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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Changing World of Mormonism
Response to The Changing World of Mormonism
A FAIR Analysis of: 'The Changing World of Mormonism' A work by author: Jerald and Sandra Tanner
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The Changing World of Mormonism by Jerald and Sandra Tanner
This is an index of claims made in this work with links to corresponding responses within the FairMormon Answers Wiki.
Chapter 1
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 1: A Marvelous Work?" (1–27)Chapter 2
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 2: Change, Censorship and Suppression" (28–37)Chapter 3
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 3: Changes in Revelations" (38-63)Chapter 4
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 4: Joseph Smith and Money-Digging" (64–89)- Chapter 5—
Brief Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 5: The Book of Mormon" (90–144) (Click here for full article)
- Response to claim: 94 - Brigham Young claimed that some of the Book of Mormon witnesses doubted that they had ever seen an angel
- Response to claim: 94 - The authors claim that Oliver Cowdery may have had doubts about his testimony
- Response to claim: 96 - The story of Hiram Page and his stone is used as an example of the witnesses' gullibility
- Response to claim: 97 - David Whitmer said that God told him to separate himself from among the Latter Day Saints
- Response to claim: 97 - Joseph said that John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris are "too mean to mention"
- Response to claim: 98 - Oliver Cowdery was accused of being involved in counterfeiting
- Response to claim: 99 - Oliver Cowdery is not a reliable witness because he joined a Methodist church after his excommunication
- Response to claim: 99-100 - Some of the Book of Mormon witnesses later followed James Strang
- Response to claim: 103 - Latter-day Saint author Richard Anderson was "forced to acknowledge that Martin Harris' life shows evidence of 'religious instability'"
- Response to claim: 108 - Martin Harris said that he only saw the plates with his "spiritual eyes"
- Response to claim: 108 - David Whitmer said that he "handled the plates," but that he "did not touch nor handle the plates"
- Response to claim: 108 - Martin Harris said that the eight witnesses never saw the plates
- Response to claim: 109 - No visions actually occurred in the Kirtland Temple. William McClellin claimed that there was "no endowment"
- Response to claim: 111 - Material from the Presbyterian "Westminster Confession" is "probably" the source for Alma 40
- Response to claim: 114 - Joseph is claimed to have copied the name "Nephi" from the Apocrypha
- Response to claim: 115 - The story of Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt is claimed to be the source for the book of 1 Nephi
- Response to claim: 115 - The Book of Mormon is proven false because it quotes Malachi many years before it was written
- Response to claim: 116 - The story of Lazarus being raised from the dead is a source for the story of Ammon
- Response to claim: 118 - The story of Alma was taken from the story of Paul
- Response to claim: 119-121 - The Book of Mormon is proven false because it contains material found in the New Testament
- Response to claim: 122 - In the Book of Mormon, Jesus quotes a paraphrase of Moses' words found in Acts 3:22-26, rather than Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19
- Response to claim: 123 - The Greek terms "Alpha" and "Omega" appear in the Book of Mormon, thereby proving that it is not an ancient work
- Response to claim: 124 - The Book of Mormon is proven false because it contains the Greek name Timothy
- Response to claim: 125 - Joseph Smith's mother said that he used to entertain them with stories about the ancient inhabitants of the American continent
- Response to claim: 127 - B.H. Roberts concluded that the book View of the Hebrews could have provided a structural foundation for the Book of Mormon
- Response to claim: 127 - B.H. Roberts listed a number of parallels between View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon
- Response to claim: 128 - The Book of Mormon may have used Josiah Priest's book The Wonders of Nature as a source
- Response to claim: 128-129 - The Book of Mormon contains changes that altered the original meaning of the text
- Response to claim: 132 - According to Oliver B. Huntington, the proper spelling of words was given by the Lord
- Response to claim: 133 - Members of the Church have claimed that the Smithsonian uses the Book of Mormon in archaeological research
- Response to claim: 139 - Some Mormon archaeologists have begun to "face the truth" regarding Book of Mormon archeology by declaring that it is a "myth"
- Response to claim: 140-141 - Mormon archaeologist Thomas Stuart Ferguson lost his testimony because he couldn't find any archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon
- Response to claim: 141-142 - Lehi would never have written using an Egyptian language
- Response to claim: 144 - There is no such language as "Reformed Egyptian"
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Chapter 6
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 6: The First Vision" (145–171)Chapter 7
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 7: The Godhead" (172-191)Chapter 8
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 8: Adam-God Doctrine" (192–204)- Chapter 9—
Brief Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 9: Plural marriage" (205-290) (Click here for full article)
- Response to claim: 205 - The 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants had a section denouncing polygamy
- Response to claim: 207 - Section 101 was replaced with Section 132 in 1876
- Response to claim: 207 - A revelation on plural marriage given in 1831 was "suppressed" which said that the Indians would become "white and delightsome"
- Response to claim: 208-209 - Spencer Kimball believed that the Indians were becoming a "white and delightsome" people
- Response to claim: 212 - Brigham Young believed that the Indians skin would become white through intermarriage
- Response to claim: 214 - Church leaders did not approve of interracial marriage
- Response to claim: 215 - Oliver Cowdery believed that Joseph had an improper relationship with Fanny Alger
- Response to claim: 219 - Lorenzo Snow said that anyone who had a plural marriage prior to the date of the revelation (July 12, 1843) was living in adultery
- Response to claim: 219 - It is claimed that Mormon leaders say that the 1843 revelation was actually received earlier
- Response to claim: 220 - Brigham Young said that he lived "above the law"
- Response to claim: 220 - Polygamy is forbidden by the Book of Mormon
- Response to claim: 220-221 - Joseph F. Smith and Orson Pratt said that the Book of Mormon forbid polygamy
- Response to claim: 222 - Joseph took wives without his first wife's consent
- Response to claim: 225 - It is claimed that LDS leaders were worried that the missionaries would "take the best women"
- Response to claim: 226 - Heber C. Kimball remarked on the "great sorrow" of plural marriage
- Response to claim: 226 - Brigham Young spoke of the "problems" of plural marriage
- Response to claim: 228 - Brigham Young offered to let any wife go who wanted to
- Response to claim: 230-231 - Joseph and Emma fought about plural marriage
- Response to claim: 231 - Joseph had between 27 to "sixty or more" wives
- Response to claim: 231 - There is a rumor that Emma beat Eliza Snow with a broomstick and caused her to fall down the stairs, preventing her from having Joseph's child
- Response to claim: 232 - Joseph was sealed to a large number of women after his death
- Response to claim: 233 - Brigham Young had "fifty or sixty" wives, and boasted of his ability to obtain more
- Response to claim: 234 - Mormon men believed that they "could have all the wives they wanted." Heber C. Kimball said that in the resurrection, he could have "thousands" of wives
- Response to claim: 236 - Joseph asked for other men's wives, such as the wife of Heber C. Kimball
- Response to claim: 237 - Joseph married Heber C. Kimball's daughter, Helen
- Response to claim: 239 - Joseph married Zina, the wife of Henry Jacobs
- Response to claim: 239 - Brigham Young publicly told Henry Jacobs to find another wife
- Response to claim: 239-240 - Some women who were associated with Joseph claimed that they did not know who the father of their children were
- Response to claim: 243 - Joseph performed a "pretended" marriage for time for Sarah Ann Whitney to Joseph Kingsbury
- Response to claim: 245-246 - The Bible prohibited a man from marrying sisters or mothers and daughters, therefore Mormon polygamy was not Biblical
- Response to claim: 246-247 - Joseph sealed brothers and sisters together
- Response to claim: 248 - Brigham said that monogamy was a "fruitful source of prostitution and whoredom"
- Response to claim: 249 - Some Mormons believed that Joseph taught that Adam had two wives
- Response to claim: 249-251 - Early Church leaders taught that Jesus was married to more than one wife
- Response to claim: 258 - Brigham Young said that the "only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy"
- Response to claim: 258-259 - Polygamy was practiced in secret and denied publicly
- Response to claim: 262-263 - John Taylor stated that he believed in keeping every law except the law against polygamy
- Response to claim: 263 - Brigham Young said the polygamy would never go away
- Response to claim: 270-281 - Polygamy was practiced after the Manifesto was issued
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Chapter 10
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 10: Changing the Anti-Black Doctrine" (291–328)Chapter 11
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 11: Fall of the Book of Abraham" (329–364)Chapter 12
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 12: Mormon Scriptures and the Bible" (365–397)Chapter 13
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 13: Changes in Joseph Smith's History" (398–415)Chapter 14
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 14: False Prophecy" (416–424)Chapter 15
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 15: The Arm of Flesh" (425–441)Chapter 16
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 16: Mountain Meadows Aftermath" (442–446)Chapter 17
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 17: Joseph Smith" (447-464)Chapter 18
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 18: Word of Wisdom" (465-483)Chapter 19
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 19: Old Testament Practices" (484-488)Chapter 20
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 20: Blood Atonement" (490-501)Chapter 21
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 21: The Hereafter" (502-510)Chapter 22
Summary: Response to claims made in "Chapter 22: Temple Work" (511-547)
About this work
The Tanners seem to be playing a skillful shell game in which the premises for judgment are conveniently shifted so that the conclusion is always the same—negative.
— Lawrence Foster, "Career Apostates: Reflections on the Works of Jerald and Sandra Tanner," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 17 no. 2 (Summer 1984), 49.