The Gospel According to Jeffrey

A couple of days ago, I posted a response to Pastor Wil’s Top Ten Questions for “Mormons”. As long-time readers know, I have blogged about dissenting opinions in the past. What makes this time different is that the dissenting author has actually seen fit to respond. Pastor Wil, if you’re reading, I greatly appreciate this courtesy. Much as I am apparently “the only member of the [C]hurch [of Jesus Christ] who has answered all the questions,” so you, Pastor Wil, are perhaps the only non–Latter-day Saint who has responded to a relevant blog post. You thus have my gratitude, as well. Now, normally when someone comments on my blog and I need to respond, I will do so in the same venue as the initial response, i.e. in the comments section. The problem with that method, however, is that it becomes quite unwieldy when a response requires more than a paragraph or two. In this case, I feel that Pastor Wil’s comment does indeed necessitate a more lengthy response, so I hope my other readers wi...

For the last few weeks, a man who goes by the name of “PastorWil” has been tweeting about the Church of Jesus Christ and so-called “Mormonism.” Today, he tweeted a link to a recent blog post entitled My Top Ten Questions For Mormons . As a so-called “Mormon” myself, I will endeavor to respond to each of his top ten questions. Here we go! :-) 1. Do you believe the Bible has been corrupted? Of course I do. I suspect you do, too. There are literally thousands of Bible translations. No two are exactly alike, and they often contradict each other. Do you believe that the Inspired Version of the Bible (used by the Community of Christ) and the New World Translation (used by Jehovah’s Witnesses) are both 100% accurate? If not, then you, too, believe that the Bible has been corrupted. 2. If the Bible is corrupted, then why does the LDS church still use the King James and not the Joseph Smith Translation? This is actually a trick question. The Church does use the Joseph Smith Translation...

(Coming in late? Start from the beginning !) “[M]eddle not with any man for his religion … permit every man to enjoy his religion unmolested” (President Joseph Smith, Jr., Times and Seasons, 15 Aug 1844). By now, Keith’s and my parents had each figured out that we were planning to become “Mormons,” which sent them running to their respective ministers—who, by a strange coincidence, were the same person. (Both our families were less active in the same church, but since neither of us was there regularly, our acquaintance was in no way connected to our membership therein.) Like many Protestant sects, the primary draw to my parents’ church is the pastor who heads it. At the time, this was Pastor Andy , a truly amazing man of God whom I continue to greatly respect. Andy was an old friend of my grandfather’s, so my parents particularly trusted him. It was therefore particularly shocking to them when, upon telling him that their son was about to become a “Mormon,” he responded with somet...

(Coming in late? Start from the beginning !) “Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path” (Psalm 27:11). The next morning, we got up in plenty of time to make the 25-minute drive to Church. Keith picked me up at about 9:15 and we headed out to the Fardale Ward building , where Church would begin at 10:00 AM. Unfortunately, the missionaries’ directions were horrendous. We did eventually find the Church hidden amongst some trees, down a side road, and wandered into the chapel at about 10:35. The missionaries had just about given up on us, but totally lit up when we walked in the door. After Sacrament Meeting, the missionaries apologized profusely and introduced us to a few people, including the bishop and the priests quorum advisor (who was probably also the Young Men’s President, but I don’t know for sure). We also ran into Mr. Bennett, who had been my homeroom teacher and Keith’s math teacher, the preceding school year. We hadn’t had any idea he was a member of the Chur...