During the fall of 2001, I was presiding over the England London South Mission. I had become keenly aware of the daily experiences our missionaries were having in their labors in southern England. I knew they were regularly encountering concerns expressed by investigators or others who are not members of our Church. Some of these were honest questions, asked by sincere investigators with genuine desires to know more about the doctrines of the restored church and gospel of Jesus Christ. Others, however, were posed by those with little interest in the Church except to criticize and torment it. Their spirit was not one of honest inquiry and investigation. Their intentions were not to learn, but rather to attack and criticize. They carried a malevolent and confrontational spirit. Their attacks had become a source of consternation, anxiety, and even fear to some of our missionaries.

I wanted to do something to comfort and inspire these young men and women. I wanted to try to replace their feelings of fear and anxiety with peace and confidence. I decided to try to supply them with simple answers to several of the most common questions and also some of the more commonly heard criticisms of the Church. I therefore gathered materials from several sources and included them in a book I titled Resolving Concerns. It was initially distributed to the missionaries in November of that year. It contained discussions of several questions, issues, and criticisms being heard almost daily.

A second edition was produced and distributed in May of 2002. It contained some corrections and a few additions to content of the first edition.

During the intervening years I have developed a desire to make this book available to family and friends in an expanded format. I am still very much interested in helping our missionaries and providing them with resources that may be helpful to them in their proselyting. I have also become aware that there are a few issues that, on occasion, prove to be stumbling blocks even to seasoned members of the Church. I have encountered previously active members who have separated themselves from the Church over doctrinal concerns and doubts. I would like to try to help these individuals as well. I have included several of these potentially contentious topics.

I began my life in the Church as a rather skeptical, stubborn, child and young adult. I was reared in a family whose members were largely “less active.” I had friends whose families were well established in the Church, but I wasn’t about to let them decide for me my feelings about the Church. If I was ever to become committed to the Church, that testimony would have to be based on my own investigations. Now, in the “late afternoon” of my years, I am completely converted and committed to the Church and gospel. I want others to share the peace and reassurance with which I have been blessed. I feel tangible pain whenever I hear of someone who has left the Church over doubts and questions. I often pray that I might be influential in their lives.

The resource materials for this book have been gathered from several sources. Attributions will be made as we come to them, but I would like to extend special a priori acknowledgment and thanks to a few authors. They have written books that were the inspiration for this book while it was still in its planning phase. These include Richard I. Winwood, Take Heed That Ye Be Not Deceived (Salt Lake City, Utah, 1995); Stephen E. Robinson, Are Mormons Christians (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1991) and for another book brother Robinson co-authored with an Evangelical scholar, Craig L. Blomberg, How Wide the Divide, A Mormon & an Evangelical in Conversation (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1997). Also, I owe a debt to an old and dear friend, A. Melvin McDonald for his book The Day of Defense (Alpha Publishing House, 1979), and finally to Robert L. Brown and Rosemary Brown, and their book They Lie in Wait to Deceive (Brownsworth Publishing Co. Inc., 1993).

Missionaries and other church members should always avoid encounters with those who would be critical of the Church. This book is not meant to provide ammunition for those potentially contentious or combative souls who might be inclined to carry on a war of words with people of opposing views. The spirit of contention is always un-Christian (see D&C 10:63) and virtually never productive. I do feel, however, it is important that members of the Church in general, and perhaps missionaries more particularly, possess sufficient knowledge and confidence, so that they do not shrink from discussing the gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone. The missionary who does not fear is free to become a fully confident and competent emissary for the Lord.

As alluded to above, missionaries may be required to resolve concerns in different settings. Often an honest investigator may ask for a simple explanation of an eternal truth. In these cases, the Spirit of the Lord is present and the Spirit’s presence is likely to be felt even more as the investigator responds to the explanation with a believing spirit. It is hoped that this book will help the missionary organize his or her thinking, presentation, and explanation of the concerns raised by this type of investigator.

At other times a negative spirit prevails, as concerns are expressed by those who would be critical of the Church. In these cases the influence of the Spirit is usually not present. Don’t expect this type of “investigator” to experience a sudden change of heart and say, “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve been wrong all these years and what I have been told has been distorted and a lie. You are completely correct. How can I arrange to be baptized?” This book is also intended to assist in your discussions with this type of individual. The objective of resolving concerns in these situations is merely to clarify and communicate. It is not so important that they agree with us, but rather that they come to fairly and accurately understand what we believe. These people are not seeking for a spiritual experience. Your expectations should be mainly to make certain they understand that the eternal truth about the principle you are discussing is a valid option for them.

In discussing the gospel with those who are critical of the Church, there are a few important rules to be kept in mind:

1. Do not take their criticisms personally, and don’t become defensive. After all, the criticisms are not being leveled against you. They are aimed directly at the Lord Jesus Christ and his Church and gospel. Your reactions should not be argumentative and defensive, as that tends to stifle meaningful conversation. Keep in mind that Mormons are singled out for persecution by other secular Christian churches not because we are “sinister” or “evil,” but, at least in part, because we are “sheep-stealers.” That is, we preach to members of other churches and are delighted when they accept the message of the restored gospel and commit to be baptized into our Church. We therefore threaten the economic existence and stability of congregations and professional ministers. The “Christian community” at large has an unspoken agreement not to evangelize each others’ members. If we would commit today not to try to convert current members of Christian churches but only preach to the “unwashed masses” who have not committed their lives to Christ, then tomorrow we would be accepted as “Christians” in a heartbeat.

2. Always maintain a friendly demeanor. We actually have much in common with the beliefs of our brothers and sisters of other Christian faiths. We should always try to get past the vocabulary differences and mis-communications to emphasize those things we have in common.

“If you come at me with your fists doubled,” said Woodrow Wilson, “I think I can promise you that mine will double as fast as yours; but if you come to me and say, ‘Let us sit down and take counsel together, and if we differ from one another, just what the points at issue are, we will presently find that we are not so far apart after all, that the points on which we differ are few and the points on which we agree are many, and that if we only have the patience and the candor and the desire to get together, we will get together’” (How to Win Friends and Influence People, 14).

Don’t begin by discussing the things on which you differ. Rather, begin by emphasizing—and keep on emphasizing—the things on which you agree.

3. Even though the other man may be totally wrong, he doesn’t think so. Don’t condemn him. Any fool can do that. Try to understand him. Only wise, tolerant, exceptional men even try to do that. There are reasons why the other man thinks and acts as he does. Seek to discover those reasons, and in that seeking you may establish a relationship.

There is a tendency in each of us, when we are trying to win over others to our way of thinking, to do too much talking and too little listening. It is important to let the other person talk himself out. He knows more about what he believes than you do.

Never assume you know what he believes regardless of what his church may teach. He and his church are not always in agreement. Ask him a lot of questions. Let him tell you a few things. If you disagree with him, you may be tempted to interrupt. But don’t. It’s dangerous. He won’t pay attention to you while he still has a lot of ideas of his own which are crying out for expression. So listen patiently and with an open mind. Be sincere about it. Encourage him to express his ideas fully. This process also allows you to get a better understanding of what is important to him. Ultimately he may disagree with your interpretations, and you may disagree with his. But you should decide to disagree agreeably. It is human nature to give more credence to ideas that we discover for ourselves than ideas that are given to us by someone else. Wouldn’t it be wiser to make suggestions and let the other person work out the conclusions for himself?

4. Be careful to define the terms. There is opportunity for serious miscommunication because of the vocabulary. The same theological words have different meanings in different churches. Words like resurrection, salvation, saved, justification, sanctification, exaltation, creation, and Father all have different meanings to people of different faiths. Rather than use the words, you should ask them to explain in detail what they mean, and you must do the same. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Clarify and teach by regularly repeating back what you think you heard. “Let me see if I understand . . .” “If I understand you correctly . . .” “So what I think I heard you say is . . .”

5. Keep in mind that the person who asks questions controls the conversation. If you want to stay in control of the conversation, make your last statement a question. Using this principle you can guide the conversation. You can repeat this process over and over.

6. Bear testimony regularly of Jesus Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ, the atonement, and the Bible. Don’t simply tell them you are a Christian. Show them you believe by bearing testimony of him. This gives the Spirit an opportunity to become involved in the discussion.

7. Keep in mind that the gospel of Jesus Christ is defined in the Standard Works, by official statements of the First Presidency, or by statements of the Quorum of Twelve when speaking as a group. Anything else is simply commentary (“homily”) and of secondary authority. The Journal of Discourses is often quoted by critics of the Church and assumed by them to be an authoritative source of LDS doctrine. The Journal of Discourses is a collection of sermons written by nineteenth century Church authorities. It contains much that is true and inspirational, but it is not doctrine. Not everything an apostle or prophet utters is intended to be doctrine. There is no doctrine, for example, on such things as Coca-Cola or ice water being part of the Word of Wisdom; the Constitution of the United States to hang by a thread and to be saved by the Elders of Israel; the use of playing cards; or whether or not Christ was married.

8. Remember that in any discussion of Church doctrines, you are likely to know more of what we believe than the other person. You may encounter so-called “experts” on Mormon doctrine who have never been to a sacrament meeting and could not answer many of the simplest questions about the Church or define our most basic terms. Yet they will assume that they know the “real truth” about our doctrine which they often have obtained from anti-Mormon sources. Enemies of the Church are perfectly happy taking quotes out of context or misusing our terminology in order to define what they think we believe. They will invariably place their own interpretations on these quotes. They are not interested in understanding what we really believe, they only desire to demean a doctrine so that others will not listen to its message and judge for themselves. If you are a full-time missionary, please keep in mind you are authorized to teach the basic doctrinal principles of the Church, but you are not expected to know all the answers. Always be willing to say, “I don’t know the answer to that, but I’ll be happy to find out for you.”

Michael J. Preece

Salt Lake City, Utah

November 2016