Bridge of Reason

We believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh (John 3:16). We accept the prophetic declarations in the Old Testament that refer directly and powerfully to the coming of the Messiah, the Savior of all humankind. We believe that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the fulfillment of those prophecies. [1] Mormons claim to love Jesus. They speak of Him often and with a great fondness. They bear their testimony that Jesus is the Son of the living God and the Saviour of the world. ‘And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.’ [2] Yes, Jesus means much to Mormons, but I would contend that He doesn’t mean everything to them. He, like many other things in the life of a Mormon, is just one piece in the LDS jigsaw puzzle of salvation. I say this, not with any malice, but because it can be proven from t...

  The Watch Tower seems fixated on the task of denying the deity of Christ. Their website is crowded with articles on the question, and Jehovah's Witnesses seem well rehearsed in arguing their case. How can Jesus be Jehovah: I f he is 'the firstborn of all creation' (Col.1:15, it refers to Christ’s rights as a Son pr ō totokos, his supreme status, not to his origin as a created being ) I f he is simply acting as an agent of Jehovah (John 12:49, This reflects the relationship of Father and Son within the Godhead, equal but with different roles, not the inferiority of the Son ) I f, in the end, Jesus hands over the kingdom to the Father (1 Cor.15:24, see John 12:49 above. This is a functional subordination between equals ) Where does the Bible ever say that Jesus is God? How would you begin to handle this question and demonstrate Jesus' true nature? The Watchtower Magisterium The first thing to understand is the Bible is not the authority in a Jehovah’s...

  Tertullian was a second-century Christian apologist from Carthage, a city in Northern Africa. He is the renowned defender of the Christian faith who penned the famous Prescription Against Heresies . It is in his writing that we find the question: ‘What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?’ But what did he mean when he said this? In dealing with heresies of his day, Tertullian found that much he had to contend with came from a mingling of philosophical inquiry (which he equated with Athens) and Christian truth (which he equated with Jerusalem). Hence, his question: ‘What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?’ Tertullian taught that Christian truth was not to be blended with anything else. To do so resulted in the worst kind of heresy. What has Mormonism to do with Methodism? A recent article on LDS Living had the headline: Methodist hospitality gives local Latter-day Saint congregation a home in their community [1] My first thought upon reading this was not necessarily one of surprise, bu...

  We are often asked this question. Jehovah’s Witnesses regard Christians as, at best neglectful and neglectful, at worst part of a great conspiracy to eradicate God’s name. Perhaps you have, like me, heard Jehovah’s Witnesses speak of the shocking number of Christians they meet who simply don’t know the name. I gently point out that if someone on the doorstep tells a Jehovah’s Witness they are already a Christian, going to this or that church, they are probably not. They just say that to get rid a Jehovah’s Witness of their doorstep. Further, i t should be recognised that Jehovah's Witnesses understand full well we cannot know with any degree of certainty how the consonants YHWH should be pronounced, and ‘Jehovah’ is only ‘a common rendering’ of the name. In an article on JW.ORG they say as much. This is a Poor Conspiracy Nevertheless, i t is worthwhile pointing out that we do use the ‘common rendering’ of Jehovah. It is preached from pulpits, it is found in Christian books ...