As some of you have noticed for the past few days, our site has been down, at one point for even twelve continuous hours. Various problems seem to persist, so sometime this week I am moving all of MRM’s stuff to a new host. So if we experience some more cyber-hiccups, you’ll know why.
Mormon Coffee is the official blog of Mormonism Research Ministry.
Christ is the True Temple, a sermon by Matt Haney
Phil Wickham's new album, "singalong", is available for free download
ABC News notes an important LDS anniversary while the Mormon Church keeps a low profile. Watch the video report for the full story.
Mormon John Nilsson questions the foundational Mormon stories of priesthood bestowal
"[T]rue learning increases both knowledge and mystery. The more knowledge we have of God from the Bible, the more mysteries we apprehend. The benefit of increasing mystery this way (rather than by means of preserving ignorance) is that what we do know gives direction to what we don’t know." (>>)
Just to let you know, I will be moving as well. I have discovered that although you profess to encourage dialog, it’s more about controlling it. Turning off comments on threads when fellow Christians are asked tough questions, limiting the number of posts claiming its to encourage others to get involved, unwillingness to answer direct questions, etc. How does that encourage dialog? So while it has been very insightful as to the truth about what you are doing here, and there have been some interesting views into others beliefs, I will not continue to waste time and energy posting here. I know, you are all disappointed. But the constant going around of trying to correct your slanted views of my faith does nothing for me, nor for you. I walk away frustrated rather than enlightened, feeling verbally abused apposed to “loved”, and wanting so bad for you to see and accept truth. But I have realized none of this will happen.
Thanks for the great discussions. God bless.
Chuck5000,
It will be unfortunate to see you go and I will continue to pray to God for you that He might grant you repentance from your idolatry and blaspheme, that you might come to know the God who saves and glorifies(exalts) men (Romans 8:30) “not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:5-7), and by which men are seated “with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6-7)
Lautensack
Oh my goodness Aaron,
Did you sneak into my house without my knowledge to get that photo? It looks just like my garage.
Farewell, Chuck. You’re always welcome back. You have generally been treated respectfully, you have received much of the center of attention from Christian commenters, and you have had quite an opportunity to present your own views, so I have a hard time sympathizing with your complaints. Neither do I sympathize with ad hoc Mormonism that disregards the authoritative words of Mormon leaders. But that said, I’ve enjoyed your participation here, and you will be missed.
If you ever want to do a live audio conversation over Skype, my username is aaronshaf.
Grace and peace,
Aaron
Chuck, like the others, it will be sad to see you move on. But before you criticize us for any one sidedness, I ask you to consider your claim we present all lies, and your determination to correct our views.
As I have told you before, we make our conclusions based on what is presented to us. We do not get these views from a vacuum, as you make it seem.
I wish you the best, and hope that if nothing else you see now that our views are solid and come from somewhere. Maybe you’ll use that to strengthen your position, or maybe, just maybe, you will begin to see the truth of the gospel.
Anyway, Godspeed.
Hay Chuck,
Sorry to see you go. You gave me my greatest “ah-ha, lightbulb, insight” moments into the Mormon thought process. I was reading a posting out on “The Mormon Curtain” today regarding Mormon culture and the difficulty many have dealing with pointed discussion; seeing it as negative and hostile. In fact, the poster said that sharp discussion is discouraged as being negative within Mormonism. This came from a Mormon. I don’t know about the observation, but I found it instructive.