Melian: And how do you reconcile your view with the example of Christ who ate with sinners, consorted with known prostitutes, and invited reviled tax collectors to be part of His closest friends?
Me: HUH? I am not advocating a “holy huddle” mentality. Christ ate with what the Pharisees considered “sinners”, when in reality they were either followers or interested in Jesus’ message, it is called EVANGELISM. I have been chastised by people (ironically often LDS) because I have worked/ministered to the “less desirable” of society (homeless, prisoners, etc).
And there is a HUGE difference between “eating with sinners” and wishing them “God Speed” or “God Bless you”. I have the LDS missionaries over for dinner, but there are ground rules, since they are not my brothers in Christ, they are not allowed to pray in my house, nor are they allowed to teach. I feed them dinner, mostly to have a captive audience. My caution was against you wishing an Non-Christian “God Bless You”. That goes against scripture.
Melian: Notice in your passage that it says one must ABIDE in the doctrine of Christ. That implies actively living out the Gospel daily in your life.
Me: We must abide in Christ, but you have it backwards. We don’t actively live out our faith IN ORDER to “abide in Christ”. We actively live out our faith BECAUSE we “abide in Christ”. There is a difference there.
Melian:We can rebuke (reprove sharply) when absolutely necessary, we can admonish (express warning or disapproval, especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner), or we can condemn.
Due to the sheer number of Scripture quotes I can find about loving our neighbor and treating him with dignity and respect, and those about avoiding the temptation to feel we are better than others, I feel that indicates Christ would rather we admonish.
Me: I agree, and I am the last person to say “I am better than you”. I am actually more in agreement with Paul “the Chiefest of sinners”. But I am covered by the precious blood of Christ, and my sins are forgiven, past present and future. That does not give me license to sin or arrogance, the knowledge instead brings me to my knees before the Lord of Lords and King of Kings in gratitude and humility.
One persons “admonition” or reproof, is another’s condemnation. I don’t believe in a watered down version of the Gospel or a “can’t we all just get along”. Lives are at stake.
I seriously, VERY seriously, weep when one of my older LDS friends die believing that Joseph Smith and his false gospel will get them to Heaven, There are no ‘second chances’ after this life and there is no way that the LDS church teaches a saving faith in Jesus Christ. I know, I was one for many years. And God saved me out of it, that is exactly why I am so passionate about this.
Time is short and there are many, many lost souls out there.
“I seriously, VERY seriously, weep when one of my older LDS friends die believing that Joseph Smith and his false gospel will get them to Heaven, There are no ‘second chances’ after this life and there is no way that the LDS church teaches a saving faith in Jesus Christ. I know, I was one for many years. And God saved me out of it, that is exactly why I am so passionate about this.”
I see that, reaganut, and I respect your zeal and fervor. You and other ex-Mormons would probably be the best people to reach out to other LDS. Since I have far less experience dealing with Mormons than you do, I would give your opinion about evangelizing them more weight than mine. However, I still feel it’s very important to make sure we really are doing God’s work in the way he wants us to. I would be interested in a study of the techniques that work best with Mormons.