FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Countercult ministries/Tower to Truth Ministries/50 Questions to Ask Mormons
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Answers to "50 Questions to Ask Mormons"
Summary: According to Tower to Truth Ministries, "Questions are a great way to witness to Mormons. Most cultists will turn you off if you begin to preach to them, however, asking questions gives them hope that you are genuinely interested in learning more about their religion. It also is a great way to get them thinking about things they may have never thought about and researching into the false teachings of their church." So, these questions are insincerely asked in order to "give us hope" that the questioner is genuinely interested in knowing more about Mormonism, with the real intent being to get us to research the "false teachings" of our church. FAIR addresses the answers to this list of 50 disingenuous questions.
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| 50 Questions to Ask Mormons |
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Summary
Anti-Mormon literature tends to recycle the same themes. Some ministries are using a series of fifty questions, which they believe will help "cultists" like the Mormons. One ministry seems to suggest that such questions are a good way to deceive Latter-day Saints, since the questions "give...them hope that you are genuinely interested in learning more about their religion."
This ministry tells its readers what their real intent should be with their Mormon friend: "to get them thinking about things they may have never thought about and researching into the false teachings of their church." Thus, the questions are not sincere attempts to understand what the Latter-day Saints believe, but are a smokescreen or diversionary tactic to introduce anti-Mormon material.[1]
The questions are not difficult to answer, nor are they new. This page provides links to answers to the questions. It should be noted that the questions virtually all do at least one of the following:
- misunderstand or misread LDS doctrine or scripture;
- give unofficial material the status of official belief;
- assume that Mormons must have inerrantist ideas about scripture or prophets like conservative evangelical Protestants do;
- apply a strict standard to LDS ideas, but use a double standard to avoid condemning the Bible or their own beliefs if the standard was applied fairly to both.
NOTE: It should be remembered that this particular list of questions was put together by an Evangelical Christian ministry. The answers provided here by FairMormon are directed to Christians of any denomination who might use such a list or to Mormon Christians who might be bothered by such a list. There are also secular critics of the Church who would not be bothered by or have any use for many of the questions on this list. We recognize that the answers provided here may not be satisfactory to such individuals; that is fine. If anyone knows of such critical lists produced by secularists or secular organizations, we would be interested to know about them and might consider them for similar treatment.
Responses to "50 Questions to Ask Mormons
To view responses to individual questions, please click on the links below.
Response to section "Questions About LDS Prophets"
Jump to Subtopic:
- Response to claim: "1. Why does the Mormon church still teach that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God after he made a false prophecy about a temple built in Missouri in his generation"
- Response to claim: "2. Since the time when Brigham Young taught that both the moon and the sun were inhabited by people, has the Mormon church ever found scientific evidence of that to be true?"
- Response to claim: "3. Why did Brigham Young teach that Adam is "our Father and our God" when both the Bible and the Book of Mormon say that Adam is a creation of God?"
- Response to claim: "4. If Brigham Young was a true prophet, how come one of your later prophets overturned his declaration which stated that the black man could never hold the priesthood in the LDS Church until after the resurrection of all other races?"
- Response to claim: "5. Since the Bible's test of determine whether someone is a true prophet of God is 100% accuracy in all his prophecies (Deuteronomy 18:20-22), has the LDS Church ever reconsidered its teaching that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were true prophets?"
- Response to claim: "6. Since the current LDS prophets sometimes contradict the former ones, how do you decide which one is correct?"
- Response to claim: "7. Since there are several different contradictory accounts of Joseph Smith's first vision, how did the LDS Church choose the correct one?"
- Response to claim: "8. Can you show me in the Bible the LDS teaching that we must all stand before Joseph Smith on the Day of Judgment?"
Response to section "Questions About LDS Scripture (excluding the Bible)"
Jump to Subtopic:
- Response to claim: 9. "Can you show me archeological and historical proof from non-Mormon sources that prove that the peoples and places named in the Book of Mormon are true?"
- Response to claim: "10. If the words 'familiar spirit' in Isaiah 29:4 refer to the Book of Mormon, why does 'familiar spirit' always refer to occult practices such as channeling and necromancy everywhere else in the Old Testament?"
- Response to claim: "11. Why did Joseph Smith condone polygamy as an ordinance from God (D. & C. 132) when the Book of Mormon had already condemned the practice?"
- Response to claim: "12. Why were the words 'white and delightsome' in 2 Nephi 30:6 changed to 'pure and delightsome' right on the heels of the Civil Rights campaign for blacks?"
- Response to claim: "13. If God is an exalted man with a body of flesh and bones, why does Alma 18:26-28 and John 4:24 say that God is a spirit?"
- Response to claim: "14. Why did God encourage Abraham & Sarah to lie in Abraham 2:24?"
- Response to claim: "15. Why does the Book of Mormon state that Jesus was born in Jerusalem (Alma 7:10) when history and the Bible state that he was born outside of Jerusalem, in Bethlehem?"
- Response to claim: "16. If the Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on earth, as Joseph Smith said, why does it contain over 4000 changes from the original 1830 edition?"
- Response to claim: "17. If the Book of Mormon contains the "fulness of the everlasting gospel," why does the LDS Church need additional works?"
- Response to claim: "18. If the Book of Mormon contains the 'fulness of the everlasting gospel,' why doesn't it say anything about so many important teachings such as eternal progression, celestial marriage, the Word of Wisdom, the plurality of Gods, the pre-existence of man, our mother in heaven, baptism for the dead, etc?"
- Response to claim: "19. Why do you baptize for the dead when both Mosiah 3:25 and the Bible state that there is no chance of salvation after death?"
- Response to claim: "20. Since the word grace means a free gift that can't be earned, why does the Book of Mormon state "for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do?"
- Response to claim: "21. Does the LDS Church still regard the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price as Holy Scripture even after several prominent Egyptologists proved it was an ancient funeral scroll?"
- Response to claim: "22. Why does the Book of Abraham, chapters 4 & 5, contradict Alma 11 in stating that there is more than one God?"
- Response to claim: "23. Why does D. & C. 42:18 say there is no forgiveness for a murderer when 3 Nephi 30:2 says there is forgiveness for him?"
- Response to claim: "24. If the Adam-God doctrine isn't true, how come D. & C. 27:11 calls Adam the Ancient of Days which is clearly a title for God in Daniel Chapter 7?"
- Response to claim: "25. Why does the Book of Mormon contain extensive, word-for-word quotes from the Bible if the LDS Church is correct in teaching that the Bible has been corrupted?"
- Response to claim: "26. Why do the Bible verses quoted in the Book of Mormon contain the italicized words from the King James Version that were added into the KJV text by the translators in the 16th and 17th centuries?"
- Response to claim: "27. If the Book of Mormon was engraved on gold plates thousands of years ago, why does it read in perfect 1611 King James Version English?"
Response to section "Questions About the Bible"
Jump to Subtopic:
- Response to claim: "28. If marriage is essential to achieve exaltation, why did Paul say that it is good for a man not to marry?"
- Response to claim: "29. Since the Word of Wisdom teaches us to abstain from alcohol, why did Paul encourage Timothy to drink wine for the stomach?"
- Response to claim: "30. If obeying the Word of Wisdom-which tells us to abstain from coffee, tea, alcohol and tobacco—is important for our exaltation, why did Jesus say that there is nothing that can enter a man to make him defiled?"
- Response to claim: "31. If Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament and Elohim is referred to as God in the Old Testament, can you explain Deuteronomy 6:4 to me "Hear, O Israel: the Lord (Jehovah) our God (Elohim) is one Lord (Jehovah)?"
- Response to claim: "32. Why does the Mormon Church teach that we can be married in heaven when Jesus said in Matthew 22:30 that in the resurrection man neither marry, nor are they given in marriage?"
- Response to claim: "33. How can worthy Mormon males become Gods in the afterlife when God already said that before him no God was formed, nor will there be any Gods formed after him?"
- Response to claim: "34. If God had a father who was a God, how come Isaiah 44:8 says that he doesn't know him?"
- Response to claim: "35. If God was once just a man who progressed to becoming a God, how do you explain Psalm 90:2:…'even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God'"
- Response to claim: "36. How can God be an exalted man when Numbers 23:19 says that God is not a man?"
- Response to claim: "37. Why does the Mormon Church teach that Elohim had sexual relations with Mary to produce Jesus when both Matthew and Luke teach she was a virgin?"
- Response to claim: "38. Why does the LDS Church teach that Jesus paid for our sins in the garden of Gethsemane when 1 Peter 2:24 says that it was on the cross?"
- Response to claim: "39. Why did Bruce McConkie write that a man may commit a sin so grievous that it will place him beyond the atoning blood of Christ (Mormon Doctrine, 1979, p. 93) when the Bible says that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin?"
- Response to claim: "40. Why does the LDS Church teach that man first existed as spirits in heaven when 1 Corinthians 15:46 says that the physical body comes before the spiritual?"
- Response to claim: "41. Since Jesus statement, 'be ye therefore perfect' (Matthew 5:48) is in the present tense, are you perfect right now? Do you expect to be perfect soon?"
- Response to claim: "42. Why do Mormons say the sticks in Ezekiel 37 represent the Bible and the Book of Mormon when Ezekiel 37:20-22 tells us that the sticks represent two nations, not two books?"
- Response to claim: "43. Why does the LDS Church teach that Jesus and Lucifer are spirit brothers when both the first chapter of John and Colossians teach that Jesus is the Creator of all things, including Lucifer?"
- Response to claim: "44. Why do worthy Mormon males hold the Aaronic Priesthood since Hebrews 7:11-12 clearly teaches that it was changed and superseded by something better?"
- Response to claim: "45. If your leaders are correct about the complete falling away of the true church on earth, was Jesus in error when he said that the gates of hell would not prevail against it?"
Response to section "Miscellaneous / General Questions"
Jump to Subtopic:
- Response to claim: "46. If having a physical body is necessary to become a god, how did Jesus become a god before he had a body?"
- Response to claim: "47. Do you think the LDS Church will reconsider its teachings that the American Indians are descendants of the Jewish race now that DNA has proven that they are actually descendants of the Asian race?"
- Response to claim: "48. If polygamy was officially re-instituted by the Mormon Church, how would your wife feel about you taking another woman?"
- Response to claim: "49. Since the LDS Church teaches that there was a complete apostasy of the true church on earth, does that mean that the 3 living Nephites and the Apostle John went into apostasy also?"
- Response to claim: "50. Why are Mormon Temple ceremonies secret to the public when the Old Testament temple ceremonies were open to public knowledge?"
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