Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Changing World of Mormonism/Chapter 22

Chapter 21

A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books A work by author: Jerald and Sandra Tanner

Claim

• Early Mormon leaders were "very confused" about baptism for the dead since they performed a number of them without recording them and had to do them over.

Author's source(s)

• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 18:241.

Response

•  Author(s) impose(s) own fundamentalism on the Saints: early leaders freely admitted their understanding grew with time; Joseph continued to instruct them (e.g., DC 128) and they learned more after his death.
• Temples/Baptism for the dead

Claim

• Baptism for the dead was not a doctrine in the early church.

Author's source(s)

• Orson Pratt's Works, 1891, p.205

Response

•  The author's claim is false: The majority of modern scholars accept that vicarious baptism for the dead was practiced by at least some of the early Church.
• It is telling that the only reference is from the late 1800s.
• Temples/Baptism for the dead

Claim

• Wilford Woodruff "felt he had saved" all of the presidents of the United States, except for three.

Author's source(s)

• Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 19:229.

Response

•  Misrepresentation of source: Woodruff says nothing about him saving people—he says only that he had a vision in which prominent men from American history requested that their temple work be performed.
• See Quote mining—Journal of Discourses 19:229 to see how this quote was mined.

Claim

• The Mormons spend millions of dollars on genealogical research that would be better spent feeding the starving people in the world.

Author's source(s)

• Mormon Doctrine, 1966, pp.308-9
• 2 Nephi 28:13"

Response

•  Double standard: would not the hundreds of hours which the Tanners spend in researching, writing, and selling anti-Mormon propaganda be better spent in feeding starving people, helping the homeless, or any of a thousand other worthy activities?
• This charge presupposes its conclusion—the authors assume that there is no value in temple work.
• The criticism also presumes that Latter-day Saints do not spend millions of dollars annually on charitable work for members and non-members.
•  Absurd claim: The anti-Mormon bias and animus is on full display here. The scholarly veneer is gone.

Claim

• Mormons are very similar to ancient Egyptians regarding their attitude toward the dead.

Author's source(s)

•  ^[ATTENTION!]

Response

•  Prejudicial or loaded language
•  Absurd claim: the authors will need to provide some evidence beyond their mere statement. (One recalls Sandra Tanner's equally amusing claim that the Church of Jesus Christ's theology was closer to Hinduism than Christianity.^[1])

Claim

• The Mormon "obsession with the dead" is close to "ancestral worship."

Author's source(s)

• Ensign, May 1976, p.102

Response

•  Absurd claim
•  Misrepresentation of source: The authors quote mine the Ensign.
• Ancestor worship: quote mining
• Temples/Baptism for the dead

Claim

• Paul said to avoid "endless genealogies."

Author's source(s)

• 1 Tim. 1:4
• Titus 3:9

Response

•  Misrepresentation of source
• Bible/Condemnation of genealogy

Claim

• The Book of Mormon is supposed to contain "the fulness of the Gospel," yet it doesn't teach baptism for the dead.

Author's source(s)

• Pearl of Great Price, p.51, v.34

Response

• Book of Mormon/Contains the fulness of the gospel

Claim

• Jesus "taught the opposite" of eternal marriage when he said that people "neither marry, nor are given in marriage" in the afterlife.

Author's source(s)

• Luke 20:34-36

Response

• Marriage/As a requirement for exaltation

Claim

• The endowment has been changed over the years.

Author's source(s)

•  ^[ATTENTION!]

Response

•  Author(s) impose(s) own fundamentalism on the Saints
• Temples/Endowment/Changes

Claim

• The endowment was derived from Freemasonry.

Author's source(s)

•  ^[ATTENTION!]

Response

• Temples/Endowment/Freemasonry

== Notes ==

1. [note]  See citation in Daniel C. Peterson, "What Certain Baptists Think They Know about the Restored Gospel (Review of The Mormon Puzzle: Understanding and Witnessing to Latter-day Saints by North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention)," FARMS Review of Books 10/1 (1998): 12–96. off-site