Conversation With a Pastor (Part 5)

After having received his previous two messages I ended up writing a fairly lengthy one back.  
________
Pastor S,

I am glad to hear that you have grown as a follower of God in the last 
several years. That is always my hope for those who have faith in Jesus 
Christ. We must always press forward with a steadfast faith in Christ and 
keep his commandments in order that we may bless others and find true 
happiness.

I'm glad that you have looked over the document I sent you. For fairness 
sake I will tell you that I never liked the line "can ensure the salvation 
of its members" in my paper because that is not what I believe a church 
does. I believe salvation comes through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, 
however my experience in Mississippi was that many people believe that a 
particular faith (i.e. the Baptist Faith or the Pentecostal Faith) is what 
ensures their salvation. This document was not written specifically for you 
but rather to all who profess to believe the in the Bible.

Before I write any further I want you to know that one of the main reasons I 
decided to write to you at all is because I felt it was my duty to do so. 
See, while I served in the Columbia and Tylertown areas I had a 
responsibility to testify of Jesus Christ and of his restored gospel upon 
the earth. When I had occasion to meet you in person I was in a rush and 
was not able to speak to you at length. It has always bothered me that this 
was the case. Seeing how you are one of the great spiritual leaders of the 
area I was always bothered that I was not able to bear my testimony of Jesus 
Christ to you. I feel as though I short-changed both myself and you, and so 
I want to do so now.

I have a testimony of Jesus Christ and I know that he is the son of the 
everlasting God. I know that he came to the earth, that he suffered and 
died for my pains and sins and that he was resurrected. I know that he 
lives today. I know that he has revealed himself to prophets in our day and 
that he leads the work that I spent two years of my life teaching. If it 
were not for him then all life would be wasted. Without him we would never 
have the opportunity to repent and find forgiveness of our sins and without 
him there would be no resurrection from death. I owe all I have and all I 
am to him, and I love him with all my heart. He is my friend and he is my 
Savior.

I am saddened to see that you feel negatively about my faith, however I am 
not angry with you for it. I believe that all men and women have the right 
to believe in what they want to believe, and worship how they want to 
worship, and it is never right to force anyone into principles that they do 
not believe simply because we disagree with them. I did not write to you 
expecting that you would be converted to my faith or to make you believe 
exactly what I believe. That was not my goal. My intention was to let you 
know of my testimony of Jesus Christ, because I was never able to do so when 
I met you. I also wanted you to know that Mormons are not evil and that we 
do not seek to force our religion on anyone. We ask people to bring all the 
good and true principles that they have and then see if we can add to them. 
We never ask anyone to deny the truth they already have. To be fair, some 
of us are a bit overzealous and forceful at times, however you by your own 
admission know that people are not perfect. We are simply doing the best we 
have with the knowledge we have, and nobody should be faulted for being too 
faithful.

Since you were able to figure out which faith I belong to based solely on 
the Bible references I sent you, I am going to pass on expounding on the 
different topics you asked about at this time. My guess is you probably 
know what I believe. Honestly, the document I sent you answers all of your 
questions to some degree. After studying that, if you still have questions, 
I would be happy to answer them.

For now I will bid you farewell. I ask that you keep me in your prayers and 
I will also keep you in mine.

Sincerely,

Hal Waldram
________

I tried to be a civil as possibly but I did not want to answer every question he had (at least not in its entirety) because I was pretty sure he knew my beliefs and was simply looking for a way to get me to say something amiss.  I hope this wasn't the case, but I always work on the side of caution in cases like this.  

I also sent him the following video in the next message to him.  I sent him a YouTube link just in case he was worried about going to an official LDS website.  I figured this video would provide the LDS outlook on the nature of God the Father and Jesus Christ better than any way I could explain it.  Elder Holland has a profound way with words and speaks with the Spirit every time he speaks in a meeting.  

Conversation With a Pastor (Part 4)

After I sent my original email, I did not hear back from him until later in the afternoon the next day.  Frankly, I was surprised that I received a response at all.  However, I didn't tell him I am a Mormon or that I was mad specifically at what he said about my church, and his reaction was interesting.  At first (before he knew which faith I belong to) he was very kind and apologetic for ever hurting my feelings.  Here is the message.  
_________

Mr. Waldram,

I apologize, but I do not remember you. I am not sure of what teaching you are referring to. However, it seems you have very strong feelings regarding the teaching. I will read over the document you sent. I do not remember shrinking back from any teaching I have taught. Also, I do not remember any cowardly actions that I am guilty of... perhaps you could refresh my memory. I am not infalliable but I am ready to defend any teaching in my past to you or anyone else. I look forward to hearing more from you and maybe meeting you again.

B S

_________

I was very happy at his response.  Perhaps he had changed.  Perhaps he was more accepting of other faiths.  However, before I could respond again he wrote me back with the following email.  He had figured out I was a Mormon.

_________

Mr. Waldram,

I read the document you composed. I respect the work you put into the compilation and I will spend some more time reading it. Earlier I questioned which teaching you were refeering to, but no question remains. I deduced you were referring to the series I taught regarding mormonism. You were exactly right when you wrote of my growth as a man fooolowing God. I thank God that I have and continue to grow as I am sure you have as well. I do apologize for some of the personal comments that I made in my humanity. However, I do not agree with the doctrines and or teaching of mormonism. I will continue to teach the dangers and deceptions of the mormons.

If you would expound upon the mormon doctrine of the diety of Jesus Christ and I would enjoy learning more about baptism by proxy, eternal marriage, and mormon eschatology among other aspects of mormonism. I respect your freedom to believe how you want, but please respect my freedom to raise questions about those beliefs. I do not apologize for that. I look forward and welcome continued response on your behalf.

I do have many major biblical and theological disagreements with you document. I will write of just one at present. Your line that the church "can ensure the salvation of its members" is not in line with biblical teaching. I do not believe the Bible teaches that any church can ensure salvation of its members. However, I believe with all my heart that Jesus Christ can ensure salvation of his body, the Church. I choose to leave those assurances up to Jesus.

Thank you,

B

_______

I find it very amusing that someone who claims that Mormons do not believe in the Bible was able to determine that I am, in fact, a Mormon based solely on the Bible verses that I sent to him.  Perhaps our faith in the Bible is more widely known than people let on.  

Conversation With a Pastor (Part 3)

I have provided quite a thorough background to this story in the last two posts that I have written about it.  Now I feel like it is time to share what was actually said between myself and the pastor.  I want it to be known that I have no issue with what someone wants to believe, so long as they are respectful about it and do not harm someone else while doing so.  The 11th Article of Faith of my church states,

"We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may."

I thoroughly believe in this statement and do my best to follow it.  However, in relation to this pastor, please remember that he said some pretty terrible things about me and my faith.  He even suggested that we be "run out of town with sticks."  This, to me, is a threat of violence and as such grants him no right to do or say what he did.  Reasons like these have kept this in my mind all of these years and I think it is why I decided to finally contact him.  I do not know why I decided to contact him, or even what I was thinking of prior to doing so, but I do know that I felt as though it was my duty to bear my witness to him that what I believe is true and that what he said about us was wrong.  

In contacting him, and in knowing that he would ignore anything I said if I told her I were a Mormon right off the bat, I decided to say which church I belonged to.  I simply submitted this email and the document that I had prepared.  I also tried to be as pleasant as possible, giving him the benefit of the doubt (all things considered).  

Here is the first email I sent to him.  His response will follow in a later post.  
_____

B,

Several years ago I lived in Columbia Mississippi and had occasion to meet you once or twice. You probably wouldn't remember me but I remember you. It is not always easy to remember what a person says but it is very easy to remember how a person made you feel. Unfortunately, you didn't make me feel that good, and it was mostly because of what you taught and how you taught it. 

However, The Lord taught us to love our neighbors and so I have tried to expand that feeling in myself towards you. Actually, during the times you made me feel bad I still had love for you, but it has grown now. It has grown with an understanding that you were probably doing your best to teach the truth to the best of your ability with the light and knowledge you currently possess. 

I hope the best for you but I also pray that your heart will be open to receive more truth. It is very easy to interpret (or misinterpret) Gods word in many instances, but things that are true never change. Truth isn't subject to opinion. Truth is reason and truth is eternal. 

With this in mind I have compiled many references from the Bible for your consideration. I know that you will fully believe some of these things and some you will utterly reject, yet all are from the same bible and all are valid and true principles.  I would ask that you keep an open mind as you read them. 

My request to you is that you will not shut out anyone, or any church, that believes in things differently from you. All Christians should believe the things in this document, if they profess to follow the bible that is.  Please do not tear down other faiths because of what they teach. I realize your "ministry" is also your livelihood but that doesn't give you the right to deny people a belief in something or to condemn them for not following your faith. It seems strange that someone who professes to follow God and seek truth would deny someone that same privilege simply because it would cost you membership and income. It also seems cowardly to speak harsh words against a faith over the radio or pulpit while utterly shrinking to confront it when you face it in person. I hope that you are better than that now. A follower of Jesus Christ should not be a coward but should be willing to give an answer to those who ask them about their faith. 

I hope this document, if nothing else, will prove to be a useful study tool for you.  However, my wish is that it will open your mind to further light and truth.  If you have questions or comments I would be happy to answer you back. Also, if my words have offended you then I'm sorry, nevertheless they needed to be said.  If fortune favors us both, and you have been enlightened by this, then I will consider that I have gained a brother. I hope it is the latter. 

Best regards,

Hal Waldram

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You can read my document in eBook form at the link below.

The True Church of Jesus Christ

The True Church of Jesus Christ - eBook

My hand writing isn't that easy to read.  That is why I decided to make this into a book.

While serving as an LDS missionary in Mississippi during 2006, I began working on a document dealing with the teachings in the Bible (specifically the King James Version of the Bible).  I originally titled it "29 Points of the True Church."  My main reasoning for writing it was that I wanted to have a reference guide available when dealing with people who accused my church and myself of not believing in or following the teachings of the Bible.  I found it much easier to have a clearly organized document available to turn to rather than having to frantically look through my poorly written (and disorganized) notes.  

This guide is unique in the fact that it uses only the Bible as the supporting work for the doctrines.  Many LDS reference guides utilize all of the Church's Standard Works (The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price) and, while they are useful in many circumstances, the unique situation I was in, of living in the Bible Belt, made me realize I needed something that used only the Bible to back up my claims.  Members of other Christian churches aren't too keen on believing other types of scriptures than the Bible, especially if their pastors or preachers are against them.  

So, with this in mind, I worked on creating a document that would be useful for both myself and for others of my faith who were trying to defend their belief in the Bible.  I gave my early drafts of the work to other missionaries and also to converts to the LDS faith.  Many of those converts have reported that the document has helped them silence critics of their faith by showing them that Mormons really do follow the teachings in the Bible.  

By early 2007 I felt that I had completed the document, having spent around 10 months working on it.  However, as time went by, I felt the need to revise some of the wording and formatting to bring more clarity and readability to it.  I have now released it as an eBook through Amazon and it is now available to read on any Kindle device, including Android devices, iPhones and iPads.  Here is the link.
                                                                    

While it is an eBook, it does not necessarily read like a book or a novel.  It is a study and reference guide and contains several explanations on different passages of scripture.  It is very easy to follow and has an index page so that the reader may quickly jump to a certain section.  

Although I am a Mormon, this book is not endorsed by the Mormon Church.  It is also not an official declaration or document of the church but is simply a compilation of my ideas and findings.  With that being said, I feel that the Latter-day Saint will find great value in using this book.  I also feel that any non-mormon person who is trying to study the Bible will find use of it as there are no references to anything besides the Bible.  I also hope it can be used as a faith building device for any seeker of truth and light.