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Response to "Mormonism 101"

Response to claims made in "Mormonism 101" by Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson

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• Introduction to Mormonism 101: Back to School by David Waltz

Introduction to Mormonism 101: Back to School by David Waltz

Summary: I have been an ardent student of Mormonism since 1987. It has been my intent, from the beginning of my studies, to be as objective as humanly possible in my examination. I have seriously studied Mormonism from many different angles. In the process, I have accumulated more than 1,700 books on Mormonism, including more than 150 anti-Mormon books. Add to this my collection of BYU Studies, Dialogue, Sunstone, and the vast majority of FARMS publications, and one could say I have a fairly substantial Mormon collection. I guess word of my studies has "gotten around," and I have been asked to contribute to FAIR's review of McKeever and Johnson's Mormonism 101.

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 1: God the Father"

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• Response to claim: 23 - the God proclaimed by the Mormon Church is not the same God who is worshiped by millions of Christians today
• Response to claim: 24 - LDS leaders have stated that "worship of the God of Christianity's creeds will not result in salvation"
• Response to claim: 25 - "To be sure, historical Christianity has never advocated the belief in a tangible deity"
• Response to claim 25-27 - "the LDS Elohim sexually created spirit children with his heavenly wives"
• Response to claim: 28 - The authors ask if it is the Church's position that God did not know whether Adam and Eve would transgress His commandment
• Response to claim: 31 - "Mormonism's view of God is both implausible and unbiblical"
• Response to claim: 32 - The authors compare their idea of LDS theology with the Evangelical doctrine of God's transcendence
• Response to claim: 33-34 - The authors state that Gordon B. Hinckley "made it not clear on whether such a concept was part of Mormon belief"
• Response to claim: 35- The authors claim that Mormons believe that "God could stop being God"
• Response to claim: The authors claim that "Mormonism has reintroduced polytheism to the modern world"
• Response to claim: 36 - The authors claim that the "Mormon God" is limited to creating only out of existing matter
• Response to claim: 37 - "God of Mormonism cannot be personally present everywhere because he dwells in a finite body"

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 2: Jesus"

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• Response to claim: 40 - The authors repeat the common claim that, because Latter-day Saints differ in understanding the traits of the Lord Jesus Christ, they worship "a different Jesus"
• Response to claim: 41 - "We cannot imagine, for instance, a Baptist telling a Lutheran, 'Our Jesus is basically the one Lutherans worship.' A Presbyterian would not tell a Methodist that he does not believe in the traditional Christ"
• Response to claim: 41 - "Proper belief in the person of Jesus Christ has always been considered essential to Christian fellowship"
• Response to claim: 42 - "the Mormon Jesus, by becoming a god without having to live a human life on a previous planet, did something that his own 'father' could not accomplish"
• Response to claim: 42 - "How could Jesus obtain godhood in the preexistence when the whole purpose of the mortal probation is supposedly to test the individual's worthiness to become a god?"
• Response to claim: 43-45 - The authors claim that it is official LDS doctrine that Jesus was born because God had sexual intercourse with Mary
• Response to claim: 45 - The assertion that Jesus Christ is God because of His "continued obedience to gospel laws" is in fact, a "diminishing of Jesus"
• Response to claim: 46-48 - The authors claim that the LDS believe Jesus Christ and Lucifer are brothers in the sense that both are in evil cahoots with each other
• Response to claim: 48 - The authors claim that the "Jesus of Mormonism is but one of many saviors"
• Response to claim: 48-49 - The authors take issue with the belief that some Latter-day Saints have that Jesus Christ was married

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 3: The Trinity"

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• Response to claim: 51 - Several church councils, in which men fought for their own theories, foisted upon the Church the incomprehensible and unnatural doctrine of "one in three and three in one"
• Response to claim: 51-52 - The authors claim that "Mormon leaders" have "mocked and slandered" the concept of the Trinity despite it being "the heart and soul of Christian theology"
• Response to claim: 53 - The Bible "declares that there is only one God"
• Response to claim: 53 - The commandment "Thou shalt have not other gods before me" it interpreted by the authors to mean that "one is not to even believe that there are other gods"
• Response to claim: 53 - The Mormon may insist his worship does not extend beyond the one he calls Elohim, but context demands that this must also involve his faith
• Response to claim: 53-54 - The Book of Isaiah offers perhaps more verses in defence of monotheism than any other
• Response to claim: 54 - the LDS idea of deification is unbiblical
• Response to claim: 54 - the LDS Church rejects the historic church's concept of the Trinity
• Response to claim: 54-55 - Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And he answered, No
• Response to claim: 56 - "the Trinity was not an invention of the early church; rather, it was a definitive response designed to explain the biblical position of the church"
• Response to claim: 57 - Mormons believe that the Trinity was "an invention of the apostate church," while Christianity believes it is "a doctrine that came from biblical origins"

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 4: Preexistence and the Second Estate"

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• Response to claim: 67-68 - President Joseph F. Smith considered birth control "one of the greatest crimes of the world today," and David O. McKay considered it "insidious"
• Response to claim: 68-69 - Those who believe in the Bible cannot believe in life before life

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 5: The Fall"

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• Response to claim: 72-74 - The authors claim that Mormons believe that the Fall of Adam was a "fall upward"
• Response to claim: 74 - "Contrary to the LDS concept of the fall, the Bible shows that this event was the result of disobeying God"
• Response to claim: 74 - "If transgression was a positive and it was a blessing to leave Eden, why does Genesis 3:24 say that God had to drive them out?"
• Response to claim: 74-75 - Mormons believe that "Satan was telling the truth" when he told Eve that she "shall be as gods"
• Response to claim: 76 - According to the authors, Mormons distinguish between "sin" and "transgression" in order to "minimize the severity of Adam's disobedience"
• Response to claim: 76-77 -Joseph Smith equated "sin" and "transgression"
• Response to claim: 77 - The authors claim that Mormons believe that "Satan told the truth in the Garden of Eden," as opposed to Christianity, which believes that "Satan deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden"

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 6: Apostasy"

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• Response to claim: 81 - "While some apostasies were certainly predicted, a complete apostasy where God's authority fully left the earth was never predicted or implied"
• Response to claim: 82 - The stock argument used by the authors against the LDS case for a complete apostasy appeals to a single verse in Matthew: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"
• Response to claim: 83 - "The 'apostles and prophets' do not necessarily mean offices, as the LDS Church implies"
• Response to claim: 84-85 - Since John the Apostle and the three Nephites did not die, then there could not have been a "complete apostasy"
• Response to claim: 293 n14 - Jesus did not say that John would not die, or that he would stay on Earth until Jesus returned
• Response to claim: 86-87 - The authors proffer a series of arguments against the LDS belief that Apostles are a necessity in the Lord's Church
• Response to claim: 87 - "In the strictest sense, apostle means 'one sent forth.' With this being the case, numerous people could have rightly held this designation"
• Response to claim: 87 - "it seems strange that God would have allowed the leaders of His church in Palestine to be so ignorant as to stop replacing martyred apostles"
• Response to claim: 89 - "The Aaronic priesthood was for the priests of the temple, as defined in the books of Moses known as the Pentateuch"
• Response to claim: 89 - The authors claim that there is a "priesthood of all believers"

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 7: The Bible"

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• Response to claim: 97 - Mormons consider the Bible to be "insufficient"
• Response to claim: 97 - "the connection between the Bible and Christianity is a reason why the LDS Church began an advertising campaign in the United States in 1997 offering free King James Version Bibles"
• Response to claim: 98 - The authors claim that Latter-day Saints don't fully read the Bible because they don't find it "trustworthy"
• Response to claim: 97-98 - The LDS Church attempts to lend itself legitimacy in the eyes of the rest of the Christian world by borrowing from the legitimacy of the Bible
• Response to claim; 98 - The authors suggest that Mormons have a lack of interest in the Bible because they think that it is not trustworthy
• Response to claim: 99 - the authors highlight four principle uses of scripture...Teaching God's truths...Rebuking others...Correcting one another...Training for righteousness
• Response to claim: 100 - "The early church gave a stamp of authority to the writings of the apostles"
• Response to claim: 100 - The First Presidency said, "The most reliable way to measure the accuracy of any biblical passage is not by comparing different texts, but by comparison with the Book of Mormon and modern-day revelations"
• Response to claim: 101 - "It is doubtful that our many modern-day translations were produced by unprincipled people who wanted to keep God's truth hidden"
• Response to claim: 101 - The authors try to show that by the term translation in the eighth Article of Faith, we really mean transmission
• Response to claim: 102- whatever test for accuracy that could be applied to James 1:5 could also be applied to every other Bible verse as well
• Response to claim: 102 - Why doesn't the Mormon prophet fix the alleged errors in the Bible?
• Response to claim: 102 - If Mormons have problems with changes made to the Bible, do they also have a problem with the many changes made to the Book of Mormon over the years?

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 8: The Book of Mormon"

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• Response to claim: 106 - Paintings of Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon plates by leaning over them in a prayerful position
• Response to claim: 107-108 - Joseph Fielding Smith said, "there is no authentic statement in the history of the Church which states that the use of such a stone was made in that translation"
• Response to claim: - (footnote) the authors claim that the Bible tells us that the Urim and Thummim was used to "receive revelation" from God not "for translation purposes" in contrast to Mormon claims
• Response to claim: 108-109 - all the witnesses were involved at one point or another in divining or the use of rods and/or seerstones
• Response to claim: 109 -The credibility of the Three Witnesses
• Response to claim: 109 - Smith did in fact have an affair with Fanny Alger
• Response to claim: 109 - Oliver Cowdery was excommunicated after accusing Joseph of "adultery, lying, and teaching false doctrines"
• Response to claim: 109 - Oliver Cowdery later joined the Methodists
• Response to claim: 109 - David Whitmer claimed that none of the three witnesses ever denied the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon
• Response to claim: 110 - David Whitmer was excommunicated from the Church
• Response to claim: 110 - Joseph drank too much liquor when he was translating the Book of Mormon
• Response to claim: 111 - the witnesses testimony of having seen the plates is suspicious
• Response to claim: 112 -the LDS Church has no tangible evidence that virtually millions of Jaredites, Nephites, and Lamanites existed during the Book of Mormon era
• Response to claim: 112-113 - Joseph Fielding Smith disagreed with the early proposals suggesting that Mesoamerica was the land of Book of Mormon activity
• Response to claim: 114 - modern LDS scholars "have since abandoned the idea that the Book of Mormon lands include areas of North America"
• Response to claim: 115-116 - Michael Coe states that nothing has ever shown up in any New World excavation which would suggest that the Book of Mormon is a historical document
• Response to claim: 115 - The authors reference the supposed Nephite altar north of Gallatin, Missouri
• Response to claim: 116 - Coe is not basing his conclusion on the spiritual significance of the Book of Mormon but on the lack of historical significance
• Response to claim: 117 - The authors claim that scholars "have been disciplined for exposing information that can be damaging" to the Church's image
• Response to claim: 117 - Archaeological support for the Bible
• Response to claim: 118 - Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon is "the most correct book on earth"
• Response to claim: 119 - "the Book of Mormon should contain everything Latter-day Saints need to guide them into the presence of God," yet it does not include the temple endowment, eternal marriage, tithing, the Word of Wisdom, and baptism for the dead
• Response to claim: 121 - The Book of Mormon does not contain the fulness of the Gospel

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 9: The Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price"

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• Response to claim: 125-126 - Doctrine and Covenants 84 "predicts" the establishment of Zion and the construction of a temple in Independence, Missouri
• Response to claim: 126 - if God was behind the revelation in D&C 84, then the Mormons could not have been driven out of Missouri by men
• Response to claim: 127 - The authors note that Great Britain never had to "call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other nations"
• Response to claim: 127 - The authors claim that the "prophetic failures" regarding the establishment of Zion and the return of Christ are the reason for Sidney Rigdon's loss of faith in Joseph Smith
• Response to claim: 127-128 - According to the authors, D&C 87, the "revelation and prophecy on war" has "numerous flaws"
• Response to claim: 128 - "many LDS leaders preached sermons during the Civil War anticipating the desolation of the United States. When that did not happen, Smith's prophecy on war was given a broader interpretation"
• Response to claim: 128 - "many LDS leaders preached sermons during the Civil War anticipating the desolation of the United States. When that did not happen, Smith's prophecy on war was given a broader interpretation"
• Response to claim: 128 - "Smith's prophecy on war did not become a part of the D&C until 1876, more than a decade after the Civil war had ended"
• Response to claim: 130 - "The fact that Joseph Smith was not an expert in hieroglyphics has led some LDS scholars to speculate that he translated the manuscript by divine inspiration"
• Response to claim: 131 - "Joseph Smith's interpretation of the facsimile #2 associated with the Joseph Smith papyri was determined to be incorrect by Egyptologists"
• Response to claim: 133 - The authors note that "vast evidence" claims that Joseph Smith didn't know how to translate Egyptian, and that LDS apologists have tried to "raise doubts" about the Joseph Smith papyri
• Response to claim: 113 - if Joseph couldn't translate the Egyptian on the papyri, then he couldn't have translated the "Reformed Egyptian" on the gold plates
• Response to claim: 134 - the discovery of the papyri "puts serious doubt on Smith's translating ability and his claim to being a prophet"

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 10: The Atonement"

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• Response to claim: 139 - Mainstream Christians and Latter-day Christians "both accept the atonement of Christ"
• Response to claim: 140 - The authors quote President Ezra Taft Benson to the effect that "it was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world"
• Response to claim: 140-148 - One of the major themes of the LDS faith is that the atonement "took place primarily in the Garden"
• Response to claim: 141 - The authors quote Bruce R. McConkie: "it was in Gethsemane that 'he suffered the pain of all men...took upon himself the sins of all men..."
• Response to claim: 141 - The authors suggest that the apparent overemphasis on the shedding of blood in the Garden rather than on the cross "no doubt is but one of several reasons why crosses cannot be found on LDS buildings"
• Response to claim: 142 - Lorenzo Snow: "He undoubtedly had seen persons nailed to the cross, because that method of execution was common at that time, and He understood the torture that such persons experienced for hours. He went by Himself in the garden and prayed to His Father"
• Response to claim: 145 - "Hebrews 9:22 states that there is no remission of sins without the shedding (not sweating) of blood"
• Response to claim: 147 - The authors quote Elder Marion G. Romney that it was in the Garden of Gethsemane "that he suffered most"
• Response to claim: 148 - The authors claim that the LDS version of the atonement frees up everyone from the effects of Adam's transgression

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 11: Grace and Works"

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• Response to claim: 150 - The authors claim that "Mormon leaders have redefined the word salvation and given it a split definition that is certainly not taught by the Bible"
• Response to claim: 151-152 - Bruce R. McConkie said that salvation by grace alone was "the second greatest heresy of Christianity"
• Response to claim: 153-154 - Latter-day Saints have unrealistic expectations with regard to achieving exaltation
• Response to claim: 155 -"Because of the unreasonable demand put on them," Mormons "may live their daily lives with the guild of never being good enough for celestial exaltation
• Response to claim: 155-156 - "Some Latter-day Saints have felt that moral lapses in obedience can be overcome in the next life. Such thinking undermines the LDS concept of a mortal probation"
• Response to claim: 156 - The authors dismiss the concept of repentance by claiming that it is inconsistent, "since it is in keeping the law that one is exalted, not admitting you broke it"
• Response to claim: 157 - he authors claim that "no Mormon will ever receive" forgiveness, since no "human has the ability to clear the desire or urge to sin out of their life"
• Response to claim: 157-158 - The authors claim that LDS leaders give "mixed signals as to whether or not perfection is necessary for exaltation"
• Response to claim: 159 - Since it is impossible to be perfect, the authors claim that "it is wrong for the LDS Church to demand complete obedience to all the laws of God in order to receive exaltation"
• Response to claim: 159-160 - The authors claim that Russell M. Nelson said that "trying was good enough," while Spencer W. Kimball contradicts this

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 12: Heaven and Hell"

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• Response to claim: 171 - The authors state that the LDS believe that "a person is destined for one of six places after death"
• Response to claim: 172 - The key to understanding LDS soteriology is to "examine the biblical proof texts the Latter-day Saints use...to support their views"
• Response to claim: 172 - "many scholars believe that Paul was referring to heavenly bodies such as the moon, sun, and stars"
• Response to claim: 172 - The next "proof text" the authors consider is 2 Corinthians 12:2-4: "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago...such a one caught up to the third heaven..."
• Response to claim: 17-174 - The authors state that Outer Darkness is reserved for those who commit murder or apostasize until they are resurrected and judged, and that those who fail to enter the Telestial kingdom after judgment will "return again to outer darkness, this time for eternity"
• Response to claim: 174-175 - The authors claim that Mormons' understanding of the Telestial Kingdom "is completely foreign to the Bible"
• Response to claim: 175-176 - "For those whose 'righteousness' will enable them to escape both outer darkness and the telestial kingdom, the next level up is a terrestrial kingdom"
• Response to claim: 177 - The authors claim that "Mormon males become gods of their newly inherited worlds" in the Celestial Kingdom
• Response to claim: 178 - LDS theology teaches that people can become angels. According to the authors, the "Bible, however, does not teach that people become angels. Angels are a distinct creation of God"
• Response to claim: 179 - "Mormon males and their goddess wives will have the ability to populate the worlds they will inherit"
• Response to claim: 179-180 - "Mormonism's heaven revolves around personal adoration and eternal sexual relations"
• Response to claim: 181 - The authors note that any "earth that a faithful Mormon hopes to eventually inherit, is predestined to be infected with sin" and that the "Mormon as 'God' will be in charge of the mess"
• Response to claim: 182-183 - "Only a people ignorant of God's righteousness can think that they can establish their own righteousness and thereby meet the standard of God's absolute perfection"
• Response to claim: 184 - The authors claim that "those who believe that personal merit will vindicate them will be horribly disappointed"

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 13: Communion and Baptism"

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• Response to claim: 191 - Claims made in The Seer by "Apostle Orson Pratt"
• Response to claim: 191-192 - Mormons should not use water in place of wine for the Sacrament
• Response to claim: 193 - one must be baptized in the LDS Church to attain "true exaltation"
• Response to claim: 194 - "true Christian baptism" did not commence until the time of John the Baptist, and that baptism is simply a "ceremonial cleansing"
• Response to claim; 197 - The authors proceed to quote Bible verses that they claim are "misused" by Latter-day Saints in order to show that baptism is a requirement

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 14: The Word of Wisdom"

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• Response to claim: 202 - “Important Mormon leaders” broke the Word of Wisdom themselves
• Response to claim: 202 - The authors claim that if the Word of Wisdom “was such an important teaching,” why wasn’t it made a “command” until 1851 by Brigham Young?
• Response to claim: 202 - Latter-day Saints now use water instead of wine for the Sacrament
• Response to claim: 203 - While most Mormons say caffeine is their reason not to drink coffee and tea, an article in the Salt Lake Tribune states that 90 percent of adults in North America consume caffeine on a regular basis through other product
• Response to claim: 203 - “The admonition to eat little meat is largely ignored, as are some other points of the revelation”
• Response to claim: 204 - The authors take Joseph Smith and Brigham Young to task for their apparent non-compliance with the precepts of the Word of Wisdom
• Response to claim: 205-206 - The authors claim that Brigham Young reported in 1873 that a store in Utah “was doing a great business in tea, coffee and tobacco”
• Response to claim: 206 - Despite Joseph's claims that the Word of Wisdom was a revelation, there were in that time, temperance societies that also advocated the abolition of alcohol

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 15: The Temple"

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• Response to claim: 208 - "When they are first built, Mormon temples are opened to the general public in an "open house" format for a short time. After this, the temple is then dedicated by LDS general authorities and reopened only to worthy members"
• Response to claim: 208 - President Joseph Fielding Smith said that the temple has been called the faithful Mormon's "home"
• Response to claim: 209 - "Historically, Mormon leaders have taught that the husband has the ability to call his wife from the grave by her new name on resurrection day"
• Response to claim: 210 - The authors write: "By wearing the garments at all times, it is taught that the individual Mormon, depending on his or her faithfulness, is protected both physically and spiritually"
• Response to claim: 210 - Spencer W. Kimball said that garments may provide physical protection
• Response to claim: 212 - "Mormons who remain true to the faith and wear the garments believe they will be protected"
• Response to claim: 212 - "We find no biblical support for the notion that the priestly garments offered any special protection as described by various LDS authorities"
• Response to claim: 213 - "Despite the fact that Joseph Smith himself said that God 'set the ordinances to be the same forever and ever,' the LDS Church has continuously changed the ceremony over the years"
• Response to claim: 214 - Mormons erroneously use 1 Corinthians 15:29 in support of the doctrine of baptism for the dead
• Response to claim: 218-219 - "But what happens if a person does not get married, for whatever reason, and dies single? Apparently this person is not destined to become a god"
• Response to claim: 220-221 - "As was the custom in those days, the next oldest unmarried brother took the woman for his wife"
• Response to claim: 221 - "While these explanations may sound good to a Mormon audience that cherishes the institution of marriage, the ability to read between the lines of Jesus' teaching does not make a doctrine true"
• Response to claim: 222 - "Rather than supporting the view of eternal marriage, Jesus explained that the institution of marriage was for this life only and not the life to come"
• Response to claim: 223 - The authors try to redefine 'sacred' to mean 'secret'
• Response to claim: 223 - If what goes on inside the temple is supposed to be kept from public knowledge, this would certainly fit the definition of secret
• Response to claim: 223 - The authors claim that the temple ordinances are rooted in freemasonry and the occult
• Response to claim: 225 - "It seems curious that Mormons would desire to have contact with the dead when the Old Testament clearly warns against necromancy

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 16: Lamanites, Seed of Cain, and Polygamy"

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• Response to claim: 233 - Joseph Fielding Smith said, "I would not want you to believe that we bear any animosity toward the Negro. 'Darkies' are wonderful people, and they have their place in our church"
• Response to claim: 234 - The authors claim that the "dark-skinned" Lamanites wiped out the "white-skinned" Nephites at the battle of Hill Cumorah
• Response to claim: 234 - In 1981 the Church changed "a white and a delightsome people" to "a pure and a delightsome people"
• Response to claim: 234 - "the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them"
• Response to claim: 235 - The author claims that Joseph Smith said that intermarriage with the Lamanites would produce a "white and delightsome posterity"
• Response to claim: 235 - Brigham Young: "the aborigines of this country are dark, loathsome, ignorant, and sunken into the depths of degradation"
• Response to claim: 236-237 - The authors claim that Brigham Young taught that unrighteousness would "result in a black skin"
• Response to claim: 237 - The authors claim that LDS believe that one's behavior in the preexistence determines race
• Response to claim: 237 - The authors provide a list of racist statements made by past Church leaders
• Response to claim: 238 - Joseph Smith: "Had I anything to do with the negro, I would confine them by strict law to their own species"
• Response to claim: 241 - Brigham Young: "If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot"
• Response to claim: 241-242 - Brigham Young said that blacks would not obtain the priesthood until the resurrection. This was reiterated by later LDS leaders
• Response to claim: 244 - The Book of Mormon condemns polygamy
• Response to claim: 245-246 - The authors claim that Mormon leaders "taught that the practice of polygamy was necessary for man to receive exaltation"
• Response to claim: 246 - The Doctrine and Covenants denied polygamy
• Response to claim: 248 - Polygamy continued to be practiced in Utah after the Manifesto
• Response to claim: 249 - "Those who practice polygamy today are probably much more consistent with the teachings of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that condemns them"

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 17: Joseph Smith"

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• Response to claim: 251 - "We have noticed a more subdued reference to Mormonism's founder by tour guides and various displays. In the public area, emphasis on Smith seems to be diminishing"
• Response to claim: 252 - The authors claim that they "almost feel sympathetic toward the Mormon apologist who has to defend Smith's bad social behavior"
• Response to claim: 253 - "Should people accept Smith as a prophet of God when his behavior was sometimes less than what we would expect from political leaders?"
• Response to claim: 253 - The authors quote Richard Van Wagoner to describe Joseph's "lust for manly achievement" and his alleged "inclination toward extra-marital romantic liaisons"
• Response to claim: 253-255 - The authors use the terms "secret marriages" "secret plural wives" "secretly married" "amorous advances" "errant yearnings" "extra-marital romantic liaisons" "still teenagers" "affairs" "sexual relations" to describe Joseph's marital arrangements
• Response to claim: 253 - The authors state that "fully one-third of Joseph's plural wives, eleven of them, were polyandrous"
• Response to claim: 254 "Some might argue that these relationships were strictly platonic. Compton disagrees"
• Response to claim: 254 - "The daughter of Heber C. Kimball stated how Smith promised that if she would "take this step," it would insure the eternal salvation and exaltation of her father's household and kindred"
• Response to claim: 255 - "Would Mormons living in today's society follow as their prophet a man who was known to be a money digger and advocate of folk magic?"
• Response to claim: 255 - "The fact that Smith owned a Jupiter talisman shows that his fascination with the occult was not just a childish fad"
• Response to claim: 256 - "Despite what may have been written about him, it is evident that Smith had an ego and expected to be followed without question"
• Response to claim: 257 - The authors claim that Joseph Smith was boastful
• Response to claim: 258 - The authors use a quote from Brigham Young and from Joseph Field Smith to "prove" that Joseph is the gateway to the Celestial Kingdom
• Response to claim: 258-259 - The authors claim that Latter-day Saints believe that Joseph will save them
• Response to claim: 261 - "It should come as no surprise that among the many excuses Mormons have raised for the failure of Smith's Missouri predictions, few admit it was due to his lack of prophetical insight"
• Response to claim: 262 - "Smith attempted to flee into Iowa and ultimately to the Rockies. While waiting for horses, his wife Emma sent him a message stating that the Latter-day Saints were accusing Smith of cowardice and urged him to return. Smith did so"
• Response to claim: 262 - "After dinner, Smith and several church officials ordered some wine to be brought to the jail"
• Response to claim: 262 - The authors claim that Joseph's use of a gun disqualifies him as a martyr
• Response to claim: 263 - The authors repeat a popular rumor that Joseph killed two of his attackers with his gun
• Response to claim: 263 - The authors attempt a comparison between the death of Joseph Smith and the death of Jesus Christ

Response to claims made in Mormonism 101, "Chapter 18: The Church and Its Leadership"

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• Response to claim: 264-268 - The authors conclude that trusting in these men, their teachings and their counsel, is a foolish and destructive path
• Response to claim: 266 - The authors attempt to paint a picture of restriction for members of the Church
• Response to claim: 266 - Ezra Taft Benson said, "No teacher has the right to interpret doctrine for the members of the Church"
• Response to claim: 266 - "Do most Mormons accept this role of such authority, even to trust these men to lead them to eternal life? Apparently so. What if they are wrong?"
• Response to claim: 266 - "for Mormons, rejecting the prophet and other church leaders is akin to rejecting God Himself"
• Response to claim: 267 - While the Mormon leaders may say that they and their organization are above reproach, such a position of ultimate authoritarianism is not a New Testament trait
• Response to claim: 267-268 - If the leaders of the early church had claimed ultimate authority, then we could rightly conclude that Paul would never have become an apostle
• Response to claim: 268 - "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel ... let him be accursed"
• Response to claim: 268 - the New Testament apostles did not have any special authority to declare doctrine and teach the gospel
• Response to claim: 270 - Brigham Young taught that Adam was God, but this has been relegated to "theory"
• Response to claim: 270-271 - Brigham Young stating that God is "progressing eternally," while Bruce R. McConkie states that God's knowledge and power is full and complete
• Response to claim: 273-275 - Pascal's wager: is what you are being asked to give up more than what you might receive in exchange?

Response to Mormonism 101, Quote mining

Summary: The authors mine their sources by extracting quotes from their context in order to make the statement imply something other that what it was originally intended to mean.

About this work

Mormonism 101 contributes absolutely nothing new to the body of anti-Mormonism-there is nothing in the book that hasn't been written about elsewhere. It is simply another example of modern-day professional anti-Mormonism—attacking the Restored Gospel for money.^[1] The authors insist on basing their arguments on their own preconceived assumptions, rather than trying to show how the Restored Gospel (which they refer to as "Mormonism") supposedly has inconsistencies or failures based on its assumptions. One may well ask, since the book's authors are not LDS, why they should be expected to accept our assumptions?

Marc Schindler notes,

The reason is that even if you don't accept an opponent's assumptions, you have to at least understand them and deal with them or you'll discredit yourself with neutral inquirers, and possibly even with your target audience, which in the case of Mormonism 101 is "Biblicists" who try to "witness" to Latter-day Saints. This is because, as will be shown time and again in this review, what McKeever and Johnson are actually criticizing are caricatures of the teachings of the Restored Gospel-teachings that they interpret on the basis of their own assumptions, rather than on ours. When the truth is examined, rather than caricatures or straw man arguments,^[2] works like Mormonism 101 lose their credibility. A polemical book that tries to ridicule the Restored Gospel-which is what Mormonism 101 is at heart-cannot afford to provide balanced arguments or it risks confusing the rather narrow world view of its intended audience of anti-Mormon "witnessers."^[3]

Mormonism 101's failings can be summarized in terms of two very common errors, and the reader is encouraged to be on the lookout for them in each of the individual chapter reviews: The first error is what I call "preaching to the choir." Metaphorically speaking, if you think that a mirror is a window, your view of the "world" will be what you yourself already perceive, and you will be unable to see other points of view. Your logic will be circular, your thinking will merely confirm your preconceived notions, and your arguments will make sense only to those who already share your preconceived ideas. An example of this first type of error is if a person speaks only English, and reads the word gift, and then assumes that the English word is the only possible meaning; they could be making a grave error. For example, in German the word actually means poison! Of course this is a trivial example, but this type of error is made in Mormonism 101 time and time again with respect to both simple and obvious concepts, as well as regards more complex and subtle philosophical arguments-as readers will see.

The second common error I call "co-opting of Christianity;" the incorrect assumption that one particular viewpoint can be applied to a wider audience, thereby deliberately excluding others on that near-sighted basis. An example of the second type of error is assuming that a very narrow and specific movement within Christendom, such as Biblicism (which I'll define shortly), constitutes "orthodox Christianity," thereby excluding 99% of all other Christians-not just Latter-day Saints, but also Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, mainstream Protestants and so on. This is the error one encounters most often in Mormonism 101-the assumption that the authors alone know what constitutes "real" Christianity.

Notes

1. ↑ Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson, Mormonism 101. Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2000). ( Index of claims ) Bill McKeever is a professional anti-Mormon, being the founder of Mormonism Research Ministry in El Cajon, CA; Eric Johnson is an employee of the Mormonism Research Ministry.
2. ↑ A straw man argument is when a person misrepresents another person's views, and argues against the misrepresentation instead of against the genuine view. It's called "straw man" because it's easier to do battle with a "scarecrow" of one's own devising than with a real, life enemy.
3. ↑ For an example of why this assertion makes sense, see the second quotation-from the book's editorial description on Amazon.com-under the section entitled Weak Scholarship.