The American Spectator

br> — James Bailey /p>

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.

If one is a little skittish about actually speaking to a live Mormon, check out what we publish. When you get a little time (days, actually!) check out mormon.org (what we believe), lds.org (virtually everything we teach and how we teach it, including every conference address by a general authority over the last forty years or so), and providentliving.org, and follow the links. It’s all there. I’m not aware of ANY other church that is so completely open about its beliefs.

p>However — and this is the big one that most of our detractors miss — unless a person is honest, sincere, and receptive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, none of this published information is likely to help much. So I guess that is probably the one huge distinguishing mark of those who recognize and join the Savior’s own true church: they act on the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Their hearts and their lives are changed, and they no longer have any desire to trash anyone else’s beliefs — only to add more to what they already have. br> — Winfred Kennedy br> Campobello, South Carolina /p> p> If everyone is so concerned about Mitt’s membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, why are they not equally concerned with Harry Reid’s membership? Or is religion only objectionable if the believer is a Republican?