Bridge of Reason

CULT! It seems such a pejorative word and certainly in ministry it is not intended as a compliment. But is it an insult? Is its use an example of disagreeing while being disagreeable? To listen to many there is no excuse for using it, especially when what people see as sensible alternatives are available such as sect, or the more acceptable “new (or alternative) religious movement.” So is “cult” used out of nothing more than spite? Or is there a legitimate application in ministry terms? History “Cult” comes from the Latin, cultus , from colore , to cultivate or to worship. Colore is the same root for the Latin cultura, from which we get culture. One of many ways of defining culture is, “the behaviours and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group.” Culture may be said to denote the system of values within a group, how a society defines itself, identifies what is important to its members and how they view the world. It teaches and evaluates the group’s his...

The official Bible of the Mormon Church is the Authorised Version or, as it is known in America, the King James Bible, or Version (KJV). Its not so much that Mormons are 'King James Only' exponents, as that this was the Bible in whose style Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon. This being the case, it is the continued use of the KJV that lends some authenticity to the Book of Mormon, the latter sounding like the former and, therefore, seeming a continuation of it. Put the Book of Mormon next to a modern translation, even one as conservative as the New American Standard, and Smith's magnus opus loses something of its gloss. See for yourself. Here is a familiar text from Matthew's gospel as it appears in the Book of Mormon (yes, God himself was plagiarised by Smith):

If you have encountered Jehovah’s Witnesses at all over the Easter period they may well have been eager to explain to you why they don’t celebrate Easter. The landing page of JW.ORG currently shows a piece explaining why Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate Easter. There is also a link to an article explaining what the Bible says about Easter. Their explanations might, at first glance, look plausible and you might imagine someone doing a book study and hearing these things for the first time being given pause for thought. A closer examination and a wider search on the subject reveals some serious flaws in what they have to say. They have much to say, as many know, about the origin of the name 'Easter' and we will come to that, but in their explanation of their position on Easter they play a trick on the minds of the unsuspecting. After quoting various secular sources they finally come to the Bible and insist: 'The Easter holiday celebration is not based on...

It’s known by different names in different traditions; the Lord’s Table, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, the Breaking of Bread, Holy Communion. Mormons call it ‘the sacrament’ which seems strange since it is a sacrament but, even in Mormonism, it isn’t the only sacrament since they also have baptism, as well as rituals of anointing. In my church we call it communion and I regard it as very precious. I was interested, then, in what the Jehovah’s Witnesses do with it, how they regard it. To Jehovah’s Witnesses it is a ‘Memorial Meal’ and, while Christian churches celebrate this sacrament frequently, Witnesses mark it annually, on the Jewish Passover which, in 2015, will be Friday April 3rd. My wife and I went to one of these celebrations once and saw that when the elements were passed around no one partook. This is because only the 144,000 are regarded as having a heavenly hope and, therefore, only they can partake. But that is not the only thing that is puzzling about this peculia...

  Utah has become the first state in the USA to reinstate the firing squad to administer the death penalty. This is sometimes called fusillading, from the French fusil , rifle. This story has several layers, from the shortage of drugs for lethal injections, to the question of which method of killing a human being is most humane, to that of whether, as European society believes, execution is simply a barbaric throwback we don’t want in the 21st century. It is this last view in Europe that has created the shortage of drugs that European countries refuse to export to America. Fusillading as a form of execution has usually been practiced in a war setting, guns being the most easily available weapon for the job, and being the quickest and most humane method available in the circumstances. In America, apart from the Civil War, for which figures are unavailable, it is estimated that 142 men have been executed by this method since 1608. Utah’s record is most striking. Forty-four exec...

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 Oct. 1997 issue of the liberal Mormon Sunstone magazine (Vol. 20:3, Issue 107) carried an amusing article about alternative names for “Anti-Mormons.” (Thanks to Vince for drawing this list to my attention. Comments in brackets are my own, of course) S c eptics (And this is a bad thing because…?) Gentiles (Mormons consider themselves the new Israel) Mormon-detractors Counter-Mormons (That’s anti-Mormons to the rest of us) Anti-Christs (At least we know now what Mormons think of honest critics) Mormophobes (A phobia is a fear. This isn’t an irrational fear but a healthy scepticism – see 1 above) Nehors (Nehor is an obscure Book of Mormon character who led an apostate sect) Avatars of Satan (An avatar is an incarnation of a deity; see comment on temple “minister” below) Challengers (Fair comment. So stop name-calling and meet the challenge) The unconverted (Christians? Unconverted? Interesting insight) Contra-Mormons (pro-Christians) Post-Mormons (Tha...