Backtracking...... To the Mormon ward

The first week here in Philly marked starting Perspectives and also the first trip to the home of a different religion. The first was Mormonism. I am just going to write about our experience we had as we learned about the Mormon religion and actually went to a Mormon ward to have some interaction with Mormon followers. 

I knew very little about the Mormon religion before this summer. I knew it was a spin off of regular Christianity but I didn't know what it all entailed. 

We had a session of about an hour or two where our leaders taught us about Mormon beliefs and theology. This was really instructive, but, as we were taught I became more and more confused by the Mormon belief system. There are so many similarities to what I hold true to, but on top of those principals, Joseph Smith (founder of the Mormon religion) added so many things that don't make any sense at all. The entire ideology of their faith is skewed. They believe that God was once a human person that had lived life in just the right manner to get to the highest level of the tiers in the after-life. It is really confusing. I read over the info sheets we got so many times. 

There are a lot of intricate in's and out's but when it all boils down to it, I found that Mormonism completely negates what Jesus did on the cross for us all. They believe that no matter what, a person will be saved, good or bad, because God is loving. But, the Bible clearly tells us that the wages of sin is death. They have taken away the glorious redemption we obtain from putting our lives in Christ. 

While we were at the Mormon ward we had the chance to break up into groups of 3 or 4 to just ask questions of some Mormon followers. It was eery. Everything they said to us seemed rehearsed and half-hearted. There was no joy or love! They claimed that the main goal of their life, their sole purpose in life was to be happy. :0 I was shocked. They completely threw out the entire aspect of giving God glory and praise. 

The Mormon ward shook me to my core. Here there were people just like me. They talked like me, they looked like me, they even believed in the same man as me. Even so, they were so far off. When they were explaining their beliefs to me I wanted to be mad and just yell, "YOU ARE CRAZY!" But I didn't, instead it broke my heart. God loves these people with all He is. We are called to do the same. These people are lost and are mired in darkness. It was hard to stomach.

After going through this time, I was just empowered to pray for the Mormon people. I encourage you to pray for them as well. They are so important to God's Kingdom and we are called to love them as Christ loves them. I know this was a scattered and confusing post, but if you ever want to get more information please talk to me in person, I can probably divulge a lot more information that way. =) 

So pray for these people, and pray for me as I continue to gain a heart for all of God's people!

Much love.