Remember Mariners Church? Back in 2005 Mariners let the Mormons use their parking lot for people who were interested in touring the Mormon temple in Newport Beach, California. They also forbade Christians who desired the preach the gospel from their property. Read more about it in my article “Offending Fish.”
Now Mariners is in violation of 2nd John 9-11 by letting Robert Millet, a Mormon employed by Brigham Young University, speak there in the company of Greg Johnson of Standing Together Ministries. The evening is called, “Conversation: a Mormon/Evangelical Dialogue.”
For a some years now, Millet and Johnson have been traveling around the country and having their conversations in numerous Christian churches. These conversations are just that, conversation. There is no formal debate or attempt to disprove the other person’s position. The Standing Together web site states,
Traditional forms of outreach to the LDS have largely focused on apologetic
confrontations that have lead to a great deal of tension between members of the
Mormon faith and Evangelical Christians. When two people are determined to prove
each other “wrong” and to persuade the other that only there position is valid,
they tend to communicate aggressively, often not realizing how polemical they
are becoming.
While I applaud the effort to talk with Mormons publicly, I must admit that I do not see the wisdom in doing this in a Christian Church. Especially in the light of the fact that the Apostle John gave a clear warning to Believers about letting false teachers spread their message in the house church. This style of conversation gives no allowance for the Christian to refute false doctrine and thus runs the risk of confusing immature Christians. We already know of one person who has joined the LDS Church because of these conversations. To our knowledge, no Mormons have left Mormonism because of them. I am saddened by the apparent lack of discernment from Christian pastors, elders and other leaders by allowing this to happen.
I am also left wondering why these conversations don’t happen in Mormon chapels? Could it be that the Mormons actually have more discernment in this area that some Christian pastors?
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