Sandra Tanner Interview: "I came to Jesus through the Bible...and the Book of Mormon"

Last night I was listening to John Dehlin interviewing Sandra Tanner on his Mormon Stories Podcasts.

http://mormonstories.org/sandra-and-...e-early-years/

I already knew quite a bit about Sandra Tanner, but I had never heard her testimony of how she converted to Christianity. This was interesting to me, because she said, she and Jerald (her husband, now deceased) were still reading and believed in the Book of Mormon (as well as the Bible), AFTER they were converted. The Book of Mormon teaches "One God", and is fairly well in sync with the Bible on most things. So, they (Sandra & Jerald) still believed it was true, for a couple of years after their conversion to Christianity. When John asked Sandra how she came to know Jesus, she said, "well, through the Bible and the Book of Mormon". John laughed about the Book of Mormon part and said, "that was Grant Palmer's argument - the book doesn't have to be "true" to bring you to Jesus."

Just thought that was interesting, and wanted to throw it out for discussion and also thought others might enjoy listening to this interview.

The conversion discussion starts at approximately 48 min.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Libby

Last night I was listening to John Dehlin interviewing Sandra Tanner on his Mormon Stories Podcasts.

http://mormonstories.org/sandra-and-...e-early-years/

I already knew quite a bit about Sandra Tanner, but I had never heard her testimony of how she converted to Christianity. This was interesting to me, because she said, she and Jerald (her husband, now deceased) were still reading and believed in the Book of Mormon (as well as the Bible), AFTER they were converted. The Book of Mormon teaches "One God", and is fairly well in sync with the Bible on most things. So, they (Sandra & Jerald) still believed it was true, for a couple of years after their conversion to Christianity. When John asked Sandra how she came to know Jesus, she said, "well, through the Bible and the Book of Mormon". John laughed and said, "that was Grant Palmer's argument - the book doesn't have to be "true" to bring you to Jesus."

Just thought that was interesting, and wanted to throw it out for discussion and also thought others might enjoy listening to this interview.

The conversion discussion starts at approximately 48 min.

---

The key phrase that Sandra said in your quote above--"The Book of Mormon teaches "One God", and is fairly well in sync with the Bible on most things."

Joseph's theology evolved during his lifetime. Since the Book of Mormon was the first book in a series of books that Joseph wrote it is the most consistent with what the Bible teaches--including one God--not many gods that mormons believe today. This was similar to my story and I am sure many lds who converted to Christianity in that just after their conversion they still carried with them some of the old baggage--but over time as the Christian matures these false beliefs start to drop off one by one.

Yes, JS's theology did evolve.

I was converted to Mormonism through the Book of Mormon. I didn't really learn about most of the other stuff until after I joined the church.

It bothered me for along time that I still "felt" something for the Book of Mormon. I had, what I thought, was a "real" spiritual experience with it. Sandra's story kind of helped me understand all of that a little better.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Libby

When John asked Sandra how she came to know Jesus, she said, "well, through the Bible and the Book of Mormon". John laughed about the Book of Mormon part and said, "that was Grant Palmer's argument - the book doesn't have to be "true" to bring you to Jesus."

---

Yes, that is interesting. If John and Sandra are correct, then I don't see how the Book of Mormon can be of satanic origin as certain anti-bom people claim.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Yes, that is interesting. If John and Sandra are correct, then I don't see how the Book of Mormon can be of satanic origin as certain anti-bom people claim.

---

The Book of Mormon is the hook that draws them in and then they are given the real doctrine that is found in other books/manuals. Once fully indoctrinated they then get even deeper doctrine--including masonic type rituals--in the temple

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Yes, that is interesting. If John and Sandra are correct, then I don't see how the Book of Mormon can be of satanic origin as certain anti-bom people claim.

---

The bible says that God can work "all things" for good to us who love him.

Thus the fact that in the Bible we see Paul refer to a pagan "unknown god", yet this is not to be understood as an "endorsement" of a pagan god.....

just as a person finding interesting things in other books such as Shakespeare, or the Book of Mormon, or even Dr Seuss, is to be seen as an endorsement by God of such works.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alanmolstad

The bible says that God can work "all things" for good to us who love him.

---

So God CAN, and DOES, use the Book of Mormon to bring people to a salvational knowledge of God and Christ, to the point that they are saved by their faith in Christ through the BOM, by the Christ of the BOM?

Quote:

---

Thus the fact that in the Bible we see Paul refer to a pagan "unknown god", yet this is not to be understood as an "endorsement" of a pagan god.....

---

But does Paul say, as Dehlin and Tanner did, that you can to know Jesus, "through the Bible and the pagan unknown god" ?

So that it echoes what Grant Palmer would say - the pagan god doesn't have to be "true" to bring you to Jesus?

Quote:

---

just as a person finding Jesus in other books such as [B]Shakespeare, or the Book of Mormon, or even Dr Seuss, is to be seen as an endorsement by God of such works.

---

Is the Jesus mentioned in Shakespeare's plays, and in Dr. Seuss books, referred to by their authors as being the Jesus who is the Son of God and Savior of people's souls?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

So God CAN, and DOES, use the Book of Mormon to bring people to a salvational knowledge of God and Christ, to the point that they are saved by their faith in Christ through the BOM, by the Christ of the BOM?

---

Mormon finds salvation?,"could it happen"?.......anything is possible.

Even if the Book Of Mormon is a complete lie and from the pit of Hell?........yes anything is possible.


Even if Joe Smith was pulling things out of his behind and was only in this for the money and the chance to chase young skirts?......Yes, The answer is that even in the middle of the Jewish Holocaust we still find stories of people turning to the Lord.


What is the reason?....I mean if the whole of the Mormon faith is built completely on a lie, and that Smith was a true pedophile, how could today this false-religion be used by the Lord to help people find Him?




The answer is that the bible tells us that God can use all things for our good, if it is accordance with his will.....
So yes, in-spite of the many evils that come with the Mormon faith, you should never think that just because the Mormons worship a false god inside their temple, that this means the the true God of our Bible is banned from being there too.....


And so, this is why many times on the Bible Answer man show we heard Dr Walter Martin talk about how he knew many ex-Mormons who came out of the CULT, not by being witnessed to, not by hearing a voice or seeing a vision, but rather just by being open to the truth regardless of where they saw that truth was leading them too......



Thus when I talk today with a Mormon I pray for them, knowing that while at the current time they may be far from salvation, yet I know God is not hiding from them....
But God is seeking them,,,drawing them...attracting them to himself....

The older i get the more I see nothing happens in my life by accident....I have seen too many who I once consider a "lost cause" suddenly out of the blue respond to the Christian message and give their heart to christ.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

So God CAN, and DOES, use the Book of Mormon to bring people to a salvational knowledge of God and Christ, to the point that they are saved by their faith in Christ through the BOM, by the Christ of the BOM?

---

Alma 11
38 Now Zeezrom saith again unto him: Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father?
39 And Amulek said unto him: Yea, he is the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which in them are; he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last;


Do you believe that Jesus "is the very eternal Father of heaven and earth"?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

So God CAN, and DOES, use the Book of Mormon to bring people to a salvational knowledge of God and Christ, to the point that they are saved by their faith in Christ through the BOM, by the Christ of the BOM?

---

Mormonism teaches strange gods however it is certainly possible--despite the false lds teachings--that a person can find the true God and Christ of the Bible for the simple fact that lds have retained the Bible as one of their standard works. The mormon gods are different that the God of the Bible so someone who is lds--despite their mormon indoctrination--still may find the true God BECAUSE the true God is taught in the Bible.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Is the Jesus mentioned in Shakespeare's plays, and in Dr. Seuss books, referred to by their authors as being the Jesus who is the Son of God and Savior of people's souls?

---

Im saying.......this>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O83e7nagEw

I watched that Katie Couric interview with Akiana, advertised on that YouTube, you posted, Alan. Showed some of her amazing work.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alanmolstad

Mormon finds salvation?,"could it happen"?.......anything is possible.

Even if the Book Of Mormon is a complete lie and from the pit of Hell?........yes anything is possible.


Even if Joe Smith was pulling things out of his behind and was only in this for the money and the chance to chase young skirts?......Yes, The answer is that even in the middle of the Jewish Holocaust we still find stories of people turning to the Lord.


What is the reason?....I mean if the whole of the Mormon faith is built completely on a lie, and that Smith was a true pedophile, how could today this false-religion be used by the Lord to help people find Him?




The answer is that the bible tells us that God can use all things for our good, if it is accordance with his will.....
So yes, in-spite of the many evils that come with the Mormon faith, you should never think that just because the Mormons worship a false god inside their temple, that this means the the true God of our Bible is banned from being there too.....


And so, this is why many times on the Bible Answer man show we heard Dr Walter Martin talk about how he knew many ex-Mormons who came out of the CULT, not by being witnessed to, not by hearing a voice or seeing a vision, but rather just by being open to the truth regardless of where they saw that truth was leading them too......



Thus when I talk today with a Mormon I pray for them, knowing that while at the current time they may be far from salvation, yet I know God is not hiding from them....
But God is seeking them,,,drawing them...attracting them to himself....

The older i get the more I see nothing happens in my life by accident....I have seen too many who I once consider a "lost cause" suddenly out of the blue respond to the Christian message and give their heart to christ.

---

So true.....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Billyray

Alma 11
38 Now Zeezrom saith again unto him: Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father?
39 And Amulek said unto him: Yea, he is the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which in them are; he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last;


Do you believe that Jesus "is the very eternal Father of heaven and earth"?

---

Yes, in the OT sense of the term. See Isaiah for details. Or read the lyrics in Handel's Messiah. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

But does Paul say, as Dehlin and Tanner did, that you can to know Jesus, "through the Bible and the pagan unknown god" ?

So that it echoes what Grant Palmer would say - the pagan god doesn't have to be "true" to bring you to Jesus?

---

I would have to see the context of each statement made...

What we know for sure is that the Mormon god is false and just something dreamed up by Smith to help him get cash and skirts.
But be that as it may, the Lord still is able to work all things for our good if it's in His will to do so.

Thus if a person's heart is open to the truth then regardless of what junk the person might be reading they may yet read stumble onto something that in their mind opens a door.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Is the Jesus mentioned in Shakespeare's plays, and in Dr. Seuss books, referred to by their authors as being the Jesus who is the Son of God and Savior of people's souls?

---

There might be lessons to be learned that a person can find value in Im sure.....

Perhaps not the same lesson the writer intended, but yet something that might well be something the God is showing you about Himself and the world we live in.


Take the sentence found in a simple Dr. Seuss book "A persons a person, no matter how small"


There are ways to look at that sentence and draw out a meaning that has little to do with an elephant hearing a noise from some dust.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alanmolstad

I would have to see the context of each statement made...

---

We know the context. See post number one.

Quote:

---

What we know for sure is that the Mormon god is false and just something dreamed up by Smith to help him get cash and skirts.

---

I am guessing that by "we" you don't include me, because I know no such thing. I don't even believe such a thing.

Quote:

---

But be that as it may, the Lord still is able to work all things for our good if it's in His will to do so.

---

Sandra Tanner implied that it is a reality that people get converted to the real Jesus Christ through the Book of Mormon's testimony to His divinity and reality.

Quote:

---

Thus if a person's heart is open to the truth then regardless of what junk the person might be reading they may yet read stumble onto something that in their mind opens a door.

---

I think I can agree with that: Sandra's heart was open to the truth about Christ, and she found that truth in the pages of the Book of Mormon. That seems to be her point, which John Dehlin seems to confirm.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Billyray

Alma 11
38 Now Zeezrom saith again unto him: Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father?
39 And Amulek said unto him: Yea, he is the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which in them are; he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last;


Do you believe that Jesus "is the very eternal Father of heaven and earth"?

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Yes, in the OT sense of the term. See Isaiah for details. Or read the lyrics in Handel's Messiah. :)

---

I am not sure what you mean exactly could you elaborate. Is the Son of God the VERY Eternal Father? Or not?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Billyray

I am not sure what you mean exactly could you elaborate. Is the Son of God the VERY Eternal Father? Or not?

---

In OT theology as taught in the OT, a baby would be born to a virgin, and that baby would be the Son of God, and His name would be CALLED, among other things, the everlasting Father.

In NT theology, Jesus is that same person who the OT scriptures predicted would be born to a virgin and be called the Son of God, Messiah, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace etc.

And in the NT, that person said that His Father in Heaven is our God and His God, and our Father and His Father.

Since we don't live in OT times, we should probably adopt the NT teachings about God and His Son.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

In OT theology as taught in the OT, a baby would be born to a virgin, and that baby would be the Son of God, and His name would be CALLED, among other things, the everlasting Father.

In NT theology, Jesus is that same person who the OT scriptures predicted would be born to a virgin and be called the Son of God, Messiah, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace etc.

And in the NT, that person said that His Father in Heaven is our God and His God, and our Father and His Father.

Since we don't live in OT times, we should probably adopt the NT teachings about God and His Son.

---

"38 Now Zeezrom saith again unto him: Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father?"

But it asks if the Son of God is THE very Eternal Father. So is it true according to the Book of Mormon that the Son of God is THE VERY ETERNAL FATHER?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenix

And in the NT, that person said that His Father in Heaven is our God and His God, and our Father and His Father. .

---

Who was the God of the OT people?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Libby

Last night I was listening to John Dehlin interviewing Sandra Tanner on his Mormon Stories Podcasts.

http://mormonstories.org/sandra-and-...e-early-years/

I already knew quite a bit about Sandra Tanner, but I had never heard her testimony of how she converted to Christianity. This was interesting to me, because she said, she and Jerald (her husband, now deceased) were still reading and believed in the Book of Mormon (as well as the Bible), AFTER they were converted. The Book of Mormon teaches "One God", and is fairly well in sync with the Bible on most things. So, they (Sandra & Jerald) still believed it was true, for a couple of years after their conversion to Christianity. When John asked Sandra how she came to know Jesus, she said, "well, through the Bible and the Book of Mormon". John laughed about the Book of Mormon part and said, "that was Grant Palmer's argument - the book doesn't have to be "true" to bring you to Jesus."

Just thought that was interesting, and wanted to throw it out for discussion and also thought others might enjoy listening to this interview.

The conversion discussion starts at approximately 48 min.

---

She is right the BoM teaches the perfect definition of who and what God is...the bad idea is when no-mos mock teaching in the BoM they (we...me..LDS) believe.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Pheonix

She is right the BoM teaches the perfect definition of who and what God is...the bad idea is when no-mos mock teaching I the BoM they believe.

---

"38 Now Zeezrom saith again unto him: Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father?"

But it asks if the Son of God is THE very Eternal Father. So is it true according to the Book of Mormon that the Son of God is THE VERY ETERNAL FATHER?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Billyray

Who was the God of the OT people?

---

JEHOVAH...Jesus Christ. Why do you ask, we were not discussing it? You guy could divert the Colorado River, instead of generating power. Which is it's intended purpose.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Billyray

"38 Now Zeezrom saith again unto him: Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father?"

But it asks if the Son of God is THE very Eternal Father. So is it true according to the Book of Mormon that the Son of God is THE VERY ETERNAL FATHER?

---

Billy...why read and learn the entire book. When you quote out of context and with no understand of all it teaches, you do yourself no service. Take a look at Mosiah 5: 7, as well as all the book of John, and John 17 for your central focus.