Author: Aaron Shafovaloff
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Five reasons not to “shut down”
Five reasons not to “shut down” when someone wants to show you evidence that purportedly contradicts what/who you believe: 1. Curiosity. Curiosity is virtuous and healthy, and the only faith worth having is a curious faith. Faith seeks understanding. Faith should increase curiosity, not squelch it. 2. Humility. Humility implies a posture of, “I don’t know all…
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Bill McKeever responds to Scott Gordon, FAIR-LDS, 11/18/2013
Listen to MRM founder/president Bill McKeever respond to FAIR-LDS’s President Scott Gordon. A cogent, well-reasoned response to the arguments presented by the leader of a major LDS apologetic organization. Click here.
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Evangelism Is a Form of Worship, and Mormonism Claims To Let People Worship According to Their Dictates of Their Conscience
One of the ways we evangelicals worship the Most High God is by evangelism, and part of our evangelism is sometimes engaging false ideas about God and the gospel, and part of engaging false ideas about God and the gospel (especially for those in Utah) is contrasting Mormonism with Biblical Christianity — urgently yet patiently…
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There Are Two Fathers in Heaven. Which One Is Yours?
Everyone has a heavenly father. Which one do you have? There are two. One tells you who are here to be tested, the other tells you who are here to love and be loved. One encourages you to eat of the forbidden fruit, the other encourages you to wait and trust. One is the “god…
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Atheism Is Just Another Blue Pill
We already live in Narnia. We live in a universe that had a beginning. Indeed, something exists rather than nothing (this alone is amazing). We live among embodied souls who have intrinsic dignity, beauty, and moral culpability. We live in a universe of real aesthetics, of music and design and order and mathematics and right…
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How Mormon Beliefs Chiefly Perpetuate
What was once explicitly taught and instilled often only needs implicit, suggestive support to perpetuate. If I tell my daughter a hundred times, “Daddy loves ice cream!”, and then every week after I say, “Let’s go to Leatherby’s and get Rocky Road”, she will reasonably understand that as a continuation and extension of my original…
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Teaching My Six and Four-Year-Old To Discern Language About God
“John Caleb and Lydia, do you know how you say sometimes, ‘Daddy is the best’?” “Yeah. It’s just something we say for fun because we love you.” “And do you think Daddy is *actually* the best Dad in the world?” “No.” “Well, when some people say that ‘God is the best’, they say it but…
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“We believe the same thing.”
“We believe the same thing.” They why the need for a restoration? “We believe the same thing.” Then why did you just tell me you believed the exact opposite thing? “We believe the same thing.” How you can be sure, if you haven’t even asked me about what I believe? “We believe the same thing.”…
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Cracks in the Mormon Dam
(Starts at about 8m45s) Cracks in the Mormon Dam. Some water already beginning to gush. Atheist LDS current mission presidents. Unbelieving return-MP’s. Doubting General Authorities. A General Authority that stops BYU’s NAMIR/FARMS from publishing a piece against the agnostic-in-longtime-LDS-sheeps-clothing John Dehlin. Daniel Peterson fired and FARMS abandoning unabashed apologetics. Mormonism’s greatest expert on the Book…
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EMPP – Evidence, Not Merit; Purpose, Not Prerequisite
Having a tough time discussing grace with Mormons? EMPP is my imaginary energy drink, as well as my corny acronym for making some helpful distinctions: Evidence. Are works necessary to show the evidence of faith? Yes. James 2:14-26, Matthew 7:21-23? Merit. Are works necessary to earn or merit eternal life or forgiveness? No. Romans 4:1-8,…
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The Priesthood of the Gods vs. the Word of God’s Power
In my last post, “‘Go’ is enough”, I talked about the awesome “word of power” of Jesus Christ. The idea behind it is huge and I hope you’ll see the big picture with me. In Mormonism, priesthood isn’t a product of God. Rather, God himself is a product of the priesthood. In Mormonism, priesthood is…
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“Go” is enough
Jesus created the universe by the word of his power. “Let there be…” (Genesis 1:3). Effortless, raw power. Jesus sustains the universe by the word of his power. “He upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:3) See, told you so. Jesus sustains every “Higgs boson” like a boss. Jesus raised Lazarus…
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Debate: Are Mormons Christians?
Christ Presbyterian Church invites you to join us for a debate on whether Mormons are Christians. Our participants will be Jason Wallace and Martin Tanner. Mr. Wallace is pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City. He is the host of The Ancient Paths on KTMW TV-20. Dr. Tanner is an LDS attorney who…
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Mormon Church Teams Up With Google Glass for Translation of “Caractors”
In a joint press conference with Google and The Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, representatives from both corporations announced an exciting new translation project. Google will use its Google Glass technology in conjunction with Google Translate to assist in the translation of characters from the Anthon Transcript.
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The Creed of Practical Mormon Atheism
The grand council of atheist Mormon bishops have met and codified the Creed of Practical Mormon Atheism, a list of things that both atheists and Mormons can largely affirm together: “So say we all.” On a serious note, this is why I ask Mormons questions like, The religion of Mormonism is thinning out. The numbers increase…
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I Love Talking To Ex-Mormon Atheists
I did not expect to meet so many atheists when I moved to Utah seven years ago. But I should have known better: America as a whole is secularizing, and Mormonism itself has a “scorched earth policy.” My Mormon girlfriend in high school once essentially said, “If the LDS Church isn’t true, I don’t know…
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Paying Homage to the Goddess of Fertility
Perhaps the most compelling parallel that can be made between Mormon temples and Solomon’s temple is that the Israelites disobediently put an “Asherah pole” — an object which honored Asherah, the wife of Baal (which idolatrous Israelites assumed to be also the wife of Yahweh) — into the temple. Kings and Chronicles repeatedly makes the…
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The Difficult Task of Mormon Honesty
On a discussion board devoted to Mormon apologetics a non-Mormon wrote about the progressive nature of the Mormon God. He quoted the ever-so-blunt Hunter and Widtsoe: “Yet, if we accept the great law of eternal progression, we must accept the fact that there was a time when Deity (God) was much less powerful than He…
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Joseph Smith vs Jesus Christ
Joseph ordained with hands, but Jesus authorized by his words. Joseph tampered with God’s word, but Jesus preserved God’s word. Joseph boasted over his church, but Jesus died for his church. Joseph re-introduced the Aaronic priesthood, but Jesus rendered it obsolete by his own blood. Joseph said that a man became our God, but Jesus,…