Sword of the Spirit: Conversations with a Local Pastor

Sword of the Spirit

The Sword of the Spirit is an apologetics (defense of the faith) blog, devoted to answering criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The name of this blog, "Sword of the Spirit," is taken from Eph 6:17. This chapter is Paul's admonition to put on the whole armour of God. The sword of the spirit is the last piece of that armour and is the only offensive weapon in this spiritual armoury. The armour is given by Paul as a means to "stand against the wiles of the devil" and "withstand in the evil day". Paul tells us the meaning of the sword of the spirit: it is the word of God." Because so much criticism is designed to lead us out of the scriptures and into worldview arguments, the purpose of this blog will be to tie as many of these arguments to the scriptures as possible. The hope is that it will strengthen the testimonies of the Latter-day Saints (LDS), to bring back those whose testimonies have been weakened, and to encourage those who are not LDS to seek answers to their questions about our beliefs. This blog is completely my own doing and is no way endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is an amateur posting which will need a lot of revising because I have not been blessed with a gift of writing. In the words of Moroni, "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, ....give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you (my) imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than (I) have been." Thank you for visiting my blog and may God bless those who are pure in heart. (All Bible citations come from the King James version, unless otherwise stated!)

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Conversations with a Local Pastor

Recently I had a great opportunity to talk with a local pastor for about two and a half hours about Mormon beliefs. He was interested of course in which church I attended. I informed him that I attend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He responded "oh so you are Mormon!" I replied "Yes I Am!"

After a friendly exchange of questions about each others beliefs, and a few impassioned stands by each of us as to what the Bible actually taught, we kindly parted ways. Both of us agreeing that it would be enjoyable to meet again.

Many of the topics from this blog were brought up during our two and a half hour conversation. The pastor brought up three points of doctrine that I would like to include in my next three blog posts that will be coming soon. I know that some of you have made requests for questions you would like answered, I promise to get to those soon. Please stay tuned while I bring you the latest from my apologetic encounters.

Sword of the Spirit