3913 Changes to Book of Mormon" by Sandra Tanner. The
Islamic claim is proven false by a book (In Arabic language) called,
"Making Easy the Readings of What Has Been Sent Down" by Muhammad
Fahd Khaaruun. Both books show that the copy of the book of Mormon and the
Koran used today is different from what was originally used when each religion
was started.
12.
Both claimed to be a final
prophet of God.
13.
Both claimed they were
persecuted because of their pure faith.
14.
Both were polygamists who had
many wives.
15.
Both borrowed from
paganism/polytheism. Muhammad incorporated that polytheistic moon god called
"Allah" and "Allah's three daughters" into Islam. Basically
Muhammad chose Allah from within 350 known gods that were worshipped in Arabia
and proclaimed the moon god to be the greatest and only God. Smith borrowed
from a doctrine called "pyramidology" and the Masons and other magic
systems.
16.
Both received "after the
fact corrective revelations" from God. Muhammad retracted the Satanic
verses and Mormons retracted Smith's divine order mandating polygamy. But for
Mormons it there is even a closer parallel. Sounds exactly like Muhammad and
his satanic verses.
"As many false reports have been circulated respecting the
following work, and also many unlawful measures taken by evil designing persons
to destroy me, and also the work, I would inform you that I translated by the
gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one hundred and sixteen pages,
the which I took from the Book of Lehi... which said account, some person or
persons have stolen and kept from me, notwithstanding my utmost exertions to
recover it again — and being commanded of the Lord that I should not translate the same over
again, for Satan had put it into their hearts
to tempt the Lord their God, by altering the words,
that they did read contrary from that which I
translated and caused to be written; and if I should bring forth the same words
again, or, in other words, if I should translate the same over, they would
publish that which they had stolen, and Satan would
stir up the hearts of this generation, that they might not receive this work:
but behold, the Lord said unto me, I will not suffer that Satan shall
accomplish his evil design in this thing: therefore thou shalt translate from
the plates of Nephi, until ye come to that which ye have translated... I will
shew unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the Devil."
(Book of Mormon, 1830 edition, Preface)
17.
Immediately after the death of
Muhammad and Smith, a fight broke out from among the "faithful
converts" as to who would succeed Muhammad and Smith. Both groups were
plunged into irreparable division that has endured ever since. Islam and
Mormonism both have squabbles among themselves as to who is the one true
splinter group of their prophet!
18.
Mormons, contrary to the Bible,
"baptize the dead" by gathering genealogies of all men who lived on
earth. This contradicts the Bible: "But avoid foolish controversies and
genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable
and worthless." Tit 3:9 While the Bible says avoid focusing in Genealogies,
the Mormon church makes it their central focus of mission. Mormons have even
been criticized for baptizing, by proxy, the Jews had died in Nazi Holocaust
camps. When lists of genealogies are collected, living Mormons are baptized, on
behalf of, those on the lists, who have already died. In this way, Mormons view
every man who lived, as being Mormons. In the same way Muslims claim that all
men are born Muslims and when they learn the truth of Christianity, they are
apostatizing from their first faith. Muslims re-write history by proclaiming
Jesus and the Apostles were Muslims in a similar way Mormons baptize Jews (for
example) with the expectation they will be Mormons in the next life. Yet
gathering of large genealogical lists no more makes dead people Mormons in the
next life, than re-writing history makes Jesus into a Muslim.
19.
Both the Islam and Mormon
religions have those who follow the "original doctrine" of the
founding leaders and like these founding leaders, are violent, polygamists, and
have revelations justifying their evil actions.
20.
Both Muslims and Mormons (and
Jehovah's Witnesses) have progressive revelation. Jw's call it "new
light". Muslims call it "Nasikh". Jehovah's Witnesses were once
instructed to celebrated Christmas, birthdays and salute the flag, but
"new light" changed all that. Mormons like all Muslims, were
originally polygamists until "The Manifesto" against polygamy came as
a revelation to John Taylor, over 40 years after Smith's death, on the eve of
the US government outlawing the practice of polygamy. New revelation always
replaces older revelation that became inconvenient to the prophet.
