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One comment that I have heard from several Latter-day Saints over the past year is that they can see the appeal of Protestantism, but just cannot get behind the Trinity or a view of God that does not see the Father as an embodied human being . Each of these are complicated topics that I…
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One of the things that led me towards Biblical Christianity was reading the New Testament’s repeated claims that Jesus was God before the foundations of the world were laid. My favorite such passage is Col 1:15-17 “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven…
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Latter-day Saints revere several books of scripture in addition to the Bible. There are many verses in these books that are consistent with the Bible and that I find stirring and powerful even though I no longer believe they are scripture. But there is one verse in the Doctrine and Covenants that stands out to…
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I longed to dwell In temple walls forever Adorned in white Kneeling across altars When father and family forsook me I sought refuge Seeking his face Finding refuge and solace Now those walls are suffocating No longer filed with his presence But my heart still tells me: “Seek his face.” And so I will continue…
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In Latter-day Saint discussions about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, someone will almost inevitably point to Boyd K. Packer’s parable of the Mediator. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 14 years, I thought or participated in many lessons where we would mention or discuss this parable. I loved…
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Since leaving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for Evangelical Christianity, I have been trying to figure out how to best convey to people the difference that my embrace of salvation by grace alone through faith alone has had on me. This can be really hard to do. When I would hear Protestants…
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When I was an LDS missionary I taught people about the Great Apostasy all the time. Many of the people I taught were Christians who were very upset about the claim that the true Church of Christ fell away from the earth. But I would reassure them that this did not mean that there were…
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How realistic is the First Vision? One of the seminal events in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the First Vision of Joseph Smith. Missionaries today around the world in their very first lesson with those interested in the Church recount the story of Joseph Smith praying in the…
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When I was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I saw additional commandments such as the Word of Wisdom to be “blessings from above.” (D&C 59:3–4). I thought that it was a pleasure to be asked to give up something like tea or coffee to more fully serve God and…
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One of the most common accusations leveled against Paul the Apostle was that he was teaching his followers that it was appropriate to sin and to embrace a kind of cheap grace. This same accusation is leveled by Latter-day Saints against Protestant Christians today. I want to invite you to look carefully at the criticism…