What are we saying?

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your very eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Galatians 3:1-3

As we sat yesterday discussing Mormonism and Christianity at an LDS Institute of Religion these verses kept coming into play.

For a time I was agnostic, there was little to sway me to believe any religion was more true than another. In my ignorance I obeyed the rules to be, "Accepted by whatever god was real." Yet, I wanted answers.

Not answers that were pre-written, pre-memorized, or pre-scripted, but real factual answers. 

As I read more about the Bible I found evidence to support it's authenticity, this helped lead me to read the Bible and in so reading come to faith. But a large part of what helped was having real discussions when people used their own words to describe what we believe.

Sitting here in these discussion between Mormons and Christians has brought out an interesting tie between the two.

Most christians can speak the language but don't believe it. Most Mormons speak the language, believe it, but never think about it.

There is nothing more saddening to me than a Christian who only uses cliche to describe their heart-understanding of God. There's nothing more odd than a Mormon who says what they believe, believes what they say, but never think about the implications of the script.

As the Bride of Christ should we not aim to be unified? Should we not aim to speak openly about difficulty, pain and struggle in our small groups? A Mormon would never confess their issues because that means they wouldn't be able to go to Temple. But most Christians treat their local church the same. We are not Mormon! We are Christian, Christ as redeemed us from the curse of the law and seated us in the heavenlies, by grace you have been saved. Therefore we are completely free to love unconditionally, to speak unreservedly and to serve unflinchingly. 

We are not Mormon, we are Christ's. We ought to speak and act like it.

What are we saying?

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your very eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Galatians 3:1-3

As we sat yesterday discussing Mormonism and Christianity at an LDS Institute of Religion these verses kept coming into play.

For a time I was agnostic, there was little to sway me to believe any religion was more true than another. In my ignorance I obeyed the rules to be, "Accepted by whatever god was real." Yet, I wanted answers.

Not answers that were pre-written, pre-memorized, or pre-scripted, but real factual answers. 

As I read more about the Bible I found evidence to support it's authenticity, this helped lead me to read the Bible and in so reading come to faith. But a large part of what helped was having real discussions when people used their own words to describe what we believe.

Sitting here in these discussion between Mormons and Christians has brought out an interesting tie between the two.

Most christians can speak the language but don't believe it. Most Mormons speak the language, believe it, but never think about it.

There is nothing more saddening to me than a Christian who only uses cliche to describe their heart-understanding of God. There's nothing more odd than a Mormon who says what they believe, believes what they say, but never think about the implications of the script.

As the Bride of Christ should we not aim to be unified? Should we not aim to speak openly about difficulty, pain and struggle in our small groups? A Mormon would never confess their issues because that means they wouldn't be able to go to Temple. But most Christians treat their local church the same. We are not Mormon! We are Christian, Christ as redeemed us from the curse of the law and seated us in the heavenlies, by grace you have been saved. Therefore we are completely free to love unconditionally, to speak unreservedly and to serve unflinchingly. 

We are not Mormon, we are Christ's. We ought to speak and act like it.

Missionary Trust

The main difference between Mormon heaven and Christian heaven is that in Christian heaven you get God because of Jesus' finished work; while in Mormon heaven you get god because of your works.

As we sat and discussed this reality with a young lady you could see that she was getting it. It wasn't a notion Evangelicals hold which was falling on deaf ears, no it was falling on listening ears, and from what it appeared they longed to hear more of this workless, grace-full gospel.

But time was cut short and it was time to leave.

So what happens to a missionary when they are so close to seeing one convert to Christ, but won't see it happen?

Trust.

The missionary must trust that God is sovereignly in control. The missionary must trust that God will bring his people to himself. The missionary must trust that, that one will be cared for by the Good Shepherd and brought to the fold of God. The missionary leans not on his own prowess in speaking eloquently but on God's Spirit to save completely.

The missionary must trust that it is for God to save and for man to proclaim. 

Mormon Conversation

I've never had a legitamate conversation with a Mormon before yesterday, now I've spoken with four.

In one since it was a lively conversation between similar aged students, in another sense it was learning another religion, and in another sense it was a battle in the war for eternity.

It was a lively conversation, because we talked and discussed the finer points of our belief systems. The Trinity, women in the Church, and an evangelical view of marriage were questions they asked of us. The Mormon view of Jesus, the levels of heaven, and the Mormon translation of the Bible were asked of our Mormon counterparts.

It was learning about another religion, because how often do you get to sit down for two solid hours and simply talk to Mormons about the similarities and differences of our religions? While Mormon's would say there is little that separates Evangelicalism from Mormonism, Evangelical's would always maintain the drastic differences between the two.

It was a battle in the war for eternity, because we believe, as Evangelicals, that hell hangs in the balance and will be the result for the students we spoke with yesterday if they do not repent of their sins, turn to Jesus Christ (fully God and fully man), and believe that God raised him up on the third day according to the Scriptures, by the grace and calling of God.

Yesterday was not a simple time to learn and discuss, it was a valuable time to have free range opportunity to speak of the gospel winsomely to the dying world. May God use the questions asked to haunt a Mormon toward Himself.

Different Religious Dictionary

Have you ever taken a comparative religion class? Or just a world religion class in general? There's Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and maybe even Zoroastrianism  but how often does Mormonism get thrown into that mix?

Think about this, all the terms you use to talk about Christianity, but with completely different meanings. You talk of atonement, they talk of atonement. You talk of God's love, they talk of God's love. You talk of God as your Father, they talk of Heavenly Father. Yet each of those means something different

Their idea of atonement is not the Evangelical Christ view of atonement, nor their idea of God's love the same, nor their view of God as their Father.

It all sounds the same but all the meanings are different. Apologetics with a Mormon are, I would guess, a waste of time. How can you move a conversation forward if you're both working from different dictionaries? (To add to this, they always come in twos and have "lying for the lord," as backup for getting into tricky conversations.) 

So what is the apologetic we use? Relationship.

We use the dictionary we both have in common, our humanity and need for community, to build a relationship wherein we can form trust and literally show 2 Peter 3:14-17 to those of another religious dictionary.

How is prayer different on the mission field?

I arrived in Salt Lake City last night for our week-long mission trip. As I drifted off to sleep I began to pray for God to protect me. But it hit me. The culture that I'm now surrounded by most likely prays similar prayers, but to a completely different god than the God I worship. So my prayers altered, to a much more Trinitarian version of the same prayer I just prayed. 

Yes, I know the intent of my heart was to pray to the God who inspired our inerrant Scriptures by his breath, but praying rightly isn't just about the intent, is it?

This morning I read Matthew 3:13-17, the baptism of Jesus, a wholly Trinitarian passage. Then, Dr. Mickinions Theology 1 class kicked in, I looked up the Athanasian Creed (I think I'll sit in these all week), and read, "The Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity.

So back to the above question, how is prayer different on the mission field? Well, it's not, but it is.

It's not different because at all times we should be strikingly aware of the words we are using to pray to the Maker of All. But it is different because I know I've been wrenched from the normal routine and stuck in a place where 2.8% of the people are affiliated with an evangelical church. Out of nearly 1.8 million people that's about 50,000 people who regularly hear the gospel proclaimed in an evangelical church. (statistics taken from NAMB).