Customer Reviews

The Gospel According to Joseph Smith: A Christian Response to Mormon Teaching

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Ethan Harris is also the author of Don't Get "Left Behind", Conditional Forgiveness, The LDS Doctrine of Free Agency and The Ethical Argument Against LDS Theology, etc.

He wrote in the Preface to this 2001 book, "The many inconsistencies that lie within the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) will be exposed in the following pages. This is ... an effort to underscore some of the most problematic areas. The method of this study is to give a general overview of foundational teachings from the texts of Mormonism and its Prophets. We will, by way of contrast, cite authorities within that community and biblical passages that are in contradiction with them."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"The problem here is that the same King James Version of the Bible that is thought to be 'corrupted' has been accepted by the (LDS) Church as containing the true Gospel. The LDS Church cannot logically critiize the non-Mormon for using a corrupted Bible if it uses the same Bible." (Pg. 28)

"The following may not be practiced today, but the teaching has been repeated by numerous LDS Prophets. What is that teaching? That if your sins cannot be cleansed by baptism, you should be killed! ... This teaching of salvation by murder is repeated in several passages of LDS literature. Is this doctrine still practiced? Let's pray not." (Pg. 49)

"If the God we worship was actually a man at one time, then He is not perfect from all eternity. If, as the Mormons claim, we can become as God is, then there really is nothing special or significant about God... He would be an impotent ethereal exalted man who stumbled into having spirit-children who would one day be as great as He. But this is not the God of the Christian..." (Pg. 71)

"It cannot be denied that the Adam-God doctrine was taught. Prophet (Brigham) Young claimed that he received it not only from God, but also from Joseph Smith. If this doctrine is denounced by the Mormon Church, then Joseph Smith stands indicted for the same crime as does Brigham Young. They gave false revelation and are false prophets." (Pg. 110)

This book would be a good choice for beginning a study of Mormonism from the Christian perspective. It covers the standard doctrines of Mormonism: the gospel, God, scriptures and authority, sin, baptism for the dead, and human pre-existence.

The unique features of this book are its multiple quotations of Mormon authors and sources. Also included are testimonies of former LDS members, which help to get a grasp of how an average LDS person thinks about their faith and what attracts them to Christianity.

I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 because of the high price and the general lack of new material in comparison to Christian books already out there. If you already have assembled a library on Mormonism, physically look over this book before buying it.

An excellent book that clearly and logically lays out the the issues with Mormonism. Whether you're learning about the LDS doctrine of God, baptism of the dead (which doesn't even appear in the Book of Mormon), contradictions between the LDS Prophets and the BoM and the Doctrine and Covenants, everything is easy to follow and quite thought-provoking. A must read for those with Mormon friends, relatives, etc.

Ethan Harris does a credibly principled job of pointing out many clearly glaring inconsistencies and contradictions between (a) Mormon doctrines and the Bible, and (b) current official Mormon doctrines and past official Mormon doctrines. He does this fairly, honestly and logically.

But note: 1. A clearer and crisper job at the same task is done by Sharon Armstrong in her book, For Any Latter-day Saint: One Investigator's Unanswered Questions. 2. Though Harris is a valiant LDS contradiction illuminator, he does not in fairness point his light at any of dozens of equally glaring inconsistencies and contradictions in (a) the Bible itself, and (b) between the Bible and many accepted current non-Mormon Christian teachings. So his principled argument against contradictions is inconsistently applied and, therefore to that extent, ironically unprincipled. A much better job than Harris's at applying facts and principle consistently is done by Burton L. Macke (a professor of ancient Christian history) in Who Wrote the New Testament?

All that said, Harris's book is still a valuable introduction to the depth of contradiction in Mormonism.

One of the key points of this book is to demonstrate that if a religious or philosophical system has, as its foundation, a god who was once a man (as the LDS system does), that system cannot support absolutes in philosophy, theology or personal living. The author begins by demonstrating that the official LDS position, citing only LDS "prophets" and the "Standard Works," is that the Christian God was actually once a man as you and I. The author then proceeds to point out other doctrines which spring from this rather odd LDS doctrine. In a later chapter, it is all tied together to show that "God's moral laws are not eternally binding if He is growing in knowledge [as the LDS claim]. If God came to a time when He was more complete than He was in the past, He is not perfect in learning. What is the level to which He must come in order to say of Him, 'He knows all things'?...If the god of the Book of Mormon is still progressing to some degree or another, there may be morality issues that he has not resolved [as the author shows the LDS have a problem with] or even learned." So the god of the LDS Church cannot give morally binding laws. Interesting thesis although there is much more in this book to comment on, I like this chapter the best...

I started this book at the behest of my Calvinist friend. As a lifelong Mormon who has served a proselytizing mission, I was able to spot the cheap and superficial points the author made. These points were made by comparing some passage from Mormon scripture or Joseph Smith's sermons to some favorite Calvinist proof text from the Bible. There is little attempt to get at what the Mormon passage is really saying, what the Mormons would say that Biblical passage means, or anything like that. I couldn't take the book seriously after a while, so gave it back to my friend.

Read this if you have already decided that Mormonism is wrong and you want to feel better about yourself. But as an examination of to what extent Mormon doctrine is consistent with the Bible, it is not serious. It is more of an examination of how a quick and dirty reading of Mormon doctrine contradicts Calvinism. Naturally, you shouldn't expect a Mormon who knows his stuff to be able to take the book seriously.

It is just like my mormon friend said "if you want to investigate a Ford, go talk to a Ford dealer and drive one. If you go to the Chevy dealer will they tell you the WHOLE truth about Ford?".

My point is made with this example: This book sites that the "Mormon God" is still progressing. I spoke to my friend, who is a mormon and he laughed and told me that was ridiculous. God had progressed to the state he is at now, all knowing, perfect and our Father in Heaven, he is not still progressing or learning. I have to say this makes sense to me and I have decided to investigate the LDS faith. I think we would all do better going to the source rather than those that do not believe, to investigate other religions. I at least owe my friend that. He is an incredible example of living the teachings of Jesus Christ. This is what sparked my interest in the first place.

P&R (formerly Presbyterian and Reformed) Publishing Company publishes books with a radically reformed bias, that is, from the perspective of TULIP (five-point Calvinism).

After eight years in the U.S. Army, the author, Ethan Harris, served as resource consultant and director of conferencing at Ligonier Ministries. He is currently the Webmaster of the Reformed Library, and he also promotes Homestead College of Bible and Graduate School, which grants correspondence degrees at all academic levels, including the doctorate.

A Christian Response is introduced by Bill McKeever of Mormonism Research Ministry. The book is essentially derivative. Harris draws his contrasts between what he calls the "LDS view" of various topics and "the biblical view"--that is, a fundamentally Calvinist reading of the scriptures from Sandra and Jerald Tanner, John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Bill McKeever, Robert Morey, Latayne Scott, and Marvin Cowan, all part of the countercult stable of anti-Mormon writers.

Nothing seems to indicate that Harris has consulted reliable LDS scholarship.

This book is an excellent introduction to Mormonism in that it presents the Mormon doctrines from the source. The reader will see exactly what Mormons teach and how their teachings are in direct conflict with the Bible. For Christians wishing to know more about the LDS or who wish to witness to Mormon friends or relatives, this book provides material that would be difficult to put together. Ethan Harris has done a commendable job and is to be congratulated for bringing to light these sources and presenting them to the public.

Harris has obviously done much research in order to present a clear, concise and organized approach to presenting the differences between the Bible vs. the teachings of Mormonism. The nuances are presented and the reader comes to realize how beguiling Mormonism is. Some Mormon teachings are so *close* to the Bible as to cause the reader to pause and determine the differences. Some radical teachings, such as Adam being our father and the ability for us to become gods (as opposed to God-like) may be unfamiliar to Mormon believers.
I enjoyed the inclusion of letters from former Mormon believers. Most of all, I came to respect Harris's testimony as given in the last chapter.
This book should be on every Bible student's reference shelf.