Mission Possible?

This is what Bryan will be doing for the next two years. Hanging in the air, hacking into highly restricted classified files while the analyst is dealing with... "drainage issues". 

Impossible you say? Perhaps... Try this one on for size!

Bryan will spend the next two years of his life as a representative for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. His job description is wide and encompassing, but the focus of this endeavor will be to share the LDS Gospel with whomever will listen, hoping to make them disciples and adding them to the ranks of the Church. 

To me, I'd say Tom Cruise had it easy. Personally, I'd never really heard about Mormons till I met Bryan, I mean sure I'd hear the term in passing, but all I really knew about was Jehovah's Witnesses and that they were a cult :P I still don't know much more than that about the JH. But I plan on diving deep into their beliefs sometime soon. Once I get a fair handle on LDS. Now, while I didn't know much about the Mormons, lots of people do, to an extent. Many people are prejudicial in their approach to Mormons, they will slam the door in your face, they will ignore you and give you such a look of disgust you would almost want to cry. 

I am not a Mormon, but I've had a similar experience. I was at Kroger (local grocery store) selling candy in the entrance as a part of my churches youth group fund-raiser. I had signed up for maybe 7 or 8 shifts and I loved doing it! You'd learn who to approach and who to just let go after a while... Some would see you and purposely make themselves unapproachable, while others would make themselves fully approachable. Well about my 5th shift this nice old lady came gingerly walking to the entrance. I approached her and asked if she'd like to help out with our fund-raiser, she smiled and said she didn't like candy but she'd love to help give to a church fund-raiser! As she reached into her purse she asked us what church our youth-group was a part of, when my partner told her it was "Faith Christian Family Church" the woman's countenance instantly changed from that of a kind sweet old lady to a horrible monster who wanted to puke!

Obviously she had a "bad experience" with our church or something, but the sad thing is that she took it out on two kids who had no idea who she was! In the same way, I'm sure Bryan will run into situations just like this, many a time over in the course of his two years. I just wish that people would be more cordial to one another... Jesus sat and ate with sinners and unsavory crowds, if you're a professing Christian, then act like one. Give the missionaries a break, give them some lemonade! Talk to them about where you disagree, I happen to know that this Mormon loves it! ;) 

I wish Bryan all the best on his mission, while I personally hope he doesn't make a single convert, ;) I do hope that people will treat him with respect and that he shows and is shown the love of Christ. I hope Mormons will come to my house so that I can treat them with the respect they deserve. I am going to go to the store tonight to buy some lemonade so I'll be ready if they do, I challenge you all to do the same, get your lemonade ready, and with the love of Christ lets talk to each other and give a reason for the hope that's within us!

God bless you Bryan!

A post from C-eh, N-eh, D-eh

Hey everybody! I am here in C-eh, N-eh, D-eh visting my family and going to my cabin. The internet and computer i am on was probably made by Adam himself. Its really slow. So i am not going to my awesome links that everybody loves. Sorry, but this is the only page you'll see on this post.

Anywho, I got my mission call! I was called to San Jose, California. I will teach in Spanish, and i will be leaving July 28th. There is a chance i can continue the blog on the mission, but if not there will hopefully be a replacement as awesome and hot as i am. Is there such a person? We need to ask ourselves that everyday. Buahaha.

I've been pretty busy the last few weeks, and i really cant think of anything amazing to post. Sadly. I would love your ideas! bryguy16@gmail.com

So... this week i am just going to post what us mormons call, The Articles of Faith:

1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

-Joseph Smith

Happy Birthday Bryan!

June 20th. Bryan's B-Day! W007! We should all send him lots of money. He likes money. That is all.

Auntie Em! Anti-M?

Since diving into the world of Mormonism and learning all I can about as much as I can, I can't help but notice a common trend. A trend where faithful LDS tend to label anything critical of their faith as "Anti-Mormon". I guess I can see why the term is favored, it's a way to completely dismiss the material due to some fault of the person or fashion in which it was presented. I, however, can't help but wish that this term were abandoned altogether, as it suggests one is opposed to the Mormon in particular. This cannot be further from the truth, in my case, my best friend is a Mormon! If anything, "Anti-Mormon'ism'" would be more appropriate, but then again, Mormons have never been much for negativity, so why not just get rid of it in favor or more positive labels? Such as "pro-Christian" or "pro-truth"?

I came across this article in September of last year and happen to agree with it one hundred percent!

http://mrm.org/10-things

This article is hosted on one of the biggest "Anti-Mormon" sites on the internet, not a self-proclaimed title, but one inferred nonetheless. This article, written by an accused "Anti-Mormon" states "10 Things That Christians Can Learn From Mormons". I'll list the headers for you now:

10. Dedication to the heritage and the faith.

9. Overall morality.

8. Politics and religion mix.

7. Organization in its leadership.

6. Positive peer pressure towards missions.

5. Respecting Sundays as sacred.

4. Religious education for the youth.

3. Helping to supply the needs of the membership.

2. Preventing members from falling through the cracks.

1. The importance of families.

I agree with every one of these points, with the exception of 5 (I believe Saturday as the original Sabbath, yet hold that the main concern is that a believer take at least one day a week to rest, whatever day that may be). Number 7 is one in which I respect Mormons for because they have a foundation for their leadership and Church Organization. I'm currently in the middle of investigating the proper organization of the Church (Christian Church) and would just love it if, as Christians, we would take care to make sure we do things as close to the way God wants it done as possible. 

As for the other headings, I completely agree, with a favorite of number 1. Families are central to every Mormon and, I'm currently reading a book called "Soul-Searching" where polls were taken of various faith groups and percentages of Children that adopt their parents faith. LDS was at the top of this and many other polls with over 70% of Mormon Children becoming Mormon themselves. That is incredible and truly inspirational. LDS is doing a lot of things incredibly right. 

But again, I must put in a disclaimer: Just because the LDS Church is doing a lot of things right, that does not make them right. It does not make them the "One True Church." I believe the LDS Church is not of God, and because of this, I am sometimes called an "Anti-Mormon". I would ask that you refrain from using such terms, seeing as the first "Anti" between our two faiths were Joseph Smith and the God he met in the grove. Calling Christianity an abomination seems pretty "anti" to me ;)

So let's endeavor to look at the facts together. Lets all seek to gain a greater understanding of Mormonism, Traditional Christianity, and God. 

I Find Your Lack Of Faith Disturbing...

Faith is an integral part of life. Yes, I said life. Contrary to popular opinion, faith is not strictly relegated to the realms of religion and Star Wars. No matter what you believe, you will find that those beliefs are being upheld at their foundations by faith.

Before meeting Bryan and actually digging deep into my own beliefs, I thought I didn't have adequate faith. I would consider myself more of an existentialist than one of great faith, but the Bible tells us that all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed. (Matt 17:20) Through our studies, both Bryan and I are finding that faith isn't as mystical as some would have you believe. Let's break faith down into three separate groups:

Reasonable Faith - Faith based on evidence. People use this everyday. You see a chair, you go to sit down in it and after placing all of your weight on that chair, you are then supported by the chair and it prevents you from falling to the ground. Now the chair could be broken, but still look like an ordinary chair, when you go to sit in it you fall on the floor and this guy laughs at you. You exercise faith every time you sit down, even when you haven't put the chair through a series of tests to prove its reliability under pressure.

Blind Faith - Faith with no supportive evidence. This type of faith isn't my cup of tea, but that doesn't invalidate it as an effective mode of faith. Most of the time this faith should still be based on something for the individual, like a promise from God or something like that. Again, this area isn't my expertise so if any of you have input I'd love to hear it.

Unreasonable Faith - Faith in spite of evidence. This type of faith is un-biblical and oft-times dangerous. If you went to the Empire State building and a man told you that if you jump off at 5pm exactly that you would be able to fly instead of fall. This would require a tremendous amount of faith to do because you know that when you jump off a building you would fall. A way to switch this to reasonable faith would be to tell the man "After You!" Then when he plummets to the ground, you can be quite certain that no matter how much faith you would have tried to muster, you would be just as dead as that guy had you exercised it.

As a Christian, I am persuaded that what I believe in is the most reasonable thing a person could believe in. I believe that the Bible is a credible source of historic information and that the presentation of Christ is an accurate description of what really happened. I believe the Bible is inspired and contains prophecy and fulfilled prophecy. I believe that life cannot come from non-life without divine intervention. I believe that the universe, as well as time has a distinct beginning.

In believing Christianity to be true, I, by default believe all other religions to be false, Mormonism included. I base all of my beliefs on reasonable evidence and would love to go deeper with anyone who would raise an inquiry on any positions I've stated.

So, while faith is used all the time, make sure you're using it in the correct way. Believing in something just for the sake of believing in it doesn't make it true, people can be sincere in their faith, but they can also be sincerely wrong! Just try to make sure you're exercising faith in a healthy way. In a way that would protect you from groups like Scientology or some Jim Jones wannabe.

Hope you've enjoyed this post!

Live Long and Prosper!

We want your questions!

If you have ANY questions about mormonism or christian-ism, comment on this post! We would love to answer them. If they are short answers, we will put them at the beginning of our weekly posts. But if it takes many many words to answer it, then we'll make it a post. ASK AWAY!

Send Questions to Paul and meself at Panos04@gmail.com and Bryguy16@gmail.com

The Plan of Happiness/Salvation! Woot!

(That's a very beautiful picture, don't you think?)

Hello all! And welcome to another exciting episode of "Where's my pants!?" This has nothing to do with the blog, and there is no way that i can tie it in.

As you all know I am going to leave on a mission soon. Not a mission that is impossible, but just a lds mission. You (not you specifically) do something called 'mission papers'. After you (not you specifically) turn them in you (not you specifically) get your (not your specifically?) call in a couple weeks. Then you (not you specifically) leave after a couple of months! Its exciting! So yeah. I am almost done with my papers. So only a few months left of blogging/partying/home-ing/blogging. Don't cry. Please. Don't. So fasten your seat belts, because you are entering a very, veeeeery non-wild ride.

As you probably guessed, this weeks post is about the Plan of Happiness/Salvation. I have already put alot of words on this post. So basically, i am going to do the basics of each major part in the plan.

Premortal Life- Soooo, we were all there. Even Obama (sorry). I don't know exactly what we did up there... but i betcha it involved lemonade. One warm sunny day, God told us there would be a meeting. So we all gathered around in the conference room while God presented his plan. The plan i am sharing, even though i bet it was in more depth. God explained that he needed somebody to die for all of mankind. To pay for their sins. Jesus said that He would do it. Lucifer (santa) said he would take away our agency, so all mankind may be 'saved'. He also wanted God to give him all of his power and glory. God chose Jesus (of course), and because of that, santa was mad so he left God's presence along with 1/3 of the hosts of heaven.

Veil- When its our time to come to party-planet, we pass though a veil. Which makes us forget our pre-life, so it won't effect our earthly decisions.

Mortal Life- Right now! We are on earth to gain a body, become like our Heavenly Father, learn, grow and drink lemonade.

Death- Your (not your specifically?) spirit leaves your body after that guy pulls the trigger.

Spirit World- Everybody goes here after they die. You can still become like our Heavenly Father, learn, grow and drink lemonade up here. People who did not have the chance to hear/accept the gospel, will be taught here. There will be tons of missionary work to teach everybody about the gospel.

Judgment-Before this part you get resurrected. Then, you are judged! You will be judged on your works and desires, and will receive mercy if you used Christs Atonement to repent.

Finally, KINGDOM PLACEMENT!!!!!!!!!!- http://amormonandachristian.blogspot.com/2010/01/heaven-heavens.html (i've already done a post on that. So read up on it instead of hanging out with your friends)