Aside from the life transforming introduction of Jesus Christ in my life, I would have to say the second most transforming moment was meeting Bryan. Before meeting Bryan, I had been a "Christian" (believed in God) my whole life, then a "Born-Again Christian" (Born-Again Christian) since the age of 17 (about four to five years prior to meeting Bryan).
Now in that time, I was learning a lot! I was at church as much as I could be, meeting many wonderful men and women of faith and actually took a Bible class in which I received my Associates degree in biblical studies. Even though I had gone through all of this, it didn't seem real to me, nothing was making it personal... I felt like I was reading a book and everything was making sense, but I couldn't see how it affected me in my everyday life...
Enter Bryan. All of a sudden I am introduced to Mormonism in all of it's glory! Now, I have to not just read about what I believe, but I have to "know" what I believe... In such a fashion that I can relate it to others, in this case, to Bryan. When Bryan and I began our discussion it quickly became apparent that even though we use a lot of the same words, our understanding of these words were completely different. Words like salvation, atonement, grace, and even Jesus Christ had different meanings for both of us... So I undertook the task of learning all I could about this religion I knew almost nothing about.
The result has been amazing, even though we haven't completed our goal of finding out which of us are right or wrong (even if we're both wrong) we know we're well on our way. Along the way, we have both gained an incredible personal knowledge of what we believe in as well as a reverent respect for God (Whoever that may be).
Meeting a Mormon has been such an instrumental help in my life that I would like to encourage you to do the same! If you are a Christian, I would challenge you to find a Mormon "PenPal" or something like that, if you don't know where to find one, Bryan would be more than happy to hook you up. Same goes for you Mormons who read our blog, contact me (Paul) and I will find someone who can help you understand the Christian faith.
Not all Mormons are as cool as Bryan, and most Christians are cooler than me, so your journey will not be exactly the same. We will try to match you up with the best people who are as interested in theology as you are. I encourage you to at least give it a try in love and see what God has for you to learn.
Mormons who would like a Christian email person contact Paul @ panos04@gmail.com
Christians who want their very own limited edition Mormon contact Bryan @ bryguy16@gmail.com
Please include your gender, age, and brief religious background in your email, thanks!
-Paul
Ok, sign me up to a christian who will tell me what is wonderful about his/her beliefs but doesn't want to tell me how bad mormonism is
ReplyDeleteMr. Manning, Mormonism being wrong is simply one aspect of Christianity (read April 7th's post). Exactly the same way as you informed people on your Mormon mission that Christianity was debunked.
ReplyDeleteIf you're sincerely interested in giving this a shot "in love", then I would ask that you send me an email to panos04@gmail.com including your gender, age, and brief religious background, thanks!