Heart of the Matter

Live from Salt Lake City, the MECCA of Mormonism, it’s . . . HEART OF THE MATTERTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology.!
Knowing
February 13th 2007

And I’m Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion. your host.

Events and Opportunities

In studio guests/shoutouts:

Heart in the Church!
March 7th 2007 at 7:00pm
Christ Evangelical Church in Provo Utah!
Pastor Scott McKinney

Now come on! LDS invited. Bring your questions, comments and criticisms. Open forum. Great opportunity to love on each other and learn. Shane’s Support Group

Website
Phone number

Waiting on the Lord DVD

“You know, we get a lot of repeat questions from people about how to approach this situation or that once they have come to know the Lord through rebirth. We’ve produced a 20 Minute DVD especially for people who are LDS but Christian at heart. Helps explain spiritual rebirth, helps emphasize the importance of waiting on the Lord. Comment to my Catholic friends out there:

Religion and Relationship

Let me make a few comments on this. First of all, like the LDS, I’ve known some very Christian Catholics in my life. And like the LDS, I’ve known some Catholics who have about a close a relationship with Jesus as a tumbleweed. Hear me clearly, folks: It’s your relationship, NOT your religion. Additionally, the institution of Catholicism, like the institution of Mormonism, and, quite frankly, the present-day institution of Christianity, is pathetic. Popes, prophets, and popularity contests run amok. If I offend you and your sacred religious institution – too bad. Christians and Catholics are more than happy to let me bag on Mormons – and everybody else for that matter – but if I even suggest there’s a problem in their backyard! Whoaaaah! Look out.

So for clarity's sake, let me make my views perfectly clear: There’s not a religious institution on this earth that can save a person. Only Jesus can do this. There’s not a religious organization around whose history doesn’t reek. Including yours. And there’s not a religion today – Catholic, Mormon, and Christian – that hasn’t been defiled by men. And while Church can be a very good and important element in a dedicated Christian walk, the only thing anyone can trust wholly their salvation and spiritual life to is Jesus and His Word.

Received a few emails and telephone calls from our Catholic friends who were a bit concerned that I had the gall to lump the Catholic Church in with Mormonism, Hinduism, and Islam. Comments were that “if it wasn’t for the Catholic Church Christianity wouldn’t exist today!”

Last Sunday morning I boarded a plane and flew to the beautiful town of Boise, Idaho. My partner in ministry and I were picked up and taken to the Nampa Civic Center where we were blessed with the opportunity to participate in a Heart in the Community!

DETAILS: Thank every single one of you who attended. Ron, manager from KPLC TV for setting the whole deal up in the first place.

Knowledge and Truth

PRAYER PRAYER

PRAYER PRAYER
There’s a saying that goes something like this: Every teacher should know that when she is teaching English and a sparrow flies in the room, she should set the English book down, and start teaching about sparrows.

I think it is important to speak for a moment about the words Know, Believe, and Truth.

Now the study of “knowing” and how we know things is called Epistemology. Epistemology is a dynamic area of study and does not have many concrete platforms upon which we can stand. But there are, however, general rules upon which epistemologists generally agree. When a person says “I know,” they usually

Last week, near the end of the show, we had a sweet-voiced woman, who claimed to be LDS, say she has had “numerous spiritual experiences testifying to the truthfulness of the LDS Church.” She added, as a way to justify her position, that she “knows a lot of other people in the LDS church who have had the same experiences.” She then claimed: “I can’t deny it. I feel like Joseph Smith who said, I dare not deny it.” She then went on to bear testimony that she knows Joseph Smith truly had his first vision, that the Church is true, that the twelve apostles are true . . . Interrupting her, I asked her if there was a question in all this or if she was just going to bear her testimony. She asked: “How do you account for all these people in the church who have had these spiritual experiences just like me.” I explained that there are many religions that have people who “share in similar spiritual experiences” and asked how she accounted

Faith and Certainty

Our caller Janice didn’t get it. And in a not uncommon response, she resorted to the infamous LDS retort . . . The “I just Know it” response. I said to Janice, “I think you are sincere and believe the things you are saying . . .” She interrupted me matter-of-factly, “I know it.” then added, “I know of an assurity.” I can’t help but believe that even though we are supposed to be covering the magical practices of the Smith family tonight, “a sparrow has flown in the room.” I have a duty to address it.

I replied to Janice, “You have no more of an assurety than a believing Jehovah’s Witness, or a Muslim who “knows,” or an atheist who “knows.” You don’t know with more of an assurity.” She said, “Of course I do.” I said “No you don’t.” She said, “Yes I do.” I said, “I’m sorry, but you don’t.” A little miffed she replied, “Don’t you tell me what I know.” And I ended the call because we ran out of time.

The meaning of "I Know"

They mean “they are aware” of something. “I know my skin has freckles.”

They mean “they understand” something. “I know how the dog got out of the yard.”

Or they mean “they are absolutely certain” of a matter. “I know that I am that child’s mother.”

Metaphysics and Knowledge

In metaphysics – or in the study of spiritual issues – the use of the word “know” is usually limited to the first and second definitions – of “being aware” and of “understanding” something. The use of the word “know” in the sense of being “absolutely certain of the factuality of something is typically absent from most intellectually honest discussions about metaphysics. Unless you are LDS or the member of a group that employs totalist methods to control their congregates. Famous philosopher Rene Descartes, who also happened to be a Christian, wanted to explore the depths of “knowing.”

LDS Testimonies

Anyone who has attended an LDS ward sacrament meeting on what they call “fast and testimony meeting” is likely to witness the following: The bishop or a bishopric member opens the meeting up by offering “his testimony” of the truthfulness of the Gospel. He then turns the time over to the members of the Church to take to the pulpit and share their own personal “testimony.”

Often, the first to go up to the open pulpit are the children of the ward. Sometimes as many as 8 to 10 children – from as young as two 3 years old – will take the stand. If the child is too young to know how to form sentences before an audience, a parent will often stand there with them and whisper what they should say in their ear. Almost every “testimony” goes something like this:

I want to bear my testimony. I know the Church is true. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know the Church today is led by a prophet. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I’m thankful for my family. I’m thankful for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And I say these things ITNOJCA

Variations in content are usually connected to the age and maturity of the person relative to the Church. Teens often include gratitude for Church leaders and friends, and frequently offer personal comparisons of the “quality of their lives” compared to those people they know in school who have not been blessed to be “members of the Church.” Young married people often pay gushing public tributes to parents and/or the spouses in their lives. Mature members are often known to present a very polished presentation which can include humor, words of the most grave humility, and praises for certain stalwarts in the ward. Immature testimonies are often a compilation of intimate and mundane details of some of the most banal non-events in life – a recent cold tragedy, the glorification of a child, or the joy of belonging to a ward family. Regardless of the person sharing, however, intrinsic to the standardized LDS testimony is the constant and repetitive mantra-phrase “I know.”

Knowledge and Belief

As discovered by Dr. Robert Lifton in his epic studies of cult tactics in Communist China, is that (and I quote) “communication occurs in all-encompassing jargon which is repetitiously used.”

Knowledge is a distinct category of belief. If someone believes something, he or she thinks that it is the truth. Of course, it might turn out that he or she was mistaken, and that what was thought to be true was actually false. This is not the case with knowledge. For example, suppose that Bill thinks that a particular bridge is safe, and attempts to cross it; unfortunately, the bridge collapses under his weight. We might say that Bill believed that the bridge was safe, but that his belief was mistaken. We would not accurately say that he knew that the bridge was safe, because plainly it was not. For something to count as knowing, it must actually be true.

Cartesian Philosophy

Cartesian philosophy doubted everything. Skeptical of all premises even down to his existence. Finally came to the conclusion that the ONLY thing he could be certain of, the only thing he knew, was that he existed. “I think, therefore, I am.”

Side Note: When a Christian shares their testimony, they are sharing how they came to know Jesus as their personal Savior. As we shall see, an LDS testimony is a much different thing.

LDS Testimony Tactics

As mentioned, it is a staple of the LDS testimony. It is also used as a last ditch effort to convince, to kill debate, and as a defense-mechanism when their unbiblical beliefs are challenged. Want to hear the “I knows” come out? Press a missionary on the facts of their beliefs. Question a member about “why?” Why do you believe this when the Bible says this? Why do you accept this when the Bible says this? Why are you willing to embrace this when the Bible says this? In the end, you will hear them, like Janice did last week, step back into a defense mode, possibly to the simple days of their testimony-bearing youth, and they will state – in the face of all the evidence around them, that “they know.”

The phrase “I know,” when used in the sense that “an indisputable fact is possessed relative to spiritual truth,” has a number of grave difficulties associated with it. Because we live by faith, which implies some measurement of hope and belief, “I know” is an ugly misapplication.

Biblical Perspective

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

And Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Romans 8:24-25 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Listen, there is no “I know” in the Bible because I know means I have no reason to hope, and since faith is the “substance of things hoped for,” and without faith we cannot please God, “I know” is antithetical to God’s ways!

Even in the Book of Mormon, Alma 32 it states that if a man knows a thing he no longer believes in it, because he knows! It also states that “faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things.”

“I know” is a construct of men, my brothers and sisters. It is based in the flesh, in the carnal mind, in the philosophies of this world. When people say “I know” they are essentially saying, “I, I, I, I . . .” They are saying, “I don’t need to look any farther! I know!” It closes the door on thought! And the LDS children are saying it as young as three years old! What a blinding con job these words reveal!

Christians say

“I have hope . . . I trust . . . I have faith . . . I pray . . . I look to . . . I long for . . . I seek . . . I desire.”

Rarely, if ever, in my exposure to the body of Christ, do I hear salt of the earth Christians use the saying “I know” as it relates to their spiritual walk. With one amazing and clarifying exception. When they are asked if they “know” they are saved. Where the LDS claim to “know” that just about everything in “the Church” is.

Assurance of Salvation

True, Christians do lay claim to knowing that they have been saved from sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and hell. Before we go to the phones, let’s examine these apparent similarities. To the LDS, “I know” is errantly applied to fallible and unproven objects – the Church, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon. To Christians, “I know” is applied to only one area of certainty – their salvation, which is based NOT on anything from themselves, but on the Only infallible Truth upon which anyone can assuredly rely – Jesus! Do you get it?

Jesus as the Truth

Jesus said, “Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” He also said, “I am the Way, the TRUTH, and the life.” So in essence, He said, “You shall know the Truth, the truth will set you free, and I am the Truth.” We can only KNOW Him with metaphysical certitude because He is the only absolute truth upon which we can rely. In Mormonism, the Church has stepped in and said, “Place your trust in us and you can know.” In the regenerated Christian, Jesus steps in and says, I am the truth. You can know me (the truth,) and I (the truth) will set you free (through certainty of your salvation and escape from hell).

All right. Let’s go to the phones. (801) 973-8820 (801) 973-TV20

Conclusion

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The Infallible Word

Remember, March 7th 7pm at Christ Evangelical Church!

See you next week on Heart of the Matter.