Mormon temples make no sense as a "restored" practice.

 The purpose of the biblical temple was to teach the need for atonement of sins as a precondition for authentic worship of the true and living God. The location of the altar of burnt offering immediately in front of the only entrance to the Jerusalem temple illustrates this. It emphasized that God’s love and acceptance can only be extended to the sinner whose transgressions have been borne by His lamb of sacrifice. Solomon expressed this singular purpose of the temple in 2 Chronicles 2:6, "who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?"

Mormon temples exist as places to perform rituals, such as baptism for the dead and eternal marriage. It claims that these rites were a part of early Christianity but were sabotaged by false teachers. However, these Mormon temple rituals are not supported by the Bible, ancient Jewish literature, or early Christian history.

Inside each Mormon temple there is an impressive baptismal font mounted on the backs of twelve life-size, sculpted oxen. However, the basin at the biblical temple was not used for baptisms, as the Mormon Church teaches (Christian baptism is a NT ordinance, not an OT one). Rather, the Scriptures plainly state that it was used by the priests to wash themselves after offering animal sacrifices in preparation for ministry in the sanctuary (Exodus 30:18-20; 2 Chronicles 4:2-6)

Jesus Christ predicted that the Jerusalem temple was about to be destroyed (Matthew 24:2). He told his disciples: “ … *verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another * … ”

This prophecy was fulfilled in A.D. 70, when the Roman general Titus demolished the temple; it has never since been rebuilt. Elsewhere, Jesus said that temple worship was about to be replaced by a new form of worship without a temple building: “the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father … *But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:21,23).

A dramatic event at the time of Christ’s death on the cross signaled the end of temple worship. The Gospels record that at the very moment Jesus expired, “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Matthew 27:51; also Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). Before it’s rending at the time of Jesus death, the thick temple veil had served as a barrier to prevent the priests from seeing into the temple’s inner room, the Holy of Holies. This inner sanctum represented the place of God’s holy and glorious presence. Only the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, once a year on the Day of Atonement. This restriction signified that access into God’s presence was not truly provided by the Old Covenant. In the words of the New Testament book of Hebrews 9:8, “The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.

The rending of the veil signified the end of the temple worship system. That system is now obsolete, and we no longer need a human priest or temple. Under the New Covenant established by Jesus Christ, He is the believer’s High Priest in the very sanctuary of Heaven itself. Thus, a “restored temple” such as the Mormon Church proposes, is a contradiction in terms.

The Great Apostasy and Amos 8

Mormons have long held that Amos 8:11-12 specifically predicted the “Great Apostasy” that the LDS Church teaches stretched from about AD 100 (when the New Testament apostles passed from the scene) to 1830

After centuries of spiritual darkness described by Amos and Jeremiah, we solemnly announce to all the world that the spiritual famine is ended, the spiritual drought is spent, the word of the Lord in its purity and totalness is available to all men. One needs not wander from sea to sea nor from the north to the east, seeking the true gospel as Amos predicted, for the everlasting truth is available. [Spencer W. Kimball, 12th of the LDS]

The LDS church still uses Amos 8 to teach this doctrine

If we look at Amos 8:11-12 in context, we find that it simply has nothing to do with the Christian church during or after the New Testament era. There is no connection between what Amos said and anything that happened following the passing of the New Testament apostles more than 800 years after the time of Amos.

After telling the northern kingdom of Israel that God was going to bring judgments on the neighboring nations (1:3-2:5), Amos told Israel that God was going to bring judgment on them as well (2:6-16). The rest of the book elaborates on the reasons for this judgment, what it will be like, and the results of the judgment. When we come to chapter 8, we can see this same theme continuing: “The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more” (8:2). God will judge Israel because its people mistreated the poor (8:4-6). Because of these sins, God will bring mourning in the land (8:7-10). It is in this context that God tells Israel that he will send “a famine in the land...of hearing the words of the Lord” (v. 11). The people of the northern kingdom will look for God’s word but will not be able to find it (v. 12). Those who worship the false gods of Samaria, Dan, and Beersheba “shall fall, and never rise up again” (v. 14). All of this took place when, some forty years later, God allowed the Assyrians to conquer the northern kingdom of Israel (722 BC).

The precise wording of verse 12 describing the inability of the people to find a word from God makes it clear that Amos is referring specifically to the northern kingdom of Israel. He says that they will unsuccessfully seek divine revelation “from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east.” The wording “from the north even to the east” is surprising; one would normally have expected the expression “from north to south.” Scholars have offered a variety of explanations, but they generally agree that this wording reflects the local geography of the northern kingdom or of the Holy Land as a whole. The best explanation remains the view that the one direction the idolatrous Israelites in the northern kingdom would not look for God’s word was south—to the southern kingdom of Judah and its religious center in Jerusalem.

The description of ‘from sea to sea,’ that is, from west to east (or vice versa) will lead them from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea (or vice versa).” Amos then says “from north to east” instead of “from north to south” because the one place Israel would not look for the word of the Lord was to the south. The south is precisely where Judah is located, and this southern prophet [Amos] most surely believes that there in Judah, at least, one can surely find the words of the Lord.

That Amos is referring to the kingdom of Israel is confirmed in verse 14, where he speaks of Samaria, Dan, and Beersheba as places of idolatry:

“They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again” (Amos 8:14).

When we consider the focus of Amos as a whole, and Amos 8 in particular, on the northern kingdom of Israel, and the specific geographical language of verses 12 and 14, it becomes clear that Amos is referring to a spiritual “famine” for that northern kingdom.

There simply is no basis in the text for referring or applying the warning in Amos 8:11-12 to the supposed Great Apostasy of Christianity that Mormons think took place over eight centuries later.

Since the prophecy of Amos 8:11-12 in its own literary and historical context refers to a judgment that came on the northern kingdom of Israel. It simply does not and cannot refer to a period of apostasy that would come on the largely Gentile Christian church almost a millennium later. But could Amos’s description be illustrative of that apostasy as some LDS apologists suggest?

Two things, first fhe sins for which the people were judged with a famine of hearing from God, according to Amos, were sins of mistreating the poor (Amos 8:4-6) sins of which the church after the passing of the apostles was not guilty. In fact, the church in the second and third centuries was renowned for its charity.

Secondly, the withdrawal of hearing words from God was a judgment on Israel for its gross disobedience to God. Amos warns that the people would not only suffer, they would be in a state of mourning and bitter grief (Amos 8:7-10).

In this context, the “famine” was the lack of any comforting word from God, any hope of God lifting the judgment. The church after the passing of the apostles experienced suffering in the form of persecution but rejoiced in it, confident that God was with them and blessing them despite their suffering. The church’s experience during the second and third centuries was not an experience of judgment.

Can a religious group that so badly mishandles Biblical texts like this one really be a divinely authorized and uniquely inspired restoration of the truth?

Unique LDS doctrines and practices?

I always found these this interesting:

Unique LDS doctrines and practices - most of the Mormons I know would say that these are in line with LDS teachings:

1) Belief in an apostasy in the early church, which the Reformation did not adequately correct, necessitating a further Restoration

2) Belief in the necessity of believers’ baptism by immersion for salvation

3) Dependence on Acts 2:38 for the sequence of saving actions, which include faith, repentance, baptism, forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and appropriate good works to demonstrate persevering to the end, upon which eternal life can then be assured

4) A rejection of all the historic creeds and confessions of faith of the church

5) A desire to separate from all other existing forms of Christianity but to unite as the one true church of Jesus Christ

6) Using a name for one’s church that referred only to Christ and not to any human leaders

7) Strong anti-Calvinism; against all five points of the “TULIP”—total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the (guaranteed) perseverance of the saints

8) Preaching against “faith only,” especially in light of James 2:24

9) Ambiguity whether or not the Holy Ghost is a person

10) The necessity of weekly Communion, but avoidance of wine due to teetotalism

11) Against paid clergy, clerical titles, and the facetiousness caused by denominationalism

12) A spirit of self-reliance, a stress on tithing, and a strong concern to care for the genuinely needy in Christian circles and elsewhere

13) An emphasis on Sabbath-keeping and the restoration of morality to a church and culture widely perceived to have become antinomian

14) The generation of a new translation of the Scriptures

15) The ultimate harmony of science and religion

16) A sharp distinction between the dispensations of the patriarchs, the law, and the gospel

17) Belief in the establishment of God’s kingdom in America in a more complete form than in any previous era of church history, described as “building Zion”

18) a renewed missionary zeal

19) A charismatic, iconoclastic founder

Yet..... Every item was a central tenet of the preaching of Alexander Campbell, from which the Disciples of Christ movement was formed.

One of Campbell’s brightest followers, with whom he discoursed extensively, was Sidney Rigdon [this was in the early to late's 1820s], who later became Joseph Smith’s “right hand man.” George Arbaugh, who chronicled in detail Smith’s career-long doctrinal pilgrimage increasingly away from orthodox Christianity, was even able to say that at its inception, Mormonism was a “Campbellite sect.”

Of course, Campbell strictly limited his sources of authority to the Old and New Testaments. Joseph Smith had other influences for his revelations.

Sources:

LDS author Richard L. Bushman (Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism)

Lester G. McAllister, ed., An Alexander Campbell Reader 

Alexander Campbell, The Christian System, in Reference to the Union of Christians, and a Restoration of Primitive Christianity, as Plead in the Current Reformation

Walter Scott, The Gospel Restored: A Discourse

Leroy Garrett, The Stone-Campbell Movement 

George B. Arbaugh, Revelation in Mormonism

Beckwith, Moser, Owen The New Mormon Challenge.