Books on Mormonism show change

Mormon Times ^ | March 3, 2010 | Jerry Earl Johnston

[Colofornian]

The LifeWay Christian Store on South State Street in Salt Lake City has a shelf of LDS literature. These are books, however, that probably not one Mormon in a million will ever read. Basically, they are "defense manuals," handbooks for helping Protestants deal with this ambitious, upstart religion that's out to perform a baptism for every soul who has ever set foot on earth.

Last Monday, I spent about an hour thumbing through the books on the Mormon shelf at LifeWay. The books range from "kind and honest" to "kind of honest." The best remind me of the volume "I (heart) Mormons," published a couple of years ago by my Bountiful friend, Dave Rowe. Other volumes reminded me of a bathtub filled with water -- not only were they shallow, but also narrow.

Still, I did enjoy a lot of the titles: "Speaking the Truth, in Love, to Mormons," "Reasoning from the Scriptures with Mormons," "Mormonism 101," "The Mormon Puzzle," "Fast Facts on Mormons."

I even liked the folksy style of some of the prose.

This, for instance, from Mark J. Cares, who wrote "Speaking the Truth, in Love, to Mormons."

"Speaking Mormonese means making our witness personal -- or 'bearing our testimony.'

"This is important because Mormons think non-Mormons have a very sterile relationship with God."

Well, not all Mormons think that, though I will say sometimes we Mormons get so excited and moved by our own experiences we sometimes minimize the spiritual experiences and miracles in the lives of those from other faiths. And I had to wonder, does Cares believe Mormons have a "sterile relationship with God?"

Still, I was pleased that a sea change of sorts has taken place. Almost all the books I read through take a more elevated tone than similar books have taken in the past. The collection of LDS books even featured "How Wide the Divide?" co-authored by BYU's Stephen Robinson.

Yes, there will always be some "Mormonism Unmasked" tracts for sale, but the feeling now is more "Come, let us reason together." The hissing and snapping of yesteryear have been replaced by the notion that the best approach isn't to "unmask" Mormons, but to minister to them. The tone of Cares, Rob J. Rhodes and other authors is non-threatening. They seem to believe that Mormons, for the most part, are decent, rather earnest folks who simply lack information.

The plan now is to "reach," not "preach."

And I can live with that. It beats those old "Trapped by the Mormons" videos that used to circulate.

Give me conversation over confrontation anytime.

Besides, "decent, rather earnest folks who simply lack information" is pretty much how a great many Mormons have always seen them.

[Elsie]

The RLDS had a LOT less baggage to shed.

[Leisler]

I was thinking of that one too.

[CommerceComet]

You cannot “reason” with someone in a cult. Particularly one who rests their spiritual belief on a feeling or experience. That is not a rationale foundation, so reasoning is not effective.

As Paul tells us:

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

As Christians we must pray constantly that the Holy Spirit open the eyes of our Mormon friends. Without the help of the Spirit, Biblical concepts are as meaningless to them as Chinese.

Just take a look around FR and you will see that mormons are immune to reason.

I think that we are getting signs that our discussions are having influence. Every time we see a Mormon getting too emotional in response to our discussions, I chalk it up as their internal defense mechanism to deal with cognitive dissonance. I think a lot of them know that Mormonism is wrong on that point but don't want to admit it, primarily to themselves.