“I would like to think the best, and think that maybe [Richard Mouw] does want to see a major change in the Mormon Church. If that’s the case though, he’s going about it all wrong. But it does go along with… a friend of mine who is a professor back in the Midwest has said that usually if you’re going to have a dialog in this kind of capacity with the Mormon Church… he called it ‘pander-slander.’ You have to pander to the Mormons by slandering your own brethren. And sadly, Dr. Mouw has certainly fit that pattern. I don’t think that Dr. Mouw needs to apologize to the churches and ministries here in Utah. He needs to repent. He really does. That is how serious I’m taking this. He has gone over-the-top in his accusations. And he has in fact… when he accuses us of bearing false witness against the Mormons — I’m sorry, but Dr. Mouw has bore false witness against his fellow brethren. And because of that he needs to repent. And I wish he would, because he is not helping, like I say, evangelism among the Mormons when Christians think, ‘Well, I don’t really need to, because it doesn’t sound like it’s that bad.’ But he also gives, sadly, the sincere Mormon person a false sense of security into thinking that, ‘Well, there’s nothing all that major wrong. And I can hold onto some of my quirky little bits of Mormonism and still be OK.’ No, it’s much more serious than that. And unfortunately Dr. Mouw seems to downplay the significance. It saddens me, it really does… I might sound upset but I’m saddened because I’m seeing how this is affecting the Mormon people as well as Christians. I don’t think Dr. Mouw is the one you should be listening to on this subject. I just don’t. And I’d love to debate him if he wants to. I’ll be glad to meet with him and we can discuss these issues publicly. Because it really needs to be talked about.” (Janet Mefferd show, 7/24/2012)
Listen to the whole thing here.
See also
- Are “we evangelicals” guilty of bearing false witness when it comes to explaining Mormon doctrine?
- New Mormon manual promotes doctrine that “has no functioning place” in present day Mormonism
Viewpoint on Mormonism series (MP3s)
I was so happy to see this article posted, and agree 100 percent. Good job for saying this.
Aaron, this type of thing is’nt new . It seems there is always some well known christian Pastor ,
teacher, politician , Prof. that takes it upon themselves to straighten the christian community
out on how they try and minister to a certain group that needs the true gospel. Mormons who
have little success in defending their faith are always looking for this type of individual in an
attempt to bolster their position etc. It’s unfortunate that this happens but we should expect
it. What I find interesting is that it seems Mormons are leaving in such numbers the last several
years because of what they’ve found out about certain doctrines which they find troubling , this
as caused them to loose confidence in their leaders . These Mormons might have been impressed
once with the behavior of high profile non-LDS like Mr Mouw to come to bat for them , but his
antics , while making it more difficult for us to minister to the Mormon people and also warn the
Body of Christ about Mormonism, is not going to aid the desires of Mormon hierarchy as much
as they would like. I hope Mr Mouw will change his behavior , and that could start with an
apology as Bill suggests .
Mr Mouw feels that christians have treated Mormons unfairly and have born false witness
against them ? Does he ever give any specifics ? This is a serious charge I would hope he
could be specific in pointing out who has been guilty and how . Does he want anyone trying
to reach out to the Mormon people and share with them the dangers of following false prophets ?
Should we take Jesus’ warning in Matt.7:15; 24:11 seriously today ? Why ?
This was an especially good interview. It would be one thing for Mouw to simply adopt a congenial approach toward Latter-day Saints while genuinely bearing witness to them. But Mouw has long gone beyond that. He adopts his own interpretation of BYU professors’ remodeling of LDS teaching as the up-and-coming norm and disses any who don’t do the same. That’s unfair to Christians who rightly take other approaches, and it’s even unfair to Mormons who don’t fit that mold, both past and present. While it’s probably true that our Christian ministries need to do more work on crafting a fair and responsible critique of ‘neo-orthodox’ Mormonism on its own terms, it’s also true that Mormon revisionists need to do a better job at trying to justify their projects in light of a robust view of prophetic authority, and it’s furthermore true that we need to adopt latitude and charity all around – a kind that Mouw’s unrepentant false witness patently lacks.