Other Faiths

Latter Day Uneasiness

Rick Bundschuh — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 11:21:27 -0700

Let me just put it out there and take the wacks for being intolerant; I would be very uneasy having a devout Mormon in the Oval office.

Watching the political wrangling of the pachyderm party and the various missteps of those hopefuls for nomination to lead the nation, it is quite obvious that the “religious affiliation” question is a minefield not to be crossed.

So let me attempt to bravely venture out where one is forbidden to go and explain my queasiness.

Some religions are nutty.

Scientology comes to mind as a loopy scam.

Some religions are deceptive, cloaking their real ideas and agenda in the guise and language of an already accepted faith.

The Gnostics were pretty good at this as I recall.

Some religions require that you suspend your logic and reasoning and substitute an emotional embrace instead.

Jim Jones created this environment in a deadly manner.

Frankly, Mormonism is all of the above. A remarkably nutty story that reeks of a scam and insists that in spite of all logical evidence the contrary, the truth of their story is verified through the warming emotion of the heart. Then has the gall to wrap the whole kooky enchilada in the language and events of orthodox Christianity.

Yes, there are many wonderful, sweet people who are Mormons. Yes, yes, they have high moral standards and are clean cut and well scrubbed and yes, they talk about God and Jesus.

But it is the story they have put their trust in that gives me pause and their willingness to dive headlong into this tall tale with unquestioning hesitation.

For me, the faltering point in giving a thumbs up to a Mormon in the oval office comes from their gullibility.

So I ask myself, would I trust a person who naively believes the LDS story to have the discernment to lead a nation? Perhaps an example would give clarity to my point.

What if the lead candidate believed in Fairies?

In the late 1800’s some seemingly smart people such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes) bought into a hoax that showed photos of these wee folks scampering on vegetation. (See his still in print book The Coming of Fairies if you don’t believe me.)

As much as I admire the work of Sir Doyle, the fact that he believes in Fairies, would, in my mind, disqualify him for being the Prime Minister of England.

And yes, I am well aware that any garden-variety atheist would attempt to turn this argument against me because I subscribe to orthodox Christianity.

But one has to admit there is quite a difference between believing in the Gospel story and Fairies.

Or that a young man from upstate New York, already convicted of defrauding a neighbor by pretending he had the power to find hidden treasure, was given gold plates with unheard of script and a seer stone to translate them with. (Which unlike Biblical documents were supposedly and conveniently whisked away by an angel after completion.)

Or that the same young man was endowed with insight to explain what was wrong with the Bible and all other religions as well as vested with the authority to reinvent Biblical terms and ideas wholesale resulting in an American version of British Israelism, holy underwear, Masonic like rituals, sibling rivalry of Satan and Jesus, a new and uncharitable race in ancient America, bedding other men’s wives and innocent fourteen year old girls and many other sordid and strange examples.

For my money…and vote, there is too much at stake to risk standing behind someone who is devoted to the story of Mormonism, even if he is a nice guy with good morals.

It means that he is susceptible to nonsense, easy to fleece, gullible. And those are fearful qualities to have in the one at the helm of a nation.

Learning From Mormons

Sean McDowell — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:35:33 -0700

Last Friday I invited a local Mormon leader to speak to my 11^th grade theology class. This is the first time I have ever done this. Typically I take my students on trips to visit other people, but some students don’t go on those trips so I wanted them all to hear from a Mormon firsthand. He was thoughtful, kind, prepared, and very articulate. In fact, I was very impressed by how well he knew his stuff and how confidently he portrayed it. He even quoted from C.S. Lewis, although he took him out of context. I wish more Christians had his poise and confidence.

I learned a couple things from this encounter that Christians may consider taking to heart.

First, the higher degree of education a Mormon receives the higher is his/her participation in the church. And yet the exact opposite is true for evangelicals. Even though the Mormon faith is essentially built on a subjective experience (see Moroni 10:4), Mormons have come to value the intellect and education. Mitt Romney and Glenn Beck are good examples of leading Mormon intellectuals who are having a positive impact on culture. Why is it that a faith built on subjective experience produces many leading thinkers?

In contrast to Mormonism, there is compelling evidence for the claims of Christianity. There are reliable eyewitness claims of the miracles of Jesus, archaeological support, and early manuscripts verifying the biblical accounts. My father and I lay out the basic evidence for the historical Jesus in our book, More Than a Carpenter. Yet none of these exist for the events, people, and lands mentioned in the book of Mormon—none.

My visitor pointed to the finding of the city of “Nahom” as confirmation of 1 Nephi 16. But as many Mormon scholars admit, this is the only possible find corroborating Mormonism, and it is highly suspect. See here for the whole story. Simply put, there is not a single credible archaeological find for Mormonism. Amazingly, a religion based on subjective experience encourages education. And yet evangelical Christianity, which really does have compelling objective evidence, downplays education and the development of the mind. Why is this so?

Second, my guest was very appreciative that we treated him with kindness. I spent about thirty minutes prepping my students to ensure they treated him lovingly and respectfully, as 1 Peter 3:15 instructs. I didn’t want them rolling their eyes, laughing, or asking uninformed questions. Yet this does not mean we held back the tough questions. In fact, to his credit, he encouraged us to ask tough questions! And we did. How many of us to go people of other faiths and invite tough questions? We asked him about his views of the trinity, the Mormon view of works-based salvation, and the evidence for Joseph Smith truly being a prophet of God. We had a lively yet cordial dialogue.

He thanked me afterwards for being a gracious host. He shared how a large church in southern California (which will remain unnamed) brings students to his Mormon church for regular visits. According to him, they quote their “anti-Mormon” literature and simply criticize him and the Mormon Church without taking the time to understand. This saddened me, because I often role-play as an atheist to Christian students and am amazed how they often care more about winning an argument than genuinely listening, clarifying, and treating someone with love. There is nothing wrong with raising objections to Mormonism, or any other religion, but we must do a heart-check as to our motivations. Is it to win an argument? Or is it truly to help lead someone to the truth?

According to my guest, Mormons often feel hated by evangelicals. If so, this certainly isn’t going to encourage them to seriously consider what we believe. Paul said if we speak truth but don’t have love then our words are worthless (1 Cor. 13). We must never back down from speaking truth to our Mormon friends. After all, they knock on doors attempting to persuade people to their beliefs. But we must see them as human beings made in the image of God who are just in need of the saving grace of Jesus as anyone else.

Did Christianity Copy From Pagan Religions?

Dave Sterrett — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:55:23 -0800

In one of the scenes of the Coffeehouse Chronicles, my new novella series, Nick a student who is questioning his own Christian faith, watches the popular Zeitgeist YouTube video.

The video tells a story about religious leaders throughout history who had similar characteristics to Jesus. The video implied that Christianity simply plagiarized from other religious stories that were circulating years before. Names like Attis of Greece, Krishna of India, Dionysus of Greece, and Mithra of Persia were included in the video. The narrator described how these religious leaders, based on astrology were born on December 25, born of virgin, discovered by a star in East, adorned by three kings, became a teacher at twelve, baptized and started ministry at thirty, had twelve disciples, and performed miracles, were known as the “Lamb of God,” “The Light,” crucified, buried for three days, and resurrected.

Perhaps, you are familiar with the video, but I want you to pretend you are sharing your faith with a young critic who has been influenced by this theory. What are some solid responses you can give to critic who says Christianity stole from pagan religions. If you have never seen the Zeitgeist video, take a look:

There are multiple responses in books 1 and 3 of the Coffeehouse Chronicles. Jamal, a doctoral student cites responses from several scholars. Here are few.

Dr. J. Smith of the Encyclopedia of Religion writes, ‘The category of dying and rising gods, once a major topic of scholarly investigation, must now be understood to have been largely a misnomer based on the imaginative reconstructions and exceedingly late or highly ambiguous texts.’”[1]

Dr. Greg Boyd, who earned his doctorate at Princeton Theological Seminary, and Dr. Paul Rhodes Eddy, who earned his doctorate at Marquette write:

The very category of ancient “dying and rising gods” has been called into question by most contemporary scholars. In short, when each of these myths is analyzed in detail, it turns out that either there is no actual death, no actual resurrection, or no actual “god” in the first place![2]

Not only are the differences far more profound than the alleged similarities, but as Sean McDowell notes, “Parallels prove nothing.” Sean asks, “What if I told you about a British ocean liner that could carry 3000 passengers, had a top cruising speed of 24 knots, and had an inadequate number of lifeboats? What if I told you that this ocean liner hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage, which tore a hold in the side of the ship causing it to sink along with 2000 passengers? Mostly likely you would think this was the Titanic. But you would be mistaken. I am describing the Titan, a fictional ship described in Morgan Robertson’s book, The Wreck of the Titan. It was written 14 years before the sinking of the Titanic. While the similarities between the two accounts are striking, they do nothing to undermine the historical evidence for the Titanic.”

Even a similar story did exist, this would not undermine the historical evidence of Christ life, burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea , the resurrection and eyewitness accounts of Christ’s appearances.

In our book, the students watch this debate about the uniqueness of Christ resurrection with Dr. Habermas and Tim Callahan:

What are your thoughts?

[1] J. Z. Smith, “Dying and Rising Gods.” In Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. M. Eliade, vol. 4 (New York: Macmillan, 1987), 521., quoted by Gregory A. Boyd and Paul Rhodes Eddy, Lord or Legend? (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007), 53.

[2] Gregory A. Boyd and Paul Rhodes Eddy, Lord or Legend? (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007), 53.

Is Sincerity Enough?

Brett Kunkle — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:32:49 -0700

One of Christianity’s most important claims is also one of its most controversial: Jesus is the only way to God (Acts 4:11-12, John 8:24). A common objection follows: “It does not matter if you believe in Jesus, Buddha, or Mohammed, as long as your belief is sincere. What more could God want than a sincere heart?” Indeed, the annoyed objector may even point to the fact that adherents of other religions are oftentimes more sincere than the very Christians who criticize their sincerity.

Of course, Christians ought not needlessly offend people, but we do need to ask if sincerity should be our most important concern when it comes to religious belief, as this objection assumes. Two responses will help bring clarity to the issue.

First, notice that no one accepts sincerity alone in any other area of life besides religion. Why? Because sincerity may be important but it is not enough. For example, if you decide to go skydiving, are you more concerned about having sincere beliefs or true beliefs? When you are coasting in a plane at 10,000 feet in the air, preparing to jump into the wild blue yonder and then plummet towards the earth at mind-numbing speeds, do you merely want a sincere belief there is actually a working parachute in your backpack? Of course not. You want a true belief that your parachute is in full working order. If you sincerely believe that your parachute works but you are sincerely wrong, you’ll look quite different once you land.

We do not choose our doctors, our babysitters, or our accountants on the basis of their sincerity because we know that sincerity is not enough. In the same way, sincerity is necessary but not sufficient for salvation. All religions make general claims about reality and particular claims about salvation. Our primary concern should be the truth or falsity of those claims. God either exists or he doesn’t, we are either reincarnated or we are not, but the sincerity of our beliefs does nothing to change the facts of the matter. If we come to discover that our religious beliefs are false, then we ought to abandon those beliefs.

Secondly, if sincerity is the deciding factor for salvation then man’s efforts become meritorious. God’s gracious gift of salvation is moved under the shadow of man’s sincerity. However, our sincerity can never remove our sin just as it cannot remove a disease from our physical bodies. In the case of disease, we need a physician who knows the truth about our illness and its cure and is capable of brining healing to our body. Likewise, humankind is infected by sin and we need the true Physician to bring healing to our souls. The free gift of salvation God offers through Christ alone is both necessary and sufficient to save us from that sin. Indeed, it is the only medicine that will heal.

It's 9/11: WWJD?

Lisa Borden — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 21:39:47 -0700

It's 9/11 and there is a lot of pain in the American soul. The pain is real and not unfounded. Living outside of the United States, I feel the world's focus on my home country, holding its breath to see if one man will spark violence in so many places if he goes ahead with his bonfire plans.

It's 9/11 and my question, as I wake up this morning, is simply this: what would Jesus do?

I landed at London Heathrow yesterday in the remnant of darkness just before dawn. Our route had taken us up from Nairobi (Kenya, East Africa) and over a big hunk of Africa before crossing Europe. Just half an hour before our descent into London, we passed over Paris. The City of Light looked dazzling from the air. From my vantage point, I wondered about the millions of Muslim people I had flown over in the hours since I'd lifted off. Northern Africa is predominantly Islamic, the home of the infamous Moors who held the Iberian peninsula for hundreds of years. And Islam is by no means restricted to Africa's north. Nor to that continent. The cities of Europe are filled with second and third generation followers. Look at Paris. Look at London.

The world is a small place. Regardless of how you see it, the Muslim people of the world are our neighbors. They are my neighbors. They are your neighbors.

From my airplane window, I wondered what Jesus meant when he called us to love to our neighbors. Harder still, what was he thinking when he told us to love our enemies?

I could see the lights of Europe from where I sat. But God's eyes are better than mine. God looks over the cities of the earth and he sees hearts. He sees individuals, families, communities. And he is moved by compassion. You think Jesus wept over Jerusalem? Imagine the mess he is over our cities today.

And Jesus loved people with gentle friendship. His angry words were never directed at "enemies." They were reserved for the leaders of his own faith. He crossed his cultural boundaries and spoke with tenderness to the most intimate hurts of the woman at the well. Seeing into her pain, he didn't rebuke her for her lifestyle. Instead, he put his finger on her disappointments and failures and let her know that he had living water that would satisfy what she was looking in all the wrong places for.

Today my countrymen are right to mourn. The attacks of 9/11 were horrific beyond adequate description. But we would never be right to hate. As I walk into this day, I'm holding the image of Jesus in conversation with a woman his background told him was an enemy to despise. I'm picturing my Muslim neighbors, not just the distant ones, but the sweet lady who runs our local grocery store, the one with the big dark circles under her eyes earlier this week as the month of fasting took it's toll on her body. I'm picturing my neighbors and I'm wondering if maybe Jesus could teach me how to actually live authentic caring friendship and gracious love.

Is "Cult" a Four-Letter Word?

Christianity 101 — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:54:52 -0700

Mormonism is in the news these days, thanks to Glenn Beck, the highest profile Mormon since American Idol runner-up David Archuleta. Beck's rise to fame has come as a conservative radio and television talk show host and best-selling author, and most recently as a speechmaker for the Tea Party.

His call at a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for America to turn to God has conservatives and Christians in a lather. Does Glenn Beck speak for America? More crucially, does Glenn Beck speak for God and Christians?

In the interest of bringing clarity to the conversation, we thought it would be useful to do a couple of things. First, since Mormonism is often referred to as a "cult" (a word that sounds pejorative and mean-spirited), we want to explore with you just exactly what a cult is. In a subsequent post, we will outline some of the distinctives of Mormonism so you can answer the "Is Mormonism a cult?" question for yourself.

The word cult comes from the Latin word cultus. Its original definition referred to members of an organization who cared about the same things. The English word culture is derived from the same Latin word.

When used in a religious context, cult defines a group that holds certain ideas and practices in common, but the specifics of its beliefs are either so new or so different that they take it beyond the religion from which it started.

Theologians R.C. Sproul and Tim Couch have identified ten characteristics that typically distinguish groups that fit into the category of a cult. Here is their list, along with our brief explanations.

1. An abrupt break with historic Christianity and its confessions. Cults usually view historical Christianity as being off base until their founder came along to straighten things out.

2. Autosotericism. This is theological lingo for "self-salvation." Cults usually specify that salvation is obtained by following certain rules and regulations specified by the cult.

3. A deficient Christiantiy. Christianity is premised on the belief that Jesus is God; if he is something less than God, then salvation by his death on the cross wouldn't work. Cults, however, take a lesser view of Christ. They might admire Jesus and view him as greater than a human, but they don't consider him as the one true God.

4. Syncretism. This is more theological jargon that simply means the blending of different elements from several religions into one synthiesized belief system.

5. An emphasis on their own distinctives. Rather than stressing the major doctrinal points of Christianity, a cult will put disproportionate emphasis on its distinguishing doctrines. Those beliefs that orthodox Christianity considers to be essential take a backseat to the cult's unique characteristics.

6. Perfectionism. Most cults teach that it is possible for a human to be perfect, a doctrine that flies in the face of Christianity's view that humans are sinful and can never achieve God's standard of perfection. Moral perfection is usually attainable by following the cult's prescribed conduct (doing some things and abstaining from others), and by adhering to the teachings of the cult's fonder and leaders.

7. An extrabiblical source of authority. While many cults recognize the Bible as a sacred piece of literature, they have additional holy books. The other writings usually take precedence over the Bible (or at least they give the authoritative interpretation of the Bible). If there is a conflict between the two, the Bible comes in second place.

8. A belief in exclusive community salvation. A cult teaches that it is the only true church. Unless you believe all of its teachings, you won't be saved. In contrast, a sect of traditional Christianity won't claim exclusive rights to salvation. Most denominational differences don't pertain to the qualifications for salvation. According to the prevailing Christian viewpoint, joining a particular denomination is not a prerequisite to get to heaven. For most cults, however, you won't make it unless you are one of their members.

9. A preoccupation with eschatology. Eschatology is the study of the end of the world. In the perspective of the timeline of Christiantiy, most of the popular cults are fairly new, having been founded in the last 200 years or so. Cults often explain that their founder brought the last word from God to prepare mankind for the end of the world. With this perspective, cults often emphasize urgency concerning the end times.

10. Esotericism. Something is esoteric if it is beyond the knowledge of most people and understood by only a select group of individuals. This is what separates cults from traditional Christianity. Each cult claims that its founder and/or leaders have access to special truth that was previously hidden and is unavailable to everyone else.

In our next post, we will list the distinctives of Mormonism.

Common Sense Atheism

Sean McDowell — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:05:13 -0700

Last February I debated Dr. Jim Corbett on the question of God and morality. As a result, I was invited to appear as a guest by Luke Muehlhauser, the host for a Podcast at Common Sense Atheism. We discussed many things including apologetics and debate, the state of youth today and how apologetics relates to philosophy. Luke was a gracious and thoughtful host. Check it out!

Here's the link: http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=8087

Mormon Apologetics Trip

Sean McDowell — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:14:30 -0700

A few weeks ago I partnered with Brett Kunkle of Stand to Reason to take 22 high school students on an apologetics mission trip to Salt Lake City. One of my students, Matt Champagne, put this brief trailer together about the upcoming documentary. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Seanmcdowell76

Can Buddhism Lead to Christ?

Stan Jantz — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:13:03 -0700

Tiger Woods is back, and the world is watching. Some are watching for the golf, others for the story of recovery and redemption in play. Me, I'm watching for the Buddhism.

If you recall, just a couple of months ago Tiger held that rather strange and staged "mea culpa" press conference, the one where he apologized all over the place and then pointed to Buddhism as the rock upon which he was going to stand. Tiger hasn't mentioned Buddhism since, but that doesn't mean he hasn't made good on his intention to return to his religious roots. Come to think of it, was that Tiger's deceased father or was it the spirit of Buddha speaking to Tiger in that kinda creepy but somehow fascinating Nike commercial?

Brit Hume already famously (and correctly) said that Buddhism won't help Tiger in his spiritual quest for redemption (if that's what he's after) because it doesn't offer that. Hume also said that Christianity is the only religion that offers forgiveness and redemption. Again, he's right. If the events of the Easter story are about anything, they are about Christ dying so we can be forgiven, and then rising from the dead so we can be redeemed. it's a unique story and a singular reality among all belief systems.

So what does Buddhism offer Tiger and the rest of the world? And is it possible there are some kernels of truth in there that could lead someone like Tiger to the true source of forgiveness and redemption?

This is actually a really good question we can ask of all religions, and it's important that we ask it. It's one thing that we know what we believe, and quite another that we know what others believe. But that's what we're supposed to do, that is if we are to truly show "gentleness and respect" to those who are curious about our own faith (1 Peter 3:15,16).

If we believe that God is the source of all truth, is it reasonable to conclude that all religions, no matter how antithetical they are to Christiantiy, contain some truth? And if they do, is it possible that whatever truth is in there can serve as a kind of bridge to true truth (to borrow a phrase from Francis Schaeffer)? Well, let's use Buddhism as a kind of test case.

Buddhism is pretty complex, so it's tough to describe it in a way that serious practitioners agree with. But there are some basic principles that stand out, and it's in these where we can possibly find a kernel or two of truth.

From the teachings of Buddha (born Siddhartha Gautama in the 6th century BC), come the Four Noble Truths, which are key to living in the "Way of the Middle" between the extremes of unreasonable excess and unnecessary deprivation. The Four Noble Truths are:

Life is all about suffering
The cause of suffering is our desire and greed
There is a way to overcome our desire and greed
The path to happiness and relief of suffering is an eight-step process

Without taking time to go through all eight steps, suffice it to say that the eight steps involve three qualities: the Quality of Wisdom, the Quality of Mental Discipline, and the Quality of Ethical Conduct. If you do a little study on the eight steps, you will find one or two that Tiger quite obviously skipped, including step number seven, which falls under the quality of ethical conduct:

Right action (refraining from killing and taking what is not given; avoiding inappropriate sexual conduct, improper speech, and intoxicants).

Okay, so none of us is ever going to be in a position to sit down with Tiger and talk about these things, but what if that were possible? What if Tiger were to give you 30 minutes to talk with him? What kind of bridge could you build from Four Noble Truths of Buddha to the noble Truth of Jesus? I suspect your bridge would look a lot like mine. A little shaky, somewhat unconventional, but a bridge nonetheless--one that hopefully leads to more conversation.

Too often those of us who have been around the true truth of Christianity for a while have a hard time seeing kernels of truth in other belief systems, mainly because we aren't looking for them. What a mistake. Truth is, there are Buddhists and Hindus and Muslims and yes, even atheists, all around us who carry kernels of truth around in their heads. Even more, they carry the divine imprint of God around in their very being, which is a whole lot bigger than a kernel. As C.S. writes in The Weight of Glory,

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization - these are mortal and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors... Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.

We may not ever have a chance to build a bridge with Tiger, but there are plenty of other people out there who are eager to do some bridge building with us, if only we will listen.

As I said, the world is watching Tiger right now, and like everyone else I'm going to be watching to see what he does and says. But as I watch I'm also going to be thinking about Buddhism and kernels of truth and Jesus and bridge building.

Conversations With Mormons Part 2

Sean McDowell — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:34:20 -0700

We began the training for our trip to Utah with forty students. Some dropped out for different reasons, but a common theme was they thought we were going to “beat up on Mormons.” I’ve never received criticism from Christians for our mission trips to Berkeley where we engage atheists and agnostics, but a decent number of Christians felt we shouldn’t be going on a mission trip to Utah. Why is this? I’d love to know what some of you think.

The conclusion I’ve come to is that many Christians don’t fully understand the depravity of man. Mormons are nice, well-meaning people who believe in family values. So, who are we to try and convert them? Isn’t this intolerant? It seems to me that we confuse the difference between goodness and niceness. I’ve certainly done this many times in my own life. Most Mormons are certainly nice, but does that mean they are good? According to Isaiah 64:6, “All of our righteous deeds are like filthy garments.” Mormons are just as sinful and in desperate need of God’s grace as anyone else (myself included).

Paul said, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:10-18).

I’ve always been intrigued by Mormonism, but this trip really broke my heart for the Mormon people. I can honestly say that I love Mormons and pray for their salvation. They need Jesus just as much as anyone else. And God passionately desires to be in relationship with them. I stood outside the BYU library and thought of Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:37. After harshly criticizing the Jewish leaders for their hypocrisy and blindness, Jesus says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling

I was thrilled this week that so many youth were willing to step out of their comfort zones and converse with Mormons. Will you?