Bridge of Reason

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...

The Mormon God has evolved with the thinking of Mormon leaders. The Book of Mormon, the earliest Mormon text, insists there is one God. In a discussion between two characters named Amulek and Zeezrom we read: ‘And Zeezrom said unto him: Thou sayest there is a true and living God? And Amulek said: Yea, there is a true and living God. And Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And he answered, No.’ (Alma 11:26-29) In conversations with Mormons this is a helpful text. The question is at the bottom of page 235 while the answer is over the page. Asking a Mormon what answer he or she thinks Amulek gives before turning the page can make for an interesting exchange. On a time-line this teaching comes in March 1830, the date of the Book of Mormon’s publication. This ‘one God’ sounds singularly Trinitarian in nature, although is probably modalist in Smith’s mind: ‘..And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.’ (Testimony of the...

Some deceptions are so obvious as to be audacious, like the Jehovah’s Witness teaching that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914 when he failed to turn up physically, as predicted. Or the Mormon claim that Jesus walked the Americas following his resurrection and spoke to a boy in a grove of trees in 1820. Others are so subtle as to pass you by if you don’t know what you are seeing, what you are hearing. Easter this year of 2015 is the weekend of 3 rd to 5 th April. The March Ensign magazine of the Mormon Church, as you might expect, anticipates Easter, and the momentous events of that first Easter, as will Christian publications around the world. Well, not quite as will Christian publications. The Christian Easter The focus of every Christian on Good Friday is Golgotha, the place where Jesus bore the penalty for the sins of the world, suffered crucifixion, and died. The events surrounding that defining sacrifice are also in mind of course. The Last Supper, at which the new cove...

The Lamb of God is the Mormon Church's video presentation of the Easter story. Once again this video has been finding its way into thousands of homes across the country, usually accompanied by a pair of missionaries. It is usually preceded, at Christmas, by a short video entitled The Nativity, depicting the birth of Jesus. The Nativity is simply a visual presentation of the Christmas story with very little dialogue, and that in Aramaic/Hebrew. It is more an animated tableau depicting successive familiar scenes from Luke 2. But then what more could you expect from a film barely 12 minutes long? The tableau format is carried over into the 27 minute long The Lamb of God . Beginning with Jesus' appearance before Pilate it is a presentation of the last few hours of His life, interspersed with retrospective scenes from His last week and a couple of brief scenes from the Christmas video. The dialogue is sparse, a few brief phrases at the last supper "Do this in remembrance of ...