Latter day Sinners...

On the way to a lecture today I was approached by a gentleman, dressed all in black, who wanted to share with me a message of hope (this is what he said). I saw from his badge (actually I guessed by the fact that he HAD a badge on) that he was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or a Mormon. I couldn't honestly let him go through his sermon, without pointing out straight away that I used to (also) be a full time minister, doing the sort of thing he was doing now, for several years, but as a Jehovah's Witness. I told him I respected what he was doing, but asked him whether he thought religion put up fences between people? He said religion can have a positive affect on someone's life, and I agreed, but I said the positive effects are limited to a relatively small group of people who consider themself saved (or "Saints"), isn't that so? I said that I just didn't think that this is what Jesus had in mind, that this is the conclusion that I had come to after preaching for years myself. I asked him whether he thought it was true that his religion might unite him into a group with some people but set him up as opposing the "others", I suppose the "Sinners" to his "Saints" (though I didn't say this). He actually agreed, but then asked me whether he could call round to my house to talk some more about how his religion could help me! I remember having this sort of conversation with a few reasonable people in my time as a "minister", or very similar conversations, and I believe my response was identical: agreeing with the persons statement (e.g. "there's good people in all religions") but not letting the implications of that ever sink in (i.e. "these good people are going to die according to your belief that only Witnesses have a realistic chance of being saved, so how can you agree with this person that they are good?"), in effect, agreeing with them in order to become "all things to all people" so that I might by all means convert them, to paraphrase Paul. In effect, being a liar.

I left the guy on good terms, and mentioned the conversation to Brian. I said that I had got him to agree to the divisive nature of religion, of the one true religion against all the others (which is the religion you happen to be in, coincidentally), and how this wasn't "Christianity" to me. I said to Bri that thinking back, and comparing what WE said on the "doors" to people, honestly comparing that to what Jesus said to people in his preaching: well there's no comparison. Jesus was selling the Kingdom, we were selling an organization, or even worse, an organizations publications. Jesus invited people to follow HIM, we invited people to follow a particular version of Christianity, a modified version (with lots of extra rules and regulations): that in effect was asking people to follow men, the men of Brooklyn (HQ) in New-York. I would have laughed if someone had suggested that to me then, but it's true, and very clearly true to anyone who really sits and thinks about what Jesus preached, what he expected from his disciples, and what the Witnesses (or Mormons) teach and expect from theirs. Yes, from theirs.