Bridge of Reason

Has anyone else noticed how some groups anoint everything with the idea of the 'sacred'? Mormons don’t simply have conferences, they have ‘solemn assemblies.’ Their proceedings may be shared and discussed, but any questioning of these ‘sacred’ meetings is seen as crass. After all, the prophet has spoken and we all should be grateful. ‘ Sacred’ here means beyond criticism. To Mormons, the place where Joseph Smith had his ‘First Vision’ (note the official capitalisation ) is called the ‘Sacred Grove’ (also capitalised). ‘Sacred’ here means unimpeachable, so we had better respect it or we will just let ourselves down. Sacred groves are not and never have been part of the landscape of the Christian faith. Here i n the United Kingdom churches were often built o ver the sites of pagan Anglo-Saxon sacred groves. These groves have been associated with paganism, animism, polytheism, the cult of the dead, but never Christ . Mormons also build and operate temples, considered so ‘...

  Several years ago, I was a member of a local SACRE group. SACRE was an acronym for the Standard Advisory Council on Religious Education. On this council were representatives of all the major religions taught on the national curriculum, with some invited onlookers. At that time, the religions taught in school were Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism. At each meeting there was a particular gentleman, one of the invited onlookers, who said the same thing at every opportunity: ‘Why are we not seen as one of the major religions and taught to young people?’. This man was a representative of the Baha’i Faith. Who are the Baha’i? THE BAB The Bahá’í Faith traces its origin to 1844 and the announcement by a young man, Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad, in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran), that He had been sent by God to prepare humanity for a new age and the imminent appearance of another Messenger even greater than Himself.  Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad took the title of the  B...

In my last post we looked at cults’ claims to exclusive authority to speak for God. So, what is God supposed to have said to them? There’s a plan, a purpose, something the church has totally lost until someone came along at just the right time to restore, clarify, and bring it to the world. When you see someone offering a system instead of a Saviour you should turn and run. Here are two examples. We learn from Jehovah’s Witnesses that there is a big flock and a little flock. The little flock governs from heaven the big flock live eternally on paradise earth. Of course, the men who brought this message belong to the little flock. They have the important places in God’s purposes, while the rest should be glad the little flock is there. The little flock ‘govern’ because when Jesus says ‘kingdom,’ he means ‘government.’ Of course, Isaiah wrote, ‘the government will be upon his [the S aviour’s] shoulder’ (Isaiah 9:6), but Jesus preached one kingdom. We learn from Mormons that God’s pur...

  Also known as The New Church or The Church of New Jerusalem, Swedenborgianism has been around since the late eighteenth century. This new religious movement developed around the writings of the scientist and Swedish Lutheran theologian Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg was an exceptional scientist writing over thirty scientific papers, but he decided to leave his profession to write and speak on spiritual matters. He became convinced that he was to bring about a revival of Christianity, so he spent the last twenty-five years of his life in this pursuit. Like numerous founders of new religious movements, Swedenborg declared himself called of God to restore apostate Christianity. However, his account of being ‘chosen’ is a cause for concern: I went to my room, but that night the same man revealed himself to me again. I was not frightened then. He said that He was the Lord God, the Creator and Redeemer of the world, and that He had chosen me to declare to men the spiritual conte...

  ‘ But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers. ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the customs of Moses, you cannot be saved.’’ (Acts 15:1) In Acts 15 we see people who follow Paul around, questioning his message of grace, pressing the case for rules that they alone, of course, would teach and apply. These were likely the Pharisees of verse 5. Setting themselves up as authority figures , they insisted Gentiles needed to become Jews in order to become Christians. Y ou may throw at them as many grace verses as you like, their answer will always be the same familiar, ‘I know what it says, but this is what it means. Believe me, I am an authority on these things. I have been to the top of the mountain and have the anointing ’ Former cultists will find this so familiar, indeed I remember saying this myself. The message of the gospel of grace - saved by grace, through faith in Christ, works following - is so clear in the Bible. Yet there will always be th...