Bridge of Reason

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have recently released several short videos which all begin with the question ‘How Can It Not Be True?’ These videos cover the subjects: Who is God?; Evidence of God’s Existence; The Miracle of Humankind; Jesus Christ as the Son of God; Agency and the Promises of Obedience; The Witness of the Spirit; Joseph Smith; and The Book of Mormon. Over the next few weeks, I will review these videos and consider if what they teach can or cannot be true. These videos are, as always, beautifully produced, and very easy on the eye. The Mormons, realising that many people will not watch or listen to a video like this beyond a couple of minutes, have made them short and to the point. Their hope, perhaps, is that these videos will arouse enough interest that the watcher visit their website or one of their churches. Let’s begin with: How Can It Not Be True – Who is God? The first claim made by the video is that God is always available for us. We would ...

  In the January 22 Watchtower Study Edition, the Society writes: 'Each year, anointed ones look forward to attending the Memorial as partakers. Why do they appropriately partake of the bread and the wine? To answer that, consider what happened on the final night of Jesus’ earthly life. After the Passover meal, Jesus instituted what has come to be known as the Lord’s Evening Meal. He passed the bread and the wine to his 11 faithful apostles and told them to eat and drink. Jesus spoke to them about two covenants, or agreements,—the new covenant and the Kingdom covenant. (Luke 22:19, 20, 28-30) These covenants opened up the way for those apostles and a limited number of others to become kings and priests in heaven. (Rev. 5:10; 14:1) Only the anointed remnant, who are in these two covenants, may partake of the bread and the wine at the Memorial.' One is the New covenant, the other the Kingdom Covenant. Only the 144,000 can partake of the two covenants, just as only they may pa...