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Building the Best You (Part 2)

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  In my last post I began to consider the advice given in an article entitled: ‘Building the Best You’, by Mormon Eric B. Murdock in which he offers five ways to build a happy and joyful life. Having discussed the first two, here I look at the next three. Create a Regular Routine of Prayer and Scripture Study Another way to build a happy life is to build a relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. A great way to do that is through prayer and scripture study. President Uchtdorf said: “To strengthen our relationship with God, we need some meaningful time alone with Him. Quietly focusing on daily personal prayer and scripture study… will be some wise investments of our time and efforts to draw closer to our Heavenly Father.” Prayer is an opportunity to communicate with our Father in Heaven. He knows us, loves us, and wants to hear from us! When we pray sincerely, offer our thanks, and ask for the things we need, He listens and always answers in His own way and time. When it come
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Building the Best You (Part 1)

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  I have said it before and I will say it again, if it wasn’t about truth, I would become a Mormon. I recently watched an episode of the US version of Undercover Boss. The ‘boss’ in the show was a Mormon and he was an awesome guy. He lived in a beautiful house, with his beautiful wife and numerous children in Provo, Utah. It showed them having everything materially, that any person could desire. He said he loved spending time with his family, and we saw him and his children riding quad bikes across the acres of land which he owned. It appeared life was good for this Mormon. Back in 2015, I visited Provo and, with some local Christians, did some door-knocking. The sun was shining, the streets were gleaming, and the houses were palatial. We met some former missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who were now, by all visible evidence, living their best life now. It appears to me, that if you want to live the American Dream and find a religious belief that will n
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Jehovah’s Witnesses: Is “Holy Spirit” a person?

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In their book Reasoning From the Scriptures, 1989, pp 406,407, the Watchtower address the personhood of the Holy Spirit: 'Some individual texts that refer to the holy spirit (“Holy Ghost,” KJ) might seem to indicate personality. For example, the holy spirit is referred to as a helper (Greek, pa·raʹkle·tos; “Comforter,” KJ; “Advocate,” JB, NE) that ‘teaches,’ ‘bears witness,’ ‘speaks’ and ‘hears.’ (John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:13) But other texts say that people were “filled” with holy spirit, that some were ‘baptized’ with it or “anointed” with it. (Luke 1:41; Matt. 3:11; Acts 10:38) These latter references to holy spirit definitely do not fit a person. To understand what the Bible as a whole teaches, all these texts must be considered. What is the reasonable conclusion? That the first texts cited here employ a figure of speech personifying God’s holy spirit, his active force, as the Bible also personifies wisdom, sin, death, water, and blood. (See also pages 380, 381, under the
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Why Cults gain Converts from Christian Churches.

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  Do you know someone who has left a church to join a cult? Sadly, I have heard many stories of those who have left behind Christian fellowship to join Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, or some other cultic group. Why does this happen? I want to suggest three possible reasons: i) Those who leave were just Church attenders. ii) Those who leave were Church members but not members of the Church. iii) Those who leave were ill-informed believers. They were just Church attenders. You may have heard it said that just as going to McDonalds doesn’t make you a Big Mac, so going to Church doesn’t make you a Christian. We may smile, but we understand the truth of this. Attending somewhere is not evidence of affiliation. Many people will attend church because of tradition. It is something they have always done. Perhaps they were brought to church as a child, perhaps they were christened and confirmed and have just continued with church because that’s what they do. For such as t
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Jehovah’s Witnesses: A Catholic Priest Denies the Trinity?

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In their book Reasoning from the Scriptures , 1989, pp 405-424 the WBTS describes Christians who believe the Trinity doctrine: ‘ In what position does belief in the Trinity put those who cling to it? It puts them in a very dangerous position. The evidence is indisputable that the dogma of the Trinity is not found in the Bible, nor is it in harmony with what the Bible teaches...It grossly misrepresents the true God. Yet, Jesus Christ said: “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers (sic) will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ( John 4:23,24 , RS )... ...Serious questions confront each one of us: Do we sincerely love the truth? Do we really want an approved relationship with God? Not everyone genuinely loves the truth. Many have put having the approval of their relatives and associates above love of the truth and of God. ( 2 Thess. 2:9-12; John 5:
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Jehovah's Witnesses and The Holy Spirit

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  May the Force be with You The Watchtower Society defines the Holy Spirit in the following way: The invisible energizing force that God puts into action to accomplish his will. It is holy because it comes from Jehovah, who is clean and righteous to the highest degree, and because it is God’s means to accomplish what is holy. ​— Lu 1:35; Ac 1:8 . [1] With this definition in mind, it is easy to see why, in all their literature, the Watchtower Society always write holy spirit in the lower case. They believe and teach that the Holy Spirit is an ‘it’, rather than a ‘who’. Active Force Jehovah’s Witnesses refer to the Holy Spirit as God’s ‘active force’ and, as can be seen from the quote above, they believe that ‘it’ is an energizing force which flows from Jehovah to accomplish his will. Their understanding of the Holy Spirit is a far cry from that believed upon and taught by historic Christianity. Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is not just a force, but rather a personal being. He
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Mormons - What did Jesus teach?

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If we were to ask members of the public to answer the question: ‘What did Jesus teach?’, what would they say? I would imagine that many would say something along the lines of; ‘Jesus taught us that we must try to be good’. Now that answer is not correct, but that would be an understandable response from a society which believes Jesus was, at best, just a good man. But what if that was the answer given by those who claim to be familiar with the teachings of Jesus? On the opening page of the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we read the following: No matter your story, we welcome you to join us as we all try to be a little bit better, a little bit kinder, a little more helpful—because that’s what Jesus taught. [1] Wait, what? Is that what Jesus taught? Can you point me to the Bible verses where Jesus said we are to ‘try to be a little bit better, a little bit kinder, and a little more helpful’ ?  Be Good You see, Mormonism, like most other groups that
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