{"id":367,"date":"2008-07-04T14:10:35","date_gmt":"2008-07-04T19:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=367"},"modified":"2013-05-31T18:38:39","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T02:38:39","slug":"to-church-with-a-mormon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/to-church-with-a-mormon\/","title":{"rendered":"To Church with a Mormon"},"content":{"rendered":"

I attended a Mormon church last Sunday. I haven’t really had time to write about it much because I worked 15-16 hour days on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I\u00a0took\u00a0Thursday and Friday\u00a0off, and then I go back to work on Saturday. In many\u00a0ways, my wife feels like a single mother, so\u00a0please pray for us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyway, after attending the Mormon church with my co-worker,\u00a0below are\u00a0a few of my initial observations as gleaned through my own personal conversations:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I am amazed that Mormonism is so popular since in many ways, their style\u00a0of “worship” service is nearly identical to that of fundamental Baptists. They only use the King James Version, they pray using words like “thee,” “thy,” and “thou,” all the men come dressed is slacks and ties, and the entire morning lasted three hours, with a heavy emphasis on extended times of teaching. Since fundamental Baptists are seeing a rapid decline in attendance, but Mormons are on the rise, what is it about Mormonism that people find attractive?<\/li>\n
  2. Theologically, Mormonism does not seem to be as “wacked out” as some Christian critics\u00a0portray them to be. In fact, when it comes to the doctrine of salvation, I could easily argue that Mormons are\u00a0just as\u00a0orthodox as\u00a0many\u00a0“evangelical protestants,” specifically in regard to the role of good works in salvation (in other words, they base it partly on their own works). Also, there\u00a0are many similarities between a Mormon’s view of Joseph Smith and other groups within “Christendom” (e.g. Catholics and some Charismatics) who believe in some sort of apostolic succession or ongoing prophetic additions to Scripture.<\/li>\n
  3. They believe they are the one true church, and all others are in apostasy to one degree or another. They believe that Joseph Smith restored correct practice and doctrine as it was originally taught by Jesus Christ and Paul. Again, this\u00a0idea is not unique to Mormons, as there are many\u00a0groups and teachers who think they have a corner on the truth, and everybody else\u00a0is in error.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n
  4. There are, of course, serious problems with Mormon theology and practice. For example, they don’t really believe in the Trinity the way most evangelical Christians do, and they don’t seem to believe that Jesus was eternally God. It is probably for these reasons that they are labeled a “cult.” Also, some of the primary practices of Mormons seem to be based on obscure passages of Scripture. For example, a common Mormon practice is baptism for dead ancestors, which is based on a particular interpretation of 1 Cor 15:29.<\/li>\n
  5. Most Mormons are convinced that their beliefs are correct because they had a supernatural experience which proved to them that what they believe is true. I have men many people within various brands of Christianity who argue along similar lines. It is next to impossible to convince such a person through logical reasoning and arguments that what they believe might not be true. As I have conversed with my Mormon co-workers about their faith, every time I bring up a question they don’t seem to be able to answer, they revert to talking about their experience (vision, dream, inner feeling, etc.) which proved to them the truth of what they believe, and then they tell me that if I really want to know the truth, I should pray for wisdom and ask God to give me a similar experience to reveal the truth to me.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There are numerous other things I could discuss, but these are the five that stand out to me right now. One thing I am becoming more and more convinced of is that before you go blast someones life, theology, or practice, you should not go read a book about them, but instead endeavor to become friends with someone of that group. Once you do, it will become impossible to blast them. Things are not as cut-and-dry, black-and-white as some speakers and authors would make you believe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I attended a Mormon church last Sunday. I haven’t really had time to write about it much because I worked 15-16 hour days on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I\u00a0took\u00a0Thursday and Friday\u00a0off, and then I go back to work on Saturday. In many\u00a0ways, my wife feels like a single mother, so\u00a0please pray for us.\u00a0 Anyway, after […]<\/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-367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"tag-discipleship","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nTo Church with a Mormon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/to-church-with-a-mormon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To Church with a Mormon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I attended a Mormon church last Sunday. 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