I worked an eighteen-hour day yesterday on four hours of sleep, and then got\u00a0only four hours\u00a0of sleep last night also. I’m exhausted. I’m actually quite dizzy today.\u00a0As soon as I finish this post, I’m going to go mow my lawn. Consequently, this may be my last blog post!\u00a0 Ha ha.<\/p>\n
During that looong day,\u00a0I was able to have several good conversations with two of the Mormons I work with. I really enjoyed getting to know them and discuss their beliefs with them. There are a lot of similarities with evangelical Christianity, and many strange differences as well. For example, they have a unique solution to the “What about those who have never heard?”dilemma. They practice “baptism for the dead” by which you can be baptized for a dead ancestor in order to give\u00a0him or her\u00a0the opportunity\u00a0to spend eternity with God. The choice is still up to them, but since you were baptized for them, they can now make a choice they couldn’t have otherwise made.<\/p>\n
They clearly are trying to “convert” me. I think I might visit one of their “temples” this weekend. I visited a Muslim Mosque last year, so I guess I’ll try a Mormon Temple too.<\/p>\n
But all of this only reinforces my opinion that you should not condemn or judge a particular people group unless you are friends with someone from that people group (which then makes it nearly impossible to judge and condemn them). We need to try to\u00a0get to know\u00a0other people–with\u00a0no strings attached (e.g.\u00a0“I’ll befriend you so you become a Christian”)–so that we can love them.\u00a0Too many of us “Christians” spend all our time pointing the finger at people we know nothing about. We think <\/em>we know them because of something we read, or because of what some Christian teacher said.\u00a0Then, based on this distorted knowledge, we feel justified in condemning and criticizing\u00a0these people\u00a0and their beliefs.<\/p>\n I’m not saying that criticisms cannot or should not be directed at other people. It should. But such criticisms must\u00a0only take place\u00a0within a\u00a0genuine, on-going relationship with someone of that group, in which we invite and accept their criticism of us. If we cannot accept criticism from others in a peaceful manner, we must not give criticism either. Only in this way can\u00a0we speak the\u00a0truth in love.<\/p>\n So who have you been condemning and criticizing recently? Maybe you should take them out for dinner, and with absolutely no agenda to “fix their life” or “correct their beliefs” just strive to get to know them as a person. Such a practice will change your life. I guarantee it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I worked an eighteen-hour day yesterday on four hours of sleep, and then got\u00a0only four hours\u00a0of sleep last night also. I’m exhausted. I’m actually quite dizzy today.\u00a0As soon as I finish this post, I’m going to go mow my lawn. Consequently, this may be my last blog post!\u00a0 Ha ha. During that looong day,\u00a0I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[19],"class_list":{"0":"post-361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"tag-discipleship","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n