The Man of Steele Returns!

It really surprised me, but John was right: Superman Returns is the best movie of the summer. A group of us went and saw it last night. It was aaaawesome.

Brandon Routh is the perfect new Superman. Kevin Spacey is a fantastic Lex Luther, much better than the original. In fact, all the acting was great. Very in-character.

Superman still stands for truth and justice! Graphics/Special Effects are superb, and the plot is very Superman-ish.

I highly recommend this movie, and predict that it will be the #1 movie of the summer; possibly of 2006.

So yea, go and see the best Superman film ever made!

CoB

Reformed issues about the gospel - Part 2

Hello again Dee,

You said: “I am still confused on God choosing to have greater love for his chosen. Doesn't that mean that God's love is not perfect as Christians have told me? How can a perfect being love less then perfectly? That doesn't make sense to me.”

How does God choosing to give His special love to some make His love imperfect? I fail to see the connection.

Do you understand “perfect love” to mean: loving everyone and everything the same?

You continued: “And if that is true then He created Hell for those whom He did not choose. So are you saying that God loves people but despite his love for those he did not choose he wants them to go to hell? Is this correct?”

Once you answer my above two questions I should have a better idea of how to answer this question =).

You said: “And on the regeneration, I think that’s the right word, you are saying that I can not choose to believe that Jesus died for my sins unless I am one of the lucky ones?”

Rather than using terms like “lucky” to describe God’s choice in salvation, let’s use Biblical terminology. Ephesians says that those chosen by God are “blessed,” as chosen according to “the kind intention of His will,” “to the praise of the glory of His grace,” and “which He freely bestowed on us.” Therefore God’s choice is not according to luck. Nor is God’s choice determined by man’s choice, as though there was something in man – like his will – that makes him desirable to God. God’s choice is solely according to His purpose, so that He will receive glory in salvation which is given by grace.

You said: “I’m confused...it sounds like your saying that unless I am chosen against my will then God never loved me and wants me in hell.”

In my previous email, I explained that God loves all people in that He bestows on them common grace, even though they do not deserve it. Matthew 5:45 was a passage I cited to support my belief. I also explained that God reserves His special love for those whom He chooses to save. I cited Romans 9:6-18 in defense of this idea. But there is a difference between these two kinds of love. One is given to all men, and does not refer to salvation. The other is given solely to the elect of God, chosen for salvation. You have not responded to either of my comments on this subject.

So when you say that “God never loved me…” I assume you refer to His special love for His people? Obviously, I do not know if God has chosen you for salvation – and I cited Deuteronomy 29:29 in our prior exchange to support my belief.

Can I ask if you believe that all people deserve to receive God’s special love? Do you believe all people should receive God’s special love?

You are correct that God must choose people against their will … that is, sinners, in and of themselves, will never, ever choose God apart from His grace. God has chosen His elect people before the foundation of the world not according to anything they have done (Ephesians 1 – which I cited in my previous email), and God must raise our spiritually dead nature to life. Two emails ago I cited Ephesians 2:5: “5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”

God must make us alive. We cannot make ourselves alive. Notice that God making us spiritually alive to God is directly tied to God’s grace in salvation, for Paul continues his thought with: “by grace you have been saved.” We must be raised to spiritual life before we can repent and believe.

Do you believe that we can change ourselves from being spiritually dead (Eph 2:1) to being spiritually alive (Eph 2:5)? How do you understand these texts?

Do you believe that sinners, dead in their sins, can repent and believe?

You said: “One of my Christian friends told me that God created me in His image, why would he want someone in his image to go to hell?”

Your friend is correct that all human beings are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26).

When you said: “why would [God] want someone in His image to go to Hell?” are you referring to God’s moral will or His decreed will? Refer to my previous email for my explanation of these concepts.

You continued your thought: “That is really hard to swallow and is hard for me to do what you said, "ask God's mercy on me and repent."”

I believe that God is the sovereign King and Ruler over all creation, including matters of salvation – and the reason I believe this is because the Bible teaches it. Why do you believe what you believe? If you derive your beliefs from Scripture, please provide Scriptural arguments, and offer interaction with the texts I’m providing =).

You said: “Why would I want to be associated with a God that loves some of his own creation more then others. That is not perfect love, that is arbitrary love.”

Sounds like you have your mind made up =). You have an interesting philosophy, but where does Scripture support your beliefs?

When you said: “Why would I want to be associated with a God that loves some of His own creation more than others,” are you referring to God’s special love for His elect people?

I won’t ask you to define “perfect love” here since I asked that above.

You said: “This is how I thought of it: it would be like me having kids all in my image and those kids all rebelling against me, but since they are MY kids I still love them and want the best for all of them. At the very least, if I love them I would never want any of them to go to hell.”

You need to define how you are using the term “want” here. Are you referring to God’s moral will or decreed will?

I hope our conversation is making more sense. I am certainly gaining a better grasp at where you are coming from. Please answer all of my questions, as it will greatly benefit our future discussions.

Saved by free grace,
Casey Ryan
AOMin

Reformed issues about the gospel

Another AOMin email that I thought you’d enjoy. Below is the second email I received from “Dee” about some various Reformed issues and the gospel:

I am still confused about a few things but thank you for your very important time to answer my inquiries. Can you help me with two things that boggle my mind:

1. Why would God ask you to share the GOSPEL, which means good news, right, I think, if it can not be understood by an atheist? Isn't that God asking you to do something that is pointless. Is that what kind of God he is, a pointless God.

2. You said you trust God to save whom he wills...does that mean He does not will for all people to be saved? Because that makes me think he does not will for me to be saved. Why would he not want me? That confuses me. Other Christians have told me that he loves everyone and died on the cross for them. Is this true or have been lied to? Help me! Thank you again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Glad to hear from you again Dee,

I will do my best to answer both of your questions.

You said: "1. Why would God ask you to share the GOSPEL, which means good news, right, I think, if it can not be understood by an athiest?"

If I understand you correctly, you are asking the following: "If an unbeliever cannot believe the gospel, why preach to them?" First, it is important to remember that every single human being is born a sinner, incapable of believing the gospel. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Rome:

Romans 8:7-8, "7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (NASB).

Every mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, does not subject itself to God's law, and is unable to subject itself to it. The one hostile toward God cannot please God. This brings me to your question: If unbelievers cannot believe the gospel in an of themselves, why preach to them?

To properly answer this question, I'd like to first introduce two theological concepts. First, Christians are commanded to preach the gospel to all men everywhere (Matthew 28:18-30). This is what is called the "General Call" of the gospel. The General Call of the gospel is seen in a parable found in Matthew 22:1-14. In this parable, there is a wedding banquet held for the King's Son. The King sends out his servants to all who were invited, but they weren't willing to come. Again, the King sends out his servants, and the invited guests kill the servants! The King is enraged and sends his armies to kill the murderers. The King then tries one final call to anyone on the highways, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. During the feast, the King saw a man at the party not dressed for the occassion, and threw him out to outer darkness. The parable is concluded with: "For many are called, but few are chosen." The idea is that though many are invited/called to the gospel, only a few are chosen.

The second theological concept is referred to as the "Effectual Call." Robert Reymond defines the "Effectual Call" as: "it is God himself, in the church's proclamation of his Word, who outwardly summons all classes of people to repentance unto life and to faith in Christ" (Reymond. A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith). So as God's people proclaim the gospel to all people, God effectually calls some to the gospel. This is a divine work. The Effectual Call is seen in John 6:

John 6:44-45, "44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 "It is written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me." (NASB).

No man has the ability to come to Christ in faith unless the Father draws him. And those drawn by the Father are raised up on the last day. Also, those who have spiritual hearing and learning from the Father come to Christ in faith.

Nooow, back to your question =). If unbelievers cannot believe the gospel in and of themselves, why preach to them? Because through the preaching of the gospel, God calls people unto Himself, effectually. One must be effectually called by God, and not just generally called. It is the effectual call of God that raises the sinner, dead in his sins, to spiritual life.

Now that we've established that God effectually calls sinners through the preaching of the gospel, we should now focus on the effect of the Effectual Call itself: regeneration from death to life. Notice Paul's words to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 2:4-5 "4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)" (NASB).

Though we were spiritually dead in our sins, God made us alive with Christ. Consider also these words from Ezekiel 36:

Ezekiel 36:24-27, "24 "For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." (NASB).

Verse 26 summarizes the work of regeneration in the life of believers: God removes the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh. He changes the spiritual condition of men.

The result of a regenerated heart is belief/faith and repentance. The Apostle John wrote in his first epistle:

1 John 5:1, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him." (NASB).

All who are believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Did you catch that I rendered "is born" as "has been born"? The reason I'm rendering it that way is because the Greek word for "is born" is a perfect tense. The perfect "describes an action that was fully completed and has consequences at the time of speaking" (Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek). So in 1 John 5:1, all those who believe in Christ have already been born of God. Faith follows being born-again/regeneration. Another way of saying this is: regeneration precedes faith.

I mentioned last time that faith and repentance are granted to us by God (Philippians 1:29, 2 Timothy 2:24-25). This makes sense because the natural man cannot and will not believe. God must change our heart. God must raise us to spiritual life. God must cause us to be born-again, or regenerated. Then God must grant to us the ability to repent and believe.

To summarize: salvation is wholly of the Lord. God saves, and He saves alone. He alone effectually calls sinners unto Himself. He alone causes men to be born again. He alone grants faith and repentance. Therefore I say with confidence that God's will will be done in the proclamation of the gospel to all men. God saves whom He wills, and He saves perfectly and to the uttermost.

You continued: "Isn't that God asking you to do something that is piontless. Is that what kind of God he is, a pointless God."

God accomplishes His purpose in the proclamation of His gospel:

Isaiah 55:11, "So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." (NASB).

Your second question: "2. You said you trust God to save whom he wills...does that mean He does not will for all people to be saved?"

An excellent question =). I believe there are two aspects to God's will: (1) His moral will, and (2) His decreed will. By God's "moral will" I simply mean that God has righteous standards that all men are commanded to obey. One of these standards is the command that men turn from their sins in repentance:

Acts 17:30, "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent" (NASB).

God's "decreed will" is what God actually decrees to happen. But God does not always decree that His moral will be obeyed. In fact, God decrees things that are in accordance with His moral will; He also decrees things that are against His moral will. An example of God decreeing something that was against His moral will was predestining the death of His Son:

Acts 4:27-28, "27 "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur." (NASB).

But what about God's will with regards to people? Well, God demands from all His creatures that they repent. But God has not decreed that all repent. The Scriptural message is that God has decreed to save a particular people unto Himself:

Ephesians 1:3-12, "3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory." (NASB).

In verse 3, who was blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ? "us." Who is the "us"? The "us" are the believers Paul was writing to, as well as himself. I believe the "us" can be extended to all believers, including us today.

In verse 4, who was chosen before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before Him? "us" once again.

In verse 5, who did He predestine to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself? "us"

In verse 6, who did He freely bestow this gift upon? "us"

In verse 7, who has redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace? "we"

In verse 8, who did He lavish these riches upon? "us"

In verse 9, who did He make known the mystery of His will? "us"

In verse 11, who obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will? "we"

The point I'm driving home is that God blessed believers, God chose believers before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless, God predestined believers to adoption as sons, God lavished this inheritance on those who were predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will. You will not find in Scripture that God predestined every human being who ever lived, or ever will live to be adopted as sons. God has chosen to save a particular group of people, and He accomplished His purpose in Christ.

Next, you said: "Because that makes me think he does not will for me to be saved."

I wouldn't waste any time worrying about who God has predestined, because that information is for God alone.

Deuteronomy 29:29, "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law." (NASB).

The secret things belong to God. We know what God has revealed to us. Rather than trying to decide if God has decreed to save you or not, ask yourself if you have truly turned from your sins unto faith in Christ? If yes, then you have Biblical reasons to believe you are a Christian. God does desire for His people to have assurance of their salvation:

1 John 5:13, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." (NASB).

If you do not have faith, and have no turned from your sins to Christ, then ask God to show you mercy, that He might change your heart.

You then said: "Christians have told me that he loves everyone and died on the cross for them. Is this true or have been lied to?"

I would say you have been somewhat misinformed =).

Just as you and I have various types of love, so does God. I love you differently than I love my family, differently than I will love my future wife (assuming God has predestined me to get married one day =)), differently than I love my friends. In the same way, God has different types of love. He shows love to rebellious sinners every single day. He gives all men moments of happiness, joy, rest, comfort, love, friends, food, clothing, shelter, and countless other mercies - all more than guilty sinners deserve. Matthew 5:45 talks about God's giving this common grace to all men.

But God also has a special love for His elect people. He reserves His special love to those whom He chooses. Romans 9:6-18 talks about God's special love for His people.

I hope this clarifies some things. Please let me know if you have any more questions. I'd be glad to help.

Saved by the perfect work of Christ,

Casey Ryan
AOMin

The United States of America was Right All Along

Why did the USA and her allies invade Iraq? One of their more important reasons was because of intelligence that Saddam possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD's). For the longest time the Liberal Left has screamed with unending rage that the coalition forces should withdraw from Iraq because no WMD's have been found. This is a baseless claim spouted by the Left, because we have found WMD's.

Today, FoxNews has again reported that WMD's have been discovered. This isn't new information, but I thought I'd mention it in case you weren't aware.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200499,00.html

Score one for the USA and her allies, President Bush, and the Republicans!

Today I am Proud to be a Republican

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200447,00.html

"The Republican-controlled Senate refused Wednesday to raise the minimum wage, rejecting an election-year proposal from Democrats for the first increase in nearly a decade. "

I am a fiscal conservative. I don't like the government meddling in the economy. Less government involvement = better economy.

The national minimum wage is currently $5.15 an hour. For some odd reason Democrats and other liberals believe that most lower-paying jobs in America start and keep their employees at $5.15/hr. The reality is that most lower-paying jobs pay a higher starting wage than the minimum wage. For those businesses that do start at minimum wage, I wonder what their employee turnaround rate is? How often do their employees quit in search of better pay?

I can tell you from my own personal experience, when I was in high school the minimum wage was considered a very poor wage. My first job was with Macaroni Grill as a busboy/food-runner/to-go person. I made on average $9-10/hr. Many of my co-workers were my peers from school.

My youngest brother, Cory, worked for Chick-Filet for a year and made more than $6/hr! Cory now works for Petsmart because he wanted to earn more money. My other younger brother, Kyle, started working for In N Out Burger and they started him at $8/hr!

Wait just a darn-tootin-minute Case! If the minimum wage is only $5.15 why would a business pay one penny higher?! The answer is simple: competition. If a business wants good employees they will pay for it.

""This is a classic debate between two different philosophies. One philosophy believes in the marketplace, competition and entrepreneurship, and the second is a philosophy that says government knows best," said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. He said France and Germany have high minimum wages, but also high unemployment."

Yup.

The Dem's wanted to raise the minimum wage to $7.15/hr! I don't want to think about the effects that would have on the economy. Thank goodness Repubs are still in power.

The Rusted One

You've never seen me THIS caffeinated before!

This just in: I am now an employee for the Starbucks Coffee Company! I received a call from my manager this morning offering me a position. w00t! I start next week.

Rusty

Let's Stay Focused, Shall We?

The following is a continuation from yesterday's entry. Dennis sent his response to me this morning. Obviously I ignored much of his email so we could stay on track. But lemme tell ya, it was difficult not to answer the rest of his claims. Very tempting. Mariep, this update was entirely for you =)

Here is Dennis' email:
Hi Casey,

I don't know you so let me say that my answer may not be the most gracious! I have been attacking Calvinism for the past several weeks on several sites. In all of that time, with a flood of responses, the most common argument is that "I don't understand Calvinism". So to say I am a little sick of this line of that line of non-defense is an understatement. I understand Calvinism very well and totally reject it as a false system that rather than glorifying God, smears His lovely Person and name.

John Owen was a horrible writer. He never felt an obligation to help his readers understand his points. That's why, to me, it was refreshing that he had this simple outline supposedly teaching (in the face of many scriptures to the contrary) Limited Atonement.

His argument in it's most basic form is that the alternative to Calvinism is Universalism. That's not true of course, but he knows that Universalism is unpalatable to his Christian opposers, so his desire was to "box them in" with his (to me) incomplete look at the Scriptures.

I destroyed his "box" with the scripture. I suggest you read it again. As with Calvinism, to destroy one point is to destroy the whole system.

And may I suggest that Calvinist's are sinners just like anyone else until they come to Christ. He is the ONE Mediator between God and man, and He is the One that all of us who claim His name should make central to our Scriptural understanding. This will be to HIS Glory and not the glory of a system or a theologian, no matter how brilliant that individual may have been. After all, Christ revealed Himself to ignorant fishermen and made shining spiritual stars of them to His own eternal glory!.

Calvinist's believe they can skip to God in eternity past to understand the Scriptures. NOT! We must begin and end with CHRIST as the key to the Scriptures.He Himself is the chief revelation of God to man, and so is the subject of the Book of God.

Calvin himself made MANY errors as did the church so called "fathers"! They themselves often persecuted true believers even unto DEATH! So let's follow Christ, be glad for every Christian's salvation and seek to build one another up in THE FAITH, not a system that condemns without pity in some and builds pride in others.

In Christ, Dennis

My short reply:
Dennis,

I advise you to carefully reread my previous email. Nowhere did I say that you "don't understand Calvinism." What I said was that you appeared to misapprehend John Owen's question. I pointed out that rather than answering John Owen's question, you came up with an entirely different scenario and began defending that new scenario. But to answer Owen's question you must remain with the scenario Owen talks about.

Casey Ryan
AOMin

What if Christ died for all the sins of all?

I received an AOMin email from “Dennis” who offers an answer to the following question posed by John Owen: “If Christ died for all the sins of all, then why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins?”

Dennis provided the following response to Owen’s question: Christ said one sin was unforgivable, therefore it follows He did not die for that one sin. So a true picture is that Christ died for all men, for all sins, except one. That one sin will exclude a man from Heaven should he commit it. Only unbelievers can commit this sin since it is denying the witness of the Spirit through the Word that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. A sinner will pay forever for this one kind of sins, since even one seemingly insignificant sin requires payment via the death of the transgressor. Since God's holiness demands full payment for every sin and a sinner can only pay for one with his soul, all other sins of unbelievers are paid for in the blood of Jesus. Otherwise, God will be short-changed in His accounts requiring full payment. By believing in Christ, the sinner is fully forgiven and removed from the danger of committing the unpardonable sin. This is security forever. Matthew 12:31-32 (King James Version).

Here is my response to this gentleman: You appear to misapprehend John Owen’s question: If Christ died for all the sins of all, then why are sinners still punished for their sins? Your response provides no interaction with the scenario that John Owen is discussing. You write of an entirely different scenario, in which Christ died for every sin but one. Therefore you have not answered John Owen’s question.

In Christ,
Casey Ryan
AOMin

Some Good News

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,199490,00.html

Since May 26th, more than 2,100 Illegals have been arrested across the nation. This is good news. Over the past year our nation's border security became a major political issue and has received plenty of attention. Some say this issue has reached the boiling point and Americans won't tolerate illegal immigration anymore.

Congress has debated and debated what we will do. So far, the only definitive action we've taken is to pass some money dedicated to increased border security. All the while Illegals poor in by the thousands upon thousands. They know time is running short. They want in before it gets any difficult to Illegally enter.

The only group I am almost in complete agreement with is The Minuteman Project. They have proved time and time again that it takes manpower to protect our borders. They have also proved that we need a wall along our southern border with Mexico.

But even though there is much to do to further secure our borders, I am very thankful for our government cracking down on Illegals. I am thankful that our laws are finally being enforced. If you are an Illegal, you will be brought to justice.

So this story is wonderful news. We should thank God every time our government does what is right.

Rustoleum

I'm such an American

So the United States apparently lost to the Czech Republic in the World Cup. I say "apparently" because the World Cup just doesn't interest me. For that matter, I don't follow soccer at all. Yes, it's fast paced, but in all honesty soccer is boring to me. I'm sorry if that offends any die-hard soccer fans, but I would much rather watch a game of baseball, football or basketball (in that order).

What I find really humorous is that much of the world is aaaall caught up in the World Cup, and I'm content not knowing the final outcome. It's just soccer, or futbol, or whatever =)

American sports FTW

Rusty

This deserves its own entry

Letter to a Mormon

Sorry for the slow updates … my plate has been full lately =). I’ve been busy with numerous AOMin emails, so the next few updates will probably be apologetic in nature (“Yay, yay!” And there was much rejoicing). Below is my response to Danny, a Latter-day Saint, who was pretty upset at Alpha and Omega. I kept Proverbs 15:1 in mind while writing my response.

Update: To my surprise, Danny replied this morning. We will hopefully continue discussing how many true gods exist. I’ll keep ya posted on how it goes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Danny,

Hey, I just want to say that I'm sorry you and other "Apologetic" groups are so hard-hearted toward the LDS faith.

If by “hard-hearted” you mean that we are not Latter-day Saints or do not believe in the teachings of the LDS faith, then you are correct. To be fair though, are you not also in the same position when it comes to our faith?

In no manner have we bashed on your churches or other churches; yet, we put up with it all day, at work, school, in the news, and from you guys.

You seem to imply that we have “bashed on your church.” How have we done this? Or by “bash” do you mean that we openly disagree and seek to peaceably dialogue with the LDS people?

We try to keep peace, and yet you guys bring upon so much contention among religions.

If by “contention” you mean that we seek to dialogue with others who hold different religious faiths, then yes we do. But then again, are not Latter-day Saints guilty of the same thing? Does not the Mormon Church send out thousands upon thousands of missionaries around the globe? Does this make the Mormon people contentious? Certainly not. But neither are we contentious for proclaiming what we believe.

We have nothing against other religions, we just know that ours is the true church. Isn't that what all Christian churches believe.

The following is from Joseph Smith’s First Vision account: “18 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.””

When you said: “We have nothing against other religions,” did you mean that you hold nothing against other religions except that they are wrong? Consider how the Father, Son and Holy Ghost answered Joseph’s inquiry about which church to join: he should join none of them because they are all wrong, their creeds are an abomination, those who profess these religions are corrupt, and lack true godliness. It seems to me that you should have something against other religions. You should believe that other religions are false – in fact, the First Vision says just that.

I am no different. I believe that the teachings of Mormonism are wrong. I believe that the gods of Mormonism are false gods and not the true god of the Bible. I believe that the gospel of Mormonism is false and cannot save sinners.

So, here's a way you can walk the walk bestowed upon you by your name... Say you're sorry, and try acting "Apologetic" to the oh so many churches (being that I'm not only here in behalf of the LDS fgaith) that you have caused contention among.

You have completely misunderstood how we are using the term “apologetics.” “Apologetics” comes from the word we translate as “defense” in 1 Peter 3:15. Apologetics is concerned with the defense of Christianity. “Apologetics” has nothing to do with saying you’re sorry. We are not sorry for defending and positively proclaiming what we believe.

There are two reasons we are so passionate about proclaiming our beliefs to those of other religious faiths: (1) First and foremost, out of love for God. We believe that God is glorified in the preaching of His truth. (2) Secondly, we love those of other religious faiths, such as the Latter-day Saints, and want nothing more than Mormons to embrace the one true God of the Bible.

So, I hope that you have a turn of heart.

I pray the same for you as well, Danny.

So, damn it, get a move on!

Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”

I would be more than happy to continue dialogue with you, Danny. Might I suggest a topic: how many true gods exist? This is our most significant disagreement.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Casey Ryan
AOMin