Re-introducing Myself

[dr.lynn]

Hi,

I'm glad to be back. It's been awhile. My name is Lynn Ridenhour. I live in Independence, MO--actually on the outskirts. I'm a Baptist minister who for these past 27 years has been preaching out of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

I'm also the host of Building Bridges Conferences, an inter-faith organization dedicated to bringing together Book of Mormon Christians and Bible-believing Christians. I've held these conferences up and down the Utah valley as far south as St. George, all the way up to Salt Lake City.

I've always said--it's my belief that evangelical Christians and LDS Christians have far more in common than all our differences. Are there differences? Of course. But it's time, I believe, we began celebrating our commnonalities rather than continue magnifying our differences.

I have come to this forum as a friend. I have no desire to argue over our distinctive differences. I enjoy civil discourse and don't mind addressing the tough issues. As long as love and forbearance accompany our discussions.

It's good to be back,

Lynn Ridenhour

[pam]

I can for sure agree that we have many commonalities that we should focus on and not the differences. My thoughts are we all really have the same goal and that is to return to our Father in Heaven and be good people.

While there may be differences in theologies there needs to remain a mutual respect for those differences.

Welcome back.

[rameumptom]

Lynn,

Nice to have you back. I've been impressed with many of your articles and statements in the press, etc, over the years.

[questioning_seeker]

Just a quick question Lynn - how strong/noticeable is the Mormon presence in Independence?

[BornJewishMuslimByFaith]

Hello! Nice to meet you and everyone else. God bless. :)

[confuzzled]

Hello and wecome back!

[Blackmarch]

Hi,

I'm glad to be back. It's been awhile. My name is Lynn Ridenhour. I live in Independence, MO--actually on the outskirts. I'm a Baptist minister who for these past 27 years has been preaching out of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

I'm also the host of Building Bridges Conferences, an inter-faith organization dedicated to bringing together Book of Mormon Christians and Bible-believing Christians. I've held these conferences up and down the Utah valley as far south as St. George, all the way up to Salt Lake City.

I've always said--it's my belief that evangelical Christians and LDS Christians have far more in common than all our differences. Are there differences? Of course. But it's time, I believe, we began celebrating our commnonalities rather than continue magnifying our differences.

I have come to this forum as a friend. I have no desire to argue over our distinctive differences. I enjoy civil discourse and don't mind addressing the tough issues. As long as love and forbearance accompany our discussions.

It's good to be back,

Lynn Ridenhour

Welcome back :)

And thanks for sharing that, thats pretty incredible.

[Jaredpnrgt]

Hey there and welcome back

[Cobeman37]

Dr Lynn,

Can you respectfully explain to me how the Book of Mormon is a legitimate text? From my understanding of its origins it fails miserably when compared with the Christian Bible. I don't see any similiarities whatsoever between the God of the Mormons and my God.

I don't think the Book of Mormon is at all based on Truth. Joseph Smith was the son of con man and became a con man himself. He and his father would trick folks into thinking they had buried treasure in their back yards. He would only tell them if they were willing to pay him. He then skipped town before they found their supposed treasure. He would take his famous seer stone, place it in his hat, and then claim to have a revelation of the location to dig. Problem was, nobody ever found and treasure and he developed quite a reputation. He then would skip town when the kitchen got too hot. He was actually arrested for doing this and there are court documents that can be found with his signature on them. I have seen this document and would suggest that you research Joseph Smith's past. My research has revealed to me that Joseph Smith was a professional huckster who created a religion to suit his own selfish pursuits of power. I honestly believe that if the Mormons themselves didn't eventually turn on him and kill him that he would have taken over the United States and set himself up as a king. The patterns of his life and his history destroy his credibility in my eyes. I cannot fathom how anyone could believe a word of what he said or wrote. There are very few if any eyewitness accounts of his encounters with Maroni and none of these accounts align up with one another. The eyewitnesses bear no similarity whatsoever when it comes to testimonies of Joseph Smith. I find it convenient that Matroni took the so called "golden plates" back to heaven and that nobody else was allowed to see these plates. Its also amazing to believe that Joseph Smith could transport these golden plates by himself. The dimensions he used to describe their size would require them to be very heavy and burdensome. You would think somebody would notice Joseph Smith having difficulty moving plates of that size around. Its all a sharade, and I don't see any truth.

The Bible however has eyewitness accounts that are supportive of one another written from different perspectives on Christs Ministry. The New Testament was written by the actual eyewitness of Christ or a disciple of the eyewitnesses of Christ. Combine this with actual secular historical accounts of Jesus Christ and you have an overwhelming account of truth. The Doctrine & Convenants, and Book of Mormon do not share this depth of eyewitness accounts or historical significance and therefore fail to be considered legitimate texts in my eyes.

I encourage you to research the New Testament to get a better comparison between Mormonism and Christianity. The Gospel is clear on what is requred of Christians. By God's free gift of Grace we are given salvation, not by works. Our good works are a result of our following of Christ. We will do good works in following after his example, but that is not required for salvation. Either Christ came and died for our sins or not. There is no fuzziness here. Its clear black and white. How could anyone add too the work of the Cross? What is the standard? What is good enough? Christians know that it is perfection. Nobody can achieve perfection. That is why Christ intercedes for us. Our giving money to the temple, helping the poor, feeding the hungry, healing the sick. None of this will get you to heaven. By God's Grace alone you reach heaven.

I welcome open dialogue and would enjoy an opportunity to continue this discussion. I have to cut this short because I have some things I must do now. I do hope to hear back from you.

Warmest Regards,

Cobe

Hi,

I'm glad to be back. It's been awhile. My name is Lynn Ridenhour. I live in Independence, MO--actually on the outskirts. I'm a Baptist minister who for these past 27 years has been preaching out of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

I'm also the host of Building Bridges Conferences, an inter-faith organization dedicated to bringing together Book of Mormon Christians and Bible-believing Christians. I've held these conferences up and down the Utah valley as far south as St. George, all the way up to Salt Lake City.

I've always said--it's my belief that evangelical Christians and LDS Christians have far more in common than all our differences. Are there differences? Of course. But it's time, I believe, we began celebrating our commnonalities rather than continue magnifying our differences.

I have come to this forum as a friend. I have no desire to argue over our distinctive differences. I enjoy civil discourse and don't mind addressing the tough issues. As long as love and forbearance accompany our discussions.

It's good to be back,

Lynn Ridenhour

[rameumptom]

Cobeman,

What Joseph Smith as a youth prior to his call to be prophet, especially when such things were done by many people in the wilderness of New York, is a silly attempt.

It has nothing to do with whether God later called him to be a prophet or not. If we are to reject prophets due to events in their prior lives or even in their early prophetic period, we would have to reject Moses for murdering a man, Peter for denying Christ three times, and many others.

You obviously have never read the Book of Mormon. You make a claim that it is not as good as the Bible, yet never address or show exactly where it is wrong. Instead, you attempt to attack the young Joseph Smith for being a treasure hunter, long before the Book of Mormon came around, and Joseph received his call.

That you are squeamish about his seer stone simply means you do not understand the Bible, either. The temple priest wore the Urim and Thummim, which included a dozen such stones, on a breastplate. It was via this device that the priest received revelation in the Bible.

Scholars today will note that with the exception of Paul, we do not have any document from the original Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. BTW, Luke was probably not an eyewitness, but came later. The other books were written long after the deaths of Christ and his apostles. That there are no external evidences or witnesses (Roman records, for instance) shows your claim to be even worse. There are NO historical accounts of Jesus during the first century that discuss miracles, resurrection, etc. Being able to claim the Bible is right about Jerusalem and other sites is meaningless, as they have been there since ancient times.

That said, when we discuss the Book of Mormon, we find that it frequently discusses Christ. There are eyewitnesses of Christ in the Book of Mormon, from its first chapter where Lehi sees Jesus and God, to the last chapter where Moroni testifies as an eyewitness of Christ. When the Book of Mormon claims there is a cemetery in southwestern Arabia with the name Nahom (NHM), and scholars in the 20th century find it, THEN we have evidence. When the Book of Mormon notes dozens of names that are not in the Bible, and we find out later that they are genuine names, THAT is evidence of the Book of Mormon, and so becomes evidence of the Bible and of Jesus - for the Book of Mormon testifies of the Bible and of Jesus. When ancient concepts that were long lost by Judaism and Christianity are discovered decades or more than a century after Mormonism comes around, THAT is evidence.

As for being saved by grace, we agree. As the Book of Mormon states:

"Wherefore, thy soul shall be blessed, and thou shalt dwell safely with thy brother, Nephi; and thy days shall be spent in the service of thy God. Wherefore, I know that thou art redeemed, because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer; for thou hast beheld that in the fulness of time he cometh to bring salvation unto men.And thou hast beheld in thy youth his glory; wherefore, thou art blessed even as they unto whom he shall minister in the flesh; for the Spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And the way is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free...Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth." (2 Nephi 2:3-6).

Also this:

"For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.

Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.

O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more.

And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness.

O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit" (2 Nephi 9:6-10).

I can easily find dozens of other such statements in the Book of Mormon regarding Christ and his grace. So, if this is something the Bible teaches regarding Jesus, grace, salvation, etc., then the Book of Mormon DOES have value and truth in it. This renders your statements flat out wrong.

[bytebear]

"Warmest Regards"

Wow.

[sneekers]

nice to meet you!