Customer Reviews

Strangers at Your Door: How to Respond to Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, Televangelists, Cults and More

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If anything can be said about this work, it is that it tries to cover too much for a book of its size. The unfortunate result is that so many of the topics get a mere glossing, consequently, it doesn't always deliver on the "How to respond" part implied in the title.

The opening chapters briefly discuss ecumenism, fundamental Catholic beliefs (the creed, etc.), and key scriptural texts that support critical dogmas. Finally, there is discussion on approaching apologetics with a spirit of charity before moving on to the meat of the book, what to do with "Strangers at your Door."

The meat begins with the Jehovah's Witnesses. In about 20 pages, there is a brief history of the sect, an outline of its key beliefs, and common arguments that the Witnesses use to persuade potential converts to their point of view. Nevins does an adequate job of providing orthodox rebuttals to these propositions.

Next come the Mormons, about the same number of pages are devoted to history and doctrines. Nevins discusses the extra challenge of "reasoning from Scripture" presented by these missionaries, since they consider the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God, while the same can be of the Bible only insofar as it is "correctly translated."

Nevins points out that terms like salvation, baptism, and even God have radically different meanings to both these groups than may be expected by orthodox Christians. This demonstrates that individuals must have their terms correctly understood to avoid "talking past each other."

The rest of the book is rather disappointing from the perspective of "apologetics," though somewhat useful from an informational perspective. There are very brief discussions of The Way, Baha'i, Hare Krishna, and Moonies.

This reviewer found it odd that the Church of Christ, and some of the more common Televangelists are included in the book -- again more from an informational perspective rather than apologetical -- since he apparently is trying to focus on those sects far removed from orthodoxy. In his conclusion Nevins acknowledges this point, and mentions that it is not his "purpose to make them all equal, only to stress that they are out to capture you in one way or another."
In the final analysis, the reader is left wishing that the author would have been a tad more focussed on fewer topics, because while the information provided is certainly good, this reviewer left the table hungry for more.

Great little book, I wish there would have been more, but I can't complain the book shed light on some things I did not Know. Perfect to answer the gullible and Clueless out there and the most outrageous heretics, Sad that people like to "pick and Choose" to their liking what being a Christian means to them, and Accuse the Church of being pagans. Ignorance is sad. Perfect for the Catholic already sure of his religion or for the open minded not for the weak.

This is an easy to read book, which will give you a good overview of how to handle Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, etc. If you become interested you can always go on to more detailed books. But, this is a great start.

Albert J. Nevins is a Catholic priest, who has also written books such as Answering a Fundamentalist, Our American Catholic Heritage, Catholicism: The Faith of Our Fathers, etc.

He writes in the Introduction to this 1988 book, "The purpose of this book is to show you what you must believe to be a Catholic Christian, to explain how the teachings of these modern sects differ from traditional beliefs, to demonstrate that many of these sects or cults are but counterfeits of true Christianity, and to give you the means to reach out to these well-meaning but mistaken adherents and try to win them to your own beliefs."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"It was (Frederick) Franz who was to succeed (Nathan) Knorr when the latter died in 1972, becoming the first Witness leader to have had any college training. This lack of education of Witness leadership has given the movement an anti-intellectualism that appeals to others who have not gone beyond high school. It also makes for docile recruits who are unwilling to question the teachings of their leadership." (Pg. 36)
"However, the Witnesses will use society's structures when it benefits them, e.g., civil suits brought by the sect." (Pg. 42)
"It is true that Christmas is an artificial feast because we do not know what day Jesus was born. Some scholars think it may even have been in the spring of the year. It is a date the Catholic Church chose arbitrarily to commemorate Christ's birth. The date chosen did replace a pagan feast of the winter solstice, but the new feast was a Christian feast." (Pg. 43)
"It is not recommended that 'Gentiles' argue doctrine with Mormons unless they are expert in it. The young missionary may present a specific teaching that can be challenged or responded to on occasion, but the danger here is that you will be led into peripheral issues which do not settle anything. Besides, most people will be at a disadvantage, since the Mormon has been prepared in these matters." (Pg. 69)
"Some years ago when Pat Boone, a Church of Christ member, mentioned in an interview that he believed in speaking in tongues, both he and his wife were disfellowshipped from the Church of Christ." (Pg. 82)
"An annual survey revealed that in an average week almost fifty percent of the American population turned on at least one electronic religious program while only forty percent attended a church service." (Pg. 91)

This tiny book makes some fun reading on the sincere but hilarious kooks that parade and tout their money-making "religions" at your door and through your airwaves. Each "religion" is given an introduction and the irrationality of believing in each of them looks obvious. Not a comprehensive study though.

You have seen these guys on your doorstep, so instead of calling the cops, call AMAZON.COM and buy this book. YOu can match wits, if you are equal to the task. And boy, they will get it.

It covers all the topics in about as many pages. YOu will buy this book, by the time I amdone, so you can talk and speak with these guys. Share your mind, as I tell you!