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Kris Springer's Tech Blog - My Mormon Neighbors
| My Mormon Neighbors |
12-6-18
Kris Springer |
I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate. I know what I believe and have made efforts to understand other religions so I can speak intelligently with/about them. Mormons do not believe in the same Jesus that is defined in the Bible. They believe in a completely different 'person' whom they call Jesus but is in fact a fantasy character false god who has none of the same origins, saving power, holiness, reality, etc. It's intentionally deceitful when they say that they are 'Christians' when they completely reject the person of Jesus Christ that's specified in the Bible and replace Him with a false god who Joseph Smith made up to fit his own fantasies.
I recently moved to S.E. Idaho where there's a larger population of Mormons. There's Mormon 'churches' every few blocks. It's a little ridiculous how many there are. The day we moved into our new house we had multiple neighborhood families stop by to welcome us. Mormons are polite and welcoming, but also pushy. There seemed to be an unspoken expectation that we would invite them in and become friends. That ain't happenin'. It was awkward enough that I immediately purchased a Christian flag to hang in front of my house to let everyone know that I wasn't Mormon. Surprisingly enough one of them asked my wife what that flag was because they'd never seen one before. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked since they're so spoon fed their carefully crafted narratives that they seem oblivious to what any other religions believe. Anyway, there have been other weird things that my wife has experienced with the locals on FB, but this particular event that happened the other day is just confusing to me.
Here's what one of our Mormon neighbors left on our doorstep as a Christmas 'gift' and then told my wife on FB that she left it there. If you can't tell in the picture, it's a bread roll and some Swedish fish candies.
I looked up the verses and they are about Jesus multiplying the bread and fish for the hungry crowd. The second verse says He's the bread of life. Since they don't know us and haven't ever asked us what we believe I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to extract from this. Is it supposed to be a conversation starter? Are they trying to subtly hint that they think we need this person name Jesus for some reason. Am I supposed to think that Mormons believe that the Jesus of the Bible is the same jesus they revere? Is this bread and fishes reference supposed to be some warm extension of hospitality? I don't know. Whatever the meaning is supposed to be, all my wife and I are thinking is how bizarre it is that someone would leave that on our doorstep without any explanation. If I didn't know they were Mormons this gesture would still mean nothing, maybe even less. The verses they chose are way down on the list of any resembling 'witnessing' type verses. I feel like returning the gesture and give them a rock with a verse reference about the rocks crying out when Jesus rode into the city. Or maybe a drawing of a door and a verse about Jesus being called a door. Or a bridge made of popsicle sticks. With no context or explanation it would make about as much sense. It's just wacky. I used to be intimidated by Mormons, but now I just find them sad and lost, fumbling around in the dark, no different than an Atheist, Buddhist, or Catholic. It's time that I told them about the real Jesus of the Bible.
I think that I'm going to have my wife make some cookies that we'll put in nice boxes and I'll insert some actual documentation about the Jesus of the Bible who is God incarnate, not some created brother of Lucifer.
That leads me to the subject of the 'white shirts' roaming the streets deceiving and lying about their faith in their false gods. A few weeks ago my wife and I were in the garage with the door open and 2 Mormon boys walked up to chat. At first I let them talk with my wife a bit to see what they would do, and then I took over the conversation. I lead in by asking them who Ammon was, since we live in a town named after one of the fictitious characters from their fantasy novel. (I didn't say that part, but I was thinking it!) They explained a little and then I started asking them questions to see how much they would admit before running away. To my surprise they admitted everything I asked them. Most Mormons won't admit this stuff, but I commend those boys for actually being honest about their beliefs. Here's what I asked them.
Q: Do Mormons believe that Jesus is the brother of Lucifer?
A: Yes
Q: Do Mormons believe that Jesus is a created being, or God Himself in human flesh?
A: created being, not God
Q: Do Mormons believe that God the Father was once a human like us?
A: Yes
Q: Do Mormons believe that we as humans can eventually become deities equal to the deity we currently call God?
A: Yes
Q: If the founders of Mormonism all had multiple wives and said plural marriage was essential to their definition of salvation, who's correct, the founders or the modern Mormon church?
A: Both. The founders had multiple wives because it was 'necessary' during that time period, but it's not 'necessary' now, soooooo.?
Q: What happens to me if I don't believe in their jesus?
A: I go to a lower level of paradise, not the high levels where all the best stuff happens.
Q: So who goes to Hell?
A: There isn't a hell, only lower levels of paradise.
Q: So what about rapists and child murderers? Don't they get punished for their crimes?
A: They go to the lowest levels of paradise where not much good stuff happens, but there isn't a Hell.
So at that point I informed them that I don't believe anything they had been saying and they are following a false religion and false god. I told them that even though they are following a person named jesus, he's definitely not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of the Bible is the creator of the universe. He's not a created being. He's not the brother of Lucifer, or any other created being. He's equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He's God in human flesh. God was never a man, nor will humans ever attain godhood because we're sinful dirt. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the voice of the burning bush, the perfect sacrifice that we needed to pay for our sins toward a thrice Holy God. In no way is the pathetic fantasy jesus that they use as a deceptive name drop the same as the Holy Righteous Lamb of God spoken about in the Bible. I phrased it much kinder, but they got the point.
That's when I ran out of time and we had to leave to pick up our girls from Awanas. The 'white shirts' haven't been back.
If you want to look up some of the Mormon stuff yourself do some Google searching and/or check out this list to get you started.
http://wri.leaderu.com/mormonism/god-refs.html
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