Mormonism 101 - Book Review

We are commanded by Scripture to be ready to give an answer. We are compelled to defend our faith. This, of course, involves both offense and defense, sometimes both at the same time. One of the battle fronts that concerns both offense and defense involves the cults. At times it seems like we cannot do enough to defend the faith especially against those forces that tend to look and smell Christian.

With that in mind the more resources we have available for our reference the bettered armed we will be  for the fight. Of course, some weapons are bigger and better than others. Mormonism 101 is one of those that is a very good sized weapon.

The book is written by Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson and is an update of their 2000 volume.

This is a detailed account of the Mormon beliefs covering virtually every area of the religion. The authors provide detailed quotes from Mormon literature and documents as well as quotes from LDS leaders' speeches. They then follow up with documentation from Christian theology. You get to make the comparison. Mormonism 101 is not a rehash of other cult books with a rearrangement of the material. If you are familiar with books like Kingdom of the Cults, you will be pleasantly surprised to get a different approach to the defense. We are also provided an extensive bibliography for further reference and study.

I think there are three ways to approach this book. First, you could just read through it to get an understanding of the history and beliefs of the Mormon faith. Certainly this would be a good approach and it would certainly get you through the 400+ page book in reasonable time. You would have a sound overview of Mormonism.

Second, you could engage this book by doing a detailed study of this volume chapter by chapter. This would afford you the opportunity to develop the skill to defend your faith vigorously in the face of false teachers.

Or, you might consider combining this volume with other research material in an effort to become an expert in cult apologetics.

Whatever way you go, you will not be disappointed with Mormonism 101. It will provide you with invaluable information on a cult many criticize but few know why.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of the book by Baker Books for a fair and honest review.