Can Someone Familiar With the Book of Mormon Give Me Some Guidance, Please?

[Matthew G]

***DISCLAIMER: I am not a Mormon, and have no interest whatsoever in converting to Mormonism. So please, if you are a Mormon, keep any comments within the confines of my question. Do not try to influence my personal beliefs. You will only be wasting your time, and mine. Thank you.***

I hope I've put this in the right section.

I recently procured a copy of the Book of Mormon from a friend at work who had gone to a couple of services with the co-worker I've mentioned in a previous post, before abandoning the idea altogether. I am wanting to read it merely for personal study and curiosity, and frankly to better prepare myself for the plethora (no I'm not exaggerating) of Mormons who come knocking at my door on a monthly basis. I am of the mind that, in this case, knowledge is power - for lack of a better term.

That being said, can anyone give me guidance as to where to start? I assume (not knowing much about Mormon beliefs/doctrine) that, like the Bible, reading from beginning to end is not the most effect way of study. Are there books more important (so to speak) than others? Are there other studies I should be aware of and seek out to increase my understanding of their doctrine?Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks very much in advance.

 

[VirginShallConceive]

***DISCLAIMER: I am not a Mormon, and have no interest whatsoever in converting to Mormonism. So please, if you are a Mormon, keep any comments within the confines of my question. Do not try to influence my personal beliefs. You will only be wasting your time, and mine. Thank you.***

I hope I've put this in the right section.

I recently procured a copy of the Book of Mormon from a friend at work who had gone to a couple of services with the co-worker I've mentioned in a previous post, before abandoning the idea altogether. I am wanting to read it merely for personal study and curiosity, and frankly to better prepare myself for the plethora (no I'm not exaggerating) of Mormons who come knocking at my door on a monthly basis. I am of the mind that, in this case, knowledge is power - for lack of a better term.

That being said, can anyone give me guidance as to where to start? I assume (not knowing much about Mormon beliefs/doctrine) that, like the Bible, reading from beginning to end is not the most effect way of study. Are there books more important (so to speak) than others? Are there other studies I should be aware of and seek out to increase my understanding of their doctrine?Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks very much in advance.

I would just read it from beginning to end. After that, you can always revisit certain spots to analyze them futher. As far as "knowledge is power", I think that the actual, documented history of Mormonism itself is some pretty powerful ammunition against it. I'm talking about things like the behavior of the founders, drastically changing policies about polygamy and skin color, etc. Another powerful thing is that in the Age of Information, it is getting harder and harder for charlatans to peddle their nonsense. You might want to try to explain to the "door knockers" that they are wasting precious time if they aren't gaining anything of value for themselves by going door to door.

 

[Webb]

Those who come to your door are young men fulfilling their two years of mission work. Their title is Elder. In the NT an elder and bishop are the same office, they are also called overseers. Their qualifications are found in I Tim.3 and Titus 1. A qualification which is obvious they do not meet is that of being married and having children, and of course, the word elder means older. They know very little about the Bible and oft times as little about the BoM. Unless you feel you must, I would not waste time reading the BoM from "kever to kever".

 

[Mike]

There are plenty of resources to refer to in order to learn about Mormonism; even some of the threads here could be enlightening. There's a good book called "Kingdom of the Cults" that has a good section on it. One thing about Mormon missionaries who go door to door and Mormons in general... They are practiced and rehearsed very well to handle obstacles they know Christians will throw at them. They know where our theology is vastly different, and they've spent a lot of time being taught (programmed) how to respond to them. As much as you can learn about Mormonism, you probably won't know as much as they do about the obstacles.

While I do believe they are unaware of the higher teachings of their religion, they do have just about every answer to every question you might have down pat. Engage them knowing this. When they say they are in agreement with you because "Mormonism is in agreement with scripture", you have to drill down and drill down. If they showed up at my door, I would be courteous and offer them something to drink to take with them as I move them quickly along.

 

[Jamesone5]

As a former Mormon myself, the Theological "problems" with many of the Mormon beliefs are really not found in the book of Mormon, but rather mostly in the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church. The LDS Church recognizes the BoM, The D&C, the Pearl of Great Price and the KJ Bible as Scripture [ the Bible, insofar as as it's translated correctly] Also, as they believe, the Prophet of the Church can cite what is considered "Scripture" at any time because God is supposedly revealing even more through time and sometimes newer "revelations" conflict with older ones made by earlier prophets of the Church. Personally, I believe the LDS Church is always reinventing itself to blend in with mainline Christianity when a Doctrine or Belief becomes troublesome.

 

[Jamesone5]

Also, I might suggest the book Mormon Doctrine by Bruce McConkie who was a member of the Church Leadership and this book is fairly clear as to most of their Beliefs.

 

[proveallthings]

Matthew G, Actually, Mike has guessed incorrectly when he says the missionaries are well rehearsed with answers to non-Mormon Christian challenges. It is one of the things that church leadership is looking into. So far, as far as I am aware they don't cover much of that stuff at all in the Mission Training Center. If the missionaries know such answers at all it is from their own personal research. I know that is the way it was for me and also my three sons, who have all been missionaries.

If you want to discuss anything with a Mormon and have influence, sincerity and openness are key. I would focus most on official Mormon sources at first, like Mormon.org and just reading the BofM. If you want to get a good feel of it without reading it all right away, read the first book of the Book of Mormon, which is 1st Nephi and the first 6 chapters of 2nd Nephi. Then skip to the last three chapters of that book, 31, 32 and 33. Then if you want some juicy stuff go to 3rd Nephi chapters 8-17. Then finish with the very last chapter of Moroni. That should give you a good idea of the feeling of the Book of Mormon. Ask yourself if it persuades you to be good or bad, to believe in Christ and follow Him or not. If you approach it openly and sincerely, you will have much more credibility with any Mormon you talk with.