— Monday, January 12th, 2009 —
On Mormonism: “The next time an LDS member knocks on my door, I shall ask him, ‘What did God worship before he became God and why don’t we worship that?’”
Rev. Philip Spomer, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Edgewood, New Mexico, in a letter to the editor, First Things, February 2009.
I spoke with a theologically trained LDS member for nearly two hours on an airplane a few weeks ago, and this was the one issue for which he had no rebuttal. I told him that I want to worship the big God who has always been God instead of always wondering if there is something greater out there.
So Mormons cannot worship their “Heavenly GrandFather?”
My favorite question to still ask a Mormon is, “What prophesies did Joseph Smith speak that came true?” Be prepared for a moment of awkward silence.
Very good question indeed.
Keith, I doubt that there would be stunned or awkward silence — they would probably point you to the Civil War “prophecies” or to other prophecies such as that Joseph Smith’s name would be known either for good or for ill all across the world — there are a number of prophecies that fit with very little fudging, and any passionate Mormon worth his salt could probably rattle off at least a small handful of them.
As a former mormon let me say that the conversation with mormons can wander all over the place, so my recommendation is to always go back to who God is, who He reveals Himself to be and what that means. The rest of the issues are secondary to that.
Thank you, Arthur, I will try to take that useful approach on board. I have had many arguments with Mormons, they have been taught that logic is totally subject to the ‘burning in the bosom’ experience (which they all claim to have had) when reading the Book of Mormon and they are imbued with the idea that this ‘assurance’ is the end of all argument. Their mental gymnastics are astonishing and I recommend that if this ever becomes an olympic sport, the US should look first to Utah for a gold medallist!