Bridge of Reason

In a commencement address at BYU-Ricks, April 2008, Mormon apostle M Russell Ballard spoke to 1,400 graduates about the evils of the Internet. While appreciating its positive benefits, he described it as the medium for "one of Satan's most seductive efforts", i.e. the spread of pornography. Of course, I appreciate his voice raised in warning and deplore as much the spread of pornography via the Internet. I do object, however, to the way he characterises honest critics of the Mormon Church as representing an evil equal to pornographers. "Along with the terrible effects of pornography, the Internet and other media are often used to spread falsehoods, Elder Ballard said. 'Every month there are 60 billion searches for information on the Internet. Many are seeking information about the Church; and while some are finding the truth, others find anti-Mormon sites that mislead them and defame the Church,' Elder Ballard said." This from a church that insists it ...

Rick Warren being chosen to pray at the President's inauguration upset some members of the party but he is causing more controversy – this time with some Christians. Daniel Cordell of Love for Truth takes issue with praying in the name of 'Isa' What do you think?

Two recent polls underlines the need for apologetic ministries such as Reachout Trust and why other groups often have a better press. The reason is simple – they know what they believe and preach it! Christians in America According to a new Barna Group Poll , 40% of those in America who call themselves Christians, do not believe that have any responsibility to share their Christian faith with others, and a worrying 25% dismiss the Bible as inaccurate in some of the principles it teaches. This of course leads to choosing the bits you like and misrepresenting the Lord. As George Barna, the head of the polling group, noted; millions of people who describe themselves as Christian, believe Jesus sinned and those who say they will experience eternal salvation because they have confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior, also believe that a person can do enough good works to earn eternal salvation. Is Britain any better? Last month, Ted Baehr, who founded The Christia...

Many may know that a battle raged in California last year over what is known as Proposition 8, an amendment to local legislation designed to confine marriage to relationships between men and women. I commented on it a little while ago in earlier post . The Mormons threw themselves into the "Yes" campaign along with Catholics, Evangelicals and others. However, the Mormons drew most of the rage felt by the gay community and liberals in general putting them near the top of many news reports for the wrong reasons. Anyway, the "Yes" vote won and traditional marriage values have prevailed, much to the chagrin of those who wished to call by the name of marriage anything that suited them. Inevitably, someone must be to blame and the Mormons seem to be getting all the attention again but this time their methods and integrity are being seriously challenged and, it would seem, there is some substance to the charge that they have broken the law. The article I have linked to is ...

Most Christians who talk to Jehovah’s Witnesses will eventually come across the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society’s [WBTS] booklet “Should You Believe In The Trinity” [abbreviated to “Trinity” from now on.] As with most WBTS publications, the booklet gives the impression of being a well-produced, scholarly work. It is only as you check it out carefully that the errors begin to come to light. It may not be easy to get a Witness to investigate this publication but we want to give the opportunity to lovingly show some of the faults in it and hope you will be able to do the same with the next one that calls at the door. It is not wise to try to tackle all the arguments at once, concentrate on one at a time. I have tried to see personally every book that the WBTS refer to. This was not easy at first because the WBTS left out references to page numbers, where and when published etc. Initially, thanks to the British Library I have managed to see most of them. Since completing my research,...

The Salt Lake Tribune has launched a "Mormon of the Year" contest in which, uniquely, readers are asked to nominate their favourites. For obvious reasons they exclude prophets and apostles but otherwise the field is wide open. Interestingly enough, there is also a contest proposed for "Gentile of the Year ": The Mormon blog bycommonconsent.com has proposed naming the Gentile of the Year, or the non-Mormon who had the greatest impact (good or bad) on Mormonism in 2008. Candidates nominated by Ronan James Head, a British Mormon, include: » Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose anti-Romney remarks irked many Mormons » Catholic Archbishop George Niederauer, who got the Mormons involved in Proposition 8 » The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, whose raid on the YFZ ranch in Texas kept Mormon polygamy in the spotlight. "As with Mormon of the Year, I'm fair depressed that non-American names do not readily spring to mind," Head writes on the blog...