Bridge of Reason

In an article in the  July 2014 Ensign magazine , t he current Mormon president, Russell M Nelson, a Mormon apostle at that time , addresses the issue of the gathering of Israel and the second coming. The theme is a subject for another time but I want to pick up on one almighty untruth right there towards the end of the piece. Claiming that the Book of Mormon is  “the instrument to bring about the gathering,”  and that it clarifies the connection of the Mormon Church with the biblical house of Israel, Nelson goes on to assert: “ The Book of Mormon contains the fulness of the gospel. Without the Book of Mormon, we would know little about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” A footnote to this astonishing claim states: “ The word atonement in any of its forms appears in only one verse of the King James Version of the New Testament (see Romans 5:11). It appears in 24 verses of the Book of Mormon.” ‘ In any of its forms?’ Of course, as a Christian, I instinctively react ...

I wonder would you do something for me? Read through the following brief account of a little adventure I had recently and then answer the two questions at the end. Its a true story, I know because I made it up myself: I recently bought a car because I planned to go on a road trip with a friend and my old jalopy simply wasn’t up to it. It surprised me that, within my budget, I was offered a great little model, much better than my old banger and with an interior so comfortable it was like driving a limo. When I arrived at my friends’ house he took one look and said, “Nice wheels.” “You like my motor?” I replied. “Its a nice Auto,” he said, “and it looks like that model is going to take us places.” With that we got in the vehicle and drove off on our adventure. Q1 . How many times does the word “car” appear in this narrative? Q2 . How many times is a car mentioned in this narrative? We’ll get back to this shortly. It still amazes me how Mormon thinking makes Mormon leaders s...

  I had a food stain on my shirt. My wife said something she thought rather funny: ‘How could you miss a mouth that big?’ I didn’t laugh, but rather I was perturbed that I now had a bright red stain on my new white shirt. My wife reassured me that she had a stain remover that can eradicate any blemish. Hearing this made me feel better, and less concerned when I missed my huge mouth for the second time. And she was right, once the stain remover was rubbed into the stains they vanished. The Bible teaches us that we are all ‘stained’ with sin, but the good news is there is a ‘stain’ remover. Through His blood shed on the cross of Calvary, Jesus removed the stain of sin so that we, who have repented of our sin and put our hope in him, are now without blemish. What good news! But some may ask, can Jesus remove every stain? The Bible says yes: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son clean...

  And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.      LUKE 22:44   “GREATEST SUFFERING WAS IN GETHSEMANE. We speak of the passion of Jesus Christ. A great many people have an idea that when he was on the cross, and nails were driven into his hands and feet, that was his great suffering.  His great suffering was before he ever was placed upon the cross.  It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that the blood oozed from the pores of his body: ‘Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink.’ That was not when he was on the cross; that was in the garden. That is where he bled from every pore in his body” [1]   Peculiar to Mormonism is the idea that Jesus atoned for the sins of the world in the Garden of Get...

  Like many, I receive numerous messages from all kinds of people, about all kinds of things. I recently received a video clip via WhatsApp from a pastor friend of mine. His advice to me was: ‘Watch this.’ He told me that a member of his congregation had sent it to him with the same advice. The video was of a three-year-old girl singing about Jesus. She was incredibly cute, as all three-year-olds tend to be, and she sung beautifully. The Pastor had not sent the song to me for the same reason that his congregant had sent it to him. As he watched it, he felt there was something not quite right. Hence, he sent it to me for my thoughts.   Here are some of the lyrics from the song: He felt all that was sad, wicked or bad All the pain we would ever know While His friends were asleep He fought to keep His promise made long ago Gethsemane Jesus loves me So He went willingly To Gethsemane The hardest thing That ever was done The greatest pain that ever was known Th...

The February 2017 Enisgn magazine of the Mormon Church just dropped through my letterbox. Leafing through it, my eye was immediately drawn to the visiting teaching message on page 7, Christ’s Atonement is Evidence of God’s Love. The atoning work of Jesus is a fundamental of the Christian faith. What a movement has to say on this issue tells a lot about where it stands in relation to the clear message of the Bible on first principles.The piece begins: “Understanding that our Heavenly Father gave His Only Begotten Son that we might have immortality and the potential for eternal life helps us feel God’s infinite and incomprehensible love for us.” Mormon thinking is shot through with references to feelings of course. Understanding in this instance, “helps us feel God’s infinite and incomprehensible love for us.” The Bible, however, tells us that our understanding of gospel principles helps us know ! John writes: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God s...