Eerdman's Publishes Mormon Book

The author of both the foreword and the afterword, Richard Mouw, is NOT a Mormon, but a Christian scholar who explains where Professor Millet’s views are at variance with the Christian faith, and we get it right from the horse’s mouth rather than from some amateur theologian who writes anti-Mormon tracts during his coffee breaks.

 

Marcia,

I have NEVER posted a personal attack against anyone of this message board. I wrote a post that was somewhat ambiguous and a moderator interpreted it as being an “ad hominem attack” on the quality of your post, and told me that was the equivalent of a personal attack. There as no attack of a personal nature upon you or anyone else.

Only once before have I been accused of posting a personal attack against any member of this board, and on that occasion the moderator acknowledged that he misunderstood my words and agreed that there was no personal attack made. You yourself have seen me being personally attacked by others, being accused of being a Roman Catholic, a Seventh-day Adventist, and a atheist, and you are my witness that you never saw me respond by personally attacking those who attacked me. Take a look at the last three pages of the “Conditional Salvation” thread and you will see some very severe personal attacks on members of the message board, and you will also see that I did not in any way contribute to them but that my posts remained very polite and entirely courteous.

 

Robert Millet is possibly the leading Mormon scholar and theologian today. I have a book of his in my office called, "The Power of the Word: Saving Doctrines from the Book of Mormon". I can't imagine the book we are discussing being a whole lot different than the book i have in my hands. Other than the fact that his current book being peddled is probably white washed for the unknowing, much like their missionaries white wash their presentations now.

BTW...in case you are wondering why i have this book, i do study a lot of cults and have spent a lot of time studying LDS doctrine through their own works.

In short, a "Christian" book publisher should not be publishing a book by this man, nor should a "Christian" book store be selling a book by this man.

This would be no different than selling books written by Sun Yung Moon or David Koresh. They might as well put copies of the Book of Mormon in there right next to this Millet book in my opinion, after all that is Millet's goal.

 

I applaud you for studying other religious groups through their own works. Even for those who oppose a Christian publisher publishing a work from a Mormon author, I don't think we should oppose Christians doing honest research of those groups by studying "straight from the horse's mouth" as it were.

I agree with the general idea of Eerdmans that Christians need to be educated about Mormon beliefs and that many evangelical sources opposing Mormonism are full of inaccuracies. However, the best solution to this might not be for them to publish a book from a Mormon author. As I said earlier, I need to read this book before making a final judgement of how appropriate it is for a Christian publisher to publish this book.

 

William B. Eerdmans/Publisher has been of immeasurable benefit to the Christian community. Until I see some hard facts that they have published a book that is distinctly harmful to the Christian community, I shall respect their very learned judgment and opinion concerning what they should and should not publish over the opinion of a bunch of amateurs whom I have personally seen, on a repeated basis, bring serious discredit to the Christian community. Should I see such hard evidence at some point down the road, I shall be the first to express my view that they have made a serious error in judgment.

I have implied no such thing nor do I believe any such thing.

Most, but certainly not all, of what I have seen is pathetically ignorant junk.

I do not believe that it is honest for anyone to refer to the book in question as either a pro-Mormon book or a book by a Mormon, for it is neither of these. It is a book in which a Mormon teaches his view of Jesus in the context of a Christian book published by one of the very finest Christian publishers with an excellent track record of publishing very fine works. Anyone who finds fault with Mormons for being less than truthful, but is less than truthful himself, needs to get the mote out of his own eye so that he can see clearly to remove the beam from his brother’s eye.

Where in the Bible does it say that Christians should not, for the purpose of furthering the truth of the Gospel of the kingdom of God, give a platform to a false teacher so that his false teaching can be exposed in the light of the truth of God’s Word?

 

Letting a mormon elder teach his beliefs in a Bible believing church?????

Utterly ridiculous!!! You might as well give the car keys to a Chimpansee!!! You'd fair off safer letting Jesse James hold your wallet while you tell him---"Now, Jesse! You hold this wallet full of money for me---while I go around this corner!!!"

Utterly ridiculous!!!

 

Eerdmans has made it EXPRESSLY clear that this book does NOT promote the Mormon view. Teaching and explaining a view for educational purposes is NOT the same as promoting it. I have taught both Comparative Theology and Comparative Religions, and the required reading for those classes was NOT written by outsiders who opposed these positions, but by experts who held those positions. If you want to learn what a Mormon believes, what better source is there than a Mormon who has studied the subject in depth.

I suppose that some would even accuse me of having promoted the Mormon view, but when I studied the writings of Theodore Dreiser in college, I didn’t just read what other people said about Dreiser, I read what Dreiser had written. And may I suggest that you read his novel, An American Tragedy, and please don’t read about the novel on the internet—read the novel itself!

This very afternoon as I was working out in my front yard, two Mormon “missionaries” rode by on their bicycles. Just the sight of them turned my stomach. If there ever was a pseudo-Christian cult that I found absolutely revolting, it is the Mormon cult, and I am thankful that Eerdmans is trying a new approach to exposing this cult for what it is, and I pray that this new approach will help many individuals to better understand the fundamental difference between the Jesus of the Bible and the false Jesus of the Mormon cult. Eerdmans is not our enemy; they are our brothers in Christ. Let’s fight the Mormons rather than our brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

I am not sure about chimpanzees, but the I.Q. of some gorillas has been measured at 70, and in theory they are, therefore, intelligent enough to learn how to drive a car and to pass all the required tests to get their license.

Personally, I have never seen a monkey behind the wheel, but I have seen plenty of them behind Baptist pulpits.

 

I am not sure about chimpanzees, but the I.Q. of some gorillas has been measured at 70, and in theory they are, therefore, intelligent enough to learn how to drive a car and to pass all the required tests to get their license.

Personally, I have never seen a monkey behind the wheel, but I have seen plenty of them behind Baptist pulpits.

</font>[/QUOTE]Of course, I've seen a few in my day, too!! But I'd personally rather hear some sorry excuse for expositional preaching of the PURE TRUTH than to be exposed to a lie----wouldn't you??? Of course, this doesn't give us a license to bad exposition of that truth----but you know what I mean???

 

Is this thread about going to church on Sunday mornings, or is it about a book published by a Christian publisher that has nothing to do with going to church on Sunday mornings?

 

Who said anything about going to church??? I see nowhere where the thread has ventured off its original intent---the topic concerns being exposed to the truth verses being exposed to the lie! Which one would you rather be exposed to?? The Truth from the truth of Scripture----or a lie??

 

I want to know the truth—regardless of who tells it. If a Mormon scholar can tell it more accurately that a Baptist preacher—that is fine with me—just so long as it is the truth.

 

It is NOT a pro-Mormon book. Repeatedly saying that is a pro-Mormon book is repeatedly stating false information. Quoting others who are making false statements does not make the false statement any less false.

False information is false information. I have no respect for Mormons who make false statements; and I have no respect for "Christians" who make false statements. And I have no respect for “Christians” who make it their business to find fault with Christian organizations. It is bad enough having to put up with Mormons and J.W.’s without having to put up with false accusers of the brethren. The internet has become the favorite tool of these false accusers of the brethren, and we need to take notice of them and warn others about them.

1 John 3:10. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
11. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
12. not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.
13. Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.
14. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
15. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

 

Craig,
So it is an ANTI Mormon book by a Mormon?
The Mormon author is part of "the brethren" or just Eerdmans?

Karen