Pretty Good; but rather Mormony
581281
Sarah never mentions in her book that she joined the LDS Church and is a faithful member of it.  The doctrines she propounds in her book conform to the mainstream LDS line, with no exceptions that I can think of except perhaps the specific prophecies she mentions that she claims to have seen.
A weakness of the book is that she does not emphasize well enough that the visions she was given are conditional.  We do not have to experience these terrible things as a society if we get our act together enough.
Another weakness is that she does not describe a better world that follows the calamities she portrays, leaving a rather bleak image of what is in store.
The back cover of the book states that the book is "without a doubt the most complete and extensive NDE ever recorded."  I strongly disagree.  There are scores of other NDE books that go into much more detail and which are more profound.
While Sarah explains away Reincarnation as a mere recollection because of having been someone's guardian angel, my experience has been that just because someone has an NDE and retells the things they were taught, does not make their account truth.  The account is largely a function of the filters of the person who has the experience.  Others who have had NDE's teach that there is such a thing as multiple mortalities.
Despite these shortcomings, the book is an easy, uplifting, and quick read at 132 pages.  It isn't a must-read, but it is worth while for a Sunday afternoon.
3933747
As a former mormon of 36 years, I have read the Book of Mormon countless times and even taught it to high school students as a seminary teacher.  I think I know the Book of Mormon as anyone.
First, as a faithful and believing mormon, it is just accepted and believed that the book is inspired scripture and more reliable than the Bible.  I spent most of my adult life with this belief.
However, I eventually decided that I needed to know if the book would hold up to a serious scrutiny.  What I found was very distrubing.  It is not a book of scriture, but a tale weaved from the thoughts of others by an 18th century con man named Joseph Smith.
It is okay to read, just look into its history from good sources before you really believe it as God's word.
2482372
I have built up a lot of antipathy toward the Mormons, so when I knew Terry Gross on "Fresh Air" (NPR) was about to interview the author of a novel inspired by his two years as a missionary, I thought I would switch the radio off, but then didn't. For that I am grateful, now having read the interviewee's novel "Elders."
I am gay. And when my partner and I lived in Key West, there were always pairs of these "elders," young men in their oh-so-very-Mormon-missionary dark slacks and white shirts, quite the antithesis of Key West attire or lack thereof, moving from door to door, trying to convert those of us who lived there. Often gay men joke about what they think happens when these young men retire for the day and return to the shared bedroom.
When, in that interview, Ryan McIlvain spoke without animus about why, after his two-year missionary stint, he rejected his Mormon beliefs, I knew I needed to order this novel, a novel new to the market just as the Supreme Court is in the process of deciding if what the Mormons did in California--their huge treasury beat back gay marriage in Prop 8--is in fact constitutional. It strikes me as ironic that this huge, vastly wealthy patriarchy of a church could be so concerned about gay marriage when, in reality, the only reason the man no longer are allowed to accumulate a plethora of wives was that Utah was not going to be allowed statehood back when unless this practice was abolished. In other words, it wasn't some great Joseph Smith-type revelation!
From his website, this about the author: He was born in Utah but raised in Massachusetts and has published in several journals. He graduated from Rutgers MFA program and had a fellowship in writing at Stanford. How interesting: no Brigham Young University in his background.
This is not a novel filled with Mormon hate, not at all. In fact it is a masterfully written novel set in Brazil during the run-up to Bush's was upon Iraq. Elder McLeod is a fictional version of the author, pair with Brazilian-born Elder Passos.
If the potential reader is looking for a novel that uncovers scandals and exposes massive hypocrisies in the Mormons, then this isn't that novel. However, it does expose those elements but with more subtleness, more nuance including how vulnerable the poor are in Brazil to the lure of promises if only they would convert. This is a delicately conceived novel, one in which the old epistle-type genre is employed as the two young men write to members of their families and then, in return, receive letters--all snail mail since that is the only means allowed. This sentence about Elder Passos after receiving news from hom: "Two thousand kilometers from home while his earthly house sank into the sand. What was he doing here?"
The reader really is exposed to the agenda of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hardly a very "Christian" one unless, of course amassing great wealth is now considered such, something Jesus hardly did! With the promise of conversion, these young South Americans are promised an education at BYU after their two years of being elders and, of course, learning English. They are promised an education that will lead to well-paying jobs, taking them far from the poverty they have known.
Josefina and Leandro are the young couple who the reader gets to know as the two elders attempt to convert them. And it is through these sessions which I found fascinating that the reader really does learn a lot about just what happens if one lets these missionaries in and find themselves hooked with the many returns.
This is a great novel. And any reviewer who says this does not reveal much about how the Mormons operate didn't do a very thorough reading.
2854372
Good material for teachers and students of the Book of Mormon
2647286
As I was finishing chapter 5, I felt that the author was proselytizing religion - especially the mormon faith. So I looked at the author bio and was not surprised. By chapter 5 I was already bored with the religious statements and dialogues like where one person asks the other to visit mormon.org. I get enough LDS propaganda by your missionaries; don't want it leaking into my sci-fi stories.
2125665
Disturbing and somewhat slanted. I've treated cult survivors or escapees. I always do my homework before agreeing to treat a patient about whose culture/background I need some hard facts. We see 'mainstream Mormonism" as potentially quite dangerous to cultists; mental health. Hell, I have the prof in my triple-encrypted "high-security vault in the sky" as well as my personal files. (Sorry, I never remember that product's name.) I'm not old enough to have lived through the late alcoholic Sen. Joseph McCarthy's personal "Reign of Terror," but I have older friend (and my parent) who did, "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" (posed to the senator by counsel Robert Welch). I know that I accept many basic tenets of my Catholic faith "on faith"  we can't find any factual evidence that Mary was "the Immaculate Conception' (born without Original Sin) or "the Blessed Virgin" throughout her life. However, it makes sense to us to accept these miracles on faith; it's at least reasonable. Mormonism is insidious, full of radically changing Joseph Smith stories (changed by Joseph Smith), rife with child sexual abuse and Revolving Prophets. Seems that Christians and Jews both have maintained a far higher criteria for declaring someone a prophet. My sister wrote a paper for the Law Journal while was a law student about the abuse of the First Amendment's freedoms by "regular" and "fundamentalist" Mormons.
263194
A bit too religious for me, but a very good book nonetheless.
4603706
This was one of the 1st books I read in my journey out of the cult called Mormonism.

I was quite puzzled by the last chapter of the book where Mr. Larson appears to endorse Christianity as the alternative to Mormonism.

Apparently the author did not have the financial resources to publish the book.  A non-profit Christian organization agree to assist with financial backing if Mr. Larson would allow a chapter promoting Christianity.  This organization, not Mr. Larson actually wrote this last chapter.

Ben Larson goes on in his review of November 2000 to say the family hopes to be able to fund a second printing of the book the way it was originally intended to be, a purely scholarly reference.

By way of interest, there is now available on DVD a movie about the same subject which is available through Amazon.com which is excellent.  It is called 'The Lost Book of Abraham: Investigating a Remarkable Mormon Claim.'  It would make a great companion to Charles Larson's book, 'By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus.'  I would recommend making them both a part of your library.
32654
I like the tone of the book, as it is not as condescending as many other anti-Mormon books that I have read.  That is why I gave it 3 stars.

This general review points out a few weaknesses in the concepts presented [...]

The downside is that when you look at the BIG picture, how are we supposed to know which ideas were correct and which ones were not while digging through the manuscripts of ancient Christianity.  It seems like anyone can find support to a large number of conclusions.

And that is not even mentioning the idea that the scriptures we have may have been copied or translated, maybe even on purpose in some cases. [...]

Some of the comments in the book can clearly be shown to have shaky grounds.  What I can't get is how the author can do so many literary acrobats in order to interpret certain verses figuratively and at the same time takes literally other verses (such as those rendering his view of the Trinity) that are clearly figurative (John 17).

[...]

Finally, I sit and ask myself if any of these people people will ever realize that they need to quit trusting in the flesh for spiritual answers.

The author claims that LDS missionaries will someday start using scholarship for conversion.  I think he is wrong.  It simply does not work.  Nobody can even know if Jesus is the Christ without recieving personal revelation on the matter.  Joseph Smith even said "there is no salvation without revelation".  That is why Peter was "blessed" in the New Testament.

The "Mormon Defenders" that Holding contends with are far from Mormon missionaries and the church officially and emphatically teaches all to recieve a personal and spiritual confirmation of the truth from God himself and that noone can recieve a testimony for any other person.  That is not going to change.
1153531
This is a great movie in almost every way, but there are some gross inaccuracies, even though the rest is pretty accurate.

Inaccuracies:
-Mormons don't pray to "The Heavenly Father," only "Heavenly Father"
-Mormons don't have figurines of Jesus, only pictures of Jesus
-It doesn't cost any money to get married in the Salt Lake Temple
-Mormon missionaries never use their first names
-If a Mormon missionary's companion goes AWOL, the missionary must report back to headquarters to get reassigned
-Mormons can't generate income while on their mission
-Mormon missionaries can only write letters, they can't call their girlfriends

Besides those things, the movie was pretty accurate, and very funny. This movie should be a warning to us all about the dangers of the adult film industry.
3005446
A very interesting revelation about Mormons.
2709312
A very interesting and mostly well-written book about an intriguing and often hidden side of American life, American Mormonism and its extreme fundamentalists.

I was rather appalled and even sickened by the tendency of male Mormon fundamentalists to take young girls, even their own daughters, as wives. And also by the blatant racism of these same folks. Though not nearly as appalling, the racism and sexism of the mainstream Later Day Saints was also quite disgusting. Then again, these mainstream LDS folks have led the charge against gay people. I was also a bit surprised to read about the mainstream Mormon's "lying for the church", which made Mitt Romney's deceitful flip-flopping on issues like choice, gay rights and the environment, easier to understand.

One thing I don't understand is all the comments claiming that Krakauer conflates the mainstream LDS with the Fundamentalist LDS. He make the distinction clear on every page. Too bad that the self-righteous in the LDS insist on being so defensive and uncritical, even as they turn their enmity and money on gays and women.
4518911
Latter-day Saints have been teaching and preaching the scriptural principle of deification for nearly two hundred years. It has always been a central part of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our example. They have received a great deal of persecution over this doctrine as being a non-Christian, cult concept. Now Dr. Christensen, as a respected Protestant intellectual, demonstrates that historically and scripturally it is very much a Christian doctrine just as Mormons have been trying to point out for years! What an odd turn of events? Watch out for the persecution; some people will really hate you for teaching this particular truth. I imagine that the writers may not particularly want to be associated with the foremost expositors of this doctrine. Even so, this is a good start as far as it goes and as far as the writers understand this essential doctrine. Hopefully, this will stir up a positive discussion among believers around the world concerning what their true identity and eternal potential really is. Good for you. Gutsy.
4884790
I agree w/ the other commentor who indicated that there was alot of jumping back & forth w/ events.  Olive's story itself is incredible, however, I wish that the author had not gone into so much detail about the Mormon expansion  - I can read that in another book, should I be interested.  Nonetheless, it was a very good book.
4347424
I would vehemently disagree with those reviewers who claim Bushman is doing P.R. for the Mormon Church.  If so, his P.R. is terribly ineffective, as it often discusses elements of Joseph's personality that are less-than-saintly.

And as far as the first vision goes, Bushman says nothing to contradict the 1832 record as it was recorded by Joseph.  He makes clear that Joseph referred to only one personage in the first account.  I do not know where the previous reviewer found his information.

As to the Book of Mormon, Bushman claims that the Book of Mormon's purpose was not to explore American Indians' origins.  If so, Bushman notes, it does a terrible job of it, constantly diverting attention away from the topic by discussing Christian principles and prophecies. Bushman details exactly how the Book of Mormon fails to represent the traditional New England paradigm of Indian culture (p. 96-97). As to the introduction to the Book of Mormon, that was not in existence during Joseph's lifetime nor is it now a part of the cannonized text, rendering the 1981 statement irrelevant to Bushman's work (not to mention, the assumption that the Governeur Morris professor of American History would pull off a bald-faced deception about the Book of Mormon's origin is too laughable for words)

Concerning the Garden of Eden, Bushman explicitly discusses the origin of the belief that the Garden was in or around Daviess County, noting that a certain area was "named by the Lord "Adam-ondi-Ahman," meaning "the place where Adam dwelt, presumably after his expulsion from the Garden" (345).  While Bushman does not delve into the archaeological soundness of such a belief, this is understandable as Bushman is not seeking to write an archaeological critique but to "recover the world of a prophet."

Furthermore, it is perfectly consistent within Joseph's worldview to view polygamy as a saving virtue.  Even in section 132, the "polygamy revelation," it begins with an allusion to Abraham's sacrifice and how it was accounted to him for righteousness, implying that polygamy fell under a similar category (v. 32, 36).  Bushman highlights this well with his use of Lucy Walker's autobiography.  Calling it the "standard pattern for the celstial marriage narratives written in Utah" (hence, two or three decades after the fact), Bushman details Lucy's anguish at first hearing the doctrine, with her crying "oh let this bitter cup pass."  Finally, Lucy proclaims: "It was not a love matter, but simply the giving up of myself as a sacrifice to establish that grand glorious principle that God had revealed to the world."  The saving power did not come in the sealing to Joseph, but in Lucy's willingness to submit herself to what she believed was the grand purposes of God.

Brilliantly walking the line between critical analysis and mudslinging, Bushman takes on the colossal task of actually trying to determine how Joseph thought about his own work.  As Bushman once noted in an interview, his Joseph is far more vulnerable than the "charismatic charlatan" paradigm that has dominated non-Mormon scholars' view of Joseph for decades.
1992153
As a former Mormon, this book has given me a better understanding of the nonsense they tried to teach us. However, the bible is essentially the same kind of nonsense, only a couple of thousand years older. Old does not make something true.
1478
This book consists in a brief history and outline of Mormon doctrines, followed by a very structured way to organize a coversation, a list of questions to ask Mormons and their possible answers. There is some good stuff in the book, and the author is obviously a very clever man, his questions original and thought-provoking.
However, it should be noted that these questions are based more on logic than on the Word of God.
The author's intent seems to trap the Mormon in his words using the wisdom of the world, instead of reasoning from God's Word. There is also a chapter about using the Book of Mormon to witness...what?! How can we use a book inspired by Satan to witness for Jesus? This is pure silliness. I suppose Lingle simply wanted his book to be original and different from other books on the market.