Customer Reviews

Answering Mormons' Questions

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

When I picked up the book and began reading it, I spotted a typo on a date right off the bat. That's the only reason this book wasn't rated '5 Stars'. What I found beyond that was a very insightful way to respond to many of the questions that are generally designed to elicit "I don't know" responses by people investigating membership into the Utah-LDS church and thus making the "Elders" look more authoritative than they really are. Out of the 38 questions addressed and answered my wife and I have heard 31 of them from our LDS friends and missionaries that have visited us. I found this book answered those questions very well, I might add, and with proper scriptural references. The difficulty is proving the references to Mormon publications that are referred to (other than the BoM and the other "Standards" the Utah-LDS church considers scripture). Some of those other references were published in 1854 (for example) and getting a copy may prove difficult. To close, this book "Answering Mormons' Questions" should be part of anyones library who is concerned with the souls who belong to the Utah-LDS church and want their friends, families or acquaintances to find the true Light of Christ.

I think this book supplies great material. Books such as this are important and helpful. I have read others comments here who cannot refute the contents of this book. Rather than dealing with it, they attack the existence of the book. The most UNChristlike thing to do is accept error alongside of truth. Anyone interested in truth will not be offended by scrutiny if it is honest. This book presents documented and accurate facts honestly, and in a non-hateful way.

The Jesus Christ of Mormonism is *NOT* the Jesus Christ of the bible. The reason true Christians see it as important to reveal what Mormons really believe is so that we can HELP those caught in the web of Mormonism. The first step is seeing the difference.

Though Mormonism claims to believe in Jesus Christ (that is, a different Jesus Christ of their own making,) Mormonism is no more a sect of Christianity than Islam. The Moslems, Druze, Jews, Bahai's, Moonies, Rosicrucians, Hindu's, Budhists, et al, all believe in "Jesus Christ." But the "Jesus Christ" they believe in is an entirely different person than what the true Jesus Christ revealed Himself to be in scripture.One difference is that none of these claim to be Christian or would not even want to be called such.

Nobody is "beating up" on Mormonism. We are only asserting the truth from scripture against the false claims, and unscriptural beliefs FIRST put forth by teachers of Mormonism. There is no malice involved here. We just put scripture above religion.

My advice to Mormons is that they weigh the evidence and seek truth above religion. You would have everything to gain and nothing to lose. But it can be a hard row to hoe at first. For many it has meant great sacrifice in strained family relations, even ostricization. But the Lord said in Mark 10:29 " . . Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

All of the attacks against this book are from mormons, even the ones who lie and say they are not. Mormonism requires confrontation as the author's style suggests, other wise they say "lets just agree to disagree". I have in my library the mormon quad plus "achieving a celestial Marriage" and "gospel principals" and this book is a welcome addition. "One Nation Under Gods" is the best on the sordid history of the morman church and another good read. My heart goes out to the many good people who are seeking God but end up in a church built by men, the lds morman faith, and who will spend eternity locked outside the gates of Heaven.

I love this book! When I first came in contact with members of the LDS Church I was barraged with nearly every question McKeever addresses in his book. I was often confused by the nature of the questions the Mormons asked me because they seemed purposefully aimed at casting doubt on my own faith and church. Answering Mormons' Questions helped me tremendously. It not only gave me Scriptural starting points for understanding what the Bible says about some of these issues, but it also helped me understand where the questions were coming from and why they were being asked. I found this book to be primarily a defense of the historic Christian faith in response to the claims made against the Christian Church by the Mormon Church and its members. I highly recommend it!

As many have stated, this book is *intended* for the average person who doesn't know much about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (AKA Mormon Church or LDS Church). In reality, it is meant for a specific kind of Christian who will identify with his personal beliefs - ultimately getting some facts wrong at the expense of making him seem authoritative.

Mr. McKeever relies on the general contemporary Christian belief that the Bible is the ONLY word of God, that every word written is perfect and even written by God himself. There's nothing wrong with that view, but it invites what I feel to be a very defensive tone to the book from the very beginning.

The book is made up simply of questions that are actually GOOD and VALID concepts within Christianity, not just within the LDS faith. The answers given are of the opinion of Mr. McKeever himself to questions HE poses as attacking the Christian faith, based upon the concepts that LDS people point out. He purports to speak for the *entire* Christian movement in his answers, but in doing so fails the very base of his own faith. There is no "Christian Church" as an organization out there. It simply doesn't exist. There are many Christian-based faiths and churches out there, many of whom would have different answers than this book contains. Mr. McKeever's answers represent only a portion of Christianity... those who are Evangelical. Not all Christians follow the Evangelical approach, and in fact, many disagree with the Evangelical theology.

What bothers me the most about the tone of this book is that Mr. McKeever simply dismisses the LDS faith as non-Christian. I have several LDS friends, and I have discussed these concepts with them. These people, to me, are some of the greatest examples of Christian behavior and charity I have ever seen. They use Christ's name in the name of their church, they pray in his name, and they openly try to emulate his life. That sounds like a Christian to me. How dare anyone who also claims to be Christian dismiss another in such a manner?

I have checked some of the references listed in the book, and McKeever has taken items entirely out of context and edited them to fit his own definition of Christianity. In fact, he even gets some facts dead wrong. On page 17, for example (which is even part of the excerpt here on Amazon), McKeever addresses the Mormon view of Christ's purpose and death. He claims the Mormons believe that salvation comes through mans work alone.

McKeever is stating a gross mis-truth here and I have confirmed this with Mormons and non-Mormons alike. They most definitely believe that Christ's work was necessary, as was his physical sacrifice. They believe that through GRACE they are physically saved. They also believe that their SPIRITUAL salvation requires work to the best of their ability. This has to do with Christ's resurrection AFTER his death, and they are not the only Christians who believe that. Why are we given commandments to live a certain kind of life if, in fact, we are all already saved through grace? To many people that simply makes no sense since it essentially gives people free reign to sin. For many Christians salvation is an intricate combination of both grace and work - and this is very clearly stated in the Bible.

Its fine to disagree with a belief or point of theology, but to openly get it wrong with an air of superiority just discredits everything you have to say. I really wonder why this man puts out such an effort to discredit a church and faith he has never belonged to and clearly doesn't even understand.

This book is full of what McKeever believes personally - but by him claiming to represent ALL of Christianity is extremely troubling, and makes me doubt his true focus and intention. I'm not Mormon, but I am a member of a Christian faith and I'm deeply offended by McKeever's approach. If you are a believing Evangelical Christian, then this book will suit you well I suppose, except be aware the McKeever did get some facts wrong, so take what he writes with a large grain of salt.

I found this book to do just what it's title suggests. It doesn't really explain much about Mormon theology but gives fair-great answers to many questions posed by Mormons. I find this book to be in the same vein as "One Minute Answers to Anti-Mormon Questions" except Answering Mormons' question isn't as offensive to Mormons as One Minute answers is to "anti-Mormons". THis Book is pretty much up to the McKeever standard. THis book is clearly written for "laymen" who want some answers to questions that Mormons generally ask quite a bit (I get asked to pray about the BOM constantly). For those who are already very firmiliar with Mormonism, it wont be of much use.

Bill McKeever is the President of Mormonism Research Ministry, and also the author of books such as Mormonism 101: Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints, In Their Own Words: A Collection of Mormon Quotations, Questions to Ask Your Mormon Friend: Effective Ways to Challenge a Mormon's Arguments Without Being Offensive, etc.

He wrote in the Preface to this 1991 book, "The purpose of this book is to accept (former President Joseph Fielding) Smith's challenge concerning the founder of his church and the doctrine he taught. We will scrutinize the teachings of Joseph Smith using the accepted standard of measurement, the Bible." (Pg. 13)

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Until April 1990, the most blatant criticisms and mockeries against Christianity were found in their temple ceremony. The temple ceremony included a dialogue between a character playing the part of Lucifer and a man described as a preacher... Lucifer then says, 'If you will preach your orthodox religion to these people and convert them, I will pay you well.' To this the preacher answers enthusiastically, 'I will do my best.'" (Pg. 16)
"In giving the prospective convert the Book of Mormon to read, the LDS church knows he will read things that are quite familiar to him... Unknowingly, he will relate the Mormon church with the doctrines he has come to know, and accept the Mormon church as true without even realizing that it does not accept many things written in the Book of Mormon and the Bible." (Pg. 21-22)
"I am not saying we should not be in prayer during a testing process, but I am saying prayer is not to be THE test. Pray rather for guidance as to WHAT to look for and WHERE to look concerning what is being said." (Pg. 22)
"Jesus, when he supposedly came in the flesh to this continent, ordained twelve men to be His disciples. This was done while there were still twelve apostles in Palestine. Twelve here and twelve there make twenty-four apostles---hardly an authoritative quorum according to the Mormons' claim." (Pg. 30)
"Mormon missionaries have often boasted about how they are not paid while on their mission... Funds given to support the missionaries on their mission are sent to the LDS church in return for a tax deductible receipt. The church in turn sends funds to the missionary... Clearly this is a paid ministry." (Pg. 34)
"While most Mormon history is quite detailed, the issue of when the Melchizedek priesthood was reintroduced to this earth is still a mystery." (Pg. 40)
"In (D&C) section 124:89 (Joseph) Smith was commanded to publish his new Bible. You would think that if God commanded such a thing He would make a way for it to come to pass." (Pg. 46)
"Two classic examples of erroneous information would be The Americas before Columbus. (LC History-America-E) by Dewey Farnsworth and Book of Mormon on Trial by Jack West." (Pg. 78)

As an ex-Mormon who became a born-again Christian 29 yrs. ago, I find this book to be one of the very best resources available to help other Christians understand the most common expressions of Mormon thought, and how to respond to them. In the process, Christians will receive an excellent dose of solid Christian apologetics...since the "Answers to Mormons" are equally valid to any other group (Jehovah's Witnesses, agnostics, New Age thinkers, etc.).

I highly recommend this book.

This book is a great resource tool for a Christian who is interested in sharing his or her faith with a member of the LDS religion. As Mr. McKeever points out, there are differences between the historic Christian church and Mormonism. I thought his answers to 38 questions were sharp, right to the point, and easily understandable. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in discovering truth.

McKeever founded Mormonism Research Ministry in 1979 out of compassion for those spiritually lost in the Mormon faith. His book fills a need for reasoned, Biblical answers to questions which may catch Christians off guard when they are first asked them by Mormons.
I believe McKeever's main purpose is to help Christians to defend their faith in the face of Mormons' thought-provoking questions. However, his love and concern for the eternal destination of Mormons shines through in his answers to their questions, as he redirects Mormons back to Biblical truths.
Christians should read this book to realize that there are answers to Mormons' questions and to avoid being tongue-tied in potential witnessing situations with Mormons. Mormons should read McKeever's answers to give them food for a thoughtful evaluation of their own beliefs.