Today I was visited by two Mormon missionaries. I rarely turn away a good theological debate. I debated a Muslim for over a year once (and lost). It was sad to listen to these two young men spouting the rhetoric that has been spoon fed them by the Mormon church. They get to present the arguments of other men, to complete strangers. They pay to spend two years of their life away from home for a faith they don't really know or understand. They think they are doing "God's will for them". I don't have have anything against being a missionary, but sending naive young men to spread the propaganda of a doctrine they barely are beginning to grasp is wrong.
If you see the guys on the bikes wearing dark pants and white dress shirts with ties, wish them well, cuz they are far from home.
I have been asked many times why I left the LDS church. I've come up with many answers over the years, but none of them quite got it right. But the answer is really quite simple.
Everyone has an ultimate authority. It's our starting place. Our presupposition (yeah, I know, big word). It is the place you eventually regress to. So why did I leave Mormonism? Because I have a presupposition that the Bible is the Holy and infallible Word of God. The LDS presupposition is that the LDS Prophet is the ultimate authority on earth. He trumps Scripture. My Ultimate Authority is the God of the Bible. And since a man can only have one master (or one truth), I left the church of my youth.
So the question is, what is your starting place? Your presupposition? Your ultimate authority? I don't need an answer. That question is for anyone who happens upon my banter to ask themselves.
