Things the church taught me that are not true.

Things I have been taught my whole life by the Mormon church which are not true. 

• There is one clear account of the First Vision given by Joseph Smith and it is the account in the scriptures.
• Not true. There are several and the most trustworthy one is very unlike the canonized account.
• There is no paid ministry.
• Not true. The general authorities are paid $120,000 yearly as of 2014.
• The earth is 6000 years old.
• Not true. It is billions of years old based on extensive scientific evidence.
• The garden of Eden was in Jackson county Missouri.
• Not true. The origins of man are in Africa, based on extensive scientific evidence.
• There was no death on the earth before the fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden.
• Not true, based on extensive scientific evidence there was much death before humans.
• Evolution played no role in the creation of man.
• Not true, based on extensive scientific evidence.
• Joseph Smith translated the Book of Abraham from papyri.
• Not true, all evidence we have proves what he translated is 100% incorrect.
• Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.
• Not true according to Deuteronomy 18:22, if some of a prophets saying do not come true he is not a prophet. Many of his prophecies did not come true; (see selling the rights to the BoM as one of many examples)
• Polygamy was practiced legally till it was later outlawed.
• Not true, the church essays admit that polygamy was never legal during Joseph Smith’s time.
• Joseph Smith did not marry other men’s wives.
• Not true, he married 11
• Joseph Smith was honest.
• Not true, he lied about having multiple wives his entire life.
• Joseph Smith was arrested and martyred because of his beliefs in God.
• Not true, he was arrested because he illegally ordered the destruction of the free press, the Nauvoo Expositor, which was going to print the truths about his polygamy.
• Joseph Smith restored the temple ceremonies and covenants.
• Not true, the temple ceremonies are mostly taken from Masonic rituals dating no further back than 1400's.
• There was nothing said about the Kinderhook plates.
• Not true by omission, Joseph Smith said he translated these as a prophet and they were false.
• There is evidence to support the historicity of the Book of Mormon.
• Not true, there is no evidence, and the lack of evidence when there should be lots of evidence tells us a tremendous amount.
• The ban on blacks and the priesthood and temple was not church doctrine, rather it was just an attribute of the times.
• Not true, it was clear racism taught by prophets for 130 years which has now been disavowed as false doctrine.
• The prophet cannot lead the people astray.
• Not true, see: blacks in the priesthood/temple; Adam-God theory, Blood-atonement, Translation of BoA, Translation of BoM.
• The golden plates where used in the translation of the Book of Mormon
• Not true, Joseph looked into a hat which had a rock in it, the plates were not used.
• Beer is against the Word of Wisdom
• Not true according to D&C 89, and most of the early prophets drank alcohol including Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, and others.
• Joseph Smith practiced polygamy according to God’s direction.
• Not true according to D&C 132, JS did not marry virgins and he did not tell Emma about most of his other wives.
• Joseph Smith’s other marriages were not sexual.
• Not true, see the Temple Lot trial and testimony as well as other testimonies (Year of Polygamy podcast).
• Marriage to 14, 15, 16 year old girls was not uncommon in the 1800’s
• Not true, census records show that the average age for women to marry was 21, and when they did occasionally marry young, they married other young men (19, 20 yr olds) not 37+ year old men who already had multiple wives.
• Plural marriage was needed because there were fewer men than women.
• Not true, census records show there were more men than women during these years.
• The BoM people (Jews) are the ancestors of the American Indians.
• Not true, DNA evidence proves that Asians are the ancestors of the American Indians.
• The BoM is a literal history of the ancient American people.
• Not true, and the church has recently begun to emphasizes that the book is primarily spiritual and not historical.

for reference to all of this and more see my other posts...