Answers to Gospel Questions Vol. 3

The third volume of Joseph Fielding Smith's Answers to Gospel Questions continues to take questions from people both from within and without the Church (it is usually easy to determine which is which). In this book, I felt that President Smith was very blunt in his answers. Some of his bluntness actually made me laugh.

For example, on page 119, he is speaking of idol worship. He states that if somebody chooses to worship animals, the sun, moon, stars, etc. "the Latter-day Saints would not interfere. Naturally, we would consider any worship of that kind to be extremely stupid, but in accord to the law of agency." Like I said, blunt, but perhaps a little humorous.

Some of his blunt answers are directed at members of other faiths trying to attack the Church and its doctrine. Smith spares no pains to prove the veracity of the Church and to utterly abolish any foundation the contenders tried to build.

One thing I liked about the author's answers in this book is that he not only uses sources from modern revelation, but also uses sources more familiar to the submitter of the question. Several times he quotes from the Catholic Bible, and other times he quotes from religious scholars not of our faith. Through his answers, Smith demonstrates himself to be very well read and educated.