I must confess that although I have read a few of them, I have not read all of them. And the reason I have not, honestly, is because they are not easy to read. Getting through just one of them requires a great deal of concentration and focus. Here’s a short sample from The Federalist No. 10 by Madison:

“… As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and his passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other; and the former will be objects to which the latter will attach themselves. The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests …”

Did you follow that? Me neither.

You may be asking yourself what any of this has to do with “eye gates” and “ear gates.” In Part I, I decried the decline of the written word and the rise of communication by visual imagery in our day and time. I lamented upon the dangerous path down which our nation is traveling, the treacherous trail of substituting pictures for words.

Do you know what The Federalist Papers are? In case you forgot, allow me to refresh your memory.

After our nation won its independence from Great Britain in 1783, some of our nation’s founders expressed concern about the strength of our Articles of Confederation, the document which bound the thirteen original states together during the American Revolution—the document which preceded the U.S. Constitution. The Continental Congress met in May of 1787 for the purpose of strengthening the Articles of Confederation. Instead, they came up with a whole new form of government—the U.S. Constitution.

Many throughout the states voiced alarm. “This is not the reason we sent you to Congress,” they cried. So, in order to persuade the general populace of the superiority of this new and improved system of government, Alexander Hamilton wrote Federalist No. 1. Three New York papers published it. Soon, James Madison and John Jay joined Hamilton, and together they wrote eighty-five expositions on the new constitution.

The trio’s articles found readers in newspapers up and down the Atlantic seaboard. Everyday people, just like you and me, carved time out of their busy day to read them. As they pondered and considered upon the writers' words, they grew to embrace their arguments for a new system of government. State legislators also became persuaded that this new constitution was indeed worth supporting. In brief, that is the story of how our nation got its constitution.

Our forebears' “ear gates” were active and healthy. They read the written word, heard its message, understood its meaning, weighed the new ideas against the old, and chose wisely.

Could we everyday Americans do the same today?

What’s Next?

While part 1 focused on the survival of “the church”, and part 2 on the pressures associated when one contemplates leaving “the church”, Part 3 will focus on “What’s Next”, is there life after leaving “the church”?

When I finally made the decision to accept Gods free gift of Grace through Christ, and stopped believing LDS doctrine, I still had Mormonism tugging on me while not fully understanding what Gods Grace freed me from. I knew I was different, I knew I finally had a peace from the guilt that the legalism of Mormonism had put on me; I know I was Born Again. But I still had something that was hanging on to my heart that is very hard to explain unless you have been deeply involved in the LDS lifestyle. It is for a lack of an easier explanation “being Mormon”, the very thing inside me ,that I wrote about in part 1, that demands “the church to survive”.

After being a Christian for a few months I heard of an ex-Mormon support group that was meeting. I attended this with my wife and the leader of this group was a woman by the name of Carma Naylor, she could have been my sister or cousin, she looked and acted LDS in every way, but as she spoke of Christ and explained the problems of the LDS church in doctrine and history, it was as if a light went off, not so much of what she was saying, I had already studied and knew these things, it was because I finally understood there was life after Mormonism. I was looking at a person that was like me, a Mormon, who had actually left the church and put it behind them. I believe for the most part I finally put “Mormonism” behind me.

This is so important to understand, because many, if not most, Mormons who realize that Mormonism is wrong, do not know there is life after Mormonism. They never shake that feeling of guilt, or the false sense of security that “the church” offers. Many get bitter and become atheists, even more become agnostic, and some just live a false life in a “good club”, but even fewer find the peace that Gods Grace can give.

When we witness to our Mormon friends we need to saturate them in the teachings of Gods free gift of Grace. That they do not have to be perfect, that they can let Him do all the work of salvation. We need to let them know who Jesus is and that He is God and that they can never do anything beyond what He did on the cross for their own salvation. Let them know...there is life after Mormonism!

Mark Green

In his classic work, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan presents the allegorical tale of “Christian,” an everyman sort of character who travels from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Along his journey, Christian encounters the town of Mansoul, an allegorical picture of the human heart. Bunyan writes,

“This famous town of Mansoul had five gates … the names of the gates were these: Ear-gate, Eye-gate, Mouth-gate, Nose-gate, and Feel-gate."

Bunyan’s “gates” are clearly the five human senses: hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and feeling. These are the human receptors, the “gates” through which we are able to experience the world around us.

The eye gate and the ear gate are the two most prominent of the five human senses. Every waking moment, the organs we call eyes and ears are gathering in information and passing that information on to our brain for processing and analysis.

When Johannes Gutenberg assembled the first printing press in 1440, he blew a huge hole in the wall that separated the educated elite from the everyday person. Gutenberg’s invention catapulted the western world into the modern age, opening up the human mind to the exchange of ideas on a mass scale. For five centuries, the printed word served as our chief means of mass communication.

Then In the 1950’s, television began its rapid climb, quickly replacing the written word as our primary source of information. The daily newspaper slid slowly from the scene, and its once-prominent role in our culture. Now our “eye gates’ can barely escape the onslaught of the visual message. Video imagery assaults us in restaurants and airports and other public places. Our downtown business districts display large screens, thrusting their images at us as we walk by. Today, with cell phones, iPods, portable DVD players, and other hand-held devices capable of playing video, the written word has all but disappeared from our daily lives.

What will be the cost of this unprecedented, extraordinary shift? Neil Postman in his classic work, Amusing Ourselves To Death, offered these thoughts:

“When a culture becomes overloaded with … picture[s] … when … politics, history, education, religion, public information and commerce are expressed largely in visual imagery rather than in words; their culture is in serious jeopardy.”

Neil Postman, Conscientious Objections (Vintage Books, p. 173) see Appendix 1, a chart of Postman's book.

Think about it. Whence come your ideas?

Clint, the amazing burper. Cade, the class clown. Dustin, the multi-sport stud. Heather, the star cheerleader. Laura, the brilliant flutist.  I'm looking back at the class roster in my head from my school years. Certain people stand out for certain qualities or skills they displayed. What comes to mind when my former classmates think of Brandon? I'm not certain, but I have a few guesses. Perhaps a musician. Maybe the kid with the corniest sense of humor (who says puns are bad???). Or what about Brandon the practical joker. The guy who was the fashion "king of clash." I know one English teacher pegged me as being intense in everything I did. Several possibilities are floating around for how I can be remembered by my school peers.

Philip, one of the original twelve disciples, is mentioned in only a handful of passages throughout the New Testament. We first see him early in the book of John, where Jesus calls him to be follow Him, then Philip compels his friend, Nathanael, to come see for himself the Man who perfectly fit the description of the long-foretold Messiah. Later, though, in John, Philip betrays his own lack of understanding by asking Jesus to show the disciples God the Father (Philip didn't realize, for sure, that Jesus was indeed God in the flesh).

Another moment in time we see Philip's lack of ability to trust the Lord for the miraculous, when Jesus asks Philip directly how they were going to feed the five thousand. Philip pulls out his abaccus and tries to calculate how much money it would cost to even give each person one morsel! The concept of feeding so many people on a sandal-strap budget just could not compute with our very facts-based friend.

So far, we are seeing a less-than-perfect picture of a follower of Jesus. His theology was still under construction. His faith was fledgling. However, the last time we see Philip the Apostle in the book of Acts we see the portrayal of a man who has his priorities straight. Acts 1:13-14 takes place right after Jesus ascends into heaven. Eleven of the original twelve disciples return to Jerusalem, and they went to the upper room of the place they were staying at. Philip is one of the men listed. Pay attention to verse 14. This is what Philip is last seen doing in all of Scripture:

"All these were continually united in prayer....."

Instead of returning to "normal" life, instead of going back to the fishing nets, instead of living faithless lives full of empty questions, these eleven men and several women chose to make a stand (or, rather, a kneel). They knew where their power source was for living a Great Commission life. They didn't just meet on Wednesday nights to share prayer requests, punch, and cookies at the church. These devoted men and women met daily and reported in to their Commanding Officer, God Almighty Himself. The results of which are felt two thousand years later, as the foundation of the early church was built so strongly on faith, that the overall Body of Christ still stands today and is growing!

Now, we do see another Philip, the Evangelist,  later on in the book of Acts who was chosen as a deacon and who shared Christ with the Ethiopian Eunich. It's argued that these two men were different. If this is true, then the last thing we see Philip the Apostle doing is being a man of prayer.

If your friends wrote a history about your school or your job and how you fit in to the big picture, what would the last entry involving you look like? Would you be portrayed as a young man or woman who loved God and who served Him with no reservation? Would you be labelled as a guy or gal who encouraged spiritual conversations with your peers? Would you be remembered as a prayer warrior? I know what I hope to be remembered for- puns are good, but prayer is much better! 

Question: In Genesis 1, since some things have to be true, like 1 = 1, and 1 + 1 = 2, did God create mathematics and numbers? How could He create them any other way?

Answer: God created everything; however, a tautology, which is something that by definition is true like red things are red-colored, is not a thing. We can speculate that God created every “thing” in mathematics that is not a tautology.

In Part 1, I wrote about the “Survival of the Church” and the need to understand this mind set when witnessing to your LDS friend. In Part 2, I would like to focus on pressures and realities a member goes through when they contemplate leaving “the church”.

When one is an active member of the LDS church their lives are based around “the church”, not only spiritually, but socially. There are sports programs, scouting, children’s programs, young adult programs and adult programs. There are  also the “Priesthood Quorums” for the men and the “Relief Society” for the women. On top of all this there are “callings”, these are positions for teaching or leadership given to the general membership by the local leadership.

It is also very important to understand that LDS doctrine teaches “Families are Forever”. This means that all worthy members will be forever as a family unit. When one threatens to upset the family unit for all eternity, even thinking about leaving is almost unthinkable in that it will tear the hearts out of family member/s who would still believe this false teaching.

If we put all this together it creates a very involved life in “the church”; the very church which in part 1 that  will always have  a “must survive” existence. All these things, aside from the doctrinal issues, are not necessarily bad things, but bound together with their understanding that they alone are the only true church, a member’s life becomes a tightly woven fabric bound to “the church” apart from a relationship with God.

When one leaves the church they face excommunication, or disfellowship. This scars the family and makes it very difficult to leave. In fact, many members just choose to stay in the church and not believe, rather than upset family members and friends by leaving.

So when witnessing to a LDS friend keep this in mind and understand the dilemma that they face when testing their faith, understand that it will be the hardest thing they will ever , ever do. But also encourage them there is life after Mormonism, and His Grace will provide peace and freedom from the guilt that Mormonism installs in a person.

This is a very complicated subject for such a short piece, so please comment and ask me any questions you may have on this and I’ll do my very best to give you an answer. Always remember your job is to plant the seeds, it is Gods job to supply the Harvest.

Mark Green

I have been thinking lately. Actually, I have been thinking about thinking. And in my thinking, I have been thinking about the decline of thinking in our day.

Just how important is thinking? More succinctly, how important is correct thinking? Do we think on purpose? Do we sit and sift our ideas carefully? Or do we allow our thoughts to wander and ramble? Do we nod and blindly accept what someone says because they are the “expert?” What kind of matrix do we have at the base of our thinking process?

John MacArthur reminds us of the imperative of clear, Biblically centered thinking in his article, Thinking Biblically. MacArthur writes,

“Discernment is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth. In other words, the ability to think with discernment is synonymous with an ability to think biblically.”

Michael R. LeGault, author of Think: Why Crucial Decisions Can’t Be Made in the Blink of an Eye, neatly sums up my own concerns about the decline of rational thought in American culture today.

“America is suffering from an intellectual crisis that is threatening our jobs, security and freedom. The crisis is a result of a decline in sharp incisive thinking based on logical reasoning and evidence, and a corresponding rise in thinking based on emotion …”

Thought decay is plainly evidenced in the sparring of political opponents and their surrogates on the cable news channels. Speakers often recite their prepared “talking points” without engaging their internal cogitators and thinking on their feet, thus belying their inability to commit to and defend a core set of ideas and convictions. Does the recent sharp spike in political partisanship reveal an inability, or an unwillingness, to examine the arguments and ideas of others? Perhaps both.

Thought decay is also evidenced in the Church, where a general disinterest in sound doctrine and grounded theology runs rampant. LifeWay Research reports that 40% of evangelical Christians say that there is more one way to eternal life. Such open-ended, mushy thinking bodes poorly for our future.

Something else I have been thinking about is how to more effectively communicate my burden for clear-headed, Biblically based thinking to a wider audience of people. In November of 2004, I began my storied blogging career when I created Kingdom>>> Church>>> Culture. In the nearly four years since, I have posted 185 blog entries. I particularly want to help young people discover the wonderful Judeo-Christian roots of our American culture.

The other day I stumbled across Christian Nation. I poked around a bit and discovered a lot to my liking. I emailed Rob Holden and submitted a query about becoming a contributor. After a few exchanges, he opened the door.

I was raised in San Bernardino Ca. in a very large active LDS family. I had a very good upbringing with very loving parents. In my teen years, growing up in the Viet Nam War era, a very exciting time for a teenager, I began to wonder if there was a God? I believed that Mormonism was true, it was ingrained in my "soul", but at the same time looking back I had religion and didn't have a clue who Jesus was and what He wanted for me in my life. It's hard to explain but I can honestly say I had a "testimony" for the Mormon Church, but wasn't sure if there was a God. I guess I just took it for granted that "Mormonism" would just take care of everything?

I spent some tough times experimenting with drugs and having so called "fun" for a season in my high school years, all the time believing in my heart that Mormonism was true, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, but never having that personal relationship with God.

Long story short, I met a beautiful Christian woman, got married, had two wonderful children, all the time ignoring her faith, while believing in Mormonism without having a clue who God was. After about ten years of marriage I finally agreed to go to church with her and God did a work on me, my life almost changed over night, I was Born Again, I became a child of God.

Since that time, 17 years ago, I haven't looked back. I have worked with youth ministries for the past 15 years and witness to the cults when ever I get a chance. I see the LDS church changing and it is exciting. There's a long way to go but God can do anything.

I have been a Carpenter for 30 years and work as a superintendent in the historic restoration business. I am a common man and I am living proof that God can use anyone for His purpose. While I stumble and fail, and have my ups and my downs, I now know there is a God, He is alive, and real, and I want you to know that He wants to use you if you let Him. 

John 1:12

To begin, I have been, for as long as I can remember, a science geek.

I don't know if I was born that way, or if I am just the product of some unique environmental factors but I am certain it was a tendency encouraged by my parents. One of my earliest memories is of my father calling excitedly for my mother so she could hear me spell zoology. Another time, when I was still quite young, our wonderful neighbor Mrs. Schaeffer had a party for the neighborhood kids (she was known for having fun little parties for no particular reason) where kids could come dressed according to what they wanted to be when they grew up. I came as a pterodactyl.

Of particular interest to me was paleontology and biology; I was an avid reader early on, and my parents fed my habit with sets of encyclopedias - first the popular World Book Encyclopedia, then later a 20 volume set of the Encyclopedia of Animal life (written, interestingly, in the King's English - which to this day will still occasionally causes me to give certain words their British spelling, like colour and labour), as well as the entire Time-Life Nature library.

One of my particular favorites in the Time-Life set was the volume Early Man. The volume included the obligatory multi-page centerfold timeline of the march of human evolution from a small ape-like ancestor to modern humans, as well as numerous illustrations of the same ancestors struggling for survival against hyenas, other proto-humans, and starvation, causing them to develop tools to hunt mammoths and protect themselves against predators. It was all so convincing.

I think it was around that time science, in particular, the study of evolution, became something more to me than a science theory; it became a faith. By faith, I mean it became something that I held to be true about life, something more than just a process, but rather something that explained why mankind was here, and where we might be going.

As I got older, and increasingly discouraged about the state of humanity - the desruction of the environment, the potential for cataclysmic war, the greed and hatred I saw around me, evolution also gave me hope. Buoyed by science popularizers like Sagan, Asimov and Clarke, as well as the science fiction they wrote, like Childhood's End and the movie that shared it's themes, 2001 a Space Odyssey, I began to see evolutionary theory as the great hope of mankind. Just as we were once primordial ooze, and became human, so to we might overcome our earthly troubles and inherit the stars.

As a result, what little faith I might have had in God was relegated to agnosticism; I wasn't particularly hostile to the idea a god might exist, it just didn't seem to matter all that much.

Occasionally I would run into a backward thinking person who still held to the idea that God created the world and that some evidence for this existed; if I didn't automatically dismiss the person as uneducated or hopelessly wedded to some outlandish religious notions, I might attempt to dialogue. It usually wasn't long before it became a debate - and I loved to debate; particularly when my faith was being called into question. I rarely found it difficult however to knock down most of their ideas.

In 1982 I began my University career at Iowa State as a biology major, with plans to go on to veterinary school. It just so happened that around the same time a rather radical proposal () had been made on campus; a professor of engineering, Dr. John Patterson, had proposed at a department meeting that any student who proclaimed a belief that God created the world should be denied a science degree. In addition to his teaching job, Prof. Patterson was also a widely known and very outspoken atheist - and his proposal was made in response to what he saw as the threat of creationism invading campus. Of course the proposal, once made public, created a furor on campus, with debates going on in the student paper and among the faculty and staff. I was rather amazed that even at the University level some still questioned evolution; indeed, I was becoming friends with someone who did, a fact I attributed to his small town upbringing.

But something else was happening that year; I was beginning to realize that whatever faith I had in nature, it wasn't sufficient to satisfy deep personal longings for meaning and purpose and change. While evolution might hold out some hope for the future of mankind, it held little hope for me personally; we might grow as a species, but I continued to fail even my own standards and expectations. I was as greedy and selfish as anyone else, and change seemed beyond me.

The same friend whose science I dismissed had an answer when it came to purpose and change, and that answer was Jesus Christ. Though I had early on dismissed Christianity, I couldn't deny my friend's life - or the joy and love and peace I saw in it. After nearly a year of wrangling with myself, and with a growing understanding of who Christ was and the reality of His existence, I surrendered my life to Christ, transferring my faith from a belief in the power of nature and myself to a faith in Christ.

That surrender, while it brought about dramatic changes in me, didn't alleviate all the questions I had. I still had a niggling feeling about the accuracy of Scripture, at least as much as it seemed to contradict my understanding of science. Thus, a lot of my twenty-plus years as Christian has been involved with considering the intersection of science and Scripture, and as a result, a lot of what I will consider here will concern that as well - my science geekdom remains unabated, so my apologies ahead of time to those whose interests lie elsewhere; I hope your faith will benefit from the exploration of these issues.