Category: Truth and Inquiry
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A Notion of Truth for Questioning Mormons
In the Bible, Pilate famously asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). If he had asked that same question of LDS historian Richard Bushman, Pilate would have been told that truth is whatever works to bring any given individual to what they themselves consider “a good life.” In an interview published in The Salt Lake…
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Does Truth Matter When Recounting Mormon History?
30 June 2020 The July (2020) issue of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Ensign magazine includes an article titled, “Church History: A Source of Strength and Inspiration.” It consists of selected portions from the September 9, 2018 “Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults: A Face to Face Event with Elder Cook.” For the…
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When the Mormon Church Skirts the Truth, Who’s To Blame?
In February, BYU professor Daniel Peterson posted on his blog what I think is an odd article. The title is a question: “Is the Church lying to us through its art?” Dr. Peterson admits that he understands the critics’ claim that “the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is misrepresenting its history by means…
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The Exclusiveness of Mormonism’s Truth Claims
Mormon politician Mitt Romney sent out a tweet a week ago that the media deemed to be highly newsworthy. On May 13th Mr. Romney disparaged well-known evangelical minister Robert Jeffress, tweeting: “Robert Jeffress says ‘you can’t be saved by being a Jew,’ and ‘Mormonism is a heresy from the pit of hell.’ He’s said the same…
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Mormonism’s Splendid Sins
Last week LDS blogger Christopher Cunningham posted an article with the provocative title, “21 reasons It Doesn’t Matter if The Church is True.” Mr. Cunningham clarifies that “the title is clearly meant to attract an audience,” because of course it matters if the Mormon Church is true. However, he explains, “This article isn’t to combat noisy…
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Facts, Feelings, and Faith
Facts, feelings, and faith? By Eric Johnson Back in 2003, I was selected to serve as a juror on a federal case in San Diego. It involved a Mexican national who was allegedly attempting to enter the United States from Mexico by crossing the Tijuana River on foot. Six Border Patrol agents on four-wheelers were…
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What do you think of people in your own life that are unwilling to listen to criticism?
One of the oddest things about modern culture is the tendency to criticize others for the act of criticism. Imagine a man sitting on the end of a tree branch. He looks around at others, telling them that they shouldn’t cut off their branches. Meanwhile, this man is sawing his own branch off. That is…
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Do you want to know the truth more than you want Mormonism to be true?
(From an e-mail I sent in December) K., An honest question for you: Are you of the mindset that even if the LDS Church isn’t true, it still might be worth believing in? Have you ever seen the Southpark Episode on Mormonism? I don’t watch Southpark (it’s a crass, raunchy show), but I have seen that…
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Saying, ‘Peace,’ When There Is No Peace.
An interesting post appeared on the LDS & Evangelical Conversations blog last week. Eric, raised Evangelical but converted to Mormonism a dozen years ago, wrote “What Mormons Should Know About Evangelicals.” For the most part, Eric’s comments are very helpful. He addresses many basic areas where Mormons misunderstand Evangelicals and the way Christian churches operate.…
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Worth Fighting Over
The June 2008 issue of Tabletalk magazine included an article rooted in the biblical book of Jude. Noting that Jude speaks directly and forcefully to the issue of false teachers, the Tabletalk article by Niel Nielson explains, “Notice that Jude isn’t writing to [his readers] about voices calling from outside the visible faith. These people…
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Don’t Stereotype Mormons
Bill McKeever talks about inconsistency and diversity within Mormonism and the value of asking questions to the individual Mormon you are speaking with. 1920×1080 MP4, 640×360 MP4
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Sacred Taxonomy
Every now and then I hear a frustrated Mormon express something like this: “Why are other churches so threatened by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Other churches even have classes against us! My Church would never do that. My Church never says anything negative about other churches.” Apart from the fact that…
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Should Historians Tell the Truth?
A little over two years ago Jerald Tanner left this life for his home in Heaven. Born and raised a Latter-day Saint, when a young man Jerald discovered that Mormonism could not bring him to Christ. When God granted Jerald the free gift of salvation, Jerald spent his life in grateful service to God, researching…
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If Mormonism Is a Lie, What Should People Do About It?
If Mormonism is false, should we do nothing about it? There seems to be a pervasive notion among many non-Christians that even if Mormonism is a religion fundamentally based on lies, people who know about it should, in a manner of speaking, simply sit back, kick up their feet, and take up wine-tasting. To quote…
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Hearing Both Sides of the Issue
By Bill McKeever Proverbs 18:17 tells us, “He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him.”
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Total Truth? Or Is Everything Relative?
A warning cry that some theologians and apologists have made for more than a decade involves what has been called “Postmodernism.” Theologian Norman Geisler points to the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 as the end of Modernism (which he says began with Nietzsche’s “Death of God” movement at the turn of the 20th…
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If Any of You Lacks Wisdom, Don’t Ask
On November 7, 2006 LDS Apostle Dallin Oaks presented a devotional address to the students at BYU-Idaho. In his talk, entitled “Be Wise,” Mr. Oaks defined the principle of wisdom and demonstrated how wisdom may be applied in several different areas of life. Covering various subjects including prayer, dating, and self-characterization, Mr. Oaks spoke of…
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Mormonism and Spiritual Experience
A couple of weeks ago (July 8th) LDS Deseret News printed a column by staff writer Jerry Johnston. He told this story: “Not long ago I was visiting a woman from Mexico who had been praying about joining my own church, the LDS Church. She said the Virgin Mary came to her in a dream…
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Twelve Million Mormons
This morning when I checked my email inbox I found a message with a subject line that read, “Millions of customers can’t be wrong!” The message was a spam ad for “alluring pheromones” that promise to attract women of all ages to any man who uses the product. Wow. The ad said the product is…
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