Customer Reviews

Questions to Ask Your Mormon Friend: Effective Ways to Challenge a Mormon's Arguments Without Being Offensive

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I'm not sure I would like this book if it were written in a vindictive way. But, thankfully Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson did it lovingly and with respect! This is a challenging book that questions the assumption that the Latter Day Saint Church has every spiritual answer. It details some of the problems that are seen within the Latter Day Saints very own history. Some of the problems detailed are: the "First Vision" of Joseph Smith Jr. and if the Mormon person has "Ever Sinned the Same Sin Twice," which of course relates to LDS doctrine.

I not only recommend this book to any Protestant Christians but also have a hard time retaining a copy for myself. This book and Answering Mormons Question (another book by McKeever) are given out as loners but seldom return home.

This book contains 15 great questions for opening conversation between Mormons and non-Mormons. For example, the first chapter, "If I Accept You as a Christian, Will You Accept Me as a Mormon?" addresses one of the most common objections Mormons articulate to their critics ("Mormons are Christians!") and does so in a very sensible manner. Chapter 2, "Which First Vision Account Should We Believe?" takes a look at the very foundation of the LDS Church and reasonably raises questions regarding the differing stories Joseph Smith told about his supposed encounter with the Gods. Chapter 4, "What If the Bible Is Translated Correctly After All?" seeks to encourage discussion about the unsupportable Mormon position that the Bible is unreliable and cannot be trusted. Many people, from all sorts of faith backgrounds, never really think about their beliefs. Anything that causes people to examine what they believe, study issues they may not have considered before, bring about sincere dialogue between friends, and help us to better understand another's viewpoint is a rare and valuable treasure. McKeever and Johnson's book does all these things -- with grace. If there are objections to this book's content, I can only think it is because the authors have done such a fine job of logically addressing the issues raised that some may feel threatened by the mere asking of the question. And if so, perhaps the objector will go home and think about it.

Bill McKeever's book contains some interesting questions, but if you happen to talk with a knowledgable Mormon about these issues, you may end up looking rather ignorant. He puts forth questions, but assumes there is no answers.

I've used the questions in this book with some of my Mormon friends, and I must say the answers given in return seem to be quite confused. I'm not sure if many Mormons have ever thought through their faith, but this book does a good job to ask a good question and begin a topic of conversation that does not jump around from issue to issue. I especially like the wonderful appendix where terms are defined. The word "Jesus" even has different meanings between Christianity and Mormonism.

I would recommend this book along with Mormonism 101 by Mckeever and Johnson for a good intro to mormon theology. It seems that every time I look up a book on Mormonism that doesn't praise it, I find reviews from angry mormons. I can understand not agreeing with the authors viewpoints and his conclusions and presenting those of your own; but they write reviews doing the same thing they accuse others of doing. The authors of this book present facts on mormonism, being sure to include references from approved mormon sources. They should be answered in turn, with references to refute those claims. Instead, they shout, "biased!", "close-minded!", "spiteful" just because they don't agree with what you have been taught. I think the questions raised should be answered in turn. Also, it seems odd to me that these mormon reviewers make it clear that they are "NOT A CULT!" and are Christians. Why then do they not adhere to Christian doctrine? They equivicate over key terms such as Jesus Christ, God the Father, Holy Spirit/Ghost, Trinity, virgin birth, baptism and salvation. And they add terms such as pre-existence, co-eternality, eternal progression, "other scriptures", celestial marriage and so on. The mormon Jesus isn't the christian jesus. That is why the christian church does not call mormons christians. And why this recent push to be called christian anyway? Wasn't the reason that Joseph Smith asked God for direction is because their were so many "sects"? Didn't God the Father say that they were all wrong and not to be a part of them? Isn't the christian church apostate and therefore in need of Joseph's reformation? Please, enough knee-jerk book bashing. Back up your claims with evidence like the authors of this book.

If you are looking for a completely one-sided arguement as to whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is indeed a Christian church, then I whole heartedly recommend this book. The questions and answers presented here do offer what the author believes (or wants you to believe) is true mormon doctrine, but fall far short of being true or fare. Having presented some of these questions to my sister (who is a mormon living in Arizona) I came to realize that this book is just plain full of garbage meant to throw off those who either have not the capability to think for themselves, or are just plain stupid. Giving half truths and just plain telling falsehoods will never get my approval for a good book.

I found this book to be an excellent resource for information when dealing with my LDS friends. A must for any Christian's library.

Bill McKeever is also the author/co-author of Mormonism 101: Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints, Answering Mormons' Questions, In Their Own Words: A Collection of Mormon Quotations, etc. Eric Johnson is also the author of Quetzalcoatl, Jesus in the Americas?. They are both affiliated with "Mormonism Research Ministry."

They write in the Introduction to this 1994 book, "Unlike most books on the subject of Mormonism, the following chapters do not specifically function as a mere exposé or as a defense against Mormon accusations. Instead, our goal is to give you, the reader, information that can be used in a manner of offense and hopefully challenge the Latter-day Saints to seriously reexamine the doctrine that they have been led to believe is truth."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Joseph Smith's 1832 diary also conflicts with the official account found in modern editions of the Pearl of Great Price... It is interesting to note in this version how Smith never said that he was visited by God the Father... he was not told that all the churches were wrong, that their creeds were an abomination, and that their professors were corrupt. Despite these inconsistencies, the LDS Church took it upon itself to promote an account that was written eighteen years after the fact." (Pg. 26)
"How could Joseph Smith carry such a heavy load of plates and be able to run, jump, and fight off attackers? If the (golden) plates were the size claimed by Smith, they would have weighed at least 100 pounds. Tucking such a heavy object under the arm of even the strongest of young men is hard to imagine. To do this while jumping over logs, fighting off attackers, and running at top speed is Herculean." (Pg. 28)
"If subjectivity is a divinely ordained test for truth, then God could not in righteousness condemn anyone for a sincerely held belief. Obviously a more objective test must be implemented in order to determine truth." (Pg. 69)
"Should the LDS prophet be trusted when he is mentally incapacitated? This situation occurred in the early 1990s when Ezra Taft Benson... delegated his duties to other authorities. Those who were close to Presndent Benson claimed that, while he was able to listen, he did not say very much and had 'difficulty saying more than a few words.' ... (David O. McKay) had a short-term memory loss who 'would forget within minutes after a decision was made.' ... Spencer Kimball ... was incapacitated mentally after a subdural hematoma in 1982. He remained in this state until his death in 1985." (Pg. 75)
"This ("three heavens") teaching allowed (Joseph Smith's) followers to have a great peace of mind about their ancestors who lived between the ages of the 'Great Apostasy' ... and the early nineteenth century when Mormonism was founded. However, he never intended this to allow everyone AFTER 1830, who had already heard the Mormon gospel, to have a second chance at the celestial kingdom." (Pg. 99)

Joseph Smith and his Book of Mormon, let alone the cult founded upon them, fall apart in so many ways theologically (whoever "inspired" Smith, it certainly wasn't an angel of YAWEH, JEHOVAH, God, the Creator behind the Bible, or any other name for Him), and historically (the Bible has plenty of archaelogical evidence to support its versions of events, where's the slightest shred of evidence of the civilization supposedly chronicled by Smith?) that it's amazing to know anyone can think about it logically and still believe it. Having read this book and researched the LDS church and its history and beliefs, I found it to be both accurate and understandable. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the topic. In fact, I'm sending a copy to a friend who just moved to Salt Lake City, so she'll have references for the issues she discusses with the missionaries. I just wish I could be there to hear the conversation.

I tried some of the questions on a couple of my mormon friends; and to my surprise, I was the one looking stupid. I think this book remarkably underestimates the the intellect of typical mormons,or at least the ones I know. Im not really sure why the author would publish such a book, other than hoping to earn a buck, because the mormon's I know are some of the greatest advocates of doing good to others. The world could learn some good lessons by their examples.