Are there any "Difficult Questions for Mormons" that are well thought out and credible?

Question

I ask this question because while researching the answer to another question, I stumbled across a couple of "difficult questions for Mormons" websites. And I found many of the questions imply things that simply are not true, and they base their questions on these things that are false to start with. Others are based on a lack of understanding of our beliefs and doctrines - blatantly so. And many of the questions are laughable, some outright ridiculous.

Why are there no serious well thought out lists of questions that are "difficult" for Mormons to answer? Why are there no questions that indicate an actual understanding of our beliefs and doctrines (not something that may or may not have been taught 175 years ago) and present a good question for Mormons to consider? After all, if Mormonism is false, this should not be hard to come up with, right?

After decades of studying anti-Mormon literature, I must admit to being dissapointed at the quality of these so-called difficult questions for Mormons to answer.

Answer 1

I like to answer these questions before joshy gets to them. Otherwise I might as well write "yeah, what joshy said" and be done with it. Same with phrog and ross and many others (apologies for not mentioning all of you) :-)



This is the problem with such questions:



1) They misunderstand or misread LDS doctrine or scripture, and are often written by someone that does not understand (or intentionally misrepresents) our doctrine and beliefs



2) They give unofficial material the status of official belief. Some third hand record of something that was said 175 years ago is obviously our absolute doctrine, right?



3) They assume that Mormons must have inerrant ideas about scripture or prophets like conservative evangelical Protestants do - we don't



4) They apply a strict standard to LDS ideas, but use a double standard to avoid condemning the Bible or their own beliefs if the standard was applied fairly to both.



5) Sometimes they don't even make sense, like Because A = B, C must also equal A and B. Huh?



The really good questions are beyond the capability of anti/ex-Mormons to even ask, let alone understand.



D&C 89:19

And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;



These great treasures of knowledge, hidden treasures, involve the nature of God and the eternities and the earth, etc. Don't worry about them ever being included on a list of "difficult" questions - no anti/ex-Mormon out there has a clue what these are. Those of us that have been around for a while, OTOH, know what I"m talking about. Get a bunch of high priests together and listen to them yap, and you might pick up some of this :-D

Answer 2

There are some - but I have yet to see them on a website. Certainly not Mike64's softballs.



Why do geneticists say that mankind have lived for 200,000 years, continuously, on this earth if Adam only lived 6000 years ago? I can think of many answers, but no really good answers. One answer seems to imply that the races aren't inherently equal, as if Adams race alone defined humanity.



Mike64's constant quoting of the Book of Mormon's supposed racism is actually reverse racism. God turned or caused to turn the skin of the Lamanites a darker color because they had broken their covenants. Racism would be if God turned away the Lamanites because of the color of their skin.

Answer 3

Difficult questions for Mormons? What are those? Lol. I've never been asked a question I couldn't answer or find the answer to. Every time a critic does their thing my testimony gets stronger. It testifies even more that the gospel has been restored.



I've seen sites like those too. Rather than give facts, they give their version of the facts making them false. That's how most anti questions are: they have an entirely false idea about how we believe. I also get stuff like the mountain meadow massacre, Adam God theory, blacks and the priesthood, polygamy, etc. The lack of knowledge critics have is unmatched by nearly anything on earth.



The questions and accusations are all the same. It's honestly pathetic. Not to mention Christians seem to know next to nothing about what the Bible teaches and/or it's history.

Answer 4

They are thwarted by the words of Isaiah



13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:



14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

Answer 5

I agree with Joshsy. I am so tired of that book of revelation argument. It is so bad and only makes the person who uses it look like a complete biblical ignoramus. If you do not know the first thing about the bible, you should probably not say anything.



Once again, the book of revelation was written 300 years before the bible existed. If you can find any literature that quotes the pilgrims telling us how to interpret the internet, then I might consider the book of revelation argument.

Answer 6

Try this.Facts to think about. Sin and crime are both acts of a breaking a law. A law must exist before sin, sinners, crime, and criminals exist because it is the law that creates them by describing an “evil” which by default defines a “good.” It is law that defines our knowledge of good and evil, the “forbidden” knowledge which Satan, in the guise of a serpent, beguiled Eve into accepting. Acceptance of Satan’s recommendation to accept the forbidden knowledge against our Creator’s warning is better known as the “original sin” or “the downfall of man.” Perhaps this “downfall” needs to be explained.



Everything that exists was created by the laws of nature. Since nature is our Creator, nature is literally our God, and no matter whether it is supernatural or simply natural, the laws of nature are God’s laws. For all living things the first law is survival and survival is inextricably entwined with freedom to make the choices necessary to survive. The only restriction to freedom is the “opinions” of good and evil expressed by mans laws. The act of taking control of another person’s life, property, or freedom is the profession of both criminals and authorities. The criminal might get injured or killed by his victim, however, an authority, though committing the same criminal acts, is protected from any repercussions by nullifying the victims’ freedom with laws. Satan controls mankind to this very day because Satan controls the trinity of politics, religion, and education, which teach us the “forbidden” knowledge of good and evil which are not facts, but the opinions of those beguiled by Satan.

Answer 7

LOL, I was reading the replies, I love hearing the "add and take away" one, everybody who brings that up might as well be wearing a t-shirt saying "I know nothing about the bible or how it was written and how it got to us".



Personally, I think there are some hard questions, not many, but a few are actually really hard to grasp, however the normal "hard" questions seem to draw heavily on opinions of members (in which case they must convince us that they are doctrine first, which they aren't and it fails before it launches), straw men arguments, or judgmental assumptions where the conclusion can only be reached if you already are banking on your previous assumptions.



I feel bad for the guys who go to those sites and come charging out of them ready for battle only to find that they forgot to put on pants and look ridiculous.





@ Micheal



You've got a few flaws in your rebuttal. A web site like "mormonthink" isn't agenda-less - thus the outcome of any discussion is rather obvious, they're not asking us to think but trying to pry open a person't mind who might be committed to a certain thought, and then ram an conclusion into their mind. Case-in-pint would be Joseph Smith and polygamy, many Mormons when they are young don't know much about the topic, websites will try and open their mind to the notion that Smith might have consummated marriages with his wives, however once that opinion is accepted (and I agree that it's likely) then they ram the idea into that void that because of this his whole motivation was sexual in nature, which ignores the fact that he has no offspring except with Emma, and there isn't one credible first-hand account of his relationship. So what could be an actual open learning experience gets ruined by propaganda type conclusions getting shoved on a person by people who decry "brainwashing" claiming that Mormons only teach one side - then hypocritically do the same thing teaching only an anti-Mormon point of view to others. That's sort of ridiculous to consider as valid.



While the website you refer to is one of the more tame ones, the motivation and purpose behind it is clearly transparent. I really don't know that there is a neutral LDS topics site on the internet, on very rare occasion I meet an individual who actually has a neutral view of my religion and the discussion is fascinating, but motivation for making a neutral website doesn't exist and therefore any website I've seen is tilted heavily one side or the other. It's not like mormonthink says: "here's a random topic not meant to cause controversy and the LDS view beside the anti-Mormon view" - wikipedia is your best bet for that and it's often times laughable in it's open forum scholarship methods.



You point out changing doctrines. The doctrines of the LDS church are simple, they are found in the scriptures. Some topics do indeed have room for leeway and different interpretations. That's okay, the doctrines don't change.



On the other hand, application of doctrines, the views of many leaders, and official positions of the church can and do change. We get that, what good would a prophet be if he couldn't speak for our day? That whole line of arguments is sort of funny since it's opposite of what Mormonism believes. It's taking evangelicalism and using it to "evangelize" Mormonism and then criticize it.



Mormon doctrine is the scriptures, the bet interpretation for the day is what the prophets are telling us, and they are telling us what we need to hear in our day.



While many think that's a cop-out, ask yourself if your church is dismissive of the OT and their laws and rights and customs. For example, if your brother dies without a son would you be willing to impregnate your sister-in-law until she bears a male son? Something ti think about when arguing the "applications of doctrines should never change" line of logic, it fails pretty fast when you look at the bible. Your reply will likely be "that OT law was replaced" which is close to what Christ said yet the point being - sometimes a more relevant teaching comes and religion does indeed need to evolve with the day that we live in. Otherwise we'd all be killing our non-believing neighbors and girls would be getting their fathers drunk and using their drunk fathers to impregnate them in cases of disaster where they think the world might be over like the recent super bowl loss for Bronco fans.



I appreciate your well thought efforts in the reply, I just disagree with your main points.

Answer 8

You'll have to be specific.



The list of difficult topics for mormonism is found at mormonthink.com. I suggest you go through that site, and focus the majority of your study on the information found there, instead of some simplistic evangelical apologetic site which lists up a couple simplified questions for mormonism to try and show the truthfulness of evangelical christianity against mormonism. Mormonthink lists the criticism, it lists FAIR's response if they have one, and then it investigate's FAIR's rebuttal. If you believe any information found at Mormonthink is inaccurate, then you are tested to find that information, and I bid you good luck. A site which lists the arguments of the other sides and is willing to address both sides back and forth to stay up to date with apologetics is one that analyzes the argument fairly.



I will address this, "(not something that may or may not have been taught 175 years ago)". Why should things that were stated by your leadership beforehand be exempt from relevancy because it's old? Does the doctrine change? Picture the membership of your church back in the 1800s. And they listened to sermons from the prophets and believed what they were saying because they believed when the prophet spoke, it was from God. Not in all things, a prophet is a man, but he is accountable for what he teaches to his church because apparently, people aren't capable of discerning doctrine from opinion, which is why we have had mormon leaders trying to make books on what mormon doctrine is and have failed. Your own leadership, failing on describing what really is mormon doctrine.



So I would tread lightly on criticizing others for not knowing mormon doctrine, even your leadership has been trumped in that department.



If you're disappointed in the quality of argument that mormonthink provides, then I have to say, your faith is in great shape my friend. You do not believe based on the rational argument that solidly proves to me mormonism's falsity, you believe because the feeling you have is more powerful than succumbing to the rational reality of the truth. Which is just fine, I'd rather you believe that way, instead of reaching out to poorly constructed apologetics and false evidences to solidify your spiritual faith.





joshsy, every site has an agenda. "...and then ram an conclusion into their mind." Mormonthink will present the facts, the position of believers, and the position of the critics. They aren't ramming a conclusion to the reader, it's up to them to discover if Mormonthink is presenting facts or not. That's the test, if Mormonthink is presenting things that aren't factual, then anyone can call them out on it, and they will have to answer. Where are mormons going to go to try and figure out if what they are presenting is factual though? Where on LDS.org? Where on mormon.org? They can go to FAIR, unaffiliated with the church or so they say, so even FAIR can't be trusted by mormons who place an overall faith system in the church to answer the tough questions. The essays are the first step in giving an official answer, and it's very interesting how it's 2014 and we're just now having a church sanctioned answer to topics in mormonism that cause a level of doubt. That's not to say that the essays can't be examined critically, they are, and for good reason.



"then hypocritically do the same thing teaching only an anti-Mormon point of view to others. That's sort of ridiculous to consider as valid."



Why list FAIR's rebuttal then in the same article? Why link to FAIR's site to give their point of view? The site will give the position of the critics so mormons know exactly what our argument is.



How can you be neutral on mormonism? The only way you can do that is if you're ignorant of the topics. There are the facts, which should be known, and there are the lies, mistruths, half-truths, sugarcoated stories that should be examined through a proper process. To me, a survey of Mormonthink presents the real criticisms against mormonism, now mormons know what our position really is. Not some evangelical apologetic nonsense, if you think your critics are evangelicals, you haven't done your research. If you think our best argument against mormonism is the claim that you're adding to Revelation, you must be joking. For me, it just so happens that the critical position against mormonism is an argument of rationality and factual truth. Ignorance of our position is no excuse anymore, now test the real quality of our arguments.





"And yet, the same people saying this have no problem with Noah building this huge boat and then guess what? The animals marched onto the boat all by themselves! 2 by 2 and 7 by 7! "



No, as I've said before, we don't argue from an evangelical position. We argue from a rational one. And since we're debating the Book of Mormon, then we will argue the things that are relevant to the Book of Mormon.



"God can do this miracle with Noah and his boat the the animals, but God is not capable of telling the Jaredites how to build a boat? Bah...hypocrites....their BofM "problems" have been thoroughly rebutted and are no better than the rest of the "difficult" questions out there."



Great, I'm glad our arguments were decimated by the "Goddidit" position. And I'm glad you were able to sum up the entirety of our arguments into one position about the Jaredites and their submarines. Is this the type of rationality you're proposing? No wonder I'm a critic, your position as evidence of what you just wrote, is absolutely ridiculous. Keep reading though, the more you know about my position, the less ignorant you are.

Answer 9

Mormons use the King James Bible - which is fine. At Psalm 83:18 it states that "jehovah God is MOST HIGH in all the earth." However, they do NOT believe that.



Also, while Revelation tells us that we should not "add or subtract" things from God's word - they have the Book of Mormon which they consider MORE than the Bible and it is out of harmony with the Bible. It is not a book that explains scripture directing you to other scriptures to understand better and give an explanation of scripture but it has added things that are NOT in the BIble and that are out of harmony with it.



They also are involved in politics and the military when the Bible says we are to be "no part of the world" and true Christians don't get involved in those things.

Answer 10

Question 1: are you racist and explain the passages below from your holy book?



And he had caused the CURSING to come upon them yea, even a sore CURSING because of their iniquity For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint: wherefore as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a SKIN of BLACKNESS to come upon them (2 Nephi 5 :21)



"O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God. (Jacob 3:8).



And it came to pass that those Lamanites who had united with the Nephites were numbered among the Nephites; And their curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites; (3 Nephi 2: 14-15)







Question 2 do you consider yourself a Christian? Explain why your holy book says that people that follow the bible and not the books joe wrote are following Satin.



"wherefore, thou seet that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God" ( 1 Nephi 13:28)

........because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them. (1 Nephi 13: 29f)







Question 3: Why were Blacks not allowed into the mormon priesthood? Explain your doctrine/ believe/ practice or what ever you want to call it as pertaining to not allowing Blacks into the priesthood and compare and contrast it to 2 Nephi 5:21 and explain to us that your book of mormon had NOTHING to do with the ban of the mormon priesthood towards blacks.









That's good for now. I have many others.

Answer 11

Have you read the entire Book yet?

Answer 12

very few questions regarding any religion are well thought out