Restoring Christ: Leaving Mormon Jesus for Jesus of the Gospels Paperback – July 18, 2017

This seems more like an attempted sequel to “The Insider’s View.” It attempts to compare the Jesus presented in the Book of Mormon as different from the one presented in the Bible. While I believe his premise is sound, and actually quite correct, the execution isn’t without flaws, and he goes overzealous in his efforts. He claims, in essence, that the Old Testament is rife with errors; anywhere the God of the OT is vengeful or jealous, such is incorrect and merely put into the scripture by those adhering to the philosophy of Deuteronomy, where if you sin you are punished and if you are righteous, you are blessed. He argues that there were several different versions for many books of the OT, and the individual who put them together should not have done so. He either should have told each version separately or disregarded the versions that were harsher. However, if this theory is correct, who is this person who should decide which version is most accurate? Should he subscribe to a less-detailed version simply because it’s what he believes to be in alignment with is personal philosophy?In other words, he argues, that the God of the OT didn’t really flood the earth as a punishment, it just happened. Sodom and Gomorrah wasn’t destroyed by God, it just happened. However, to reach that conclusion, you have to disregard entire portions of the OT, including the story of Lot, the angels who specifically told him that the City could not be destroyed until they had escaped, the bargaining with Abraham and God regarding its destruction, the promise of God in the rainbow to Noah, and much of the OT in its entirety.He seems to be under the assumption that the God of the OT isn’t merciful or loving. Frankly, there is a good argument that only people who truly do not understand the OT believe this. Whenever someone is punished, they argue, that the punisher is not merciful, is vengeful, or is harsh. However, what about the man with 12 DWIs who will never, ever change his ways, and if left in freedom, will certainly kill others? Is it not merciful to everyone else, and even to the man himself, to keep him locked up? If Sodom and Gomorrah is so corrupt that its perversion and influence are so beyond repair that it will only continue to destroy and ruin the souls of any children that are born within its walls, any visitors to the city and any nearby communities, would not the merciful thing be to remove it from the map and save an infinitely greater number of souls in the long run?Take Moses for example. God gave Pharaoh chance after chance. He gave less-harsh punishments that gradually got worse. However, Pharaoh wouldn’t give up and he and his armies were eventually destroyed. Should we disregard that as “too harsh” and not consistent with the Jesus of the New Testament? He further suggests that, “maybe,” Adam was not a real person. However, then why the subsequent genealogies in the Bible showing the lineage of Christ?The line-by-line comparison of "commands" by Jesus in the Book of Mormon as opposed to invitations by Christ in the NT is actually quite eye opening.The first six chapters of the book are quite informative and give a good explanation of the Spirit, what the Holy Spirit testifies of, and how Mormons regularly misuse and misconstrue the mission and guidance of the Spirit. He also points out the direct biblical contradictions with LDS theology regarding marriage, tithing, and the Word of Wisdom (alcohol, coffee, tea… which are frankly quite healthier in many circumstances than Diet Coke which is often known as the “coffee of the Mormons.”) He also points out the contradictions with much of the superficiality in the LDS philosophy.The final quarter of the book is dedicated largely to the alleged polygamous actions of Joseph Smith. While there is some merit to his arguments, there are documents equally convincing that Joseph Smith never actually instituted polygamy, but it was rather the actions and rewriting of church history by Brigham Young that led to such a practice. For more information you can search for “Joseph Smith’s Monogamy.” Either way, the church believes polygamy was instituted of God, and it must be incorrect or Joseph Smith was practicing this in secret and lying to the church as whole.Overall, it’s a decent book, but not nearly as informative or instructional as “An Insider’s View…” and I believe there are many overreaches and misunderstandings of biblical history that contribute to some of the significant errors found within.

I have read Palmer’s earlier books, “The Incomparable Jesus” and “An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins.” This book covers some of the same information as these two, but also covers new ground that is enlightening.My favorite chapter is the one where Palmer compares the New Testament Jesus with the Jesus of the Book of Mormon. Boy was that eye opening! It was like Palmer expressed what my subconscious had been thinking for many years but was unable to articulate. The BOM Jesus has almost nothing in common with New Testament Jesus! And once you see it, so many things make more sense.Palmer hopes this book will give those leaving the Mormon faith the desire to give the Jesus of the New Testament another chance. I think it is true that Mormons and ex-Mormons mostly have very little understanding of how short-changed they have been in their religious education. As both Mormons and ex-Mormons, what we know about Jesus has been deeply colored by the Mormon doctrine, culture, and experience- which is often not positive and is definitely not the whole picture. Walking away from Mormonism doesn’t mean you have to give up having that love and inspiration from god in your life. In fact, leaving Mormonism may be the door that opens to new levels of relationship with god, on a much better plane and in a much more joyful way than before. There is a whole amazing world of spirituality out there, and Palmer’s book just touches the tip of the iceberg.The chapters on Joseph Smith are important as well. Even though I’ve studied “uncorrelated” church history for ten years, some of the information was new to me, particularly in the chapter on Joseph Smith’s quest to overthrow the government and establish a theocracy, with himself as king. Some of the details in the “concubinage” chapter were new to me as well. I think this stuff is valuable to read just because we need to understand how bat-crap cray cray the early Mormons and Joseph Smith were. No, we’re not the crazy ones for leaving the church. Unless we live in some kind of bizarro upside down universe.All in all I love this book and I’m giving it to everyone I know that I think might be ready to receive it. And if you’re not ready to receive it, I urge you to open your mind, give it a chance. RIP Grant Palmer.

Great book written by one of the best and honest scholar on mormonism. Helped me to see the differences between the mormon Jesus and the gospel Jesus, after having been a stalwart mormon for 23 years.