Jeff Baran's latest creation, right in time for Halloween!
Jeff Baran's latest creation, right in time for Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update on dissertation

I finished the initial draft of my dissertation for my PhD. I should be getting more input from my prof soon for more rework, but at least it is winding down! Please pray that I'll get through this quickly and be able to graduate come May! My prof gave this encouragement to me that I'm so thankful for... "Thanks for your thoughtful and deep study-it is inspiring". The title is "A traditional Christian apologetic examination of perennial racism within Mormonism" and it's through North-West University, South Africa.

LDS missionaries

Missionary alert! Just had another brief interaction with a couple guy missionaries at Walmart. One said that he had talked to me before. The other did most of the talking. He asked if I was a member. I told him I wasn't, but am a born-again Christian. My wife used to be LDS, and I have a ministry that reaches out to LDS, and that I run JosephLied.com. He asked if I pray. I told him, "Of course, I just said I'm a born-again Christian and I pray all the time. I'm praying right now." He asked if I prayed if the Church is true. I said, "Yes, and God told me that Joseph Smith was a false prophet. Further, God has given a couple tests for being a prophet of God, and Smith failed those tests. He taught a false god (Deut. 13:1-5) and he taught that which God never commanded or foretold (Deut. 18:20-2). Smith taught that God was an exalted man, and that implies he is of a particular race. That implies racism since God is obviously better than any other race." Then I shared with them how for Christians, Jews, and even Muslims, God isn't a man of any sort at all. So he can't have a particular human race. He's the Creator of everything outside himself.


The missionary simply replied, "God rejects racism and loves all his children. But we really have to go." So the missionary shook my hand and started walking away. I told them, "Remember to check out JosephLied.com sometime. Take care."


We need your partnership

If you’re looking for ways to store up for yourself treasures in heaven (Matt. 6:19-20), may I suggest investing in our ministry? We not only need your prayers, but we need your financial partnership as well. Keep in mind that your investment is not simply for us, but for the lives of others we reach with the gospel. The standard way to financially invest is by writing a tax-deductible check to Courageous Christians United (CCU). For more information on various ways to invest in this ministry, including online giving, please see our “Invest” page on our sites. If you’re not a partner and are blessed by these monthly updates, please join our team and let us know soon. We’d love to be your missionaries here in Utah. Many thanks to those of you who hold us up in prayer and/or in your financial giving!

Be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:6)!

Rob Sivulka
President, Courageous Christians United
P.O. Box 1374
West Jordan, UT 84088
(801) 792-6373
MormonInfo.org
MeetTheExMormons.org
JWinfo.org
MuhammadLied.Info
AbortionIsMurder.Info


Mailbag

We're praying for you, Rob. May God richly bless you and anoint you. We appreciate you being God's champion.
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Wishing you the best. As someone reminded me when I was writing my dissertation, there's a reason it is called a "terminal degree" bc it nearly kills you!
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Wow, bold, clear, direct, and gutsy!! Props to you, my brother. I loved, "But we really have to go." perennial racism??

[I replied:] 1) They're still teaching the Almighty is a White man, 2) it sure seems their Scriptures still teach this and other racism, 3) their revelators unquestionably have taught racism, 4) they continue to have cultural racism like most of their members thinking the priesthood ban originated from God, and because their revelators have and continue to teach these prior points, 5) it points to their Church and revelators not being of God.

1978 certainly didn't take care of all their racism. They needed the Gospel Topics Essay on Race and the Priesthood in 2013 to clear some things up. However, most LDS have never read that Essay. And even if they have, they still hold the Almighty to be an exalted White man and think their revelators are still prophets of God even though the Church has dismissed their past revelators' racism as mere "theories".

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Incremental policies say it is OK to kill some children therefore being unjust.

[I replied:] That's a straw man to say it's OK. It depends on the pro-lifer. Not all pro-lifers think the same here. Some may think exceptions should always be in place. Others, like myself, say that unjust laws need to be chipped away at so that eventually they'll be able to do away with them altogether. That's not an immediate-ist position since at this point, I realize I can't have all what I want. However, if I can simply get 95% of lives saved rather than zero lives saved, then it is just to implement that given the circumstances. Ideally, it would be great to pass a law to ban all, but that's not the world we live in right now. Having said that, though, if I was given the opportunity to pass this law in LA, I'd do it. For me, the goal is still the same--abolition.

[He replied:] More babies have been murdered in the womb since the abolishing of Roe vs Wade and women in every state can order abortion pills through the mail. Also there is no strawman arguement in my arguement. I am talking about pro-life organizations that run the "pro-life" position. You're average "pro-lifer" doesn't follow the issue enough to know that there is another option which is abolitionism and most normies don't know that "pro-life" fights against laws that will actually make abortion unthinkable because the mother will be tried for murder if she actually breaks the law and murders her child. The "pro-life" incrementalist position is hypocritical, logically incoherent, and impotent in the ending of abortion in this country.

[I replied:] prolife organizations are all over the map. It is a straw man, since I'm an incrementalist and I'm not OK with killing babies. However, I'm OK with saving the most I can in the fallen world we live and if that means I pass legislation that would get more saved then I do it and never content until all are saved.


The impotent and incoherent position seems to be if one can't save all babies, then he won't bother voting for a bill that would save more rather than none. He won't bother voting for a candidate who isn't an immediate-ist, but would significantly fight to save more lives. The immediate-ist won't win in getting all saved, so he picks up his marbles and goes home, thereby missing out on doing any good that may be done in the political arena. Sure, he can do good outside that, but if he wants to stay in that arena in attempting to do some good, then he'll have to get his hands dirty.

 

Nonetheless, this thread isn't about the immediate or intermediate abolitionist positions. It's about how KH is so bad she gets an F and she even voted for letting babies die after botched abortions. As such, you're hijacking this thread to assert your own hobby horse.


[He replied:] Wow. Supporting the position that abortion is murder and children murdered in the womb deserve the same protection as every other human being is a "hobby horse"? Crazy position for a "pro-lifer" to take. My position is the "pro-life" side is no better than Kamala Harris. That's 100% on message with the OP.

[I replied:] You're taking me out of context. Again, the OP was about KH's position. You came on here and immediately took issue with all incrementalists. That's changing the subject and what I'm calling a hobby horse.

Claiming any prolife position is no better than KH is myopic. I don't know any prolifer that is for the exception of allowing babies to die after a botched abortion. BTW, Trump is an incrementalist and you're supporting him.


[He replied:] You got me. Kuddos.

[I replied:] Mythical Lewis to mythical President Kennedy: "We're trying to find the truth, not put each other down. ...The point is not for *me*, Jack, but for truth. The whole point of debating, for me, is not for me or you to win but for truth to win; not to see *who's* true but to see *what's* true. In fact, I won't 'argue away' unless you're with me on this." (Peter Kreeft, Between heaven & hell: A dialog somewhere beyond death with John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley, 23 & 34)


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Dave A. says... (Reply)
"Love the Peter Kreeft reference ... I think I found my next book to read! :-)" (10/22/24)