The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Souls and Rolls

11.27.07 @ 12:01AM

MANY ARE CALLED
Re: Paul Chesser's It's About Souls, Not Rolls:

Take your defense of anti-Mormons and change the targets to Muslims or Jews. Your words would scream bigotry, and you and those you defend would be marked as hateful racists. And yes, Muslims do convert people. The only major difference is neither upholds Christ as the Son of God who was sacrificed for our sins, Mormons do.

It wasn't that long ago that the ancestors of those you speak of were claiming the same rights of bigotry against a different type of fellow Christian. They claimed that as a right of conscience they could act bigoted against Catholics. Catholics, the people who actually solidified, set in stone, and promulgated around the world the very doctrine these "Christians" are defending. I guess bigots can have it both ways.

There is a fine line between protecting the souls of a congregation and protecting the revenue the preacher lives off of. You have come very close to noticing how badly that line gets crossed. If you had truly looked closer, you would have seen that lies and half truths and smears are used to promote bigotry, and the bigotry is what keeps the fold from listening, and keeps the fold from straying.

Since when has it become Christian to be bigoted? Can you find for me where Christ taught "blessed are the bigoted for they shall inherit heaven"? I keep forgetting about that commandment to love your neighbor as yourself, except of course for Mormons, hate them all you want. At least we have gotten past the point where all the Ten Commandments could be broken in the fight against Mormons. If we could just get past the part that says it is okay to lie against Mormons.

All this over a little difference. Mormons believe in God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as a unified Godhead. Three distinct beings unified in purpose, the second two serving the first. When Christ was baptized or Stephen stoned, God hadn't split Himself into two or three parts, nor was it an illusion. When Christ complained about God forsaking Him on the cross, it wasn't some weirdness of God somehow forsaking Himself, but that Christ had truly been left to overcome sin and death on His own. No, this isn't the doctrine as voted upon in the Counsel of Nicaea. It is good though to see that the old Creed is still serving its purpose to include those who profess it and exclude those who do not.

But please tell me. If this part of the Catholic Church is right, why isn't the rest of it right? Or if the Catholic Church has strayed, would we all be required to return to it if it repents? Just who gets to decide which precepts and teachings we are allowed to Protest about in forming new Christian Churches, and which are forbidden taboos? If the Catholic Church once had authority straight from God, and has lost it, how would we ever get it back? Wouldn't it be presumptuous for man to take it upon himself?

I will stop this line of logic. Follow it yourself if you aren't afraid to convert. I would be happy just to find more Christians teaching each other to be more like Christ. But I will let you in on another little ugly secret. It is not just Mormons and Catholics upon whom this bigotry is focused. I once had a Baptist roommate who showed me a catalog where he could buy pamphlets attacking every other Christian religion. I still wonder if the company that produced this atrocity has other versions where they might erase say Church of Christ, enter Baptist in its place and sell it to even more people.

The competition for souls out there is fierce. Unfortunately some apparently believe that it is a no-holds barred, anything goes type of competition. They need to be reminded that behaving that way puts their souls in jeopardy.

Please stop supporting unconscionable "acts of conscience."
-- James Bailey

A fair and reasonable article -- thanks.

Dr. Land says that "There are now more Mormons that used to be Southern Baptist than any other denomination." Probably true, but I'm pretty sure Dr. Land doesn't have any real facts to back it up -- just a good guess, presented as a fact. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not keep such statistics -- don't know, don't care. Where else could accurate figures come from? Do Mormon converts report back to their former preacher (I did), and the preacher calls in the number to Dr. Land? Do those who were formerly affiliated with, say, Orthodox Judaism somehow get that information back to Dr. Land?

Hey, this would make an interesting statistic: How many Mormons are poached by the Southern Baptists? (Hint: it's a pretty tiny number.) (Another hint: those few ex-Mormon "trophies" are probably not big contributors to the general spirituality and happiness of their new church.)

A former Southern Baptist myself (and I had no complaints about that religion, by the way), I remember reading this same concern about 30 years ago in an editorial in the Baptist Courier. It stated that the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc., had people move around among the various sects, and everything balanced out pretty well. The big concern was that when someone joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, they dropped out of that loop and were permanently lost from the pool. An accurate observation.

Another quote attributed to Dr. Land: "As a consequence, Southern Baptists and other evangelicals have taught their people what Mormons believe and why it's beyond the boundaries of the Christian faith, to inoculate them against those Mormon missionaries." Now how in the Sam Hill is Dr. Land qualified to teach anybody what Mormons believe? If he knew, he'd probably be a Mormon himself. Sheesh. To give out supposedly authoritative information on another religion is just plain dishonest. If I want to know something about what the Free Will Baptists believe, I go find me a happy, faithful, practicing FW Baptist and ask him. Or better yet, his preacher. I certainly don't ask my Mormon bishop about some other religion and expect to get an accurate and complete response. If I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with my truck, I don't ask my plumber, for crying out loud.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Harry Reid, Business, Sports, Religion, Law, Iraq, Oil