The thing is, this isn't my take on it, this is from the Apostles and the Church Father's, defenders of the faith. My faith comes from St. Mark the Evangelist who established our Church in Egypt, he is the one who taught us and he is the one who showed us the Gospel.
Well, even if it's not your take, it's clearly not the take of the person you're discussing it with, so the advice should probably still apply. If you think the Apostle Defenders guys' take is right, you might want to preface your argument with "In my church/religion, we see it like this..."
Source: I'm a former Mormon missionary who spent 100 hours hours/week for 2 straight years talking to people about Joseph Smith's "take" on things. I promise, presenting your ideas or those of others as such, and not indisputable fact, goes a very long way. People will listen if they don't feel attacked.
The thing is there isn't "in my church" there is only one Church and that is Christs Church that He established. St. Mark was one of the 72 apostles that Christ sent out to preach the word of God. This isn't words from a man who got magic disks from an angel, this is from a man who was directly ordained by Christ Himself.
I get that you believe that, but the person you're speaking with likely doesn't. Mormons believe that the Priesthood conferred by Christ to his disciples was lost and taken from the earth, and that the resurrected Peter, James, and John came to Joseph Smith and conferred upon him the keys/authority of that Priesthood, restoring it to the earth.
But if I went around ASSERTING that as fact well...yeah. So still, this may be what you genuinely believe but it does you no good to assert it as fact, if indeed the goals is to get others to open their minds and hearts to what you're claiming. Maybe you're right. I don't think you are but maybe you are. If you are, don't let your personal pride get in the way of bringing others to the light.
Knowing this, you might want to avoid absolute statements when discussing your particular take on scripture or theology with other Christians.
"No! This theology is wrong!" probably isn't the right way to kick off those discussions if you're actually looking to make some headway with people.
I'm sure you know this and just forgot. I do so all the time :)
The thing is, this isn't my take on it, this is from the Apostles and the Church Father's, defenders of the faith. My faith comes from St. Mark the Evangelist who established our Church in Egypt, he is the one who taught us and he is the one who showed us the Gospel.
Well, even if it's not your take, it's clearly not the take of the person you're discussing it with, so the advice should probably still apply. If you think the Apostle Defenders guys' take is right, you might want to preface your argument with "In my church/religion, we see it like this..."
Source: I'm a former Mormon missionary who spent 100 hours hours/week for 2 straight years talking to people about Joseph Smith's "take" on things. I promise, presenting your ideas or those of others as such, and not indisputable fact, goes a very long way. People will listen if they don't feel attacked.
The thing is there isn't "in my church" there is only one Church and that is Christs Church that He established. St. Mark was one of the 72 apostles that Christ sent out to preach the word of God. This isn't words from a man who got magic disks from an angel, this is from a man who was directly ordained by Christ Himself.
I get that you believe that, but the person you're speaking with likely doesn't. Mormons believe that the Priesthood conferred by Christ to his disciples was lost and taken from the earth, and that the resurrected Peter, James, and John came to Joseph Smith and conferred upon him the keys/authority of that Priesthood, restoring it to the earth.
But if I went around ASSERTING that as fact well...yeah. So still, this may be what you genuinely believe but it does you no good to assert it as fact, if indeed the goals is to get others to open their minds and hearts to what you're claiming. Maybe you're right. I don't think you are but maybe you are. If you are, don't let your personal pride get in the way of bringing others to the light.