The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

The right way and the wrong way...

This past weekend was the mormon semiannual general conference, where mormons worldwide are subjected to hours of mindnumbing talks by their geriatric leaders. As sure as general conference happening is the advent of a small group of screaming street "preachers". While they were still there this weekend, another, smaller group of more loving proselytizers was on hand (click here for article).

I liked this quote especially: "LDS Church members seemed to like the effort by Standing Together. "Thank you," 19-year-old Holly Clark, a Mormon, told a group member during a midday conference break. "I really appreciate what you're doing." We don't serve Christ by driving people away and insulting them. To reach mormons we have to get past the screaming and get into loving them. They will not like what we have to say and what they will find. As a former mormon, I now how difficult facing the truth can be. The approach of the screechers drives people away from having a chance to hear the message in the Bible, a message that needs no "latter day prophet" to interpret.

Part of the mormon psyche is that all mormons are nice people and evangelicals are some awful tribe of false worshippers. We have done a lot to encourage this with the screech "preachers" at general conferences and with books like The Godmakers by Ed Decker. There is plenty wrong with mormonism but one of the first steps is to let them know that Christians by and large are a loving people. It is because we love them that we point out the falsehoods of mormonism and the Truth in the Bible.