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467 of 602 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Irritating, Smug and Potentially Destructive, March 14, 2006
This review is from: The 10 Most Important Things You Can Say to a Mormon (Paperback)
I've studied Mormonism as well as a number of other American Christian sects (Jehovah's Witnesses, churches of Christ, Seventh-Day Adventists, etc.) and this book is simply an anti-Mormon book sure to convince only certain stripes of evangelicals and Pentecostals.
First, any book designed solely to tear down someone else's religion -- the most intimate part of a person's being -- is morally reprehensible and, in this case, proceeds from the assumption that to let someone remain LDS is to let them be consigned to an everlasting hell or some other horrendous fate (you're actually doing them a favor, you see). So nail the Mormon's religion to the wall; destroy his faith and shake his innermost belief in everything he's been taught. Then he might just adopt your religion (or become an athiest, but wait! There's a "10-Most" book on that, too!).
I find works like this to be morally degrading and dispicable. American religions are as valid as anyone else's and virtually any scholar with even rudimentary knowledge of theology and history could similarly do to Christianity what Rhodes does to Mormonism. (Other books in this handy little series go after Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics and other religions with nary a good word for any -- and stay tuned for one on Jews, for they won't see heaven, either, unless they see Rhodes' light).
Buy this book to bolster your own faith, if you must, but if you seek to destroy someone else's, make sure you're willing to accept the moral and ethical consequences. I like Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists and, indeed, people of all faiths; I'm less inclined, however, towards those who are willing to throw everyone else into the fiery pit.
One star, not very well deserved.
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156 of 201 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Reveals Rhodes' long-standing ignorance of "Mormonism", September 20, 2006
This review is from: The 10 Most Important Things You Can Say to a Mormon (Paperback)
I have read much of what Ron Rhodes has produced on the topic of The Church of jesus christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormon Church"), such as his 1995 book, co-authored with Marian Bodine, entitled "Reasoning from the scriptures with the Mormons." Rhodes, and many of his co-religionists, rely too much on out-dated anti-Mormon criticisms. Time will not allow me to deal with all the mistakes in this text, but I will deal with one specific issue that reveals that Rhodes did not bother to even read the Book of Mormon prior to writing this text.
In an attempt to show that the Book of Mormon contradicts Mormon theology, Rhodes claims that the Book of Mormon's use of the phrase, "Great Spirit" to describe God is in conflict with D&C 130, where God is said to be anthropormorphic and embodied. Notwithstanding, the use of the phrase, "Great Spirit" in Alma 18 and other areas was Ammon's way of communicating the concept of God to someone who knew of Deity under the title of "Great Spirit." In addition, in alma 18:2-3, the people mistook Ammon for the "Great Spirit" notwithstanding the fact that he was plainly corporeal! This blows Rhodes'out of the water!
Furthermore, Rhodes also claims that Alma 31:15, where God is said to be only a spirit and will remain a spirit for all eternity contradicts Mormon theology. However, this serve to show he has not read the Book of Mormon volume. Had he actually done so, he would have realised that Alma 31 is part of a prayer by a group of apostates, the Zoramites, whose prayer is condemned as anathema in Alma 32 and elsewhere.
This book is not for knowledgable Mormons, but those who know next to nothing about "Mormonism."
I welcome sincere feedback at Robert.S.Boylan@nuim.ie
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72 of 94 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Reader, December 4, 2006
This review is from: The 10 Most Important Things You Can Say to a Mormon (Paperback)
The book is in its foundation antagonistic, rather than an attempt to understand Mormon doctrine. I was looking for a book to educate me, not equip me with the best vitrialic one-liners to retain in case I get in an argument with a Mormon. I'm still looking for a book that is not biased one way or another. I suppose I'll just have to suck it up and read the Book of Mormon itself.
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