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< Criticism of Mormonism | Books | One Nation Under Gods | Use of sources
Prophetic Autobiography | A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods, a work by author: Richard Abanes
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Divining rods to Kimball and Young |
Mormonism "officially still teaches that all Christian churches are corrupt," and that "Satan sits in the place of God in Christianity."
Abanes cites two articles for this claim—one is an article by Kent Jackson from the Ensign, and the second is Bruce R. McConkie's Mormon Doctrine. There is nothing in either of these articles which argues that "Satan sits in the place of God in Christianity."
Jackson's article details the biblical prophecies of the apostasy, as well as evidences of its spread. Jackson's article concludes:
Unless Abanes is Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic, surely he must agree that the church of the Middle Ages had sunk into apostasy—if not, there was no need for a Reformation. Does Abanes not likewise believe that Roman Catholicism was, in some important senses, "corrupt"?
McConkie's work contains two relevant entries:
"Christians":
"Christianity":
Again, does Abanes not believe that Roman Catholicism represents a "perverted Christianity," which may contain some truths but also some error? How is Abanes' attitude toward Catholicism any different from the Saints' attitude toward other denominations?
Indeed, why have a new denomination (of which there are thousands) unless one believes that all existing denominations are missing something essential—i.e., that they are "corrupt" in some sense. This does not mean that they have no value whatever, or that they have no truth.
Elder William Grant Bangerter asked BYU students:
Said Ezra Taft Benson:
Elder Benson then quoted Elder Orson F. Whitney from 1928:
These authors clearly disagree with some doctrine in other denominations, but to say they regard God as "replaced by Satan" is not supported by these quotations. The author is also guilty of a double-standard, and ignores similar (or worse) remarks by other Christian denominations against each other during the same time period.
Notes
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