Criticisms of the LDS Church are frequently based on intentional misinterpretations of Mormon doctrine. This book provides useful clarifications and rebuttals of many of those misrepresented doctrinal and historical areas. It gives simple but authoritative answers to more than sixty often-asked questions posed by anti-Mormon detractors. The answers are direct and nonconfrontational, providing readers with a friendly, teaching way of responding to those who question them.

Most Christians only see the "public" face of Mormonism, thanks to their persuasive PR campaigns: clean-faced young people, parents committed to family values, and spectacular temples. But what do Mormons really believe? In this revealing book you'll learn their shocking doctrines, like: It's good to lie... to protect the church. There are millions of gods. God was once a man, and became a god. We can become gods, too. Jesus and Lucifer were spirit brothers. We all have an "Eternal Mother." God is a polygamist. The Jesus of the Bible was a polygamist. The Jesus of Christianity is NOT the Jesus of Mormonism. Sins are forgiven through good works. Salvation by faith in Jesus is "utter nonsense." Black people were cursed by God. A group of gods helped Jesus form the earth. Some sins require the shedding of your own blood. You'll also read the moving testimony of former Mormon, Cindy Benson. She reveals from personal experience the ugly, hidden side of Mormonism. She was only eleven years old when her 53-year-old father announced that a 15-year-old girl must become his second wife. Once you know what Mormons really believe, you will be better equipped to witness to them. Here is what Mormon leaders really taught their members, and what the Bible has to say about it. We believe this book will help you create burning questions "instead of a "burning in the bosom") for Mormons you know. And the Bible verses are right there to give you the answer.

This volume--the work of a lifetime--brings together all the Joseph Smith Translation manuscript in a remarkable and useful way. Now, for the first time, readers can take a careful look at the complete text, along with photos of several actual manuscript pages. The book contains a typographic transcription of all the original manuscripts, unedited and preserved exactly as dictated by the Prophet Joseph and recorded by his scribes. In addition, this volume features essays on the background, doctrinal contributions, and editorial procedures involved in the Joseph Smith Translation, as well as the history of the manuscripts since Joseph Smith's day.

Have you tried to convey your faith to Mormons...and gotten nowhere? Then this book is for you! It’s proven and practical guide which includes questions, answers, conversation starters and other great witnessing tools that will help you speak to Mormons.

In the nineteenth century, it was a common belief that Native Americans were the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Ethan Smith wrote on this topic, and in so doing, challenged the dismissal of the Indigenous Americans by European settlers. Smith used biblical scripture, similarities in the Hebrew and Native American languages and their name for God, and other points of evidence to prove the connection between Israel and the First Nations. From there he showed how the reunited Hebrew tribes would be restored to Zion before the end of the world. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Smith's book is that it is said to have influenced the Book of Mormon, which was published about seven years after later. As a child, Smith moved away from religion after his parents died but found his way back before he turned 20 and worked in the ministry until his death. Smith wrote several books while serving in the ministry in which he explored prophecies and baptism, among other subjects. But this book remains one of the most controversial of all his publications.

The Pearl of Greatest Price narrates the history of Mormonism's fourth volume of scripture, canonized in 1880. The authors track its predecessors, describe its several components, and assess their theological significance within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Four principal sections are discussed, along with attendant controversies associated with each. The Book of Moses purports to be a Mosaic narrative missing from the biblical version of Genesis. Too little treated in the scholarship on Mormonism, these chapters, produced only months after the Book of Mormon was published, actually contain the theological nucleus of Latter-day Saint doctrines as well as a virtual template for the Restoration Joseph Smith was to effect. In The Pearl of Greatest Price, the author covers three principal parts that are the focus of many of the controversies engulfing Mormonism today. These parts are The Book of Abraham, The Book of Moses, and The Joseph Smith History. Most controversial of all is the Book of Abraham, a production that arose out of a group of papyri Smith acquired, along with four mummies, in 1835. Most of the papyri disappeared in the great Chicago Fire, but surviving fragments have been identified as Egyptian funerary documents. This has created one of the most serious challenges to Smith's prophetic claims the LDS church has faced. LDS scholars, however, have developed several frameworks for vindicating the inspiration of the resulting narrative and Smith's calling as a prophet. The author attempts to make sense of Smith's several, at times divergent, accounts of his First Vision, one of which is canonized as scripture. He also assesses the creedal nature of Smith's "Articles of Faith," in the context of his professed anti-creedalism. In sum, this study chronicles the volume's historical legacy and theological indispensability to the Latter-day Saint tradition, as well as the reasons for its resilience and future prospects in the face of daunting challenges.