How to Respond to Enemies of the Church

How to Respond to Enemies of the Church:
An Open Letter from a Father to His Missionary Son

By Richard LaJeunesse, presiding justice of the Utah Labor Commission adjudication division

(Editor’s Note:  The following letter, written to a missionary son by his father, gives us ideas for what works – and what doesn’t – when we speak with people who are hostile to the Church.)

Dear Son,

I received your letter requesting some material that addresses anti-Mormon literature and arguments. There are numerous books and pamphlets that confront anti-Mormon arguments. In fact, there are so many that it is difficult to anticipate the ones that would actually hit the specific points you are faced with. For example, Hugh Nibley wrote several books and pamphlets, including Sounding Brass and Tinkling Cymbals, The Myth Makers, and No Ma'am, that's Not History. Dr. Sidney Sperry wrote Answers to Book of Mormon Questions. B.H. Roberts wrote the three-volume set Defense of the Faith and the Saints. The books I listed are just a drop in the bucket as to the vast body of work generated by Mormon scholars and apologists. 

My personal opinion is that your mission is far too short to spend all of your time trying to become an expert in refuting every picky little alleged historical discrepancy dredged up by critics of the Church. Furthermore, it is usually counterproductive to argue. Let me give you several examples. Once on my mission I encountered a born-again Christian who spent all his time reading the Bible and listening to religious programs. The man did not work and had no hobbies. He simply studied the Bible all day long. I engaged him in robust debate over the necessity of baptism as a prerequisite for salvation. I mastered this biblical expert with my brilliant arguments and defeated him hands down. He conceded the necessity of baptism and he personally took his family down to the river that night and baptized them. So much for victories based solely on logic instead of spiritual understanding!

On a separate occasion, a minister from another church confronted us about the mystery of the 14^th Article of Faith. The minister wanted to know why if the Articles of Faith came from a prophet of God, the church eliminated one. It turned out, the minister had it right. At one time there was a 14^th Article of Faith. The 14^th Article of Faith essentially declared our belief in the resurrection of the dead. As far as I know, we still believe in the resurrection of the dead. So the point is what?

Finally, I beat a Jehovah's Witness so bad in an argument he started crying and we had to leave him in that emotional state. As far as I know, the Jehovah's Witness didn’t join the Church. My accomplishment consisted of making someone miserable and resentful.

Actually the best way to counter anti-Mormon arguments is to structure your discussions around your testimony, the positive points of the gospel as set forth in the scriptures, and your discussions. Let me share with you what I consider the best way to approach anti-Mormon controversies.

1.       Set Standards of Proof.

First of all, if you want to prove a point you must first determine whether or not the point can be proved, and whether or not the means of proof are available. In philosophy this is known as the field of epistemology, or the study of how we acquire knowledge. Here I assume most of your confrontations with anti-Mormons involve people who believe in God and are some sort of Christian.[1]

The first point you should always address then is, Does God exist? Again our immediate hypothetical assumes that both participants in the discussion agree that God in fact exists. But the point is important to any further discussion of any religious topic because it involves the means and availability of proof concerning religious knowledge.

Is it important to us to know that God exists? Is it important to God that we know he exists? If our salvation depends on knowing that God exists, then it is important to us. If God cares about us, and our salvation depends on knowing God exists, then it is important to God that we know he exists. Yet, how is knowledge concerning the existence of God obtained?   

Some argue that God's existence can be established through pure logic, through scientific means, or through historical and archeological proof. Anselm used raw logic in his argument for the existence of God. This argument states that through simple verbal logic you can prove that God exists. In essence, pure reason tells us there must be that than which nothing greater exists. Therefore, God is that than which nothing greater can exist. While the argument makes logical sense, it says nothing about the existence of the personal God of the Old and New Testaments. The “that” than which nothing greater exists could be any cosmic force such as gravity, fusion, and so on. Carl Sagan believed God to be nothing more than the forces of nature that operated in the universe. 

This brings us to another critical point. It is important to know God, not merely that some force exists to which we attach the label God. Primitives fell to calling the forces of nature greater than themselves gods. Labeling powerful forces of nature as gods is a fruitless exercise if we truly believe in a personal God possessed of the power of salvation or even interested in advancing the welfare of mankind in any degree.

Next, St. Thomas Aquinas advanced his arguments for the existence of God, which were adapted from the philosophy of Aristotle and from scientific observation. His arguments for God’s existence are based on the order of the universe[2]  -- and the fact that everything has an ultimate cause. There are several modern versions of Aquinas’ proofs. However, the same problems emerge concerning Aquinas’ arguments as with Anselm’s proof. In other words, what is proved? Only that some prime mover, some ultimate cause, or some organizing force exists in the universe.

Finally, there are the weaker arguments for the proof of God through historical or archeological evidence. We certainly have the Bible and some historical and archeological evidence supporting some of the biblical events. However, historians and archeologists disagree as to the significance of evidence that correlates with biblical events. Certainly no consensus exists that history and archeology prove the Bible to be the word of God, or that God exists. Many skeptics argue that the available evidence disproves the Bible as accurate religious history.

None of these inductive logical proofs, or their modern variants, establishes the existence of a personal God, tell us anything about the nature of God, or God's will concerning us. Yet, our present scenario demands that we arrive at a knowledge of God and his requirements for salvation.

We eliminated raw inductive logic, scientific methodology, and historical or archeological evidence as stand alone methods for learning about God.[3]  What means, then, is left to acquire knowledge of the existence and nature of God? Only, one obvious method remains for the acquisition of religious knowledge, and that is direct communication from God to the person obtaining the knowledge. Certainly, God could simply come down in full power and impose empirical knowledge of His existence, nature, and character on every living creature. The fact that God never exercised the option of overwhelming empirical proof means that he elected some other method, or we go back to a failure of proof altogether.

Here is where the significance of your testimony comes to play in this discussion. This is why the importance of obtaining, strengthening, and bearing your own testimony is preeminent in missionary work. Individual testimony is your personal knowledge concerning the existence and nature of God acquired directly from God through the Holy Ghost. Spirit-to-spirit communication is the method of proof made available from God. Testimony is empirical evidence from God, pure knowledge, and the method of proof chosen by God to disclose religious truths.

Here, then, is the importance of the scripture in James 1:5 that led Joseph Smith to the sacred grove to obtain religious knowledge concerning the nature of God:

5. If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Similarly the simple injunction contained in Matthew 7:7:

7. Ask, and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you;

Jesus made plain the method of knowing God in Luke 10:22, when he said:

22. [a]nd no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.

In short, we gain knowledge of God, or religious knowledge in general, by asking God who then reveals the knowledge to us. In fact, personal revelation is the only method available to obtain religious knowledge about the existence of God, character of God, nature of God, the truth of the Bible, knowledge about the atonement of Christ, and the individual details of salvation. That is why you as a missionary ask investigators to obtain knowledge concerning the truth of the gospel by asking God for personal revelation. That is why you constantly refer investigators to Moroni 10:4-5. Other methods for ascertaining religious truth are inadequate.

In his book The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis tells the story of a group of theologians who met regularly to argue about the nature of God. After all of the theologians in the group died, an angel greeted them on the other side. The society of theologians resumed their arguments about the nature of God, but the angel interrupted them and said he would take them to meet God so that they could see what he is like in person. The theologians discussed the proposition for a bit, finally deciding they would rather argue about the nature of God than to find out what he was like for a certainty. 

As a missionary, you are in the position of the angel in C. S. Lewis' story as you try to get people to ask God himself whether he exists and what he is like. In other words, go to the source.

Now what does the whole of this first section have to do with confronting anti-Mormons? Simply this:  Debates concerning the truth of any religious proposition can only be resolved by a direct appeal to God through sincere study, sincere prayer, and ultimately personal revelation. In sum, you must go to the source. Appealing to God himself is the standard of proof and the only useful standard of proof in such discussions. There are mountains of books written with archeological, historical, linguistic and other evidence in support of the validity of the Book of Mormon. To the contrary, there are numerous books that purport to challenge the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. No one has the time or means to read them all. Yet, salvation should be available to all. Therefore, the means to obtain the religious knowledge essential for salvation must necessarily be accessible to all people, not just a handful of scholars who managed to read every argument on the subject.

The anti-Mormon forcefully acknowledges the importance of determining the truth of the Book of Mormon in the strongest terms possible by the vast effort put into attacking the book. If people thought learning the truth of the Book of Mormon were not important, they would leave it alone. Accordingly, why would God leave determination of the truthfulness of such things as the Book of Mormon to the endless task of comparing and debating archeological data, historical texts, and linguistic studies that all evolve from year to year. The same principles of ascertaining the truth apply to all religious issues be it the existence and nature of God, or the validity of the Book of Mormon. 

Here you must have faith in your own convictions and the sincerity of the individual investigating the Church. Ask your investigator to go to the source and sincerely ask God if the gospel is true. Why would God neglect to answer such an important question if the inquirer is sincere? An investigator may lack the desire, or sincerity to discover the truth, but that doesn’t alter the reality of the truth. One thing anti-Mormons fear more than anything else is a person sincerely reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. Anti-Mormons either do not trust God, or they do not trust their own position. If anti-Mormons trusted God and their own position, they would be the ones passing out copies of the Book of Mormon faster than the missionaries and asking people to pray about it.

2.    Start with Nature and Character of God.

Start any gospel discussion with the nature and character of God. This is why your missionary discussions usually start with Joseph Smith’s first vision or a direct discussion about the nature and character of God. Joseph Smith’s first vision fully revealed the nature and character of God. A proper understanding of God is critical to correct theology. If any religion gets the nature and character of God wrong, then nothing can be right about that religion’s theology thereafter. This is why most anti-Mormons prefer to begin discussions about the Church with some historically controversial detail like polygamy, the Danites, or character flaws of the prophet Joseph Smith. Anti-Mormons find a bug on a tree trunk and declare that the entire tree is a beetle instead of an oak. Anti-Mormons cannot talk about the tree itself without acknowledging that it is an oak, or look foolish calling it a beetle.

I once had a discussion with Sandra Tanner, the undisputed queen of anti-Mormons. Sandra Tanner and her husband Gerald published more anti-Mormon literature than all other anti-Mormons combined. I told Ms. Tanner I wanted to talk about the nature and character of God with her and she flat out refused to carry on the discussion at that level. However, before I left we got far enough into a discussion of pure religious principles that Sandra Tanner admitted she did not believe the Old Testament to be the word of God. That is why anti-Mormons do not like to discuss the principles of the gospel. Anti-Mormons always come up short when you compare true gospel principles as taught in the scriptures against their own personal beliefs. Therefore, anti-Mormons will always try to attack you with some fragment of Church history.

I also had a formal debate with a local radio evangelist, who was an anti-Mormon Baptist minister. We carried on the debate in front of his congregation on the nature and character of God. He ended the debate by tipping over a table and walking off. His own congregation came up me afterward and apologized for his behavior. Very simply, when confronted with any anti-Mormon message you must start at the beginning with the nature and character of God. That is where every intelligent discussion of religion should begin in any event.

The first vision taught that:

• There are three distinct personages in the Godhead – God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost;
• God is anthropomorphic (in the form of man);
• God is corporeal (has a physical body); and
• God reveals himself to man. 

To the contrary, most Christian sects following the Athanasian Creed and Westminster Confession of Faith that teach this:

• The three personages of the Godhead are one in substance and being;
• God is without form;
• God is incorporeal (has no physical body); and
• God is invisible to man.

Again, our knowledge concerning the nature and character of God comes from God himself. John1:1, 14 declare:

1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth. 

By any Christian standard, then, Jesus Christ, the Word, is God [4]. Jesus Christ then revealed the nature and character of God to us in his own person. As Jesus himself said in John 14:9:

9. [H]e that hath seen me has seen the Father....

What does the revelation of God through Jesus Christ teach about the nature and character of God as compared with Joseph Smith’s vision? God is anthropomorphic, in the form of man, and corporeal, or possessed of a physical body. Jesus had the physical body of a man. John1:14 says,

14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.... 

Even after his death and resurrection Jesus retained a physical body see Luke 24: 38:

38. Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.

God reveals himself to man. Multitudes saw Jesus during his life and after his death and resurrection. Accordingly, God is not invisible. 

As to the separateness of the three members of the Godhead, Jesus and his Father plainly demonstrated separate wills. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Luke 22:42 records Jesus as saying:

42. Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.

The Father departed entirely from Jesus during the Crucifixion. Mark 15:34 tells us this: 

15. [M]y God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Clearly, the revelation of the nature and character of God through the person of Jesus Christ confirms the truths about God that are restored through the prophet Joseph Smith [5]. Indeed, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only Christian church to accurately teach the nature and character of God as revealed through the person of Jesus Christ. Now you understand why anti-Mormons focus on historical minutia rather than core issues. 

3.    Always Examine the Premise of Any Argument.

There are a number of anti-Mormon arguments that start from a false premise that they ascribe to the teachings of the Church. For example: “If Joseph Smith is prophet of God, how come he dug for money while in the employ of Josiah Stoal [see: Joseph Smith History 1:56]. The implication is that a prophet of God would know whether there is money buried in the ground and would never take money from his employer for such a phony endeavor. The false premises built into this argument are that a prophet is perfect, never makes mistakes, and is always acting as a prophet every minute of the day. A casual reading of the Doctrine and Covenants would dispel all these false notions. In D&C 5:21, the Lord said to Joseph Smith:

And now I command you, my servant Joseph, to repent and walk more uprightly before me, and to yield to the persuasions of men no more.

Joseph Smith never claimed to be perfect or error free. Therefore, arguments that advance the premise that Joseph as a prophet could never sin or make a mistake in his life start with a false assumption. To determine the prophetic status of the prophet Joseph Smith one need only return to the Book of Mormon and ask God, the source of all religious knowledge, if it is true. Then ask God if Joseph Smith is a prophet. To discover if Joseph Smith is a prophet square his teachings about the nature of God with the teachings from God’s other prophets in the Bible.

A second and more current example of an anti-Mormon argument based on a false premise is the recent assertion by a geneticist who claimed he conducted a genetic survey of the native inhabitants of America and found no genetic link with Semitic people of the Middle East. The false premise here is that the Book of Mormon taught all people on the American continents came from the Book of Mormon migrations. The premise is inaccurate. The Book of Mormon allows for populations inhabiting the American continents when the Book of Mormon migrations arrived here. [see: John L. Sorenson. Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon pp. 49-50.]. The Book of Mormon does not exclude the possibility of other immigrations to the American continents, either by boat or through the Bering Straits. 

The title page of the Book of Mormon states that it is: "[t]he record of the people of Nephi," not a history of all the native American Indians. In fact, the Nephites, Lamanites, Jaredites, and Mulekites may have composed only a fraction of the inhabitants of the American continents and probably intermingled with other inhabitants. Consequently, a genetic study of a group of Native Americans that yielded no Semitic gene markers proved nothing except that the group studied did not come from Book of Mormon stock. Obviously the geneticist did not examine every Native American on both continents. To succeed in his argument, the geneticist required the false assumption that the Book of Mormon asserts all people on the American continents before Columbus came here via the Book of Mormon migrations.

Examples of anti-Mormons advancing their arguments on false premises are numerous. Therefore, always examine the premises and assumptions built into anti-Mormon arguments.

4.    Hold Anti-Mormons to the Same Standards to which they hold the Church.

A few examples illustrate the importance of holding critics of the Church to the same standards they utilize. Anti-Mormons argue that you cannot rely on the testimony of the three and eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon because they all constituted friends and relatives. Of course the same thing is true of the Bible. Only the disciples of Jesus wrote the Bible, and only they provided contemporary testimony to his divinity and miracles.

The standard used by anti-Mormons is that a prophet never makes a mistake or commits sin. Yet, look at the prophets of the Bible. Does the Christian world reject Jonah because he refused to do the Lord’s bidding and had to be chastised by the Lord? 

Some anti-Mormons claim that Joseph Smith lifted concepts from contemporary ideas to write the Book of Mormon [6]. The fact exists that many Christians in Joseph Smith’s day believed that tribes of Israelites migrated across the sea and also believed the American Indians descended from these migratory Israelites. It should come as no surprise that Christians with a Bible believed that tribes of scattered Israelites found their way to the American continents. A common biblical missionary scripture teaches the same, John 10:16:

16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice: and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

The basic fallacy in the anti-Mormon argument again comes from a false premise that if an idea precedes the known scriptural source, then the scriptural source copied the idea from the preceding source. Agnostics use the same argument in attacking the Bible. Agnostics argue that the code of Hammurabi preceded the Ten Commandments in the Bible, ergo the Bible copied the Ten Commandments from Hammurabi. Agnostics claim that the Sumerians had legends of a global flood before the account of Noah in the Bible, hence the Bible merely adopted Sumerian legends. The Phoenicians and Semites had traditions of sacrificing the king's eldest son for the sins of the people, which agnostics ascribe as the source for Jesus’ atoning sacrifice.

On this playing field the true gospel holds a distinct advantage over the Christian anti-Mormon, who cannot defend his own religious beliefs against the agnostic critic using the same premise anti-Mormons throw at the Church. Members of the Church know from the Books of Moses and Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price that God taught the complete gospel to Adam and all the Old Testament prophets from the beginning, Moses 6:62:

62. And now, behold I say unto you: this is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten who shall come in the meridian of time. 

Therefore, through the true teachings of the gospel we learn that the Code of Hammurabi, the global flood legends of the Sumerians, and the crude concepts of the atonement held by the Phoenicians and Semites actually constituted corrupt versions of the true gospel handed down from the days of Adam. In short, biblical gospel principles did not derive from pagan traditions; the pagan traditions actually derived from true gospel principles taught to the patriarchs and were corrupted through time.

The same concepts apply to arguments raised by anti-Mormons that parts of the restored gospel as taught by Joseph Smith are derivative. To the contrary, the gospel has existed from the foundation of the earth and man corrupted it during many apostasies. One would expect to find corrupt pieces of the gospel everywhere. As stated in Hebrews 4:2:

2. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them (people in ancient times): but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Conclusion.

Once more, your mission is too short to dwell on every specific ant-Mormon allegation. If you study the gospel in your scripture, you’ll find the answers you need to any important question. If you cannot find the answer to a religious question in the scriptures, chances are the question is merely a distraction without substance. Again:

• Always adhere to the proper standard of proof in religious discussions.
• Start with the nature and character of God first. If a person gets the nature and character of God wrong, then everything else thereafter will be wrong.
• Always examine the premises used in any discussion. A wrong premise will lead to a wrong result. Anti-Mormons are notorious for foisting the wrong premise on members of The Church who then feel obligated to defend them.
• Hold anti-Mormons to the same standards they’re holding you.

One time on my mission we tracted a single man and gave him a door approach on eternal families. It was the worst door approach I ever gave to anyone. Yet the man joined the Church with his girlfriend, another friend of his, plus that friend’s wife and children, and the friend’s sister. It proved to me that when the time, place and people are right, the Holy Ghost will intervene and conversion will take place despite the lack of a slick approach.

You are a great person son, and blessed with a strong testimony. Throughout your life you have been blessed with the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Stay close to the Spirit and you will obtain the knowledge you need to teach. If you have specific questions, please ask and I’ll try to answer them. But you will do your best work by just teaching the gospel straight up through your discussions and testimony.

Love,
             DAD 

 __________________________________________

1 Talking with Atheists involves similar principles but with some variation that involves a tangent probably not relevant to your present concerns.

2 One modern variant for this argument derives from the general law of thermodynamics that deals with entropy in the universe. Entropy states that systems in the universe left to themselves tend to shift toward chaos rather than order. Accordingly, evidence of any order in the universe proves the existence of an intelligence providing the structure i.e. God. This is God as the Watchmaker argument. Another modern variant involves the principles of probability i.e. what are the chances that a world as complex as ours evolved spontaneously from chaos.

3 I don't want to discount logic altogether. It is important that our belief in God not be wholly illogical. It would be impossible to believe in a God who simultaneously wanted our eternal salvation and eternal damnation. Our beliefs about the nature of God must be logically consistent or our minds would reject the subject completely.

4 Once more the gospel teaches that there are actually three separate and distinct members, but each being a member of the Godhead is God

5 Along a similar line anti-Mormons criticize the gospel for the aphorism: "As man is God once was, as God is, man may become." Yet Jesus as God was as man is. Jesus also commanded us: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:48. It is interesting to ask the Christian anti-Mormon if he believes God is a loving Father, and if he is all-powerful. Then ask if an all-powerful God can create children capable of becoming like him. If God can create children that are capable of becoming like him, and he is a loving Father, what reason would he have for creating inferior children? 

6 Even Gerald and Sandra Tanner rejected the Spaulding Manuscript theory.

_____________________________________________________

Meridian Magazine, 8/19/2013, http://ldsmag.com/article-1-774/

Show Me A Church

SHOW ME A CHURCH THAT…

On occasion members of the church have been asked by nonmembers something like, “Why would you ever want to be a Mormon, especially when there are so many other great, ‘normal’ Christian faiths available?”  I have given much thought to this question and how I would best respond to it. Over the past several years, through my personal reading, listening to church talks, conversations with other members and comments from church leaders, I have compiled and ever growing catalog of responses.

Another member* several years ago started a similar list and I have taken his concept and some of his content in formatting this effort. He began his response by answering the question in this manner – “Show me a church that has BLANK (fill in the blank) and I’d be willing to consider joining that church.”

So, in that vein of thought… here we go…  Show Me A Church That (SMACT)…

ú   SMACT has a living prophet that boldly and unequivocally claims continued and ongoing revelation from God in directing His work for the saving of souls and the redemption of mankind…

ú   SMACT has an active quorum of twelve Apostles spreading the message of Christ, His saving power, and His impending return to all corners of the world, all continents…

ú   SMACT has a traceable line of authority directly from the Savior Jesus Christ to every member of its leadership - from the highest levels of authority and down through entire church organization, to members of local congregations. (I can trace my individual priesthood authority directly to Jesus Christ). In that same train of thought, we claim to hold the same Priesthood that Jesus conferred upon His Apostles!  And with that Priesthood there have been thousands of miracles performed in His name – many of the same kinds of miracles that He performed: healing the sick, curing the lame, the deaf, the blind, even raising the dead!  These events are not isolated – on the contrary, they happen regularly in LDS congregations around the world. – no other Christian church can claim that…

ú   SMACT has continuous personal revelation not exclusive to leadership, but available to church every member at any level in any congregation. A church that teaches that every worthy member is authorized to receive personal revelation – whether it be concerning their individual needs, or as confirmation about any doctrine, any practice, any belief or any teaching from local or church-wide leader. We boldly and forthrightly claim continuous and ongoing revelation!  That God continues to communicate with mankind today, just as in ancient times. And personal revelation through the Holy Ghost is available to individuals as the Holy Ghost is conferred upon every member – men, women, and youth alike!  – no other Christian church claims, or even teaches that…

ú   SMACT has authority given to women at all levels of leadership, where women participate in counsels for planning and decision making for every congregation…

ú   SMACT has an answer (and is actively engaged in the work) for saving the dead that did not have opportunity to learn of Christ or accept His gospel in mortality; that knows what it means when the scripture says, “Why else are they baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all, why then are they baptized.” – no other Christian church can do that……

ú   SMACT can provide eye witness testimony about the true nature of God, our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. We can clearly describe the Nature of God and the Godhead (that God and His Son, Jesus Christ have physical bodies of flesh and bone); we can clearly describe their relationship to each other (Father and Son); and we can clearly describe our relationship with them! (we are God’s literal spirit children – he is our literal Heavenly Father and our relationship to Him is a Parent-Child relationship – Jesus is our Elder Brother and our Savior – we cannot get back to Heaven without Him, and through Him we can become joint heirs to the Kingdom of God!  – no other Christian church teaches these truths…

ú   SMACT can explain the true relationship between God the Father and his children (us)…

ú   SMACT believes and follows the Ten Commandments…

ú   SMACT has the proper authority (can trace it to Jesus Christ) to perform marriages for time and eternity…

ú   SMACT has the proper authority (can trace it to Jesus Christ) to seals families together forever…

ú   SMACT has additional volumes of scripture that enhance, add clarity, and perfectly support the Bible. Additional scripture that provides additional personal witnesses of the divinity of Jesus Christ (another Testament of Jesus Christ), of His resurrection, and of His desire to establish an organized Church in the New World as well as the Old. – no other Christian church teaches that…

ú   SMACT gives its members the ability to make eternal covenants and renew them frequently to prepare them to eventually meet their Maker, prepare for the resurrection and judgment day…

ú   SMACT builds temples (Houses of the Lord) throughout the world where the Savior can visit (a place to rest His head) and where members can find peace, answers to life’s questions, and commune with the Spirit of God…

ú   SMACT uses consecrated olive oil for annointing and the laying on of hands to give blessings of comfort and healing as the disciples of Christ did during His ministry…

ú   SMACT uses the same organizational structure as designed by Jesus Christ when organizing His Church during His ministry including prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, priests, evangelists, patriarchs, bishops, etc…

ú   SMACT follows the Savior’s prescribed manner for calling people to the ministry (“and no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron”). Aaron was called under the direction of a living prophet…

ú   SMACT offers clarity and scripturally-based understanding in answering the great life questions of Where did I come from?, Why am I here?, and Where am I going? We have a clear understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation. We can unequivocally answer the question, “What is the meaning of life?”  have a clear understanding of the pre-earth life, that we were participants in the great conflict there, the Great War in Heaven. We sided with the Savior and Michael, the Archangel and fought with them for Agency and the Plan of Salvation. The Lord’s side was victorious and those on the other side of the conflict were cast out. We have been working on the fulfillment of the Plan of Salvation since that time…

ú   SMACT promotes a code of health that has been proven advantageous to the quality and longevity of life over and again…

ú   SMACT that offers every worthy member a personal blessing, given by an ordained Patriarch who is called by a living prophet; a blessing that is transcribed and can be referred to over and over throughout the recipient’s lifetime; a blessing that offers direction, encouragement and comfort, gives advice and warnings, and identifies the lineage for the recipient from which of the twelve tribes of Israel he/she belongs…

ú   SMACT can clarify the wisdom and the need for both grace and works in the Savior’s work of redemption and salvation…

ú   SMACT believes that through the infinite and eternal atonement of Jesus Christ, 99.9999999% of the entire human race will be saved in a kingdom of glory in heaven and in a place of beauty beyond human comprehension…

ú   SMACT believes that children are innocent and not accountable for Adam’s or anyone else’s transgressions…

ú   SMACT claims without hesitation to be the latter-day version, the singular restoration of the Savior’s original church organization as established during His mortal ministry at the meridian of time… 

ú   SMACT claims without equivocation to have been given the authority from on high to act in the name of God and accomplish His work on earth…

ú   SMACT has documented and corroborating testimonies of angelic visitations from multiple heavenly beings giving instruction and passing on authority and keys of priesthood authority to run the church, including Moses, Peter, James, John, John the Baptist, Abraham, Adam, Noah, Enoch, Elijah, and others. We claim without reservation that a string of Heavenly Visitors have visited the earth to restore keys, authority, and other critical information that had been lost. There are multiple witnesses and written testimonies to most of these visitations. Have you ever heard of another Christian church claim such a thing?  I don’t believe there is one out there….

ú   SMACT sends out 10’s of thousands of missionaries to points all over the world – from the most modern metropolis to grass or mud or cardboard shelters – at the missionary’s own expense for 18 to 24 months. They go to every continent, to approximately 180 countries. They learn the native language of the country they go to. About 80,000 full-time active missionaries throughout the world right now (2015) actively giving community service and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ – no other Christian churches does that…

ú   SMACT teaches the doctrine of eternal families. When we marry, we marry for time and eternity – we believe that families are eternal and we perform marriages and ordinances with the authority of Jesus Christ to make them so!  Husbands and wives to each other and parents to children, children to parents, generation upon generation!  – Can you show me one single other Christian church that can do that… or even teaches it?

ú   SMACT is concerned about genealogy because they want to make sure that the saving ordinances are performed, by proxy, for those that did not have an opportunity to hear the Gospel message or accept the ordinances personally during their mortal lives. The LDS Church is involved in the largest genealogy effort going on in the world today! We do the family history research, and we do all the ordinance work for our ancestors by proxy allowing them the decision to accept or reject it – show me another Christian church that even thinks about this…

ú   SMACT believes in taking care of its members, whatever the age, whatever the activity. We have the inspired programs of HTG and VTG where every member is accounted for every few weeks. If there are needs, we find help and provide solutions. For every member!  – no other Christian church does that…

ú   SMACT that has an understanding of what happened in the Garden of Eden. That the choice that Adam and Eve made was part of the plan, and that our earth sojourn is a direct result of what happened in the Garden of Eden. And that we were, and are supportive of their decision, and we revere them. And that we are not born with sin because of what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Other Christian churches do not enjoy this wonderful knowledge…

ú   SMACT  that has a clear understanding of the importance of eternal principle of Free Agency and our responsibilities in how we are to use that heavenly gift appropriately so that we can align our lives in the way that God would want us to live them. The concept of Free Agency in often misunderstood by other churches…

ú   SMACT understands that children who die without baptism are innocent and covered by the Lord’s atonement, and they are automatic candidates for the Kingdom of God. Many other churches teach that these children will go to hell – a doctrine that is not found in scripture…

There is so much more… so much more!  Doctrine on things yet to come –  additional scripture yet to come forth; the Earth to be restored to it’s paradisiacal glory (as it was during the Garden of Eden); Heavenly Parents; that we are all literal spirit brothers and sisters; an unpaid ministry; that all men will be resurrected and receive glorified physical bodies in the next life; and on and on and on… Show me a church that believes and teaches these doctrines…

These are just some of the blessings of the restoration. The truths, authorities, priesthood keys, light and knowledge are all parts of the restoration. They are the things that have been lost through the events of the Apostasy after the deaths of the Savior and His Apostles. All of these things needed to be restored, and were, through the process of the Restoration, the re-opening of the heavens, and re-establishment of the Lord’s Church on the Earth again in latter days. All of these restored teachings and doctrines are found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Our non-member friends, neighbors, and work associates will determine our Christian / non-Christian status more by how we live and conduct our lives long before we will be so measured by our doctrines. Having the knowledge of restored Gospel truths, doctrines, and light help guide us to correctly navigate through mortality. How blessed we are to enjoy the blessings of the Restoration!

With the knowledge and understanding available to us because of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we have every possible reason to be the happiest people on Earth!

____________________________________________

Wm. Calvin Hughes | Lake Elsinore, CA |May 12, 2008

  

Patient People

THE SECRET OF SPECTACULARLY REMARKABLE RELATIONSHIPS

THE SECRET OF SPECTACULARLY REMARKABLE RELATIONSHIPS

Why is it such a difficult life lesson to learn the simple effort of innocent inquiry?

That the formula of asking sincere and empathetic questions

is the universal salve in preserving, protecting and building healthy, lasting relationships?

Sadly, the frequent and pedestrian path, the more common and hurtful course

is to jump to conclusions, make unsubstantiated accusations, insinuations or allegations

that are at best unrighteous judgments or at worst destructive adversarial devices.

We can practice developing the virtue of asking genuine questions

 in place of succumbing to the temptation of making rash assumptions.

As we improve, we learn ‘the better way’ and promote resolution and benevolence.

 In so doing, we will find more meaningful relationships,

greater peace and increased portions of joy in mortality.

Maybe the best advice came from the Savior, the Master of Relationships

when He counseled about ‘asking’. He taught,

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;

knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth;

and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

… what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil,

know how to give good gifts unto your children,

how much more shall your Father which is in heaven

give good things to them that ask him?”

Indeed, good gifts, the gifts of spectacularly remarkable relationships

will come to us as we are devoted to sincerely seek with heartfelt questions.

_________________________________

Wm. Calvin Hughes | August 6, 2005 | Lake Elsinore, CA

Little Offenses: Are They Worth It?

Little Offenses: Are They Worth It?

By Maurine Proctor · July 22, 2015

Meridian Magazine 

Once Scot and I were at a small social gathering when someone we considered a friend arrived. We greeted him warmly, but he did not respond in kind. Instead, he was stiff and wouldn’t speak to us, obviously leaving the room because we were there. He made it very clear that he not only didn’t want to engage with us, but that he pointedly tended to snub us altogether.

We went on conversing with others as if we didn’t notice, but our feelings were hurt. Though it was a small moment, we felt stabbed and wounded. At last when it was time to leave and we were in the car alone, we were bursting with things to say to each other that we had held back for an hour.

“Did you see that?” we asked. “Was that cold shoulder specifically pointed at us?” We both had seen it.

We both felt it. Our first question was, “What have we done to make this person mad at us?” Then finding nothing that we could think of, our question turned to an angry statement, fueled by a sense of injustice. “We have done nothing to make this person mad at us.”

Hurt turned to dismay and then to a sense of having been rebuked for no reason. We really hadn’t deserved this treatment, and we began to express our pain in that safe place that is a marriage.

Then a very important thing happened that I have remembered ever since. We said, “Let’s stop this. Let’s complain no more about this—even to each other. Let’s not repeat the story to horribilize this other person and somehow comfort ourselves. This ends here.”

And so we did. We changed the topic for our ride home—and we never thought about that moment and that offense again. We decided to frankly forgive that person and not give that offense power in our lives.

What I remember most about that evening is how beautiful the stars were as we drove home.

Giving an Offense Air Time

Small tiffs and little offenses are part of life. We are like those Dodge’em rides at amusement parks— cars that careen a bit and occasionally bump into each other. How can I offend thee? Let me count the ways.

Hardly anyone gives us as much deferential treatment as we wish they did. Often our best efforts go unnoticed. People misread our motives. They think we are mad when we are only depressed. People leave us out of conversations and lunch gatherings. Some people are proud and they want to make us feel small. We don’t like the way people think or the way they do things.

If this is true with friends and strangers, how much more does it happen in this tight, little laboratory of life called a family? With the constant buffeting against each other through the winds of life, offenses come—large and small. We can be irritated with our place in the family, irritated about who makes decisions and what they are, irritated by the tone someone takes toward us.

Ironically, we can find ourselves offended because someone else is always so easily offended. Oh, how uncomfortable it is to be constantly walking on egg shells around each other, worried that someone will take offense.

Isn’t it so difficult to be constantly weighing your words, wondering what might offend someone else?

To be continually self-conscious in case you stumble into a land mine?

The challenge in a family is that we fall into patterns with each other and we find we are not dealing with one offense, but who we see as repeat offenders whose tendencies seem particularly designed to bother us.

Yet here is a fundamental truth. Offenses grow and shrink in our minds depending on how much air time we give them. They are like poison ivy. Give it enough food, sunshine and water, and it can grow up to be quite a healthy toxin.

Because some things sting us, it is easy to replay them in our minds. They seem to have their own emotional power that needs to be played out. Again and again an offense can roll around and we can find we develop quite a healthy case against the offender. Somehow, emotionally, it just seems like we have to play it out until that sting goes away.

Often, that stung emotion, too, seems like it will be salved if we tell the story to someone else or if we explode at the offender himself. Ah, now I feel better. That building pressure inside of me has been relieved.

That pressure is worse if somehow the offense seems unjust. We didn’t deserve the treatment we got.

We should have had better. That other person is just small, uncaring, and neglectful of our feelings and needs.

Of course, the problem with these strident, inner and outer dialogues is that instead of relieving our feelings, they are fueled. The more we replay our narrative about how badly we have been treated, the more it grows.

Here’s the danger. We have given the offense a power it should not have had or ever deserved. We have let it live instead of relegated it to the vast library of long-term storage in our heads where it can die a deserved death.

That night I described earlier when my husband and I were offended, was quickly relegated to its proper spot. We made a mental effort to let it go and give it its proper proportion in our lives. It lost its power to hurt us and also gave us the strength not to demonize our friend. We made a decision and that decision put a lid on what could have been nursed into a little escalating monster. (Maybe he doesn’t like us. Maybe nobody likes us. Maybe we are not likeable. Or maybe he is not likeable and we want nothing to do with him.)

Taking over our Personality

The problem with letting offenses become very big to us is that we are designed to be able to think about only one thing at a time. Our emotions follow our thoughts. It is very difficult to be simultaneously loving and offended, spiritual and angry. Dwell on how offended you are and the Spirit leaves—even when you have been truly offended.

We choose what we think about. We choose where our mind dwells and the thoughts it engages.

We become what we think about, and if we live with a constant complaint because someone or something offends us, we shrink. If we could imagine it visually, it is as if the substance of ourselves is disappearing, intellect and higher emotions fading away, heart slowing down and what is left is a complaint. We have been reduced to a whine. We have been offended and hurt, and there we can be stuck.

You can feel when people have chips on their shoulders. You are not drawn to those who live their lives as if they have been particularly put upon.

What’s worse is being offended can become a habit. “I am always left out.” “No one considers my feelings.” “I never got my proper due in life.”

You don’t have to look very hard for offense to find it. It’s one of life’s constants. Offense is available.

It’s free. It’s close as the people you live with. And frankly, it can become the filter through which you view a relationship or another person or an institution. I was offended. I am offended. I will be offended tomorrow.

This is not a blessed state to live in. It causes you pain. It is heavy. It is destructive to families and relationships.

I am not speaking here of heavy offenses, which would be the subject of a different article, but the small irritants and tiffs of everyday life. We do not have to draw them with us like cloak.

The Lord reminds us, “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” (D&C 64:10). He asks us this because we are the contracted and anguished when we won’t forgive. This is as true for the tiffs and little offenses as it is for the big ones. You don’t need to be brought down by a big thing, when a little thing will do.

Sometimes we hold onto grudges thinking that somehow we are making the other person who offended us pay. In reality, it is only ourselves who pay. A friend of mine said that a priesthood leader had offended him, “So I didn’t go the temple for ten years. I guess that showed him.”

How Do We Do Better?

Often when people offend us, it is because they have wittingly—or unwittingly—stumbled on an area where we are insecure. The problem is really not the offense that was given—which we can’t control— but the state of our soul—which we can do something about.

·          - We can decide that everyone’s job in life is not to validate our worth or say what we hope they will say to us.

·         - We can understand that everyone will not agree with even our dearest point of view.

·         - We can know that people don’t automatically understand where we are sensitive and that they can’t read our minds.

·         - We can be wary of our own thin skin.

·         - We can know that everyone has their own life story that is dramatic and compelling and their response to us may not be about us. In fact, it is probably rarely about us.

·         - We can forgive and then forgive again, and then forgive again.

·         - Ultimately, we can take our sorrows to the Lord, let him heal us and make us whole for another rough and tumble day in mortality.

·         With the Lord’s help, we can truly move to the point where we learn to be slow to take offense.

What If?

Our granddaughter, Madison, gave us a great suggestion. One night she was in the car with us when a driver came speeding through a red light, nearly hitting us. Of course our response was immediate and emotional because we were frightened. I think I gently suggested, “You idiot!”

She said her teacher had taught her that when someone does something you don’t like, always give them three “what if’s.” She changed the mood immediately with her sunny idea. We went on and on. “What if the driver’s wife is in labor and she is just delivering the baby?” “What if he has lost his brakes?” “What if his glasses fell off and he couldn’t see the light?” We went on and on, just laughing.

I am not suggesting here that we ignore things that need to be addressed, but that we go a little easy on other mortals who are as flawed as we are and don’t always say and do things perfectly. We take into account their frantic lives and their hidden pains and their lost dreams and insecurities. And we do that, not just for them, but for ourselves, who don’t need to carry one more burden than we already do.

It is not worth carrying a pain we could let go of with the Lord’s help. It’s not impossible to make a decision—especially in the small things—to just let go of offense

https://ldsmag.com/spiffs­and­little­offenses­are­they­worth­it/