{"id":139,"date":"2008-03-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-14T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fearofwhales\/2008\/03\/rock-paper-apologetics.html"},"modified":"2011-04-23T21:34:54","modified_gmt":"2011-04-24T01:34:54","slug":"rock-paper-apologetics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/03\/rock-paper-apologetics.html","title":{"rendered":"Rock, Paper, Apologetics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/a>In my short life I\u2019ve done considerable study of the Christian based religions that deviate from the ecumenically agreed upon orthodoxy. In other words, \u201ccults\u201d
\nI\u2019ve spent quite a bit of time on Mormonism in particular, but also looked closely into Local Church International, Christian science, And the Jehovah\u2019s Witness movement.
\nThere are a lot of things that are wrong with their individual doctrines, but they are fascinating because of their strengths. Each of these religions is tailor made to exploit the weaknesses and difficulties associated with modern Christianity.
\nNow I understand I\u2019m in trouble, with anyone who may be reading from one of these groups, but seriously, Joseph Smith, Marry Baker Eddy, Miller, and Lee, were all very familiar with the expressions of Christianity in their days and the doctrines of their religions address the visible problems.
\nSmith, according to LDS scripture, was told by God that no church was right and he should start his own, in order to fix it. Miller set about to answer the burning desire Christians had in his day for specifics about the end of the world, so he set a date.
\nSo on and so fourth.
\nThese are things that get used in their evangelism to Protestants regularly.
\nSo as protestants when we come up against the doctrines of these Christian based religions, we face an opponent that smells our fear, one that was born for the very purpose of defeating us doctrinally.
\nOf course we still have the advantage, you know, being right and all, but we are fighting one their home field and it makes the battle harder than it needs to be.
\nFor years the Christian tactic has been to do what I\u2019ve done, to study each tradition extensively, try to know their weaknesses as well as they know ours, and use the things that their leaders failed to understand about our doctrine to draw them in.
\nBut that\u2019s an immense user of resources, especially considering that we aren\u2019t just facing one religion but several, that we now have to research.
\nIt renders smaller \u201ccults\u201d like the Boson Church of Christ almost invulnerable to criticism from mainstream protestants, who simply don\u2019t have time to teach classes in discussions with cults of under 20,000 members.
\nBut I\u2019ve got another idea.
\nThere people writing arguments which apply directly to adherents of these traditions. Arguments that exploit their weaknesses. They focus on religions that control people through teachings against doubt, pietism, and submission theology.
\nSome of the arguments are really good, even devastating to these teachings. We could really benefit from using them.
\nBut we never do\u2026We don\u2019t like the people who write these arguments\u2026We don\u2019t want to take a page out of their book
\nBut we should\u2026 They\u2019re smart.
\nThey\u2019re called the atheists.
\nThe Romans occasionally hired enemies of theirs to fight other enemies of theirs.
\nDawkins, Carrier, the old Flew\u2026 They can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these gods don\u2019t exist.
\nVending machine gods that dish out rewards in direct correlation to your actions\u2026 Don\u2019t Exist.
\nGods that function within and only within established human organizations\u2026 Do Not Exist.
\nMagical father figures that make all your doubts and questions go away for ever\u2026 Don\u2019t Exist!
\nThey aren\u2019t real
\nAnd we can prove it.
\nIf you prove to a person that the god they believe in does not exist, everything else follows. Their theology will crumble to dust.
\nThe disadvantage is that you\u2019ll make atheists of them.
\nOf course.. when you are talking to an atheist\u2026 you know exactly how to handle them. There\u2019s no obscure doctrines to memorize, there\u2019s no important history. They just don\u2019t believe.
\nSome of them have good reasons. They have been convinced through some really persuasive means to stop believing in god.
\nBut the god they don\u2019t believe in is one we don\u2019t believe in either.
\nSo\u2026 What if I were to find a watch?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my short life I\u2019ve done considerable study of the Christian based religions that deviate from the ecumenically agreed upon orthodoxy. In other words, \u201ccults\u201d I\u2019ve spent quite a bit of time on Mormonism in particular, but also looked closely into Local Church International, Christian science, And the Jehovah\u2019s Witness movement. There are a lot…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[551,157,156,159,155,158],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration-2","tag-apologetics","tag-atheism","tag-lds","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-tactics"],"yoast_head":"\nRock, Paper, Apologetics - A Fear of Whales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/03\/rock-paper-apologetics.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rock, Paper, Apologetics - A Fear of Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In my short life I\u2019ve done considerable study of the Christian based religions that deviate from the ecumenically agreed upon orthodoxy. 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In other words, \u201ccults\u201d I\u2019ve spent quite a bit of time on Mormonism in particular, but also looked closely into Local Church International, Christian science, And the Jehovah\u2019s Witness movement. 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