Author: Eric Johnson
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M. Russell Ballard Gets His Day in Utah–July 23, 2021
July 23, 2021 has been declared M. Russell Ballard Day in Utah by Gov. Spencer Cox. Ballard, 92, is the current President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who was honored on July 22, 2021 at the state capitol where he was presented with the day’s designation. Source At the ceremony, Ballard was credited…
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Confusion over Gethsemane and the Atonement
Posted 7/2021 Traditionally most LDS leaders have stressed the importance of what took place in the Garden of Gethsemane for the atonement. Some leaders in recent years are attempting to include what took place at the cross as part of the narrative. This issue was discussed in the April 2021 Liahona magazine, an official LDS…
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Examining 10 Claims of the Great Apostasy
Over the past few decades, Latter-day Saints have been quick to maintain that they should be considered “Christians” just like their Christian friends. This idea is typified in a general conference talk by Seventy Gary Coleman who described how he responded to 14-year-old Cortnee, the daughter of an LDS mission president, after her friend told…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons: The First 700 Words of a New Book
MRM’s Eric Johnson has written a book titled Introducing Christianity to Mormons. It was released by Harvest House Publishers in 2022. It has been written because survey evidence shows how 45% of all people who leave Mormonism head to atheism, agnosticism, or nothing at all. Only 10% of those who leave end up in a…
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Movie review: Witnesses
The 2021 film by the Interpreter Foundation portrays the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon—David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris—as steadfast in their visionary testimony of the gold plates despite their later excommunication, conflicts with Joseph Smith, and involvement with other religions.
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Offering Pearls to Pigs and Dogs
Originally published in the Christian Research Jouranal, volume 42, number 1 (2019). Recently I held up my sign advertising my website “FollowTheChrist.com” as five thousand Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) drove past me. I was standing on the sidewalk by the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah, on the second day of the annual JW convention. Soon…
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Reasons Why Latter-day Saints Leave their Church
In 2019, Mormon blogger Jana Riess wrote a book titled The Next Mormons: How Millennials are Changing the LDS Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019). While what she presents is not as “layperson” oriented as some of her other tomes – including Flunking Sainthood, What Would Buffy Do? and Mormonism For Dummies – Riess compiles important research…
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How God Created: Creatio Ex Nihilo or Ex Materia?
Note: The following was originally printed in the November/December 2020 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here. According to LDS teaching, finite matter has infinitely existed. In Latin creatio ex materia means “creation out of preexisting material.” The idea says that the “Creator does not mean Originator, but Builder. God is…
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The Book of Mormon and Three Degrees of Glory
By Bill McKeever Note: The following was originally printed in the September/October 2020 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here. A criticism that I share with many Christians is the lack of unique Mormon doctrine in the Book of Mormon. If Nephites really existed, why is it we do not see them believing…
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Who is Korihor? And do we fit his characteristics?
By Eric Johnson Note: The following was originally printed in the September/October 2020 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here. As you can imagine, sometimes we at MRM receive angry emails from members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For example, the following asked us several different questions:…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons: Chapter 10
Return to Introducing Christianity main menu Chapter 10: Growing in the Faith: A Passionate Pursuit Chapter Preview: Being a Christian is not a passive experience. Instead, it is an active passion. To grow as a Christian, dedication to spiritual disciples is required. For one, finding a healthy Christian church is vital. This allows the Christian…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons: Chapter 9
Return to Introducing Christianity main menu Chapter 9: Sanctification: A Life Marked by Good Works Chapter Preview: Sanctification is the continual process in a believer’s life to die to sin and live in righteousness. The Holy Spirit plays an important role in both justification and sanctification. For one, a saved individual has been baptized in…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons: Chapter 8
Return to Introducing Christianity main menu Chapter 8: Justification: Forgiveness of Sins by Faith Alone Chapter Preview: Christianity is all about the complete forgiveness of sins, which the Bible says is available only through faith alone in the work accomplished by Jesus on the cross. This is a different concept than having to perform certain…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons: Chapter 7
Return to Introducing Christianity main menu Chapter 7: The Trinity: One God, Three Persons Chapter Preview: The Trinity is an essential doctrine in the historic Christian church. Unfortunately, many people who object have an improper understanding of what it says. Simply put, the Trinity describes one God as revealed in three Persons: the Father, Son,…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons: Chapter 6
Return to Introducing Christianity main menu Chapter 6: The Resurrection: The Cornerstone of Christianity Chapter Preview: Instead of being a distant deity, God involves Himself in the affairs of humanity. Because God is all-powerful, it is possible for him to break natural law and do anything He wills. Unlike a magician’s sleight of hand, then,…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons: Chapter 5
Return to Introducing Christianity main menu Chapter 5: Jesus: Savior of His People Chapter Preview: Most religions have reserved a special place for Jesus, whether He is considered a prophet, guru, or Messiah. Since divergent views contradict Jesus as He really is, careful consideration must be made. First, the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor that…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons: Chapter 4
Return to Introducing Christianity main menu Chapter 4: The Attributes of God: Attributes Worthy of Worship Chapter Preview: According to the Bible, some of God’s attributes are unique to Him while other characteristics can belong to humans as well. When biblical passages ascribe animal or human characteristics to God, it must be understood that the…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons: Chapter 3
Return to Introducing Christianity main menu Chapter 3: The Existence of God: Reasonable Reasons for Belief Chapter Preview An atheist is someone who believes that a higher power does not exist while an agnostic is not sure. Unfortunately, many who leave Mormonism become skeptics and abandon their faith in God. Too often, those who…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons–Chapter 2: The New Testament: Trustworthy and Reliable
Chapter Preview There are abundant copies of ancient manuscripts containing the New Testament, including more than 5,000 written in Greek. This is better evidence than for any other ancient text, including works by Homer and Caesar. A popular skeptic says that there are more variants than there are words in the entire New Testament. Regardless…
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Introducing Christianity to Mormons–Chapter 1
Return to Introducing Christianity main menu Chapter 1: The Bible: God’s Special Revelation Summary According to Mormonism, the Bible is true only “as far as it is translated correctly.” If this claim means that ancient scribes intentionally corrupted the biblical text, then the word “translated” is not the correct term. Rather, “transmitted” would be more…
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