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.
Category:The Changing World of Mormonism
Responses to claims made in The Changing World of Mormonism by Jerald and Sandra Tanner
Pages in category "The Changing World of Mormonism"
The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 263 total.
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- Biblical inerrancy
- Book of Jubilees 12:1-8: "Abram said to Terah his father...What help and profit have we from those idols which thou dost worship...And his father said unto him...Keep silent, my son, lest they slay thee"
- Brigham Young (1855): "I do not even believe that there is a single revelation, among the many God has given to the Church, that is perfect in its fulness"
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- George A. Smith (1868): "revealed to Joseph by the ministration of angels, the true condition of the religious world"
- Godfrey: "Martin found a rock closely resembling the seerstone Joseph sometimes used in place of the interpreters and substituted it without the Prophet’s knowledge"
- Gospel Topics: "Even after 1852, at least two black Mormons continued to hold the priesthood"
- Gospel Topics: "Joseph Smith and his associates often used the term 'Urim and Thummim' to refer to the single stone as well as the interpreters"
- Gospel Topics: "Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects actions in a premortal life"
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- John Taylor (2 March 1879): "the Father and the Son...came to Joseph Smith" and "the Prophet Joseph asked the angel"
- John Whitmer (1876): "I have never heard that any one of the three or eight witnesses ever denied the testimony that they have borne to the Book as published in the first edition of the Book of Mormon"
- Joseph Smith's marriage to Helen Mar Kimball
- Juncker (1994): "Unknown to many, the early church fathers often referred to Jesus as an Angel....in antiquity the word 'angel' meant 'messenger'"
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- Matthew Brown (2009): "Brigham Young repeated these ideas and expounded upon them during the next 25 years. His viewpoints have been variously classified as doctrine, theory, paradox, heresy, speculation, and some of the mysteries"
- Muhlestein and Gee: "It is now apparent that human sacrifice did indeed occur in ancient Egypt"
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- Question: Are Christians monotheists?
- Question: Are Mormons polytheists because they don't accept the Nicene Creed?
- Question: Are the ''Lectures on Faith'' not made available through Latter-day Saint sources?
- Question: Are the original Temple Lot Case transcripts available online?
- Question: Are there any Biblical parallels to Joseph Smith's understanding of the use of seer stones?
- Question: Are there any eyewitness accounts of the events that resulted in the trip to Canada to sell the Book of Mormon copyright?
- Question: Are there sources which identify the angel that visited Joseph as "Moroni" that date prior to the "Nephi" error?
- Question: Are there women who would be among those cast into outer darkness? Are there female "Sons of Perdition"?
- Question: At the Reed Smoot Senate hearings, did Joseph F. Smith tesify that he never received revelation?
- Question: Can the Holy Ghost not be fully God, because he does not have a physical body?
- Question: Could the list of items on Joseph's person at the time of his death have been incomplete?
- Question: Did Brigham Young attempt to suppress and destroy all copies of Lucy Mack Smith's ''Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith''?
- Question: Did Brigham Young believe that one could not enter the Celestial Kingdom unless they were a polygamist?
- Question: Did Brigham Young boast about his ability to get more wives even though he was married to 50-60 women?
- Question: Did Brigham Young say that race mixing was punishable by death?
- Question: Did Brigham Young tell Henry Jacobs in front of hundreds of people that he needed to find another wife?
- Question: Did Brigham Young violate the Word of Wisdom by using snuff, tobacco, and tea?
- Question: Did ceremonies or practices ever change in the ancient Church?
- Question: Did Dee F. Green say that there is no such thing as Book of Mormon archaeology?
- Question: Did early Church leaders state that the Book of Mormon condemns polygamy?
- Question: Did early Mormon leaders believe that Jesus Christ was a polygamist?
- Question: Did early Mormon leaders teach that apostasy was the unforgivable sin, and that the only thing an apostate could do to redeem himself was to give his own life, willingly or unwillingly?
- Question: Did George A. Smith pray that the Lord would kill the mobbers that were attacking the Saints?
- Question: Did George A. Smith report that some church members left the church after finding that their leaders drank tea and coffee?
- Question: Did God tell David Whitmer to leave the Church and repudiate Mormonism?
- Question: Did Heber C. Kimball claim that the apostles killed Judas?
- Question: Did Heber C. Kimball curse the president of the United States?
- Question: Did Helen Mar Kimball "confess" to having marital relations with Joseph?
- Question: Did Joseph hide his plural marriages from Emma, his first wife?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith and Brigham Young steal Henry Jacobs' family?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith attempt to "cover up" Oliver Cowdery's work with a divining rod by changing the wording of the revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 8:6–8?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith being sealed to mothers, daughters and sisters violate a biblical prohibition?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith copy the name "Nephi" from the Apocrypha?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith endorse slavery?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith ever publicly attempt to teach the doctrine of plural marriage?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith give some of the brethren money to purchase whiskey in violation of the Word of Wisdom?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith have a Jupiter talisman on his person at the time of his death?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith originally identify the angel that visited him as "Nephi" instead of "Moroni"?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith perform marriages between brothers and sisters?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith place his seer stone in his hat while looking for lost objects?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith plagiarize Josiah Priest's ''The Wonders of Nature and Providence Displayed''?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith plagiarize Shakespeare?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith prophesy that Jesus Christ would return in 1890?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith receive a revelation instructing him to to sell the copyright to the Book of Mormon in Canada and later claim that the revelation was false?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith set up a bar to sell liquor in Nauvoo?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith state that the moon was inhabited, and that its inhabitants were dressed like Quakers?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith teach animal sacrifice as part of the "restoration of all things"?
- Question: Did Joseph utter a false prophecy and show disregard for the Word of Wisdom in telling Orson Hyde that he would drink wine with him in Palestine?
- Question: Did Lorenzo Snow state that polygamy was actually adultery prior to 1843?
- Question: Did Oliver Cowdery ever deny his Book of Mormon witness because he thought that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet?
- Question: Did Oliver Cowdery state that Joseph did not know if a "supreme being" existed in 1823?
- Question: Did some Church leaders teach that plural marriage was a practice that would persist forever?
- Question: Did some of Joseph Smith's associates believe that he had an affair with Fanny Alger?
- Question: Did the Church suppress a revelation given to Joseph Smith in 1831 which encouraged the implementation of polygamy by intermarriage with the Indians in order to make them a “white and delightsome” people?
- Question: Didn't Hugh Nibley claim that a record of this trial would be "the most damning evidence in existence" against Joseph Smith?
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints ("Mormons") actually believe that they are morally, ethically, spiritually superior to others?
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe in a female divine person, a "Heavenly Mother" as counterpart to God, the Heavenly Father?
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe that the scriptural terms "church of the devil," the "great and abominable church," and the "whore of all the earth" refer to a specific religion?
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe that they will one day 'supplant' God?
- Question: Do Mormons believe Jesus Christ was a polygamist?
- Question: Do Mormons believe that Mary was still a virgin when Jesus was born?
- Question: Do Mormons believe that the Bible has less value because it contains errors?
- Question: Do Mormons who do not eat meat "sparingly" violate the Word of Wisdom?
- Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 84 say that one cannot see God without holding the priesthood?
- Question: Does Jesus Christ's statement "they neither marry, nor are given in marriage" contradict the Latter-day Saint doctrine of eternal marriage?
- Question: Does the 14 November 1835 account reference to the "first vision of Angels" mean that Joseph Smith did not see Deity?
- Question: Does the Bible condemn genealogical research?
- Question: Does the Bible prohibit polygamous marriages involving a mother and daughter?
- Question: Does the Book of Mormon refute Joseph Smith on the nature of God?
- Question: Does the Book of Mormon support the idea that "eternal" or "endless" punishment can be temporary?
- Question: Does the Book of Mormon teach that Christ and the Father are a single individual expressing himself in different modes?
- Question: Does the Book of Mormon teach that God is a spirit?
- Question: Does the practice of baptism for the dead have ancient roots?
- Question: Does the Smithsonian Institution send out a letter regarding the use of the Book of Mormon as a guide for archaeological research?
- Question: Has the Church hidden the fact that Joseph fired a gun while in Carthage Jail?
- Question: Have edits to the revelations been discussed in the present day?
- Question: How can 1 Nephi 22:15 in the Book of Mormon quote Malachi 4:1 hundreds of years before Malachi was written?
- Question: How can the Book of Mormon contain the "fulness of the Gospel" if it does not speak of ordinances such as baptism for the dead or celestial marriage?
- Question: How did Emma Hale Smith react to Joseph's practice of plural marriage?
- Question: How did Heber and Vilate Kimball receive a divine manifestation regarding plural marriage?
- Question: How did Joseph Smith use his seer stones as a youth?
- Question: How did the "curse of Ham" or "curse of Cain" become associated with Mormonism?
- Question: How did the erroneous story of the attempt to sell the Book of Mormon copyright develop over time?
- Question: How do the goals of Freemasonry compare to those of the Latter-day Saint endowment?
- Question: How does David Whitmer's account of the attempt to sell the Book of Mormon copyright compare to those of the eyewitnesses?
- Question: How many seer stones did Joseph Smith have in his possession?
- Question: How were Joseph Smith's seer stones involved in the translation of the Book of Mormon?
- Question: How would a statement that "God is a spirit" be interpreted in ancient Judasism?
- Question: I've seen Temple Lot court transcripts online. Are these not accurate?
- Question: If Gordon B. Hinckley were a true prophet, why did he not discern the nature of the Hofmann forgeries?
- Question: If the Doctrine and Covenants contained quotations from God, why would Joseph Smith later edit God's words?
- Question: In the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, why is each Egyptian character matched to an entire paragraph of English text?
- Question: Is interracial marriage prohibited or condemned within the Church?
- Question: Is it ever allowable to modify a religious ceremony?
- Question: Is it possible that Joseph Smith is not a martyr because, while in jail, he had a gun and he had the temerity to defend himself?
- Question: Is it true that Almon Babbitt "followed Joseph" in violating the Word of Wisdom?
- Question: Is it true that Joseph killed two men by firing at the mob?
- Question: Is it true that Mormons believe the original Garden of Eden was located in Missouri?
- Question: Is Joseph Smith papyri Facsimile 1 common and similar to other such scenes?
- Question: Is plural marriage required in order to achieve exaltation?
- Question: Is temple work a form of "ancestor worship"?
- Question: Is the Bible without error?
- Question: Is the Book of Mormon not an ancient work because it contains "Greek words" such as "alpha and omega" or "Christ"?
- Question: Is the Church "embarrassed" by the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible?
- Question: Is there a cave in the Hill Cumorah containing the Nephite records?
- Question: Is there a contradiction between the Old Testament concept of "cursing" enemies and Latter-day Saint scriptures stating that we should "bless" our enemies?
- Question: Is there anything wrong with early Church leaders using the term "angel" to refer to Jesus Christ?
- Question: Was condemning Joseph Smith a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
- Question: Was counterfeiting a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
- Question: Was Emma aware of the possibility that Joseph could take additional wives even without her consent?
- Question: Was George A. Smith unaware that the Father and Son appeared to Joseph Smith during the First Vision?
- Question: Was Heber C. Kimball concerned that missionaries would "take all the best" convert women as plural wives before they returned to Salt Lake City?
- Question: Was Helen Mar Kimball's marriage to Joseph Smith ever consummated?
- Question: Was Joseph Smith anointed to be "King over the earth" by the Council of Fifty?
- Question: Was Joseph Smith's 1832 prophecy of the Civil War invalid because a civil war was "inevitable," and "anyone" could have predicted it?
- Question: Was Joseph Smith's prophecy that the Independence, Missouri temple "shall be reared in this generation" a failed prophecy?
- Question: Was lying a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
- Question: Was murder a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
- Question: Was Oliver Cowdery aware that some in the Church were practicing polygamy in 1835 at the time he authored the "Article on Marriage"?
- Question: Was stealing a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
- Question: Was the content of Alma Chapter 40 derived from a Presbyterian document called ''The Westminster Confession''?
- Question: Was the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' legal?
- Question: Was the idea that Blacks were neutral in the "war in heaven" ever official doctrine?
- Question: Was the Joseph Smith Translation intended to be a restoration of original Bible text?
- Question: Was the practice of polygamy general knowledge among Latter-day Saints in 1835 when the "Article on Marriage" was published?
- Question: Was the revelation comprising the current Doctrine and Covenants 27 altered to include mention of the priesthood restoration?
- Question: Was the United Order simply a form of communism?
- Question: Was the young Joseph Smith a teller of "tall tales"?
- Question: Was Thomas Stuart Ferguson an archaeologist?
- Question: Was using the name of the Lord in vain a crime that was "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
- Question: Was William McClellin disappointed in the endowment at the Kirtland Temple?
- Question: Were adultery and immorality crimes that were "worthy of death" among 19th century Mormons?
- Question: Were apostates secretly put to death by "blood atonement" during the administration of Brigham Young?
- Question: Were curses pronounced upon the enemies of Mormonism in the Kirtland Temple?
- Question: Were the changes to the revelations hidden from the Church members?
- Question: Were the Kirtland Egyptian Papers and Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar produced prior to the Book of Abraham?
- Question: Were the Lectures on Faith revelations?
- Question: Were there witnesses to the revelation that ended the priesthood ban?
- Question: What are the "curse of Cain" and the "curse of Ham"?
- Question: What are the differences between the Strangite witness statements and those of the Three and Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon?
- Question: What are the Kirtland Egyptian Papers and Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language?
- Question: What are the Lectures on Faith?
- Question: What are the reasons for the changes to the Doctrine and Covenants?
- Question: What are the two 1835 First Vision accounts that refer to angels?
- Question: What changes were made to the 1837 edition of the Book of Mormon?
- Question: What criticisms are put forth regarding the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood?
- Question: What criticisms are related to Oliver Cowdery's 1834-1835 history of the Church?
- Question: What did B.H. Roberts say about ''View of the Hebrews'' and the Book of Mormon?
- Question: What did Brigham Young say that leads one to believe that he denied the First Vision?
- Question: What did early Christians think about alterations to the scriptures?
- Question: What did Isaac Hale claim about Joseph Smith in the Hurlbut affidavits?
- Question: What did Joseph Smith's seer stones look like?
- Question: What did Martin Harris's non-Mormon associates say about his character?
- Question: What did the husband of Sarah Ann Whitney know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Zina D. Huntington know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What does it mean when it is said that the Book of Mormon contains the "fulness of the gospel?"
- Question: What does Lecture 5 of the Lectures on Faith say about the nature of God?
- Question: What does the lion couch scene in Book of Abraham Facsimile 1 normally represent?
- Question: What events resulted in Joseph Smith's 1826 court appearance in South Bainbridge?
- Question: What evidence demonstrates that the Bible has been altered?
- Question: What happened to Joseph Smith's seer stones?
- Question: What happened to Josiah Stowell? Did he conclude he had been defrauded after the court hearing?
- Question: What is "blood atonement"?
- Question: What is Adam-ondi-Ahman?
- Question: What is baptism for the dead?
- Question: What is Joseph Smith's 1826 South Bainbridge "trial" for "glasslooking"?
- Question: What is Lorenzo Snow claimed to have said about plural marriages being adultery prior to 1843?
- Question: What is the Adam-God Theory?
- Question: What is the date of the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood?
- Question: What is the meaning of "eternal" life?
- Question: What is the nature of "endless" or "eternal" punishment?
- Question: What is the source of the story about Joseph Smith possessing a Jupiter talisman?
- Question: What possible modern lessons can we learn from Emma and Joseph's struggle with plural marriage?
- Question: What references to the First Vision exist in published documents from the 1830s?
- Question: What religious excitement was occurring in Palmyra in 1820?
- Question: What testimonies were offered regarding the revelation that ended the priesthood ban?
- Question: What to Latter-day Saints believe regarding the concept of "original sin"?
- Question: What was the Council of Fifty?
- Question: What were Helen Mar Kimball's views on plural marriage?
- Question: When did a biblical curse become associated with the "Hamites?"
- Question: When did Joseph Smith demonstrate knowledge of the elements of the endowment ritual?