LDS

Evangel Conversation, Part 2

Teton Whitetail

Note: This is a copy and paste re-entry from what I had placed on the blog, “By Common Consent” in the thread under Margaret Young’s article To The Pastor: I had placed this on their blog yesterday and was notified by Steve in the thread that it was too long. Looking on what I wrote, I realize this is more than just a quick comment and more in the category of a lengthy, serious post (and I am also learning what are the rules for each LDS blog). Secondly, when I mentioned this to my wife, Kristie, she noticed the poor choice of my words in my initial Evangel Conversation blurb, “I appreciate the blog, By Common Consent, for providing the platform.” She told me, “Todd, some could take this to mean you are sarcastic or either in the other direction that you have had prior communication and that the BCC administration is actually inviting you to bring forth your message to their readership.” So, you see what happens when I don’t have my sweet wife editing anything that I write. But thankfully, I see that Margaret Young has given me invitation once again to reshare my thoughts. Well, here goes. And please, any LDS friends can interact with what I am sharing. (I once made the mistake in a past HI4LDS entry by limiting the conversation only to Blake Ostler, revealing my own fears. But he was kind to interact even in his misgivings.)

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Evangel Conversation

First, I appreciate Bruce and Margaret Young in risking conversation with the likes of me.  Because of Margaret’s recent post, To The Pastor:, I wouldn’t mind meeting this particular family one of these days.  God has definitely given Margaret a talent in writing.  In the days and years ahead, may this talent be used fully to the glory of God that all might glorify God for his mercy.  My heart cry is sincere because the vision laid out in Scripture is stunningly and wonderfully gigantic. 

Secondly, I appreciate the blog, By Common Consent, for providing the platform.  God is good.  In fact, He is good all the time in the Intermountain West.

The Mark DeMoss Interview on Romney

Check it out.  The interview plugs in a little bit of Mohler’s thinking on the issue of Mitt’s candidacy.  Though I have not known of Mohler’s thoughts on this till today, I tend to agree with him in the sense that if Mitt becomes President of the United States, Mormonism will increase overseas.  But on the home front in America, the armies of the extreme cultural left will mount.  Of course, I am sure that Romney is no stranger to such an experience on a smaller scale as governor of Massachusetts.

The Baptist Preacher’s Take on The Mormons, Part 2

In continuation from yesterday, let me conclude with a few thoughts about Helen’s final episode of The Mormons on PBS.

For two hours, the film takes you on a jolting ride through five acts:  The Great Accommodation, The Mission, Dissenters and Exile, The Family, and The Temple.  Here are the highlights.

Most Glaring Newspaper Headlines

Baptists Move Against Smoot:  Demand for His Expulsion

(I would vote for Mitt Romney.  He is a unique Republican candidate who doesn’t follow the printer’s error in the Wicked Bible (KJV) showcased with the Ink & Blood exhibit here in
Idaho Falls.)

The Most Vocal Denomination Against the Church

Especially the Southern Baptist . . . (more…)

PBS Broadcast, The Mormons, Part 1

pbs-special.jpgLast night from 9 to 11 p.m., I intently watched the first segment of the PBS film, The Mormons, produced by Helen Whitney.

This particular presentation is dramatically different than the DVD, Road to Zion: Travels in Church History (copyright 2005, BYU Broadcasting), I examined last week. In hosting the show, Shaunna Thompson, attractive, vibrant, upbeat, even tearful at times in her sincere, public reflections, didn’t even touch some of the stuff that Helen Whitney now enticingly invites the national public to be aware of and explore.

In displaying a cautious curiosity, perhaps you might be interested in some of my initial heart responses. Being up front with you, I tossed, turned, and prayed on my bed till 3:00 this morning. Helen’s documentary, more than the whole dramatic Work & Glory series, has my mind churning over past historical events and current religious tensions in the Intermountain West. (more…)

Scholar Amy-Jill Levine on Persecuted LDS

for-bolg-hi4lds-1.jpgI have been poorly digesting a large amount of Amy-Jill Levine’s book, The Misunderstood Jew (HarperCollins, 2006). I picked this book up because of Ben Witherington III’s quote on the back cover:

Full of the usual vim, vigor, and vitality that so characterizes Levine’s lectures, and writings, The Misunderstood Jew is quite simply the best book ever written about the Jewishness of Jesus and his earliest followers. This book is such a seminal work that it makes us all reexamine what it really means to be a Jew or a Christian.

For my LDS friends, I quote Levine on page 65 for your interest: (more…)

Let God be God

For Blog LWA

I will be speaking at the God Focus Conference at Red Cliff Bible Camp, June 11-13. My two workshop topics are as follows: 1) Triune God Focus that Produces Humility and 2) Triune God Focus that Produces Holiness.

Here is an excerpt from a book that I have been reading . . .

Why is the revelation of God at Sinai so new that is smashes all categories and idols? What exactly is so brain hammering and conscience wracking? Is it the fire, the smoke, and the thunder? These are but pyrotechnics, the merest fringe sideshow, compared with the nuclear sunburst of the truth revealed—“I am who I am.” (more…)

Isaiah 14 (2 Nephi 24) Millennium Slavery?

First, aren’t all Latter-day Saints millennialists (there is quite a divergence among evangelicals)?  Secondly, does the LDS Church believe they will possess male and female slaves during a future millennium?  In this post, I am not going to get into all the changes made by the JST or BoM to the KJV text because I just want to jump right into a big heart issue phrased in my title.

In Understanding Isaiah(1998), the LDS authors interpret,

Following a lengthy prophecy concerning Babylon’s fall (13:11-22), Isaiah extends hope to us (the house of Israel) that we will be gathered to our promised lands and eventually rest from sorrow.  Certainly our (Israel’s) return to our covenantal lands is a prominent sign of the times.  After we have gathered to our promised lands, we will eventually “exercise dominion domestically (menservants and maidservants), militarily (take . . . captives), and politically (rule over/ ‘dominate’)” (14:2).  We who follow Christ and make his atonement effective in our lives will, in the end, rest from sorrow, fear, and hard bondage (14:3) (140).

 Is this the standard LDS position?  Is this what you believe?  Because I like the guy, I would love to get a response from Mitt Romney regarding his personal view of this chapter.

The Limitations of My Blog

James 3 convicts me . . . sends me to a quiet place somewhere for serious reflection.

As a teacher, I will be judged for every word that comes out of my mouth.  And what makes things worse–the tongue is an “unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

 How can wisdom be shown on a blog?

James writes:  “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?  let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom.”

I realize that among my internet audience, I don’t have opportunity for God to help me visually live out a lifestyle full of meekness in front of you.  No real life is seen on a blog.

But I do pray that God will help me show a kind and gracious life in front of my neighbors in Idaho Falls.  I am thankful for the friendships.

Just some musings on a Monday after a good Lord’s Day . . .

Thinking of heart issues . . .