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I had a conference in Salt Lake and stopped by the infamous Tanner bookstore. People like Mark Hofmann, Brent Metcalf and Thomas Ferguson spent time here discussing problems in Church history. I grew up hearing about the Tanners as the most infamous anti-Mormons. I thought the Mormon Stories interview with Sandra Tanner was fascinating to hear their role in discovering and publishing things like the Egyptian Grammar and Manuscript book and 1832 First Vision accoutn. Walking into the bookstore was like going 20-30 years back in time to see how this kind of information was generated and published pre-internet. Stacks of well-known books ranging from Rough Stone Rolling to a whole bunch of books by evangelicals on how to Bible bash with missionaries. I also saw the replica lead golden plates that are impossible to lift. There are also lots of handmade tracts that are printed on color copy paper and home-printed books that were put together at a copy center. (I think they have all that stuff in-house).
It was interesting to see and experience. It’s always fascinating to me that evangelicals can point out the flaws in Mormonism and not see the same problems with the Bible and their brand of Christianity. I do admire the Tanners’ tenacity, all indications are they have not gotten rich with the bookstore and their Lighthouse Ministries.
That sounds interesting. I like to think of the Tanners as the Samaritan in the good Samaritan parable. They may stand against everything you hold sacred – but then help you out when you break down on the side of the highway! :wtf: You’re braver than I am. While I don’t stick my head in the sand when it comes to problems with Mormonism, I don’t go out of my way to find evidence to refute it. However, I think what you did is valuable from an open-mindedness perspective. I respect the Tanners in some respects – they haven’t gone down the sensational route of Ed Dekker etc. It was never about the money for them.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “by proving contraries, truth is made manifest” (HC 6:248).
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