Claiming Christ: A Mormon-Evangelical Debate

Mcdermott concedes that MC has been falsely persecuting the LDS for over a century. The three points he continues to dispute however are the nature of God, creation out of nothing, and modern authorized revelation. First Mcdermott uses Old testament scripture to support the hellenized Nicence God. What he misunderstands about these scriptures is that nations surrounding Israel at the time worshiped various Gods but they were not the true God. Thus Moses, along with other prophets, would teach and warn there is but one God and no others beside him. Mcdremott disregards numerous biblical verses that testify that God and Jesus are distinct beings with bodies. Jesus claimed that the father is greater the he, Stephen saw Christ on the right hand of God, God proclaiming that he is well pleased with his son, The great intercesssory pray, Jesus ascending to heaven in front of the disciples and the angels proclamation he will return in like manner, the significance of the resurrection, legion desiring bodies of swine to no body. etc. McDermott calls these plain and simple statments divine mysteries. But if such simple and plain language is a mystery, then what is to stop the whole bible from being viewed in this light. This reminds one of the broad way Christ warned of. That MC represents an anything goes as long as Christ is mentioned form of worship is easily dicernable. The danger is that MC worships a false God fashioned by Greek philosophers which keeps man in the dark. It refuses him lasting peace in this world and the obtaining of eternal life in the next. Light (truth) is shining in darkness and the darkness rejects the light because its works are dark. These works are adhereing to false traditions, and the preaching for fame and fortune. It is the same obstacle Christ and his followers had to confront. Modern and ancient parallels are strikingly similar. MC rejects the need for modern apostles and prophets (revelation) but the early church was built and maintained upon the rock of revelation. New apostles were ordained when a vacancy arose. If divine revelation ceases to flow through ordained individuals, Christ's church cannot exist. What amazes is that with the abundant evidence provided, MC continues to prefer darkness and keep souls from the light. The LDS church is a warning to MC and the world that it needs to repent and prepare for the return of Christ. The LDS church is going forth in the spirit and power of Elias. Elias has returned and restored these keys. Like Moses pleading with Israel to look upon the serpent and live, the LDS plead with the world to look and partake of the restoration and live.

Brazos Press in Grand Rapids, Michigan - which describes itself as "faithful to the wide and deep embrace of God, publishing out of and to all the major streams of the historic Christian tradition," has produced the latest entry in the respectful dialogue now taking place between some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormon") and its evangelical neighbors. On the evangelical side of this published back-and-forth is Dr. McDermott, a professor of religion and philosophy at Roanoke College and teaching pastor at St. John Lutheran Church. While I did not consider this book nearly as engaging as "How Wide the Divide" - a book so terrifically engaging that it is banned from some Christian bookstores (i.e., the Mormon guy won big!) - "Claiming Christ" is a fascinating study in the notorious back-pedaling that always occurs when an honest evangelical comes face-to-face with a real Mormon and real Mormon doctrine. I have no doubt that Drs. Millett and McDermott are dear friends - and that their efforts in writing this book were hardly to create this kind of reaction in someone like me - but I have rarely seen such stark proof that evangelicals have been libeling Mormons in the most egregious ways for nearly two centuries now. They did it without shame, and they did it for money. A lot of them still do it, though a few of them - while unwilling to embrace the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ - are at least repenting somewhat for those past sins. This book demonstrates that, again and again, in-the-pew Christians have been grossly misled by their leaders on the issues of Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and LDS doctrine - and someday there is going to be an accounting. Until then, here are some highlights from the "tipping point" to come (all of the following quotes are concessions made by Dr. McDermott): pp. 55-56, I'm afraid I am one of those who has misunderstood and misrepresented Mormons. ... I mistreated a distinguished Mormon historian when he came to speak to my class more than a decade ago. Besides treating him rudely, I did not understand how central Jesus Christ was to his faith and to the LDS Church generally. ... I suspected he wasn't telling me the whole truth when he insisted he was trusting in Jesus for his salvation, and I suggested as much to my class by my repeated counter-assertions and questions. I have since learned that ... Jesus Christ is indeed at the center of Mormon faith. As I have learned from my own reading of the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ is central to the story .... The Mormon view of Jesus Christ is different from that of evangelicals and other orthodox Christians, but the fact remains that Christ is central to LDS consciousness. I am struck by [one Mormon scholar's] calculation that Christ or his ministry is mentioned on the average of every 1.7 verses in the Book of Mormon. ... [V]erses [in the Book of Mormon] that would surprise evangelicals who have been led to believe that all M