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zaffiroborant
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Ya and my dog still walks with a limp!
Is Isaiah Bennett, author of "Inside Mormonism," truthful in his books and articles on Mormonism?
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PaulDupre
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Bennett says as much in the book.
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Crdl2Grv
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Here’s EWTN, engaging in uncharitable gossip:
“Isaiah Bennett was a Catholic priest who converted to Mormonism and then reconverted to the Catholic faith.”
ewtn.com/library/answers/insidtem.htm
On the back cover of Inside Mormonism: What Mormons Really Believe, you will find the following:
“Isaiah Bennett is a former Catholic priest who converted to Mormonism and then returned to the Catholic faith.”
amazon.com/gp/reader/1888992069/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link
Scandal! Someone should let Mr. Bennett know that his publisher is engaging in malicious and uncharitable gossip right their on the back of Bennett’s own book!
And what’s this?! Jim Dandy maliciously slandering Isaiah Bennett in the very first post of this thread?!?!?!
I can only imagine the PMs you sent JD, Steve, admonishing him for engaging in such uncharitable gossip. And the reason I can only imagine them is because they do not, in fact, exist.
Isaiah Bennett’s actions when he was a Catholic priest are quite obviously a matter of public record. They have been voluntarily and repeatedly released by Mr. Bennett, his publishers, etc a great many times over a number of years. It is neither “uncharitable” nor “gossip” to discuss those publicly disclosed (indeed, "publicly embraced is probably a better term) actions.
Furthermore, if Mr. Bennett’s actions regarding the Catholic priesthood are so irrelevant to the merits of Inside Mormonism, why does a description of those actions appear on 1) The EWTN website, which excerpted the book, 2) the very first post in this thread and 3) THE BACK COVER OF INSIDE MORMONISM?!
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Crdl2Grv
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Dude. The bile. So much bile. Think of the children, man.Silly Jimmy! No need to read the book, just read the title and look at the cover picture, it’s all there no need to be bothered with all that reading stuff.
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Crdl2Grv
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Thank you.
I cannot for the life of me understand how a very specific criticism about a very specific action one man once took (a criticism that even subject agrees with! publicly!) became inappropriate, out-of-bounds, “uncharitable” gossip.
Actually, I do know how - because as we Catholics know all too well these “Former Apostles Tell All” books breed a kind of reflexive, uncritical “Yay us! Boo them!” tribalism. Just take a look at this thread. Has anyone who has read the book responded to the substantive criticisms that a member of the LDS faith linked to? Of course not. Not one post. Not one word. That should show everyone who’s reading just how interested people here are in substantive discussion on this matter.
Well from now on I’m 100% on board. Enough critical thinking. I officially declare and swear without hesitation or mental evasion that all Catholics everywhere are now, always have been and always will be entirely without flaws and their actions are now, always have been and always will be driven by nothing but the purest of intentions. And all Mormons are now and have always been completely terrible people. Yay us. Boo them. Excelsior!
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zaffiroborant
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What…
I just said he only needed to read the title and look at the cover…
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Lefty0908
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Crdl2Grv talks about the “reflexive, uncritical 'Yay us! Boo them! tribalism.” I see it the same thing among the LDS as well. I suppose it’s just human nature. I do appreciate Crdl2Grv’s generous defense of me. I didn’t know if anyone would actually link to the review I provided, but I did want people to know that there is a substantive LDS scholarship that deals with and responds to issues raised by our critics. Thanks again Crdl2Grv, much respect to you!
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Jim_Dandy
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I read most of it, but it got tiresome. Too long. Too repetitive. Do you know if Bennett answered the review?
Jim Dandy
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TarkanAttila
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I know this is a very late comer, and it does resurrect an old thread, but I thought for the sake of conclusion I’d post something you guys might not have known before.
According to Patrick Madrid, on his CD “Why I am Catholic: When I could be Anything else” (just published this year - I bought it for $5 at the Catholic Men’s Conference here in Omaha), Isaiah began as a Dominican (IIRC). He’d invited Patrick over to give some talks to his parishioners about Mormonism, as that was what many were falling to in his part of the world.
Then, some 2-4 years later, this Mormon fellow gave Pat a call and told him that Isaiah had become a Mormon. It had hurt Pat a lot to know the fellow who had asked him to come and SAVE these people from Mormonism had fallen himself! The Mormon gave Isaiah his phone number and said Isaiah had wanted Pat to call him.
So, reluctantly, Pat did. They had an hour long conversation. And Pat came out of it feeling even worse because he just couldn’t shake Isaiah into feeling any doubt about what he’d done.
Six months later, Isaiah called Pat back up, saying he’d come back to the Catholic Church. Isaiah recalled this conversation they’d had half a year ago. At one point Patrick had asked, “Isaiah, you’re a Catholic priest. How could you turn your back on Christ in the Eucharist?”
And according to Isaiah, after they’d hung up, he found that had rocked had “rocked his foundations”. He couldn’t forget that question. He kept thinking about it.
Then one day, he saw what a horrible thing he’d done, and he repented. The Eucharist brought Isaiah back home.
All of this is a paraphrase of what Patrick said on that disc. It’s my source.
According to Patrick Madrid, on his CD “Why I am Catholic: When I could be Anything else” (just published this year - I bought it for $5 at the Catholic Men’s Conference here in Omaha), Isaiah began as a Dominican (IIRC). He’d invited Patrick over to give some talks to his parishioners about Mormonism, as that was what many were falling to in his part of the world.
Then, some 2-4 years later, this Mormon fellow gave Pat a call and told him that Isaiah had become a Mormon. It had hurt Pat a lot to know the fellow who had asked him to come and SAVE these people from Mormonism had fallen himself! The Mormon gave Isaiah his phone number and said Isaiah had wanted Pat to call him.
So, reluctantly, Pat did. They had an hour long conversation. And Pat came out of it feeling even worse because he just couldn’t shake Isaiah into feeling any doubt about what he’d done.
Six months later, Isaiah called Pat back up, saying he’d come back to the Catholic Church. Isaiah recalled this conversation they’d had half a year ago. At one point Patrick had asked, “Isaiah, you’re a Catholic priest. How could you turn your back on Christ in the Eucharist?”
And according to Isaiah, after they’d hung up, he found that had rocked had “rocked his foundations”. He couldn’t forget that question. He kept thinking about it.
Then one day, he saw what a horrible thing he’d done, and he repented. The Eucharist brought Isaiah back home.
All of this is a paraphrase of what Patrick said on that disc. It’s my source.
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Lochias
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Sorry man, but this is about as axe-grindey as you can get. The man still has the marks of a priest on his soul, and he’ll have to answer to God for any mistakes he’s made, certainly…but, I ask, who are you to know what’s best for this man to do after having made mistakes? Are you a priest as well? Doesn’t the man deserve your loving prayer and support, rather than “Well, the guy SHOULDA got down on his knees and prayed instead of writing the book”? Don’t you think that God can use his book to help others avoid the same mistakes he made?
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HonoraDominum
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Very interesting video with a unique perspective. He has a very good point about why Mormons think that people leave the church verses why they actually do. I find it interesting that he admits that people often start their walk out of the church by desiring to learn more about the history of the LDS church. I also found it interesting that he flat out admits that Mormons shelter their members from many of Joseph Smith’s “weaknesses”, and that there are no stances from the LDS church on many of these controversial issues such as blood atonement and Southpark’s depiction of Smith translating the Book of Mormon with a peepstone in a hat.
That being said, I’ve read the book “Inside Mormonism” and I agree with the other posters who say that his perspective is not the end all be all devastating expose of the Church as some would hope it would be. That being said, I think that there is no actual end all be all devastating espose of the Church. If there was, there would be no Mormons.
I think the important thing is to read all of these types of things with prayer, and to spend the same amount of time reading holy reading as is spent reading these things that talk about other religions in a negative light.
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