Bridge of Reason

  A couple of weeks ago, in our Watch Tower Wednesday, I drew people’s attention to a particularly egregious mishandling of the Scripture. Ephesians 4 is very familiar to this former Mormon, being a foundational text for all restorationist groups; apostles, prophets, etc. It contains a favourite passage among the cults, one that speaks of 'one, Lord, one faith, one baptism,' (v.5) and you know the argument about hopelessly divided 'Christendom' I am sure. In skimming through the New World Translation I happened on the Watch Tower 'translation' of this text, particularly thinking of vv 7-12. Comparing it with the ESV and other translations I am struck by the complete mutilation of this passage in the online NWT study edition . Here is awkward wording, serious misinterpretations, and the surely inadvertent association of Jesus with Jehovah with regard to Ephesian 4: 8 and Psalm 68: 18 . And what about the idea Jesus brought gifts ‘ in strong men’ from among...

  Now, I had a fight with a missionary companion once because he said that Latter-day Saints are the only ones who can feel the Spirit. And I said, “nu-uh”, and he said, “uh-huh”, and I said, “nu-uh”, and he said, “uh-huh”, and I said, “nu-uh”, and that’s how missionaries fight. And I said, “Look, if they can’t feel the Spirit, what do they feel on Christmas Eve when they’re singing Silent Night, and the little kids are all dressed in bathrobes doing the manger scene? What do they feel?” He says, “The spirit of the devil”. I said, “No! You can’t feel the spirit of the devil when little kids are dressed in bathrobes! You can’t feel the little spirit of the devil when they’re singing ‘Silent Night’!” I really enjoy watching nature programmes. God’s creation is amazing. Recently, my son invited me to see an event called Planet Earth II Live. It was amazing. Along with a couple of thousand people, we watched clips from Planet Earth II on a massive screen and there, to play alongsid...

  ‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not see itself as one Christian denomination among many, but rather as God’s latter-day restoration of the fulness of Christian faith and practice. Thus from its earliest days LDS Christians sought to distinguish themselves from Christians of other traditions.’ (Encyclopaedia of Mormonism 1:270) When LDS leader Brad Wilcox told the youth, and the assembled adults, that O is for Only True Church, I wonder what they thought? Older Mormons perhaps felt like giving Brad a hearty ‘amen’, after all he was declaring the historical Mormon position that the LDS church is the only true church. What Brad said clearly lines up with the Mormon past, with Mormon doctrine and with the Mormon scriptures, but it doesn’t quite square with what I constantly hear from Missionaries. Missionaries have often told me that I am a Christian, but I am missing some pieces of information, namely, the doctrines and gospel ordinances found only in the...

Last week, on the Facebook page, I wrote about a discussion I had recently with a Jehovah’s Witness. The name of God inevitably came up. This issue has been done to death, I know, the usual texts thrown back and forth (what Doug Harris would call ‘Wimbledon witnessing’). He came up with the usual argument from Matthew 6, the idea in the Lord’s Prayer that we should sanctify the name. I pointed out, as I always do, that Jesus didn’t use the name in praying, to which he replied: ‘You don’t use his name when you are addressing your father.’ I must agree with him. I never used my father’s name, neither have my children used mine in addressing me. Jason Michael Learner, in the Facebook discussion, wrote: ‘To be fair, there are loads of names for God, Elohim, El Shaddai , LORD and each of these tell us something about His character and personal attributes. Abba is another example, it shows us something about the nature of God's character and the type of relationship that not only Jes...

In my last article, I shared about the furore that followed a talk given to youth by Mormon leader Brad Wilcox. What did he say that caused such an uproar and why did he have to publicly apologise? Having listened to his message, I don’t believe he said anything that wasn’t truly Mormon. The price for preaching the pure unadulterated LDS faith, was him being called to account. Why did this happen? Well, I believe it is because Mormonism has two faces – the private and the public.   Then Brad came along Brad Wilcox should have known that in sharing publicly what Mormons believe privately would get him into trouble. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have spent many years and lots of money, seeking to prove to the public that they are a benign and benevolent, Christian church. They had, in the main, been highly successful – then Brad came along! So, what were the private beliefs of the Mormon church that Brad make public? G is for Godhead As I mentioned in my f...