As I mentioned, I have been dialoguing with a very nice young Mormon lady from Atlanta. I have decided to start blogging about our continued conversation, with the hopes of encouraging Christians, and showing Mormons the True God of the Bible. As you have noticed already, I have "borrowed" the CSI: Miami theme to chronicle this dialogue. If you can follow my logic, I will entitle this first "episode," LDSI: atlanta, Episode 1, Chapter 1, Scene 1. In order to hide this young lady's identity, I will simply call her "Josephine." Again, if you have any questions at all, please email me at luke@defendthefaith.org. This is her initial email to me, and my first response. And just for the record, I will not edit any of the conversation, unless there is something vulgar. There will be much more to come................
So you are against Catholics even though you accept the "trinity" which was created by them? This concept did not originate within the Bible....
Josephine,
Just curious, but have you spoken with Jeff Durbin yet? I know he was expecting a phone call from you. Also, I saw some of the comments on your page from some Christians who appeared to be tasteless and hateful. I apologize for them on behalf of other Christians. Rest assured you will not receive that sort of spirit from Apologia Christian Ministries.
One more thing before I respond to your comment, you will notice that I have blocked all comments on my page, not because you, but because it is Apologia policy that we do so. I thought I had done that already, but obviously forgot to. That being said, I found nothing offensive with your comment, but as Jeff has already explained, we will have to communicate either through private messages or phone calls.
Now, in response to your comment, it is true that Christians believe in the same triune Godhead as Catholics, different from the God(s) of Mormonism. However, we disagree with Catholicism in that they teach a system of faith plus works for salvation, much like the LDS Church does. The problem I have with your comment, is that Catholics absolutely did not start the "Trinity" doctrine, and is has in fact absolutely been around since the time of Christ. I would strongly encourage you to look into the history of the church through sources not from the LDS Church. Unfortunately, what you are being told about the doctrine of the "Trinity," is full of half truths and lies. I saw your comment on your page about the Catholic who couldn't fully describe the "Trinity." Frankly it doesn't really matter if he could or couldn't, because he did not come up with the idea. Also, I'm sure you will want to bring up the Council of Nicea, which is fine. I know you are taught that in AD 325, Christians came up with the "Trinity" at the Council of Nicea, when in fact that is not at all the case (again, you should really look into this). The Christians at that council gathered to define what was already being taught about the relationship of God and Jesus, and to destroy a false view of God, being taught by Arius, much like what is being taught by Mormons, that is that Jesus was not God in the flesh, but a created being. If you dig deep enough, you will also find historical proof of many early church fathers teaching on the Triune Godhead. You will even be able to find early Non-Christian historians talking about the early church fathers preaching a Triune God.
I'm sure you will want to tell me that the word "Trinity" is not in the Bible, which is also fine. The word "Bible" is also not in the Bible, and I could also say the same for many LDS doctrines, but it really doesn't matter to the legitimacy of the Doctrine. Besides, there are plenty of Scriptural references that back up the Triune Godhead (i.e., John 1:1, John 1:14, John 8:24, John 8:58, Colossians 2:9, just to name a few).
You also might find this interesting, because I am sure you are not taught this either, but if you search hard enough you will learn that when Joseph Smith Jr. started the LDS church, he also believed in a Triune God. He only changed his mind later and began teaching something different.
Please take the time to really research the point I have brought up and not just dismiss them as "Anti-Mormon," because that is what you are told to do. I would love to dialogue more about this.
Sincerely,
Luke Pierson
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