As a Mormon I can tell you that 90% of non LDS people are completely misinformed about the religion itself. If anyone has any questions I can answer them.
What exactly is this "mormonism" you speak of? Sir, I do believe that you are referring to the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," are you not? I'm just fucking with you OP. I actually have no idea about those terms. Is "mormonism" normally accepted?
The official stance of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is that we aren't the "Mormon Church," though the members themselves can be considered Mormon haha
And Mormonism is accepted by theologians so I believe so. I think it's similar to saying Catholicism but you can't say church of Jesus Christ of later day saints-ism
Hmm. Makes sense. I guess it's kind of like saying someone is a Muslim even thought they belong to the Church of Islam. I understand.
No tv is completely acceptable but the "Word of Wisdom" (as outlined in section 89 of the doctrine & covenants and along with modern revelation) says that members should not partake in "mind altering substances. So that would include drugs and alcohol, but not caffeine.
What does the church say about black people? What does the church say about gays? Do you wear magic underwear?
The church has nothing against any person who isn't Caucasian. The church's stance is that marriage is a sacred and eternal unit between a man and a woman. There is no problem with same gender attraction. Acting on same gender attraction is considered a sin. The "magic underwear" that you mentioned is actually referred to as garments. I personally do not wear them because I haven't been endowed yet (it's a ceremony in the temple).
I just looked it up and it just says that God cursed some people with black skin for some reason. What makes you think Joeseph Smith was a credible source for knowledge?
Well the Book of Mormon doesn't reference Abel that's the bible actually. What you are referring to is the darkening of the skin of the lamanites. This was done so their was a clear distinction between the righteous (at the time) an the unrighteous. The second question is a common misconception. It's not believed that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon. It is believed that it was translated from an ancient record similar to the bible.
Yes Joseph Smith claimed he read them off gold tablets, that only he ever saw, out of a hat while some other guy transcribed right? And then the other guys wife hid the tablet and asked Joeseph to make a new one and Smith said God was angry so he couldn't re-read the other tablet, but could read the same story froma different account so it would be slightly different, right?
I was unclear in my first answer. Joseph smith didn't write the BOM, he translated it. Actually 11 other people saw the gold plates as they are called. You can find the account of that in the prelude of the Book of Mormon called the testimony of the three witnesses and the testimony of the eight witnesses. The "tablet" that you referenced is actually not a tablet at all. It is the first 116 pages that Joseph translated. A man by the name of Martin Harris wanted to use those pages and some characters from the gold plates to prove the validity of what they were doing. After Joseph asked God and was denied twice permission to give those things to Martin Harris he asked a third time. This time God gave permission. Martin brought the characters to someone specializing in ancient language and he confirmed that they were reformed Egyptian. Martin then lost the 116 pages and God was angry. The information contained on those 116 pages can be found in other places in the BOM.