A discussion on facebook last night got me thinking.
Mormons often seem to say, “Why don’t you evangelicals just leave us alone”, or “you speak against our faith, so you are an Anti-Mormon.”
I think the reality by now should be long established that by and large Evangelical Christians by and large do not accept Mormonism as being a Christian movement, therefore we or better I, do not believe that Mormons are in a religion that is going to bring them to salvation in Christ.
That does not mean that every Mormon cannot possibly be saved, however it means that I believe that the system of belief that they have placed themselves in will not bring them to that point. Christ can of course save who ever He wants.
So if Christians (rightly or wrongly) believe this, then what is the loving thing to do? This reminded me of this video from Atheist Penn Jillette (from Penn and Teller)
He says if Christians believe in a heaven and hell, and that if they don’t believe people will go to heaven without them “proselyting” to them, then how much must Christians hate the people around them? Good point.
I think sometimes Mormons need to realise that Christians like myself that believe what we believe about the biblical gospel and its implications for the Mormon people, are actually we are doing what we consider to be the most loving thing we could ever do. That is to bring you to this Biblical true Christ. You can disagree with that last assumption, and that’s fine that’s what dialogue is all about.
For us to believe what we believe about you guys and do NOTHING. Would make us true Anti-Mormons. To believe you are in a spiritual sinking ship, and just leave you there would be a true demonstration of HATE for Mormons and therefore the so called Anti-Mormonism. So in reality my motivation, and the motivation of so many others, is genuine LOVE for the Mormon people. Many will not accept this, but I do not do all of this, and spend thousands on going to Utah etc because I dislike Mormons.
Yes I know we get the methodology wrong sometimes, but please try and understand this point. This can be such a barrier to communication that is in reality such a simple misunderstanding.
Anti-Mormon
Pro-Mormon
Just plain unhelpful
As a Christian who believes that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His true church, led by him, I have to agree totally with you on this post.
The motivation you feel to proselyte us Mormons is the same love that motivates us to proselyte you.
There is a strong distinction between your approach and that of the in-your-face yellers and screamers who stand on the street trying to provoke us to anger and to disrupt our gatherings.
Bobby Gilpin, as a LDS, I open my door to Jehovah’s Witnesses every time they are in the neighborhood, not because I agree with them on every tenet of their faith but because I respect what they are doing and how they are doing it. I engage with Evangelicals whenever approached or with anyone else who wants to sincerely discuss religious thoughts and convictions. (By the way, why don’t Evangelicals go 2 by 2 and door to door?) The challenge I have is there are those, especially online, who choose to be demeaning, snarky and mean-spirited. It’s difficult for me to take anyone seriously about any topic when that is their approach, especially belief in Jesus Christ.
Last month, I attend the Nauvoo Pageant with my family (we missed the British Pageant just the night before) and there was one man handing out what was designed to look identical to the official programs, but were instead full of Anti-Mormon messages. I thought, “Wow! Here is a proclaimed Christian using deceit and being derogatory in the way he seeks to teach about Christ!” Then there were others shouting as loud as they could how we were all going to hell. I really appreciated the bagpipe players drowning them out with their Scottish tunes. Of course there were also the big signs damning us to hell also.
I think the only “leaving us alone” LDS may ask for is from those who are demeaning, derogatory, deceitful and mean-spirited. Otherwise – we love to talk about our faith in Jesus Christ and even hear about yours in a mutually respectful way.
Interesting view point. I think that if you held a Arminian gospel perspective then the approach to help the Mormons accept the real Jesus would be valid but if you are a Calvinist then it falls apart because if you are dead in your trespasses in sin and dead people can’t choose anything then all your efforts are for not because God has to regenerate you first so you can understand what is being said.
I think that’s a strawman of the Calvinist position Ned. But thanks for the comment, happy to go through this with you anytime
It is my view that Calvinism teaches that you can’t chose anything for or about God because you are dead spiritually and that the dead are well, dead. Am I wrong in this view?
You are in your initial comment, this post is not about Calvinism Ned so drop me an email to discuss this further.
Please note, not trying to be difficult just want to keep this on topic, maybe I could do a post on that sometime soon
You are in a cult. Your god is money… #1 purpose for anti Mormons like the Tanners and yourselves is to practice priest craft ( look it up) you have people pay you to speak about God. It’s been done for centuries and has been condemned by God. You prey upon the weak minded fool. “By their fruits ye shall know them. “How much money did you earn last year, dear Bill? The LDS Church IS The True and Living Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Someday when our Savior returns, every knee will bow and every tongue confess, Jesus IS The Christ. All those who fight against Him and His True Gospel will not prevail. The LDS Church just donated 1.8 million dollars to the Red Cross. Their philanthropy is world -class known. What have YOU done lately for FREE?
Hi there kitty thanks a lot for the comment.
This is not Bills site, I am Bobby Gilpin, and run this site, I am in a full time secular job, and do this in my spare time. However I see no problem with people making their living from resourcing others to share the gospel.
I Appreciate you believe that the LDS church is true and I respect your right to believe that, I also think there are many good reasons to strongly doubt the truth claims of the LDS church, I hope you have a good look around this site, please comment on anything you like.
and yes, the LDS church does seem to love making their good deeds known to the world don’t they. I have never known a religious organisation to be as publicity focused. I wonder what happens with the many billions that they also have from their members (expected) tithes, do you know? Are they as transparent about that too?
On the subject of priest craft, are you aware that the bible clearly states that the Old Testament priests lived off the tithes. See numbers 18:21
It’s pure hypocrisy that the LDS church speaks against paid clergy when the general authorities are just that. Are you aware of any of the 12 being in secular jobs? They of course are not.
Appreciate your comment, hope to talk more.