Responses to Biblical Arguments

[Steve Noel]

I was wondering if you all could direct me to resources that respond to biblical arguments used against LDS beliefs?

[Guest]

fairlds.org likely has such.

[Guest]

http://en.fairmormon.org/Topical_Guide/Scripture_and_Influential_Writings/Bible

[Steve Noel]

49 minutes ago, Eowyn said:

fairlds.org likely has such.

Thanks. I am looking for responses to specific biblical passages that are commonly understood by Evangelicals to contradict Mormon doctrines.

[Steve Noel]

I am not a big fan of reading online so any book recommendations are also welcomed.

[Guest MormonGator]

10 minutes ago, Steve Noel said:

I am not a big fan of reading online so any book recommendations are also welcomed.

 Shaken Faith Syndrome by Michael Ash and Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman are two must reads if you want to understand Mormonism. 

For Christianity I like Lee Strobel-he wrote some great books analyzing the historical proof for Christ. 

[NeedleinA]

43 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

 Shaken Faith Syndrome by Michael Ash and Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman are two must reads if you want to understand Mormonism. 

For Christianity I like Lee Strobel-he wrote some great books analyzing the historical proof for Christ. 

Here is where you can get them and others too:

https://bookstore.fairlds.org/

[Connie]

Getting at the Truth has several in chapters 5-8. I would recommend focusing on those chapters.

[Steve Noel]

5 hours ago, Connie said:

Getting at the Truth has several in chapters 5-8. I would recommend focusing on those chapters.

I started reading that last night. Thanks.

[Steve Noel]

6 hours ago, MormonGator said:

 Shaken Faith Syndrome by Michael Ash and Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman are two must reads if you want to understand Mormonism. 

For Christianity I like Lee Strobel-he wrote some great books analyzing the historical proof for Christ. 

They had Rough Stone Rolling at my local library. Thanks.

[Guest MormonGator]

9 minutes ago, Steve Noel said:

They had Rough Stone Rolling at my local library. Thanks.

Sure thing! 

Other great LDS books:

Wrestling the Angel by Teryl Givens

American Crucifixion by Alex Beam

I can give you more if you'd like! I'll be happy too!  

[LeSellers]

6 hours ago, Steve Noel said:

I am not a big fan of reading online so any book recommendations are also welcomed.

I'm not sure you can still find it, but the book Biblical Mormonism is a good one for the points it discusses.

Lehi

[Steve Noel]

11 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Sure thing! 

Other great LDS books:

Wrestling the Angel by Teryl Givens

American Crucifixion by Alex Beam

I can give you more if you'd like! I'll be happy too!  

Thanks. I am a bit overwhelmed already. I can use this thread for future reference though.

[Steve Noel]

11 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

I'm not sure you can still find it, but the book Biblical Mormonism is a good one for the points it discusses.

Lehi

Thanks for the recommendation.

[Guest MormonGator]

8 minutes ago, Steve Noel said:

Thanks. I am a bit overwhelmed already. I can use this thread for future reference though.

Oh I bet you are. Remember it's out of love. We love being LDS and don't want to overwhelm you-it's just our faith and it means a lot to us. 

If you want to swap Christian books, I can do that too.

[Guest MormonGator]

Oh yeah-some of us are so loved here that we get duplicate posts. I am one of them. ;-) 

Edited April 5, 2016 by MormonGator

[Just_A_Guy]

There is a Mormon apologist named Jeff Lindsay who has been around forever and has written about a lot of this kind of thing on his website--Google and ye shall find.

 

Edited April 5, 2016 by Just_A_Guy

[Vort]

Just FYI, Steve, and not to be condescending at all (really): Any "problematic" question you are likely to asked has almost certainly been asked already, probably many decades ago, and has been answered. FairLDS (or whatever FARMS is calling itself these days) probably has a link to the answer. Jeff Lindsay, whom JAG mentioned, is a great resource. We actually have a pretty good group here.

My only caveat would be: If you ask a question, you should listen to the answer. This is no reflection on you personally, but very often we have found that people questioning Mormonism, and especially professional anti-Mormons and those who listen to them, greatly enjoy asking what they suppose are "tough" questions, but strangely enough have little interest in hanging around for the answer. This is especially true when the answer is complicated or subtle, requiring a sufficient amount of background preparation to understand it. If you're willing to invest the time and energy to understand LDS doctrines and the LDS viewpoint, you can actually have all or most of your questions answered sufficiently to understand them. You may or may not agree with the answers, depending on whether you accept the principles on which the answers are based, but you will at least have a general understanding of the LDS viewpoint.

[Sadliers]

12 hours ago, Steve Noel said:

I was wondering if you all could direct me to resources that respond to biblical arguments used against LDS beliefs?

This scripture sums it up:

"And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?"  (1 Nephi 15:8)

 

Scripture is not given for private interpretation (2 Peter 1:20). If a good argument is what wins their mind then they are using their own interpretation. Who is wiser: them, a scholar, or God? God gave the scripture so why not ask Him what it means rather than someone else? Asking someone else then relying on their answer is a no-no:

 

"Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." (Jeremiah 17:5)

 

Whatever someone says should only be received as merely an opinion and God should always have the final word.

[anatess2]

1 hour ago, Sadliers said:

Whatever someone says should only be received as merely an opinion and God should always have the final word.

Now that needs to be a meme...

[Steve Noel]

6 hours ago, Vort said:

Just FYI, Steve, and not to be condescending at all (really): Any "problematic" question you are likely to asked has almost certainly been asked already, probably many decades ago, and has been answered. FairLDS (or whatever FARMS is calling itself these days) probably has a link to the answer. Jeff Lindsay, whom JAG mentioned, is a great resource. We actually have a pretty good group here.

My only caveat would be: If you ask a question, you should listen to the answer. This is no reflection on you personally, but very often we have found that people questioning Mormonism, and especially professional anti-Mormons and those who listen to them, greatly enjoy asking what they suppose are "tough" questions, but strangely enough have little interest in hanging around for the answer. This is especially true when the answer is complicated or subtle, requiring a sufficient amount of background preparation to understand it. If you're willing to invest the time and energy to understand LDS doctrines and the LDS viewpoint, you can actually have all or most of your questions answered sufficiently to understand them. You may or may not agree with the answers, depending on whether you accept the principles on which the answers are based, but you will at least have a general understanding of the LDS viewpoint.

I am definitely willing to listen and work at understanding the LDS viewpoint. I have been really impressed with Stephen E. Robinson's sections in the book How Wide the Divide? I am hoping to find other LDS writers like that.

[An Investigator]

Catholic Dawn, Mormon Harvest has 50 Lds doctrines and the biblical support for them, also has details of Catholic non biblical beliefs too. It's the book that convinced me to get baptised 

Edited April 5, 2016 by An Investigator

[LeSellers]

8 hours ago, Vort said:

FairLDS (or whatever FARMS is calling itself these days)

FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research ) and FARMS ( Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies) are not the same thing.

FARMS is now the Maxwell Institute.

Lehi

Edited April 5, 2016 by LeSellers

[Guest]

@Steve Noel,

I believe @Vort may have been the only one so far to touch on the "protocol" for reading apologetic works.  I'll give you some of my general rules that I've found helpful.  Admittedly, as imperfect as I am, I don't always follow them myself.  But I try.

1. Don't compare our worst with your best.  Compare best with best and worst with worst.
2. Don't believe you know someone's faith better than they do themselves.  If you're talking to a person who obviously doesn't know their faith very well, go easy on them.  They exist in every faith.  Ask someone who knows.  And this group here is full of some good ones.  So, you're already off to a good start
3. Leave room for "holy envy".  This means that you can find something very good about their faith that doesn't exist in your own and admire it to the point that you're jealous that your own faith doesn't include it.  It doesn't mean you have to convert.  But if you can leave yourself open to that admiration of qualities in another religion, then it leaves room for loving more than condemning.
4. Recognize that everything you learn from another faith is based on the assumption of truth.  Flesh and blood does not reveal Eternal truths to us, but our Father which is in heaven.  All the logical arguments and earthly evidence in the world cannot build the foundation of our faith (whichever faith that may be).  The testimony comes from God.  Once we've received that foundational knowledge, then everything else in the faith can be studied in an entirely different light.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Guest

[Ironhold]

16 hours ago, Just_A_Guy said:

There is a Mormon apologist named Jeff Lindsay who has been around forever and has written about a lot of this kind of thing on his website--Google and ye shall find.

 

http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/index.html