In the Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 25:26 says: And we atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our cchildren may know to what source they may look for a dremission of their sins. On Mormonism 101 a recent section on the Mormon Newsroom website stating Mormons beliefs, it says this about … [Read more...]
How To Witness To Mormon Missionaries
By far the most common way people come into contact with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons, is through speaking with two young well dressed men, wearing a little badge with Elder on it. These guys spend two years of their lives, usually when they are 18-19, in an allocated area by the LDS Church, working 6 and a half days a week, either … [Read more...]
Creation Ex Materia? – Conclusion
Part 1 - Part 2 (I conclude my critique of creation ex materia) Fourth, we will address one inductive argument using scientific evidence for the beginning of the universe. In the middle of the nineteenth century, several physicists discovered the Second Law of Thermodynamics by noticing that all processes within a closed system tend toward a state of equilibrium.[i] This … [Read more...]
Creation Ex Materia? – Part 2
Part 1 Ostler’s approach suffers from many problems. First, it is a critical mistake to appeal to etymology to determine word meaning. For example, the word “nice” is derived from the Latin word nescius, which means “ignorant.”[i] The etymology of a word is not a statement of its meaning but rather its history.[ii] Second, the word bara is never associated with … [Read more...]
Creation Ex Materia?
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”[i] From this and other passages, the Bible tells us that God created all things ex nihilo (out of nothing) and orthodox Christianity has always interpreted these verses this way. In other words, God did not use any pre-existing material, but rather the space/time universe came into being simply by divine fiat. But, … [Read more...]
Evaluating Mormonism
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: Latter-Day Saint (LDS) scholar Stephen Robinson writes, “Latter-day Saints and Evangelicals do not understand each other very well, and much of what we say about each other is untrue." … [Read more...]
Unbelievable radio interview – Mormonism (part 2)
I already blogged about part 1 of the interview between two Christians and a Mormon on the Unbelievable radio program. I had some thoughts about the second half of the interview. In my view part 2 went downhill from part 1. They continued to treat each other with great respect but Dayton (the Mormon) started sidestepping major issues, avoiding giving straight answers and so on. … [Read more...]
Unbelievable radio interview – Mormonism
I recently enjoyed part 1 of a two part radio interview hosted by Justin Brierley over at the Unbelievable podcast. Brierley contributed the least to the dialogue and mostly facilitated the conversation between his two guests, Bobby Gilpin of the UK Partnership for Christ and Charles Dayton, a lifelong Mormon. I enjoyed it for several reasons, all of which highlight many of the … [Read more...]
Chatting with Mormons, part 2
Previously I shared about my entry into Apologetics through the study of Mormonism. Today's story comes from another of my experiences with Mormons. It, unfortunately, also involved another failure. I guess I haven't had a lot of luck in my interactions with Mormons. From the time I first started learning about Mormonism to the time of this story I had investigated Mormonism … [Read more...]