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Major Problems of Mormonism
Thirty years of research on Mormonism distilled into a 256-page book. Covers the most important areas.
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1989
About the author
Jerald Tanner
50 books8 followersFormer mormon, researcher of the mormon religion and co-founder of the Utah Lighthouse Ministry.
Tanner was raised as a mormon. But converted to christianity and founded the Utah Lighthouse Ministry with his wife.
Tanner was raised as a mormon. But converted to christianity and founded the Utah Lighthouse Ministry with his wife.
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October 23, 2026
A CONDENSATION OF THEIR ARGUMENTS AGAINST MORMON DOCTRINE
Jerald (1938-2006) and Sandra (b. 1941) Tanner are/were perhaps the most noteworthy (certainly the most detailed) "anti-Mormon" critics of the LDS Church; both were formerly Mormons themselves. Their major work is ‘Mormonism - Shadow or Reality?’, and a more "readable" distillation is ‘The Changing World of Mormonism.’ Sandra closed their physical bookstore in Salt Lake City in 2023, but she continues the ministry (originally called ‘Modern Microfilm Company,’ later changed to ‘Utah Lighthouse Ministry’) they started.
They wrote in the Preface to this 1989 book, “The Apostle Paul admonishes Christians to 'Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.’ (1 Thess 5:21) In the thirty years we have been doing research on Mormonism, we have always tried to keep this statement in mind. Since we were once Mormon and have a deep love and concern for our people, we have tried to produce a work that will be read and appreciated by Mormons who are seeking the truth as well as outsiders who know little about the subject.” (Pg. 1)
“During the past few years some members of the Mormon Church have become convinced of the integrity of our work because of the way we handled the Mark Hoffmann case… In February 1984 we were shown extracts from Hoffmann’s notorious ‘White Salamander Letter,’ a document which supported our position concerning Joseph Smith’s involvement in magical practices and cast the Mormon Church in a very bad light… we were able to detect the fact that portions of it appeared to have been plagiarized from ‘Mormonism Unvailed,’ an anti-Mormon book published… in 1834… In the March1984 issue of the Salt Lake Messenger, we stated that we had ‘reservations concerning the authenticity of the letter…’” (Pg. 2)
“The fact that Mormon officials continued to deal with Mark Hoffmann and buy his documents while we were printing information about his claims caused a number of faithful church members to wonder about the inspiration of their leaders.” (Pg. 3)
“Unfortunately, although our major work, ‘Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?’ has proved to be very effective in bringing Mormons to the truth, it contains more material than the average person wishes to read. In 1980 Moody Press published a condensed version… ‘The Changing World of Mormonism.’ … Nevertheless, [its 600-page length] forced Moody Press to ask a price that is greater than the average paperback book. For these reasons we decided to reduce the material even further and to offer a price which will be very appealing to the average reader… In this book we do not claim to deal with all of the problems of Mormonism… because of lack of space.” (Pg. 3)
They say about the 1978 revelation that allowed Black men to receive the priesthood, “One thing that should be noted about the new ‘revelation’ is that the church has failed to produce a copy of it. All we have is a statement by the First Presidency which says that a revelation was received… The Salt Lake Tribune for June 13, 1978, reported, ‘[President Spencer W.] Kimball refused to discuss the revelation, saying it was ‘a personal thing.’” (Pg. 46)
They note, “While Mormons presently make much of abstinence from tobacco and alcoholic beverages, little is said about the Word of Wisdom cautioning against the use of meat except ‘in times of winter, of cold or famine.’ With the exception of tea and coffee, ‘hot drinks’ are freely used.” (Pg. 79)
They suggest, “It would seem that if the same [prophetic] powers were functioning in the Mormon Church today, the ‘Prophet, Seer and Revelator’ would have received a revelation warning concerning Mark Hoffmann’s cunning plan to defraud and disgrace the church. If the Mormon Church was ever led by revelation, it has been lacking since Mr. Hoffmann came into the church offices with the ‘Anthon transcript.’” (Pg. 103)
They observe, “[Oliver] Cowdery seems to have returned to the Mormon Church before his death, but David Whitmer maintained that Cowdery died believing Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet and that his revelations in the ‘Doctrine and Covenants’ must be rejected.” (Pg. 145)
Of the rediscovery of the Joseph Smith papyri in 1967, they comment, “a Mormon scholar, Walter Whipple, knew that the papyri were in the museum as early as 1962, five years before the rediscovery was announced. It is also interesting to note that the church itself had an actual piece of papyrus from Joseph Smith’s collection which was suppressed for 130 years…. Mormon writer Jay M. Todd now admits that Dr. James R. Clark, of BYU, knew about this fragment for 30 years but was told to suppress this information…” (Pg. 218)
Of Hugh Nibley’s book, ‘The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment,’ they assert, “We would expect that any book about the papyri would at least have a translation of all these pieces. Dr. Nibley’s book, however, only contains a translation of two fragments! Among the fragments which he did not translate is the original of ‘Facsimile No. 1’ of the Book of Abraham. This fragment contains a number of lines of hieroglyphs which relate to the meaning of the drawing. The reason Nibley did not translate these lines seems obvious: they show that Facsimile No. 1 is NOT a picture of ‘Abraham fastened upon an altar’ as Joseph Smith proclaimed, but rather a picture of an Egyptian by the name of Hor being prepared for burial.” (Pg. 219)
They argue, “Perhaps the strangest thing of all concerning the Inspired Version of the Bible is the fact that Joseph Smith himself did not take it seriously. For instance, he ignored his own ‘inspired’ renderings concerning the Godhead.” (Pg. 248)
They point out, “Mormon writer Robert J. Matthews has observed that most of the unique teachings of present-day Mormonism cannot be found in the Book of Mormon or other writings from the earliest period of Mormonism.” [e.g., marriage for time and eternity; three degrees of glory; temple endowments; baptism for the dead; patriarchal blessings; the Word of Wisdom.] (Pg. 255)
This book is indeed a briefer way of presenting the Tanners’ arguments, than their much longer books.
Jerald (1938-2006) and Sandra (b. 1941) Tanner are/were perhaps the most noteworthy (certainly the most detailed) "anti-Mormon" critics of the LDS Church; both were formerly Mormons themselves. Their major work is ‘Mormonism - Shadow or Reality?’, and a more "readable" distillation is ‘The Changing World of Mormonism.’ Sandra closed their physical bookstore in Salt Lake City in 2023, but she continues the ministry (originally called ‘Modern Microfilm Company,’ later changed to ‘Utah Lighthouse Ministry’) they started.
They wrote in the Preface to this 1989 book, “The Apostle Paul admonishes Christians to 'Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.’ (1 Thess 5:21) In the thirty years we have been doing research on Mormonism, we have always tried to keep this statement in mind. Since we were once Mormon and have a deep love and concern for our people, we have tried to produce a work that will be read and appreciated by Mormons who are seeking the truth as well as outsiders who know little about the subject.” (Pg. 1)
“During the past few years some members of the Mormon Church have become convinced of the integrity of our work because of the way we handled the Mark Hoffmann case… In February 1984 we were shown extracts from Hoffmann’s notorious ‘White Salamander Letter,’ a document which supported our position concerning Joseph Smith’s involvement in magical practices and cast the Mormon Church in a very bad light… we were able to detect the fact that portions of it appeared to have been plagiarized from ‘Mormonism Unvailed,’ an anti-Mormon book published… in 1834… In the March1984 issue of the Salt Lake Messenger, we stated that we had ‘reservations concerning the authenticity of the letter…’” (Pg. 2)
“The fact that Mormon officials continued to deal with Mark Hoffmann and buy his documents while we were printing information about his claims caused a number of faithful church members to wonder about the inspiration of their leaders.” (Pg. 3)
“Unfortunately, although our major work, ‘Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?’ has proved to be very effective in bringing Mormons to the truth, it contains more material than the average person wishes to read. In 1980 Moody Press published a condensed version… ‘The Changing World of Mormonism.’ … Nevertheless, [its 600-page length] forced Moody Press to ask a price that is greater than the average paperback book. For these reasons we decided to reduce the material even further and to offer a price which will be very appealing to the average reader… In this book we do not claim to deal with all of the problems of Mormonism… because of lack of space.” (Pg. 3)
They say about the 1978 revelation that allowed Black men to receive the priesthood, “One thing that should be noted about the new ‘revelation’ is that the church has failed to produce a copy of it. All we have is a statement by the First Presidency which says that a revelation was received… The Salt Lake Tribune for June 13, 1978, reported, ‘[President Spencer W.] Kimball refused to discuss the revelation, saying it was ‘a personal thing.’” (Pg. 46)
They note, “While Mormons presently make much of abstinence from tobacco and alcoholic beverages, little is said about the Word of Wisdom cautioning against the use of meat except ‘in times of winter, of cold or famine.’ With the exception of tea and coffee, ‘hot drinks’ are freely used.” (Pg. 79)
They suggest, “It would seem that if the same [prophetic] powers were functioning in the Mormon Church today, the ‘Prophet, Seer and Revelator’ would have received a revelation warning concerning Mark Hoffmann’s cunning plan to defraud and disgrace the church. If the Mormon Church was ever led by revelation, it has been lacking since Mr. Hoffmann came into the church offices with the ‘Anthon transcript.’” (Pg. 103)
They observe, “[Oliver] Cowdery seems to have returned to the Mormon Church before his death, but David Whitmer maintained that Cowdery died believing Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet and that his revelations in the ‘Doctrine and Covenants’ must be rejected.” (Pg. 145)
Of the rediscovery of the Joseph Smith papyri in 1967, they comment, “a Mormon scholar, Walter Whipple, knew that the papyri were in the museum as early as 1962, five years before the rediscovery was announced. It is also interesting to note that the church itself had an actual piece of papyrus from Joseph Smith’s collection which was suppressed for 130 years…. Mormon writer Jay M. Todd now admits that Dr. James R. Clark, of BYU, knew about this fragment for 30 years but was told to suppress this information…” (Pg. 218)
Of Hugh Nibley’s book, ‘The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment,’ they assert, “We would expect that any book about the papyri would at least have a translation of all these pieces. Dr. Nibley’s book, however, only contains a translation of two fragments! Among the fragments which he did not translate is the original of ‘Facsimile No. 1’ of the Book of Abraham. This fragment contains a number of lines of hieroglyphs which relate to the meaning of the drawing. The reason Nibley did not translate these lines seems obvious: they show that Facsimile No. 1 is NOT a picture of ‘Abraham fastened upon an altar’ as Joseph Smith proclaimed, but rather a picture of an Egyptian by the name of Hor being prepared for burial.” (Pg. 219)
They argue, “Perhaps the strangest thing of all concerning the Inspired Version of the Bible is the fact that Joseph Smith himself did not take it seriously. For instance, he ignored his own ‘inspired’ renderings concerning the Godhead.” (Pg. 248)
They point out, “Mormon writer Robert J. Matthews has observed that most of the unique teachings of present-day Mormonism cannot be found in the Book of Mormon or other writings from the earliest period of Mormonism.” [e.g., marriage for time and eternity; three degrees of glory; temple endowments; baptism for the dead; patriarchal blessings; the Word of Wisdom.] (Pg. 255)
This book is indeed a briefer way of presenting the Tanners’ arguments, than their much longer books.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review