BUT I LOVE MORMONS!!! Part 1

Nothing bothers me more than being accused of something that I'm not doing. Yes, maybe I don't always handle things in the most mature way and i need to grow up and sticks and stones may break my bones. But give me a little bit of a break. God himself even thinks that "bearing false witness against your neighbor" is bad enough that he put it in the ten commandments. But sometimes the things that bother us are exactly what we need. Let me share with you what i mean.

I moved to Savannah, Georgia over 2 and a half years ago. When i first got to work i met this soldier who was to work with me. She asked about my tattoos and what they meant. I told her that 80 percent of the art told the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ and other major biblical concepts. The other 20 percent were of things i loved like my wife, my son, favorite childhood t.v. show (thundercats hooooooooo) ect. She told me that she was Mormon and asked what made me get tattoos like that. I told her i got them "so that people would ask me what my tattoos were about. And then while i explain the tats, it gives me the chance to tell them about Jesus." She nodded with an odd look on her face, so i asked her if i could tell her about the Gospel. She reminded me that she was Mormon, and that she already knew about Jesus and needed no such information. So i politely asked if she would be willing to hear why i believe that her Jesus is not the same as my Jesus, and if i could show her some evidence that she has believed in a false gospel, and that her church was not "The True Church" that it claims to be. As much as people love to hear me say that to them, she declined. I wasn't surprised to hear that considering I have spent the last decade of my life conversing with Mormon elders, bishops, missionaries, temple workers, and even ran into President Gordon Hinckley in Phoenix at Babies R US before his death!!!So I am used to rejection. What did surprise me was her next statement. She said to me " I don't care if you can prove every prophecy of Joseph Smith wrong, or prove that he made it all up. It is what makes me happy and nothing could ever make me not believe in the church." I was extremely thrown off by it. Normally i just get the usual "why are you anti- Mormon?" questions. But this was different. While impressed with her extreme dedication to the church, i was at a loss about how to deal with it. What would make someone say something like that??? I decided to show her respect and withdrew my request.


Not much later that afternoon she confronted me and said " I thought Christians were supposed to be loving." I agreed that we are supposed to be. Then she said " its not loving for you to try to convert me to your religion." I did not feel the need to debate about it for the sake of keeping the peace. I was in uniform and still needed to be respectful. But I wonder however, if she was a stranger to me, and i rode to her house on a bicycle with another member of my church, and then knocked on her door and attempted to share my beliefs with her, was that the "loving" way to do it. I don't mean to be offensive, but lets be fair.......anyways, i never brought it up again.



About a year passed and the girl and i actually became pretty good friends. We ended up deploying to Iraq together in 2008. We first went to Kuwait and every Sunday she wanted to go to church so she could participate in sacrament, and she asked me if i would go with her. Odd, but I agreed and went as often as she needed me to. I never once challenged anything or attempted a conversation about her church. I just sat and listened. We ended up having rooms next to each other in Iraq and talked quite often. She had some things in common with my wife, so we got along very well.


Fortunately for me I was sent home early from Iraq due to an injury, and came home to my family. Nine and a half months later, my company came home from Iraq. She came to my house a few times and got to know my wife during a couple "get togethers" we had, and things were going well. Then out of the blue one day she calls me and says " I want to have a religious discussion with you." WOW. I couldn't believe it. I felt like Ed McMahon just knocked on my door.


There was so much i was ready to share. But where to begin??? Where else, but the Word of God, and the law of non contradiction...


2 Timothy 3:16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;


I believe the Bible is scripture and the Book of Mormon is not. But Its one thing to make accusations and its another thing to prove it!!!


To be continued..............................................