Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Use of sources/Gordon B. Hinckley Understands Doctrine

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Gordon B. Hinckley Understands Doctrine



A FAIR Analysis of: One Nation Under Gods, a work by author: Richard Abanes

Author's Claims


One Nation under Gods, page 389 (hardback and paperback)

Gordon B. Hinckley said:

None of you need worry because you read something that was incompletely reported. You need not worry that I do not understand some matters of doctrine. I think I understand them thoroughly.

Author's Sources


Endnote 45, page 603 (hardback)

Gordon B. Hinckley, October 1997 General Conference Address. Quoted in Internet Thread article on Hinckley, online at www.lds-mormon.com/gbh.shtml. In an attempt to cover-up Hinckley's disingenuous answer to Time, the Mormon church is officially stating that Hinckley was taken out of context...

Endnote 45, page 602 (paperback)

45. Gordon B. Hinckley, October 1997 General Conference Address, http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,523349-1-32-1,00.html. Quoted in Internet Thread article on Hinckley, online at www.lds-mormon.com/gbh.shtml. In an attempt to cover-up Hinckley's disingenuous answer to Time, the Mormon church is officially stating that Hinckley was taken out of context...

Answer


It is interesting and instructive that the hardback edition's original documented source in the endnotes is an anti-Mormon message board. The author uses this to document the quote from Hinckley. Why would a "comprehensive," and "detailed" history, a "scholarly" work (all adjectives used to describe this book, on the back cover), document a quote from a Church leader using an anti-Mormon message board, instead of using direct original sources?

(Side Note: For a more complete and fair treatment of President Hinckley's comment taken out of context, go to Does President Gordon B. Hinckley Understand LDS Doctrine?)