The Christian Mirage of CRI – Introduction

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Booklet written and published by Hank Hanegraaff of Christian Research Institute

A booklet written by Hank Hanegraaff of the Christian Research Institute, and host of the Bible Answer man. This booklet is entitled The Mormon Mirage: Seeing through the illusions of Mainstream Mormonism claims to be written for the sole purpose of providing simple information as to how mainstream evangelical Christians today may be able to respond to, what Hanegraff considers, the “mirage of Mormonism” and shed light on the “doctrinal differences that separate Mormonism from genuine Christianity.” (Hanagraaff, 2004). He further states that within this particular booklet, the evangelical Christian will come to understand how the doctrines of Mormonism is vastly different than that of orthodox Christianity. This is accomplished by his liberal usage of turning the term Mormon into an acronym. Accordingly, his acronym is laid out as follows:

Moroni
Organization
Revelation
Mormon Doctrinal Deviations: (Which is then further explored with the Acronym of D.O.C.T.R.I.N.E)
Deity of Christ
Original Sin
Canon
Trinity
Resurrection
Incarnation
New Creation
Eschatology
Oaths & Temple Rituals
New & Everlasting Covenant of Plural Marriage.

Therefore, it is the purpose to provide a refutation of some of Hank Hanegraaff’s presuppositions as to what he considers to be genuine orthodox Christian teachings and that of mainstream Mormonism thought and teaching. It is entirely up to the reader to decide as to whether or not the Bible Answerman has provided a reasonable explanation of an objective approach to the Latter-day Saint doctrinal position that he presumes is “official” teachings of said faith. Hence, these articles will examine the booklet and refute the charges contained therein and prove that Hanegraaff is far from his “genuine orthodox” Christian approach.

The very first thing the reader will notice is that Hanegraaff opens with a quote from Sandra Tanner. This quote, according to the citation in the booklet, was made on ABC’s Nightline on December 2007. An attempt was made to find this quote and full context of what was said, however, nothing has produced the actual quote itself. However, L. Ara Norwood wrote in her article (Still Loosing the Battle…Still not knowing it: An Open Letter to Hank Hanegraaff) that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not have a “PR” department. This comes because of the actual quote itself being used as a lead into the booklet:

The Mormon church has a PR department probably better than anybody else. And they are very careful in painting a public image that tries to make Mormonism sound like it’s just about the same as evangelical Christianity, but it really isn’t. …I think it’s kind of similar to saying that a cat is a dog.

This is where critical thinking comes into play. As Norwood asked, what is Sandra Tanner’s evidence to back up this allegation? Also, one must ask what is meant by “better than anyone else?” In what context? In what sense could Sandra Tanner possibly mean by this assertion? In fact, any person who is in Business or is in the field of Public Relations, or Public Affairs has specified duties as part of their functional tasks.

I do agree with Norwood in her objective approach in questioning Hanegraaff his premise for the quotation, the divergence taken from Norwood is to actually look up what is it that a Public Relations and/or Public Affairs department do, and more specifically, those individuals who are hired into the field of Public Affairs and Relation careers. According to O*Net, one could look up a variety of occupations and find out what the general duties of those specific positions are.

Since we are dealing with Sandra Tanner’s quote, let us look at what the tasks are for a Public Relations employee:

Respond to requests for information from the media or designate another appropriate spokesperson or information source.

Study the objectives, promotional policies and needs of organizations to develop public relations strategies that will influence public opinion or promote ideas, products and services.

Plan and direct development and communication of informational programs to maintain favorable public and stockholder perceptions of an organization’s accomplishments and agenda.

Establish and maintain cooperative relationships with representatives of community, consumer, employee, and public interest groups.

Prepare or edit organizational publications for internal and external audiences, including employee newsletters and stockholders’ reports.

Coach client representatives in effective communication with the public and with employees.

Confer with production and support personnel to produce or coordinate production of advertisements and promotions.

Confer with other managers to identify trends and key group interests and concerns or to provide advice on business decisions.

Arrange public appearances, lectures, contests, or exhibits for clients to increase product and service awareness and to promote goodwill.

Consult with advertising agencies or staff to arrange promotional campaigns in all types of media for products, organizations, or individuals.

It is interesting to note that one of the major tasks here is exactly what Sandra Tanner says how the Mormon Church has a department that attempts to paint Mormonism with a positive public image. What is so wrong with that? What business or organization does not have a PR department whose main objective and focus is to present the company or said organization in a positive image and communicate this positive image to the general public? Furthermore, as a student in Communications, one of my classes is that of Mass Media Communications. One of the principle discussions is on how Mass Media may have an ethical responsibility to proper disseminate information, products, services to the consumer at large. Even so, one could very well ask Sandra Tanner (and Hank Hanegraaff) whether or not they have a PR department that does not paint their organizations in a positive image to those they wish to provide information to.

However, this is not the only problem with the chosen quotation. The most interesting is the spin on how Sandra Tanner, and subsequently Hanegraaff choose to use the idea that the Mormon Church is attempting to posit itself as another evangelical Christian religion. Again, referring to Norwood’s article in the FARMS publication, where this statement of Tanner’s (and the influence this has on Hanegraaff’s perception) is erroneous.

Yes, the Latter-day Saint faith has consistently stated that it is not only a Christian based faith and belief system, the LDS Church holds to the understanding and teaching that it is the only Christian religion that resembles that of the First Century Christian church before the influence of Greek Philosophy and the creedal confessions to have evolved throughout the history of now mainstream Christian faith that has many different denominations and faiths. However, the error is on the presumption that because Mormonism claims to be Christian, is actually attempting to be another “mainstream evangelical Christian denomination”. This is far from the truth. Thus, the difference is the rendering of the term and position. Mormonism claims that it is just as much a Christian based religion as modern evangelical and mainstream Christianity, however, Mormonism does not claim that it wants to be similar as to being called another mainstream evangelical Christian denomination. These are the two separate distinctions of positions.

The reality is that the quote used to open up the booklet’s premise and thesis is one full of false assertions and allegations that can in no way be established through any sound reasons of logic and objective reasoning. This is based on what the tasks are for a PR department and why it is the importance of any business or organization to have their information presented in a positive light and image. Not only this, the fact and truth will enlighten the reader as to how perverted Hanegraaff distorts certain aspects of logical reasoning without consideration to any implication to what he really is communicating. This will become abundantly clear as we move from here to the first Acronym he uses in Mormon. That is the letter M for Moroni and the many false assumptions he relates to the readers of his booklet.

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Tags: Anti-Mormonism, Bible, Bibleanswerman, Book of Mormon, Christian Research Institute, CRI, Denomination, Evangelicals, faith, Hank Hanegraaff, History, Joseph Smith, Mainstream Christianity, Mormon Mirage, Mormonism, Moroni, Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Sandra Tanner, scripture, Truth