Let me begin with this disclaimer. I have thoroughly researched the life of Joseph Smith and consider him and his Book of Mormon a fraud. But as evangelicals, our attitude towards other churches that we deem heretical has serious consequences for the quality of our grasp of God's grace. Consider the millions of Mormon seekers who have read Moroni 10:4 in the Book of Mormon, then prayed fervently with a open heart, and received the great peace of an inner assurance that the Book of Mormon is true:
" And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."
Do we evangelicals not urge seekers to pray a similar prayer about the Gospel and the truth of Scripture? How can we without prejudice insist that the inner witness of the Gospel seeker is reliable in a way that inner witness of the Mormon seeker is not? Of course, we can dismiss their inner assurance as demonic deception. But cults might dismiss our inner assurance in the same way. So should we conclude that this sort of prayer request for truth confirmation is simply a poor basis for faith? What do you think?
This thread discusses a series of events involving myself, other evangelicals, Catholics, and Mormons, and I think readers might find it interesting to see how they react to these events.
(1) A few years ago, when I was still a Methodist pastor, the local Mormon bishop came to my office in tears. He said there were rumors flying that our church bell choir had performed at his Mormon church (within eyesight of our parking lot). The rumor was false, but Christians from other churches were attacking our spirituality for agreeing to perform in a Mormon church. The Mormon bishop apologized for the false slander. As he was turning to leave, this is what I said to him: "OK, so our bell choir didn't perform in your church. But if you want it to perform, they have my blessing to do so, and if other Christians want to condemn us for allowing this, I will wear their condemnation as a badge of honor. We simply must learn to disagree agreeably."
How would you have reacted to the bishop? Stay tuned for the chain of events that followed.
