The HBO series Band of Brothers, produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, was released some years ago in a six-DVD box set.  I own it and I NEVER go camping/fly fishing without it and my Dell notebook for evening entertainment.  Part 9 in the ten-part series is titled “Why We Fight” and is a sobering glimpse into the horrors of the Holocaust.  Note that “Why We Fight” is not a question; it is a declaration.  In the same vein, I titled this month’s blog “Why We Equip” to declare the ripple effect of ministry.  This particularly relates to the third prong of the STS mission to equip biblical Christians to share and defend the gospel of salvation with Latter-day Saints.

Tyler McIntyre (a.k.a. “TMAK”), a former Christian Academy of Louisville (CAL) missionary to Mormons at BYU-Idaho and our first A.I.M. intern, recently called to tell me about how he and Alex Stotts, another former CAL missionary, took the good fight of the faith to some LDS missionaries in their home town of Louisville, Kentucky.  Few experiences in my mission work are as gratifying to hear about as the one about which Tyler recounts below.

Charis kai eirene (Grace and peace), Mike

Tyler wrote:

Alex Stotts and I (Tyler McIntyre) were relaxing at a park in Louisville, KY.  We decided to leave and venture to my house to grab some lunch.  On the way there, we spotted two LDS missionaries on bicycles riding down the street.  Strange as it seemed, we followed them back to their apartment, waited outside for a few minutes, and then gained the courage to finally knock on their door.  Elder Jones answered the door, and we asked if we could speak with him about the Gospel.  He said yes and we gave him and his companion some time to redress and gather their materials.

After 15 minutes, Elder Jones and Elder Smith came out and led us to the pool house where we sat outside on the patio.  We first went around the table and the four of us exchanged our testimonies of how we individually came to our faith in Christ.  Elder Jones was a 5^th-generation Mormon, and Elder Smith was a 3^rd-generation Mormon.  They were both nearly finished with their 2-year missions, and were actually leaving Louisville the following day!

We began with the Gospel, asking them each how they believed one is saved (according to the Book of Mormon).  They said that repentance, faith in Christ, partaking of the sacraments, and living a good life were parts of the doctrine of salvation.  We then asked them what 2 Nephi 25:23 meant to them when it says that we are saved "after all we can do."  They both took “the majority" stance and said that it meant we were to try as hard as we could and then Christ makes up the rest.

We then pointed out that that was distinctly different from what we read in biblical revelation.  We took them to Romans 4, where Paul speaks of Christ's salvation being a free gift that cannot be earned or kept by merit, and that “the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness” (v. 5 NIV).  They, of course, then asked if that meant someone could be saved and then go out and kill/rape/harm people and do evil and maintain their salvation.  We told them the answer to that is both yes and no.  Yes it is possible that we may be saved while still doing evil (since salvation is not based on works), BUT no it is not likely we were ever truly saved if we claim to be in Christ, completely free by the grace of God from the judgment that sin brings, and yet live a life of heinous debauchery.  In other words, the claim of faith in Christ made with our mouth never actually made it to our heart.

They continued to disagree, bringing up James 2:17 and a few other verses seeming to say we must work to earn our salvation.  Stotts and I, being somewhat rusty after not having spoken with LDS in a long while, had a challenging time helping these missionaries understand that our works unto salvation are nothing more than proof to ourselves and others that our claim of faith in Christ is genuine, not “lip service” and NOT required for salvation.  We then went into a long, but somewhat productive discussion on the origin of our gospel authority.  We discussed prophets, prophecies, revelation, and references for all.  We told them that it was good to discuss these things, but in the end what mattered most was that the prophets who speak today must not contradict what has already been revealed, and we told them that we believed that the differences between the LDS gospel and the biblical Gospel were matters of life and death. 

Now, these missionaries were very intelligent, so please do not assume we won the battle.  I must hand it to them, for their composure was the most excellent of all the missionaries I had ever encountered.  The conversation never once got heated, which honestly made it incredibly difficult to debate with them.  It made their arguments seem more plausible and it was much easier to follow their “rabbit trails” (such as authority and priesthood).  We spent a good amount of time with them (2-3 hours) and hopefully the Holy Spirit has at least gotten them to question their doctrine.  Overall it was one of the best discussions with missionaries I ever had.

TMAK