Posted on 12/04/2021 9:08:25 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
Dallas Jenkins, son of “Left Behind” author Jerry Jenkins, and Director of the smash-hit TV show The Chosen appeared on a Mormon podcast LDS Living (Latter Day Saint Living) where he offered up why Mormons and are saved and why he considers the many Mormon folks to work on his show to be believers.
Morgan Jones 1 Well, I am so excited about this. I am honestly such a big fan of “The Chosen,” so this is a treat for me. And I’ll be honest with you, I introduced a good number of people to your show because I love it so much, and I asked several of those people for their thoughts on questions that would be good to ask you. So this is really like a group effort in coming up with these questions for you. But first of all, I just want to establish right off the bat, Dallas, you are not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which the majority of our audience are members of the Church. I have been told that you are a fierce defender of the Latter-day Saint belief in Jesus Christ, and that is something that honestly, on behalf of all of us, I just want to say thank you for that. But why is it that you are a defender of our belief in Jesus Christ?
Dallas Jenkins ; Great, so you’re starting off right out of the gate with that one. Well, it’s a tough question. I am happy to answer that and I just say that because I recently have gotten a little bit in trouble in certain circles because I was on another LDS podcast, and I said that LDS and evangelicals love the same Jesus. I got some heat from people who suddenly didn’t want to watch the show anymore because of that. Apparently it’s a controversial statement, which I guess I would have known that a few years ago, but now that I’ve been working with my LDS brothers and sisters over the last couple of years and gotten to know them so well, I’ve learned quite a bit. I come from a strong evangelical background, and I want to say this, and I’ve said this in a few conversations with LDS people, that there are reasons why I’m an evangelical and not LDS. I do have things theologically that I disagree with or things that even just in kind of practice that aren’t quite my speed in the LDS faith. However, one thing that is unabashedly true and unarguably true is that in getting to know some of my LDS friends here on this, especially through “The Chosen,” you’re passionate about Jesus Christ, and it’s Jesus of Nazareth. When I hear people say, “it’s a different Jesus”—and I’ve heard that, by the way, from both… I don’t know what term, I know you guys don’t use the term Mormon anymore, but it’s too long for me to try to say…
Jenkins goes on to explain how if a man describes a third party as being 6’3 tall and someone else says ‘no, he’s 5’10’ but otherwise the rest of their shared knowledge of that friend is agreed upon, then whether or not a few details are off, it’s still the same person that is being referenced and understood. He says in the same way, Mormons and Christians may have a few different ideas about the biblical Jesus, with some of the details being off, but it’s still the same Jesus, and therefore he considers them his brothers and sisters in the Lord and will die on that hill. He concludes:
So even if you are listening to this right now as an evangelical and are horrified to hear me say some of these things, consider that even if you disagree, even if you think that, “No, it’s two different Jesus’s, and they worship two different Saviors, and what you’re saying is wrong.” Fine, believe what you will. I’m not gonna have these arguments with you…I don’t like it when my friends get attacked. So that’s why I tend to be pretty defensive of my friends, even if not always defensive of the theology on which we sometimes disagree...I don’t really care because I can’t be cancelled unless I cancel myself. So I’m totally fine with it. But I’m happy to say, “Yeah, we disagree on some things, but I’m going to die on the hill of, we love the same Jesus, and we want the same Jesus known to the world.”
For a brief overview of the Mormon views on Jesus and other things, they believe that Jesus was once a man who became exalted and turned into a God after doing many good deeds. ‘God the Father’ himself was also once a man on another planet, but because he likewise was such a good Mormon, he was granted the right to become a God over this earth. They believe that they too can become capital ‘G’ Gods of their own planet one day, and in fact, hold that there are millions of Gods. For them, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all and individual separate Gods, and they all have human bodies of flesh- they are not Spirits.
Mormons categorically deny the idea of salvation by grace alone and believe Jesus and Lucifer are spirit brothers and there was nothing miraculous about Jesus’ birth. They believe the scriptures we have are all corrupted and that’s why they have the new revelation of Joseph Smith
“God won’t judge by a Bell curve of humanity...”
Our pastor preached about that awhile ago. 100%!!! That is what is required by God. This isn’t high-school and grading on the curve... 100%!! Every test. Every quiz. Every worksheet!!
Visiting Mormon friends, driving into their small town with the brand new temple lit up at night. It was amazing, beautiful. I pulled over to admire it with the kids.
“That is just amazing! Look at the spires - the bright white stone against the dark sky. The green grass in this desert! So beautiful!
But kids - while we love our Mormon friends, do not be deceived. This is what Satan does. Tells a lie that makes it seem wonderful, beautiful. An oasis in the desert. A lie mixed with some truths. And in the case of our friends - so many positive things.”
It was funny, the mother of our friend and where we were visiting asked me if I would like some coffee. I laughed, thinking she was joking.
“Oh no! I have coffee here for my non-Mormon friends. I was told by the Bishop to get rid of it. But I told him that I would rather go to hell than be a poor hostess to my friends and neighbors!”
She made me coffee every morning!
An aside. In a nearby city to me they had the brand-new temple open for outside visitors to show it off to non-Mormons. I didn’t go, but for several days people could go in to admire it.
After the open house they took another several weeks to replace the pews, carpeting, repainted, etc. so that their temple would not have been defiled by infidels.
The “rock in the hat” went from locating treasure to obtaining the “Word of God”.
From the interwebs (and a pro-Mormon site):
David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses, described Smith’s method of translation: “Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine.
A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English.
Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear.
Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.” David Whitmer, Address to All Believers in Christ Part 1 (1886)
Same thing for Reformed Christianity… but Mormons are morally more pleasant to be around. Sigh.
“You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.”
― L. Ron Hubbard
Joseph Smith probably thought the same thing. “You don't get rich looking into a hat to find buried treasure. If you want to get rich you look into a hat and start a religion.” Well, and that multiple wives thing.
EVL!!! Evangalist Lives Matter!!!
If in your opinion only EVL matter to God ... than maybe you should add an ‘I’ between the V and the L.
I personally refuse to Hi-Jack God’s Judgement about who is acceptable to him or not. I think in doing so ... you encourage God’s wrath.
Mathew 7: (1) Judge not, that ye be not judged. (2)2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. (3) And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? .... (5) Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
Joseph Smith didn’t get rich ... in-fact he and many of his followers were murdered for his/their beliefs.
Are you in favor of persecuting Christians who believe differently than you do?
All of us have imperfect understandings of God and Christ. We all are in need of additional wisdom and knowledge from God.
Perhaps we should focus on our own shortcomings ... than our neighbors who profess Christ differently.
Well said.
The same holds true for any denomination.
If anyone believes a church will save them, they are sadly mistaken. Jesus Christ alone provides salvation.
When it comes down to it, every pastor, priest, prophet, etc. is a flawed human being. Why should we give credence to any of them?
I'm a huge fan of "The Chosen." Do I believe everything it depicts? Absolutely not. Dallas Jenkins does not speak for me, but he speaks to me through his wonderful work of art.
The author of this article ("Staff Writer") is not an expert on Mormonism or "the Chosen." I don't know what he/she is trying to prove with this rant. The effect is to stir up trouble where there doesn't need to be any.
If you're on the fence about "The Chosen," go see it--or at least an episode or two. It's family-friendly. Then, make up your own mind as to whether or not it's worth watching.
Here's another perspective on the series: Catholic Priests React to "The Chosen."
And yet another: Episode 4 of Season 2, Messianic Reaction to The Chosen
Always research what you are supporting / watching before jumping on any bandwagons.
Amen, brother. This article from Protestia does an extremely poor job of that.
I’ve never heard of the smash-hit TV show “The Chosen,” and God will save members of the Latter-Day Saints church, or members of my church, according to His will, not mine or Dallas Jenkins’s.
You need to post to someone else bro. All I did was non woke book mark the thread. I have no idea what you are talking about.
Only miles apart? How about light years apart. 😀😁
I will watch the Chosen. The series has :
Not swayed me from the personal love of Jesus Christ.
IT IS A TV SHOW for the love of Christ. And I don’t mean that as taking His name in vain.
If it was the series Lucifer... I’d think twice.
Remember, I keep saying, it’s not enough, to have faith in Jesus. We must have faith in the RIGHT Jesus. The spirit brother of Lucifer, is NOT the right Jesus.
Yep. Dallas also sports tattoos, the actor playing Jesus is Roman Catholic, not all the actors or crew are believers. It’s an eclectic bunch putting The Chosen together. I’d say 90 or more percent of its content is non biblical speculation. But it does ring true and doesn’t undermine the gospels from what I have seen so far. It’s also moving to the point of almost every episode bringing me to tears.
You mean it wasn’t where Joseph Smith interpreted a dozen or so lost books of the bible that were printed on gold tables, buried in a hill near his house, by speaking into a hat?
Sort of like one can admire the Sistine Chapel even if one isn’t Roman Catholic.
I saw the movie on Thursday. It was ok. The music was ok. A little boring as most conservative movies are. American carol I’m looking at you.
Let's see what history has already said...
Brigham Young, October 9, 1859
Intelligence, Etc.
Remarks by President BRIGHAM YOUNG, delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 9, 1859.
Reported by G. D. Watt
Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p.282-91
They succeeded in killing Joseph, but he had finished his work.He was a servant of God, and gave us the Book of Mormon.He said the Bible was right in the main, but, through the translators and others, many precious portions were suppressed, and several other portions were wrongly translated; and now his testimony is in force, for he has sealed it with his blood.As I have frequently told them, no man in this dispensation will enter the courts of heaven, without the approbation of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jun.Who has made this so?Have I?Have this people?Have the world?No; but the Lord Jehovah has decreed it.If I ever pass into the heavenly courts, it will be by the consent of the Prophet Joseph.If you ever pass through the gates into the Holy City, you will do so upon his certificate that you are worthy to pass.Can you pass without his inspection?No; neither can any person in this dispensation, which is the dispensation of the fulness of times.In this generation, and in all the generations that are to come, everyone will have to undergo the scrutiny of this Prophet.They say that they killed Joseph, and they will yet come with their hats under their arms and bend to him; but what good will it do them, unless they repent?They can come in a certain way and find favor, but will they?
God is my “right hand man.”[8]
(Joseph Smith, in a letter to James Arlington Bennett on November 13, 1843, History of the Church, (Deseret Book, 1975), vol. 6, p. 78.)
"God made Aaron to be the mouth piece for the children of Israel, and He will make me be god to you in His stead, and the Elders to be mouth for me; and if you don’t like it, you must lump it."
Joseph Smith at the LDS Conference on April 8, 1844, History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 319-320.
"God is in the still small voice. In all these affidavits, indictments, it is all of the devil—all corruption. Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on the top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter- day Saints never ran away from me yet."
Joseph Smith, Sunday, May 26, 1844 History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 408-9.
"We will become gods and have jurisdiction over worlds, and these worlds will be peopled by our own offspring. We will have an endless eternity for this.”
— Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., Doctrines of Salvation, Vol.2, p.48
“As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become.”
Lorenzo Snow, Mormon Prophet and president
"The day will come—and it is not far distant, either—when the name of the Prophet Joseph Smith will be coupled with the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God, as his representative, as his agent whom he chose, ordained and set apart to lay anew the foundations of the Church of God in the world, which is indeed the Church of Jesus Christ, possessing all the powers of the gospel, all the rites and privileges, the authority of the Holy Priesthood, and every principle necessary to fit and qualify both the living and the dead to inherit eternal life, and to attain to exaltation in the kingdom of God."[5]
Joseph F. Smith, sixth president of the LDS Church, Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], p. 134; as quoted in “Joseph Smith: Restorer of Truth,” Ensign, (Dec. 2003): p. 17.
“Thus those who gain eternal life receive exaltation. . . They are gods.”
(LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pg. 237).
(Gordon B. Hinckley, the fifteenth president of the LDS Church, Ensign article entitled “Joseph Smith: Restorer of Truth,” December 2003)
My brothers and sisters, in this bicentennial year of his birth, I should like to speak of our beloved Prophet Joseph Smith. . . . In the 135th section of the Doctrine and Covenants we read the words of John Taylor concerning the Prophet Joseph: “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.” [D&C 135: 3]
(Thomas S. Monson, counselor to President Gordon B. Hinckley, the semi-annual LDS Conference in Salt Lake City, 2005)
Let's see what history has already recorded...
But should not he have asked...
"...why is it that you are a defender of our belief in OUR Jesus Christ?"
“I believe some Mormons are saved but it is despite their church’s teachings not because of it.”
There’s going to be SO many people who’ll be shocked at who is ‘saved’ and who is not. I believe that it’s not our position to decide who is and is not saved. That’s for God to do from the throne. If you know them by their works then the mormons do a lot of works. Not crazy about romney, but he’s a comparable parent. Lots of catholics too and protestants, baptists, even buddists... (not sure about muslims) It’s not my place. If the church is the body then each of those groups of believers is a part of that body.
My place is to deliver the message that God has provided a sacrifice to atone for our sins and that there IS NO COST. It’s grace through faith and That’s It! Bring them to Jesus and then let God sort it from there.
That’s what I believe anyway.
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