Tag: featured

Quitting the Mormon Church

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I recently saw a post shared on Facebook concerning the subject of Mormonism. Several years ago, a local newspaper in Utah had been publishing a series of apologetic articles encouraging people to leave the Mormonism, the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). This drew a response from an LDS member named Thomas Clark, who penned a letter entitled “Quitting the Mormon Church”. In his response, Mr. Clark explained the conditions under which he’d leave the Mormon Church and go elsewhere.

Temple

Since the Mr. Clark’s letter is rather long, I’ve provided an abridged version of it below, with the entire text at the bottom of this post for those who are interested. After the abridged version I will share a few thoughts concerning Mr Clark’s response and why, in my opinion, Mr Clark should in fact quit the LDS and join the Catholic Church…

Quitting the Mormon Church (Abridged)

I have been thinking of quitting the Mormon Church. Yes, if I can, I am going to get even with that church. As soon as I can find another church that teaches about the Gathering of the House of Israel; the return of the Ten Tribes and their mission; the return of the Jews to Palestine and why, and how they are going to build the temple; the building of temples and what to do with them; …the origin of the American Indian; …

Yes sir, as soon as I can find another church that teaches all that, or even half as much, I will say good-bye to this Mormon Church… It must be able to call, on a frosty day, some 5 or 6 thousand professors, students, lawyers, doctors, judges, policemen, businessmen, housewives and children to go and pick apples at 6 am…

Mr. Editor, could you help me find a church that teaches all that and more than hundreds of other doctrines and principles, which I have no room to mention here…

So, I repeat, if any one of the kind readers of this imperfect letter knows about another church that teaches and does as much for mankind as the Mormon Church, please let me know. And please do it soon, because my turn to go to the cannery is coming up… Do you think you can help me to find another church?

Thomas D. Clark

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PWJ: S2E28 – Bonus – “You don’t know Jack!”

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This episode is quite different from our usual Pints With Jack episodes. Rather than interviewing a scholar or discussing a chapter of Lewis’ work with Matt, I’m going to be reading an article I wrote which gives a rough outline of Lewis’ life.

S2E28: “You don’t know Jack!” (Download)

If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe manually, or any place where good podcasts can be found (iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, Stitcher, TuneIn, Overcast and Spotify).

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PWJ: S2E30 – AA – Justin Brierley

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Several times on Pints With Jack I have spoken about another podcast, “Unbelievable?”, hosted by Justin Brierley. Earlier in this Season I spoke about reading Justin’s book, remarking on the considerable number of C.S. Lewis quotations found throughout.

Following that episode, Justin and I connected on Twitter and I invited him onto the show to talk about C.S. Lewis, his faith, his podcast and his book.

S2E30: “After Hours” with Justin Brierley (Download)

If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe manually, or any place where good podcasts can be found (iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, Stitcher, TuneIn and Overcast).

Time Stamps

03:20 – Drink-of-the-week and quote-of-the-week.
04:44 – Justin’s faith journey
08:30 – What was the genesis of your show, Unbelievable?
12:08 – Who have been some of your most memorable guests?
13:37 – How do you stay so calm during the debates?!
17:07 – What motivated you to write your book?
19:11 – Why is God the best explanation of human existence?
25:05 – Why is God the best explanation of human value?
30:19 – Why is God the best explanation of human purpose?
35:03 – Why does materialism undermine reason?
39:25 – How can we come to understand who Jesus is through Lewis’ Trilemma?
42:45 – How can you defend the Resurrection with the “Minimal Facts” approach?
52:26 – What does it mean to live in the Christian story?
55:03 – Upcoming “Unbelievable?” Projects
58:55 – Competition Details

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The Lord of Time & Space

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tardisA few days ago I received this email:

Any chance you could write about miracles that involve time (if there are any). There are miracles of all types it seems, but I’ve never heard of a miracle that involved some manipulation of time. Just curious if perhaps you had.

The first example I thought was from the Book of Joshua where one reading of the text (Joshua 10) would suggest that time stood still while the Israelites won the battle.

The other example I thought of was that of “bilocation”. In miracles of bilocation, a person is seen in two different places at the same time. In fact, the patron Saint of this blog, St. Drogo, was reported to have bilocated.

The final miracle I thought of was the Eucharist since, through the words of consecration, the sacrifice of Jesus is made present on our altars.

These were the only three examples I could think of though. I guess the problem with miracles concerning time is that they’re kinda hard to keep track of!

Can anyone think of any other examples of miracles concerning time?

Camino inaccuracies

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The Way is a movie starring Martin Sheen about a man’s journey across Spain, walking the Camino. While I enjoyed it, there were a few inaccuracies I feel compelled to point out:

1. Rain

If this movie were accurate, there would need to be many more scenes of them walking in the rain.

2. Flies

At no point in the movie do we see the walkers getting irritated by or swatting away flies. Depending on the time of year that you walk the Camino, this is something you have to do quite a bit at certain points.

3. Popping blisters

There needs to be at least one scene where the group are gathered around looking at a blister on someone’s foot. By the end of the scene, that blister must be popped, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

4. Arguing about the relative merits on compeed

Following on from the above scene, there needs to be a sharp disagreement as to the relative merits of compeed.

5. Food

Food is a big part of the Camino. I’d have loved to have seen Sheen’s group gathered around a table more often sharing a meal. They could be discussing whether or not Spanish Red Wine should be considered medicine and why vegetables are so hard to find on the trail. I also think we should see them drinking orange juice and eating Napolitana, two staples of the Camino.

6. Miming

Refusing to learn Spanish, at least one character has to express their sleeping and dietary requirements to a hostel owner through the medium of mime.

The Epistle of Joy – Episode #12 (Video)

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In the previous episode we read all of Paul’s accolades and achievements. In today’s text he speaks about how he now views them since coming to Christ…

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. – Philippians 3:7-11

Here’s my reflection…

For an audio-only version of this video, please click here.

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Distinctions

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I saw this on Brandon Vogts‘ Facebook page this morning about the Chick-fil-A kerfuffle. I felt it needed to be shared…

With the recent Chick-fil-A controversy, I now realize modern man is almost incapable of distinguishing between these four things:

1. The difference between “Approval” and “Implicit Condemnation”.
Just because you support one thing doesn’t mean you’re viciously antagonist toward another (i.e. “anti-” the opposite.) If Dan Cathy supports traditional marriage between one man and one woman, that doesn’t mean he ipso facto “hates gay people” or is “anti-gay.”

2. The difference between “Disagreeing” and “Hating”
I disagree with ideas all the time. This does not necessitate hating the person who proposed them. Your beliefs are not your identity.

3. The difference between “Beliefs” and “People”
This is somewhat similar to #2. Rejecting a belief does not equal rejecting a person. You can reject the validity of same-sex marriage on philosophical and social grounds while still profoundly loving people with same-sex attraction. I reject at least some opinions or actions from each of my friends (such as “double-rainbows are boring” or “playing the lottery is wise.”) They in turn reject plenty of my own. But we don’t hate each other. In fact, just the opposite is true. Our relationship is grounded on a communion of persons, not a symmetry of beliefs.

4. The difference between “Bigotry” and “Disagreement”
The definition of bigot is “one unwilling to tolerate opinions different than his own”–not “someone who disagrees with me.” Toleration doesn’t require agreement, merely recognition and respect. (Ironically, those quickest to accuse people of bigotry are often bigoted about their flawed definition of “bigot.”)

The solution to these failures is not more dialogue. It’s better philosophy, logic, and reason. Unfortunately, until two people are capable of making these distinctions, healthy, productive dialogue about same-sex marriage is almost impossible.

UPDATE: Brandon has now got around to posting this on his blog

So there you are. And now for something a little lighter…

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