I was wondering if there was any information you can give me
as to better be a witness toward Mormons.
I have a book called "Speaking the truth in love to Mormons" by Mark
Cares. I have studied this religion for many years, but want to use my
info in practical ways if I ever get a chance.
Thanks,
Tyler
Tyler~
Thanks for your
question. Having been raised in a
Mormon family, and having come from a long heritage of Mormonism that dates
back to the founding of this religion, I am very familiar with the mindset of
people involved with this sect. In my
estimation, there is probably no other pseudo-Christian religion that rivals
that of Mormonism for its level of difficulty in conversion.
First let me clarify
something; there is no set “way” to witness to a Mormon, or for that matter,
any other human being. Of greatest
importance is that whomever you share the gospel with, you look at them as
individuals with feelings, likes and dislikes, hurts, struggles, etc.
Second, I will have to
make this an ongoing series of emails, simply due to the volume of info I want
to provide you. This leads me to
another point, and that is the issue of uploading this discussion online, so others
can benefit from our discussion. If
this is agreeable to you, let me know, and we can further our discussion.
Lastly, please understand
that emails take time, and I get many questions each day, so I will reply to
yours as time permits.
I might inform you that
Mormons typically do not like to be called Mormons, but rather prefer the term,
‘LDS,’ an acronym for, ‘Latter-Day Saints.’
Recognizing individuality as prerequisite, there are two classes of LDS
folk; the ‘lifer’ and the ‘convert.’ In
other words, the lifer is the person raised from birth in an LDS home and the
convert is the person converted to the Mormon faith thru proselytizing, usually
done by Mormon missionaries.
The likelihood of
converting an LDS on the spot is highly unlikely, but not impossible;
therefore, as I mentioned before, focus should be made on building a
relationship with them. Having been
raised Mormon I have an in-depth understanding of the cornerstone thought
behind LDS worship.
As a child, I grew up with
LDS activity infiltrating my everyday life.
Mormon children attend ‘Primary’ which amounts to the earliest forms of
indoctrination. The LDS church instills
a deep sense of martyrdom-complex, and the psychology is based upon erroneous
characterization of the church’s founder Joseph Smith. Since you have already studied the religion
itself for many years, this saves me valuable writing time, so that I can focus
on the psychology of Mormonism, which is perhaps the most beneficial
consideration when sharing the true gospel with Mormons.
We were taught that Joseph
Smith was the first modern-day prophet since biblical times. What stands out most to me as a child is the
emphasis the church Sunday school teachers put on the valiant way Joseph Smith
died defending the faith, a far cry from what actually happened, as you already
know. We never heard the true version
of his jailbreak, and how he died in a gun battle with law enforcement while
trying to break out of jail. In fact,
we were taught he was tarred and feathered, then led like a lamb to slaughter,
and Bible verses were often used to show the parallels between Smith and
Christ.
On the heels of this
thought, from the earliest age, all LDS children are taught they will also be
wrongly martyred for their faith, making it nearly impossible to win them to
Christ based on facts and statistics alone.
Adding weight to the psychological indoctrination was the church’s claim
to the restoration of the “true gospel of Jesus Christ” by Joseph Smith, and we
were repeatedly told the false story of how the angel Moroni visited the young
Smith, during the time in his life when he saw that all other Christian
religions were wrong. It is vital you
understand this perspective from the eyes of an LDS person, and realize the ‘lifer’
Mormon is told the erroneous version of events literally hundreds of times
leading into adolescence.
With this in mind Tyler,
realize that the Mormon feels as strongly and passionately about his or her
faith as you do about your faith in Jesus Christ. Compounding the issue is the church’s emphasis on identification
with martyrdom is the fact they inundate their member’s lives with activity
revolving around the church. Mormons
have their own dances as a church-approved substitution for high school dances,
they have their own Boy Scout and Girl Scout activities, and they have their
own baseball, softball, basketball, soccer and other sports related
activities. They regularly schedule a
plethora of social events, and then of course every Monday night there is the
church sanctioned, ‘Family Home Evening,’ whereby all Mormon families are
encouraged to have a family night together, and this should always include some
aspect of Mormon doctrine.
I hope I am presenting to
you a picture of a church that is highly organized, and very devoted, and which
saturates its members with an ongoing flurry of church-related activities that
virtually consumes a person’s time and life.
I am of the persuasion
that not all Mormons are without salvation; in fact, I know of some that have a
very personal relationship with God thru Jesus Christ. The problem and conflict with Mormonism and
the true gospel is their emphasis on the Book of Mormon, (BOM) which devout
‘lifer’ Mormons consider equally inspired and in practice, of more value than
the Bible. My own father frequently
quotes passages to me from the BOM, but rarely from the inspired pages of the
Bible.
As you know from your own
studies, the LDS church believes the BOM to be divinely inspired. It is the very cornerstone of their faith,
and though Mormon dogma says the Bible is the word of God, their creed includes
the BOM as being the word of God too.
When it comes right down
to the nuts-and-bolts of the LDS religion, if you ever find an open door to
bear witness to your own faith you should have as part of your repitoire the
discrepancies between the BOM, the Bible, and other truth based facts. As you probably already know, there are many
contradictions in the BOM, which has been revised and changed multiple times
since its first printing. Plural
marriage for example, was not only sanctioned by the early additions, but
actually included as one of God’s commandments.
The best source for facts
on Mormonism is found at the ministry of Gerald and Sandra Tanner in Salt Lake
City, Utah. I have actually visited
their retail store that carries a vast treasure of archived documents obtained
by the Tanners when they were still involved with the LDS church, and they have
published one of the first editions of the BOM and included in it highlights
and underscored words and phrases (in the thousands) that show clearly the vast
number of changes made to it.
That’s all for today
Tyler; I am in failing health, and must limit my correspondence.
God bless you brother,
Craigo
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