Something unmistakable(Exodus 19-20)
Wesley Skinner
One of my biggest beefs with Mormonism, aside from being altogether incorrect, is how Joseph Smith found the 'sacred writings' for the Book of Mormon. I don't generally advocate Southpark, but the Book of Mormon episode is fantastic. It shows the ridiculous nature of the founding of the Mormon religion. No one other than Joseph Smith ever saw the tablets that he was given, and we are just supposed to accept what he says with absolutely no proof and stands in direct contradiction to well established facts.
If there is something so life changing that I will build my entire belief system around it, I'm not going to trust the word of someone who's story can in no way be verified.
A few years ago the History channel aired "The Bible" miniseries. I didn't have a problem with some of the creative liberties they took. It helped tell the story and give emotion to people who were present. One issue I did have was how Moses received the 10 commandments from God. In their depiction, Moses was stumbling up a mountain that was violently shaking and all of a sudden two stone tablets are uncovered from the shaking ground. Moses then marches back down the mountain and everyone accepts these commandments without question.
The Bible actually gives us a much different picture. All of Israel was gathered at the foot of mount Sinai. God had instructed Moses to take steps to have everyone be ritually cleansed. Barriers were put up keeping people from getting too close to the foot of the mountain. The mountain shook violently and was covered in a thick cloud. Don't miss this, this is super important, the law that Israel would live by, the law that taught holiness and became the foundation for Judaism and subsequently what points out our sin and shows us our need for Jesus, was not stumbled upon or handed to us from one individual who we were just supposed to 'take his word' about its truth and authenticity. God spoke his commandments audibly in the presence of 600,000 Israelite men, not counting women and children.
Exodus 20:22 "Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven'"
Something so foundational and important, God made unmistakable.