The Problem with Myth

Heart of the Matter: Show 5 The Problem with Myth

Live from the Mecca of Mormonism, Salt Lake City, Utah, this is Heart of the Matter, where Biblical Christianity meets American Evangelicalism Face to Face. And I’m your host, Shawn McCraney. We PRAISE the true and living God for allowing us to be a part of this ministry and pray He will be with you and me tonight.

Again, some repeated questions we are being asked since the change of venue:

• Are we going to load these new shows aimed at modern Evangelicalism on the website? Absolutely. In fact, we have revamped the www.hotm.tv and plan to launch it on April 3rd or 4th. You should be able to watch all the HOTM shows from this year there within the next two weeks.
• Do you think you will be airing Heart of the Matter on TV20 in Salt Lake City again? That would be . . . . . no. KTMW TV20 made it clear that they want nothing to do with our ministry and we receive that fully. We appreciate the opportunity they afforded us to be on air in the past.
• How can I watch the re-runs of Heart of the Matter LDS taped over the last seven years? Three ways: First, on the NRB Network on Sky Angel and Direct TV channel 378 every Friday night and Tuesday in the early AM. Second, by going to our website at www.hotm.tv and watch them from our archives, and Third, by going to YouTube and typing in my name, Shawn McCraney or Mormonism.
• Do you still need financial support since you are no longer on the television in Utah? More than ever and let me tell you why.

Financial Needs and Broadcasting Challenges

First, we moved to a television network that is much larger than the former channel and our costs are double for an hour of TV than they were in Utah. Second, streaming to you we are charged more every time someone comes on and uses bandwidth. Because we are airing new programs this way only, our streaming viewership is growing . . . and so are our costs. Third, we’ve had to build our own streaming studio and have had to purchase our own equipment as a means to do it. We are going to hold our weekly verse by verse Bible studies in this studio too. So bottom line, since leaving TV20 in Salt Lake ALL of our costs have skyrocketed.

But we stand by our model of how we have always approached ministry and finances – We believe that “where God guides God will provide.” He has proven this time and time again. We also believe that widows and people on a limited fixed income are never under a directive to financially support a ministry but that ministries are under the obligation to support you. Finally, we believe that nobody should feel compelled to give, that there is no pressure to give, no guilt and no promise on our part that God will bless you financially if you do. For all we know you might give and your life could get harder. This is why giving is ALWAYS between you and God alone. We simply let people know that there are needs and we ask you to prayerfully consider seeking His wisdom in matters like this. Okay? Alright. Let’s have a word of prayer.

Distinguishing Culture from Christ

I want to say something as clearly as I can as a means to tie all we have said over the past few weeks to what we will cover for the rest of the year: Never, ever confuse culture with Christ and never believe the practice of religion is synonymous with being a saved child of God. Again – and better put . . . “Culture is NOT Christ and Religion is NOT a saving relationship.”

How about an example of what I’m talking about? Two days ago the world (including close to a billion Christians) celebrated what is known as Easter. This past week the marquee on a large Methodist church perched up the street from my house boldly announced– “Annual Easter Egg hunt this Sunday!” For many believers, the fact of His resurrection is NOT lost amidst the purchase of new pastel colored clothes, chocolate rabbits, dyed eggs, and feasts with the family. But for many, His glory is dimmed (or at least shared) and in some cases it is even lost in the cultural and religious deluge that accompanies this bloated religious holy-day. Of course, Christmas is much worse.

The Rejection of Holiday-Oriented Services

The following regarding “holy-days” or what we call holidays: “We reject the need for holiday-oriented services which commemorate Christmas, Fourth of July, Easter, Halloween, or individual birthdays. We are not against individual believers celebrating such occasions but refuse to let them have a place in the limited amount of time we have set aside to worship God in spirit and truth.” I emphasize “in spirit AND in truth” because many believers will place all sorts of emphasis on the spirit of religious activities while completely ignoring the other side of the genuine worship of God – TRUTH. What I mean by this is many people will justify the celebratory side of things accepted in Christianity – holiday, practices, and rituals (claiming God is present in them) while altogether ignoring the truth of the things they are doing or supporting. Certainly, there is a spirit that comes with singing Santa Claus is coming to town but is there any biblical truth associated with it? There is no true worship of God if both elements are present – spirit AND truth.

The Origins of Easter

The word Easter is actually used once in the New Testament. In Acts chapter 12 verse 4. It is the worst word-translations in the entire King James Translations. See, the word “Easter” is the translated Anglo-Saxon word “Eostre” who is the pagan goddess of spring and fertility. She is celebrated by many ancient cultures far and wide. Scandinavian countries call her “Ostra,” and the ancient Germanic tribes called her “Ostern” goddesses of the vernal (or spring) equinox. Pagan rites and things related to the occult are usually tied to natural occurring events in nature. This is why Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism and member of a family steeped in occult practices chose the Autumnal equinox to seek otherworldly beings in an attempt to locate buried gold . . .and returned to the Hill Cumorah every year on this specific anniversary in order to ultimately (and supposedly) receive it in the form of “plates.”

Historical Context

Now, the Phoenicians called their pagan Goddess “Ostre” or “Astarte” and the Assyrians and Babylonians called her “Ishtar. From these names we get “estrogen” which is obviously tied to female reproduction and hence fertility. And all of these words are closely related to the transliterated English word "Easter". Listen – for more than a thousand years before Jesus’ birth pagans celebrated the warming rays of spring (through sexual rites and festivals of fertility) by paying homage to this goddess. To worship God in Spirit AND . . . AND . . . AND in Truth, we have to recognize that there has always been an unseen battle going on between the powers of light and dark throughout the universe – even until this day. And with whatever means “the god of this world” can use to get seekers of truth and those saved “off track” he will use them– even if it includes cute little colored eggs and men in red suits.

It is one thing to smile and hand out candy to kids in the neighborhood or to let the kids open gifts on Christmas morning but it becomes a completely different matter when Christianity (which ought to be about His birth and resurrection EVERYDAY) embraces these pagan appellations into elements of our faith. On Monday of this week I went to the gym with my wife. The ladies who run the front counter are all active LDS members. They know I am not a fan of tying my faith to Holy Days and think it is sort of funny. And one of them, with a blank sort of innocent look on her face, said, “So Shawn, did you do ANYTHING for Easter yesterday?” “No,” I replied with a smile, “I did nothing for Easter.” Then two of them chimed back with alternating questions: “You didn’t even eat a chocolate bunny? Not even a Peep?” It amazed me that the thing they associated with my celebrating or participating in “Easter” was tied to candy products and nothing about Christ.

I’m not a frothing zealot nor a dogmatic fanatic – but when it comes to my FAITH on God incarnate who saved me through His shed blood I want the freaking truth – especially when I go to church and I expect them to leave the world outside. I am of the opinion that that “great counterfeiter” originated this pagan spring rite with its false goddesses as a preemptive strike to counter the glorious resurrection of our Lord which would get millions to share His glory with competitors, if you will.

The Integration of Pagan Traditions into Christianity

I mean we actually find the word Eostre in the Bible! The pagan “Eostre festival” coincided with the Passover celebration of the Jews, which was actually a festival held in anticipation of the coming Messiah. Of course once Jesus died as the Lamb of God during the Jewish Passover Christians also observed His offering with a special meal. Over the years, the word Passover (paschal) was at first used synonymously with the word “Eostre” for no other reason than the celebrations occurred at the same time. Then it was exchanged, then it was replaced. Before we knew it, we had Bible translators inserting the anglo saxon term “Eostre” into the Word of God where it read pascha (for Passover). Wycliffe stood true to the paske, (i.e., Passover) in his translations but Tyndale and Coverdale chose to use the word “Easter” in the Word of God . . forever tying Christianity to the pagan ritual of Eostre and ultimately all the trappings it uses to honor her goddesses, including eggs, bunnies, and pastel colors.

The Consequences of Pagan Assimilation

This is why last Sunday a nice large Methodist Christian CHURCH was telling parents to bring their children to their back-lot grass to participate in a ancient pagan rite of Spring. I would suggest, however, that the more deleterious effects of Christianity allowing itself to assimilate with such pagan pageantry is how the facts of it can and will be used to create doubt in the hearts and minds of uninformed believers. This is the problem of allowing non-truths (whether doctrinal or in praxis) to exist in the church – they will be used (by the enemy) to crush the faith of unsuspecting and uninformed believers. We see it all the time when our kids get to college (or even high school, these days). It is here they will learn to “real history” of Easter (along with a whole bunch of other unexamined garbage Christians often embrace and pass along) and those young in faith or weak on truth are unprepared to handle the onslaught to their religious naivete – and they experience a crisis of faith. It is happening more and more. And the fault lies squarely on the shoulders of Reverends, pastors, priests, popes and prophets (so called) who have allowed and even promoted untruths to be received and embraced by their unsuspecting and trusting flock. It is every pastor, every REVERAND’S duty to protect their flock and to nourish them – by and through the Word of God in SPIRIT and in TRUTH.

The Danger of Non-Biblical Practices

I’ve used the idiotic recognition of Easter as a type to introduce a dozen other errant, non-biblical “fuglies” that exist in fundamental Christianity today. I call them fuglies because they are freaking ugly Christian practices and doctrines that when examined under real scrutiny they do not hold water and end up weakening faith rather than strengthening it. “Why not just let people practice their Christian faith as they would like,” you might ask, I mean there is freedom in Christ isn’t there?” Of course there is. And I am all about individuals – INDIVIDUALS – freely choosing how they are going to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. But the Church must be examined . . . and sometimes exposed, as a means to prepare it to help those (like the LDS) who come into it seeking truth and either never find a home or embrace more elements they will later discover is a off as Smith and his claims.

In Christian fundamentalism, which I distinguished last week from Christian Laodicean’s (and who we are going to expose first) these non-biblical traps include extremely dogmatic positions on: The age of the Earth, The Bible we have today being perfect, Demands for uber literalism and for the most simple reading of the Word, Faith healing, Prosperity Teachings, Dominion Theologies, King James Only demands, Christian politics run amok, Debates over the ark and flood, Tithing, Tongues, Church governance, And a whole bunch of strictly enforced man-made demands related to dating, dress, smoking, drinking and just about everything else you can imagine. In many, many ways each of these issues, plus more I fail to mention, are very similar to Easter celebrations held on church lawns all over the world – they appear to have biblical support but in reality are nothing but the ideas of fallen man used to bolster a false or weak faith. What makes their presence most sinister is they are usually presented to believers as if they are forged on God’s anvil and therefore no alternative.

Exploring Dogmatism in Christian Fundamentalism

Opinions or views are allowed . . . unless a person wants to be labeled a heretic or (gulp) as “not saved!” Let me begin here two true stories. I hold it helps illustrate the importance of exploring (and exposing) the dogmatisms existing in Christian fundamentalism today and the reason that many of their claims MUST be honestly challenged BY BELIEVERS as a means to protect the Body.

The Story of Bart Ehrman

It is a story of a fundamentalist Baptist preacher who graduated from Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton College, and Princeton Theological Seminary. All his life he was fed fundamentalist lines (and lies). All his life he trusted in what he was told. Included in the lies was the tale that there were NO mistakes in modern Bibles. None. The present Word of God is INERRANT and 100% correct in every word. Period. He was told the earth is 6000 to 7000 years old. Period. The universe too. He was told the garden of Eden covered the entire world. Period. And he was told that the flood was worldwide. Period. On and on and on he was fed unrelenting fundamentalist positions. Today this man is an atheist and a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina. His name is Bart Ehrman.

What happened to Bart? He accepted dogmatic fundamentalist claims (which, by the way ARE NOT biblically supported) and had his faith shattered . . . right along with his faith in God altogether – when he learned first hand they were not true. That angers me. It angers me (to the core of my soul) as much as the lies of Mormonism anger me because when they are discovered they lead thousands upon thousands to atheism too. Ehrman isn’t without fault as his own intellectualism may have contributed to his crisis of faith, but the fact remains – he WAS taught and told things that were simply not true nor biblical as a believer. And when he was able to see them false, it greatly contributed to his present atheism.

We do what the Bible says – we – “prove ALL things” (1st Thessalonians 5:21). We “try the spirits whether they are of God” (1st John 4:1). And we, like the Berean’s of Acts 17:11 contextually examine scripture, receiving “the word with all readiness of mind, . . .searching the scriptures daily, (to see) whether those things were so.” We try to adhere to Paul’s admonition found in Philippians 4:8 which says: “brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

A Personal Experience

The second story comes from my own personal experiences. While I was still LDS and searching for truth I came to know the principle of our daughters school. She was an accomplished woman, quite refined, and a follower of Christ. One afternoon our daughters came home with a note from this certain principle. In it she wanted to warn all the parents about a dangerous practice that was going on in movie theaters around the nation. Her letter went on to describe in detail the fact that people were going into movie theaters and sticking used hypodermic needles in the seat cushions so when people sat down they would get injected with various diseases – particularly AIDS. The letter quoted a senior representative from the Atlanta Center for Disease Control warning parents of children to be very aware of this situation. It also included some other very official looking supports and references which made the story appear really legit.

I really liked this principle but something smelled fishy about this story and I wanted to protect her from looking foolish for sending this thing home if it wasn’t true so I actually called the Center for Disease Control and asked for the man named in the story. His secretary came on the line and explained that there was absolutely no truth to the story, that the man did, in fact work for the CDC but someone used his name and title to prop the story up as true. It wasn’t. The most important part of the story is yet to come, however. When I called the principle that afternoon, my revelation was not well received. When the principle took my call she was friendly. I explained to her that I thought the story sounded off so I did some investigating and discovered it.

Christian Fundamentalism and Science

Instead of being grateful, or humbled at her mistake, she grew angry, and said: “We’ll, someone really put a bee in your bonnet didn’t they?” I said something to the effect that I was only trying to get to the truth and she replied by asking me if I thought knowing the truth would do more or less good than leaving the story alone. I didn’t realize at the time that I had just had my first interaction with a Christian fundamentalist. The desire to promote and protect Christian platforms at almost any cost has led to some interesting events of late – especially in the arena of science.

Errant Christian Apologetics

Putting truth on the back burner and cooking up a fresh pot of insanities to defend against growing theories of evolution, a fundamentalist Christian organization known as Christian Ministries International actually posted a list of forty claims fundamentalist Christian creationists ought to stop using when engaged in (so called apologetics). These errant arguments Christian apologists have used include the following:

When Christian organization Answers in Genesis listed a similar cease using these arguments list, they were not thanked for providing Christian believers with honest direction but were chided. Ken Hamm of Answers in Genesis wrote: “In November of 2001, Answers in Genesis published an article on its website entitled, “Arguments we think creationists should not use.” Ham then relayed a story of a man approaching him at a conference and saying: “Evolutionists have so much evidence, if you people at Answers in Genesis keep destroying some of the greatest evidence we’ve had, there will be nothing left for the creationists. You’re helping the evolutionists win!” Truth is helping the evolutionists win?

Fear of Scientific Advancement

Look, we have NOTHING to fear. There is no winning in a war that has already been won – by Him – on the cross. Here’s the first problem – somehow Christian fundamentalists THINK there is a war to be won. There’s not. Christians have NOTHING to fear when it comes to any advance in science or knowledge and we never have to rely upon error or half-truths or fables as a means to compete or protect the flock. We have the Word of God. It is NOT a science book – God does NOT tell us how He did things – so stop fighting science. We have nothing to fear. All truth will only lend to validation of our long-standing, even our ancient beliefs.

But we do have to completely AVOID allowing errant interpretations of God’s word to encourage certain fundamentalist positions that are more and more proving to be both non-biblical and incapable of withstanding modern evidences to the contrary. I’m not losing faith here, I am approaching faith with reason – something that has been lacking in Christian fundamentalist circles. Attitudes of fear and defensiveness always exist in people lacking faith not possessing it. And the Church has done more than its fair share in faithlessly responding to challenges it has feared in horrible anti-Christian ways.

Let me give you a few appalling examples: Copernicus decided by 1500 A.D. that the sun is the center of the solar system, but he kept his theories secret for 30 years, not wishing to draw the wrath of the Church. Shortly after publishing Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies, he died of old age, and was spared their angry response. But they got their revenge anyway, by burying him in a grave that marked none of his great accomplishments, but said: "I ask not the grace accorded to Paul; not that given to Peter; give me only the favour which Thou didst show to the thief on the cross." Then they kept silent about his work for 70 years — until the appearance of Galileo. Both Martin Luther and Jean Calvin, in God’s name, repudiated Copernicus’s claims. But when Bruno publicly and bravely chose to defend Copernicus, the Inquisition arrested him, tortured and burned him at the stake.

The man called the Father of Modern Science, Galileo, was the first astronomer to claim actual evidence that the earth was not the center of the universe, but revolved around the sun. For this, Galileo came under intense criticism and persecution from the Catholic Church. Pope Urban VIII personally gave the order in 1633 that Galileo, then an old man of 70, should be threatened with torture if he did not renounce the heresy that the earth revolved around the sun. Under repeated threats of torture, Galileo finally renounced his beliefs. He was then placed under house arrest, and not freed.

Historical Conflicts Between Science and Religion

Even after he went blind, technically, the Catholic Church never convicted Galileo of heresy (only a "vehement suspicion of heresy") but it did make clear that the "heresy" in question was defined as the belief that the earth rotated around the sun. To leave absolutely no doubt about how completely it condemned the ideas of Galileo, the Church censored and prohibited all books supporting his scientific findings for over 200 years. This censorship was placed in the Index of Prohibited Books, which was personally signed by every pope who renewed it. But Protestants would be mistaken if they think they are innocent. Every Protestant church before 1800 rose in bitter opposition to the "atheistic" findings of Galileo.

Rene Descartes and the Church

Rene Descartes, alarmed by the Inquisition's persecution of Galileo, delayed his plans to publish The World, a book that agreed with Galileo's views. Later he wrote Meditations on First Philosophy, which introduced the idea that truth can be discovered only through scientific investigation and the scientific method. This earned the hostility of the Church, and they persecuted him greatly. Now mind you this is the philosopher who is famous for attempting a logical proof of God's existence but was called an atheist and his works were placed on the Index of Prohibited Books too. Protestant theologians in his resident Holland wanted him tortured and put to death.

19th Century Christian Geologists

William Buckland, Charles Lyell, Louis Agassiz, and Adam Sedgewick were all 19th century Christian geologists who originally set out to prove the story of creation and Noah's Flood. But despite their best attempts to reconcile their discoveries with the Bible, their findings kept pointing in the other direction: namely, the earth was several billion years old, not 6,000. One by one, they recanted their belief in the literal interpretation of Genesis and accepted the findings of modern geology. For their intellectual honesty, they came under terrific attack from the Church, which hurled epithets like "infidel," "impugner of the sacred record," and "assailant of the volume of God." Their geology was condemned as "a dark art," "dangerous and disreputable," "a forbidden province," "infernal artillery" and "an awful evasion of the testimony of revelation."

Charles Darwin knew that his revolutionary theories on natural selection would invite the full fury of the Christian world. He therefore delayed publishing his theory for over 20 years, agonizing over the decision of whether or not to publish. His hand was forced in 1858, when he learned that the naturalist Alfred Wallace was about to publish the same theory. His fears proved true — the reaction from the Church was shock, disappointment and anger. The world-wide attacks on his character, theories and personal life are common knowledge now, but he was saved from physical harm for two reasons. First, nearly the entire scientific community was quick to see the soundness of his theories, and rallied immediately to his defense. Second, the age of the Inquisition and other torture-based persecutions had finally passed.

Bertrand Russell found that Christian persecution exists even in the 20th century. Russell angered many Christians with his essay, Why I am not a Christian. They exacted their revenge in 1940, when Russell accepted an appointment at the College of the City of New York. The Christian community launched a furious and protracted campaign to prevent the appointment, printing slanderous accusations of homosexuality, child molestation, public nudity and lechery. Even New York's highest political officials joined the assault, calling him a "dog" who should be "tarred and feathered and driven out of the country." Christians sued in court to prevent Russell's appointment, and in a trial filled with legal howlers, Russell was barred from teaching in New York State — in a word, censored.

We are believers in a King who was not of this world. We do not need to battle and we especially do not need to battle using half truths, myths, or to fight against them. We walk in faith, trusting the Spirit within and the truths found in the Word of God. There are answers, viable solutions, sound reasoning available to us. We have nothing nor anyone to fear. Reason can never take a back seat to hyperbole, fanaticism, or dogmatic positions unless the Bible takes them first. It is to this topic we will turn next week – what the Bible REALLY says.

Exploring Religious Transitions and Community Dynamics

Thank you for all you do.

To give you a little background about me.. I was raised Christian Reformed, converted to LDS when I was 21, my boyfriend baptized me. Got engaged a month later. We had a civil wedding 5 months latter, and then were sealed in Navuoo 9 m later. I was pregnant and my mother in law insisted that our baby had to be born under the covenant. I went along with it, b/c I thought that is what we had to do. I a year and 1/2 I was baptized, had my endowments, part of the relief society presidency, sealed to my husband! It has now been 10 years since I've joined. During those 10 years my husband and I now have three children. who are 8, 7, and 3. I have always had doubts about the church. It wasn't an easy transition converting, many letters and concerned family members from my side of the family. Never comfortable going to the Temple, didn't agree with some of the doctrine, didn't feel the spirit most of the times at church. etc.

Personal Journey and Faith

Of course there is much more to the story…. Three weeks ago I told my Bishop I no longer have a testimony, I do not believe the church is true. I have no intentions of going back. I have a very dear friend who is a Christian, I have been reading the Bible a lot and attending her church. I have been taking the kids with me. My husband doesn't know what to think…. he understands and is trying to be supportive of my decision, however, he doesn't know now if he believes in God, or wants to go to church ever again period. It doesn't help that his parents live 5 houses down from us…. My Mother in law is also a convert, but is very set in her ways, and isn't the most tactful person. My question is how am I supposed to handle this transition of leaving the church and not wanting my kids to attend and having a husband who will not come with us, or go to church himself?

When we don't discuss doctrine we have great days. When we do discuss we usually end up upset with each other. He wants the kids to decide for themselves what church to go to. Since they are 8, 7, and 3 I don't think they can fully understand what is going on. I have asked him if he will study the Bible with me, I asked if he will pray with me. He says he just keeps praying for understanding…. Any advice you can give would be helpful 🙂

Community and Religious Identity

Hey Shawn, I watched a youtube clip of a girl named Jamie who said she was FLDS. Just wondering if she ever got connected with Doris Hansen and got out of that situation that she was in. Hearing about her situation was heartbreaking. In Christ, Daniel Jones

Religious Landscape in the U.S.

March 29, 2013 Provo-Orem, Utah, Is Most Religious U.S. Metro Area The most religious cities are in the South and in Utah by Frank Newport 12> PRINCETON, NJ — Provo-Orem, Utah, is the most religious of 189 U.S. metropolitan areas Gallup surveyed in 2012, with 77% of its residents classified as very religious. Burlington, Vt., and Boulder, Colo., are the least religious, with 17% meeting that threshold. Most of the top religious cities are in the South — the exceptions are Provo; Ogden-Clearfield, Utah; and Holland-Grand Haven, Mich. The least religious cities are clustered in the Northeast and on the Pacific Coast, with the exception of Boulder and Madison, Wis.

The cities referred to in this article are based on the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In many cases, more than one city is included in the same MSA, and some MSAs cross state borders. All reported MSAs encompass at least 300 completed surveys, and Gallup has weighted each of these MSA samples to ensure it is demographically representative of that MSA. Throughout the country in 2012, 40% of Americans were classified as very religious — based on saying religion is an important part of their daily life and that they attend religious services every week or almost every week. Thirty-one percent of Americans were nonreligious, saying religion is not an important part of their daily life and that they seldom or never attend religious services. The remaining 29% of Americans were moderately religious, saying religion is important in their lives but that they do not attend services regularly, or that religion is not important but that they still attend services. Relatively few metro areas match the national religiousness average, instead reflecting substantial

Geographic Religious Diversity in the U.S.

Diversity, with a 60-percentage-point range between the most and least religious cities, generally mirrors the variation in the average religiousness among the states of the union. Mississippi is the most religious state (58% very religious), while Utah is tied with Alabama in second place. Vermont (19% very religious) is the least religious state. Complete data on religiosity for all 189 metro areas can be found on page 2. The most and least religious cities generally reflect the religiousness of the state in which they are located, although there are some interesting exceptions.

State and City Religiousness

Utah, for example, is one of the nation's most religious states, and two Utah cities — Provo and Ogden — are indeed among the most religious cities in the nation. But Utah's largest metro area, Salt Lake City, is significantly lower on the religiousness list (47% very religious) than the other two Utah cities. This most likely reflects Salt Lake City residents' more urban, less Mormon nature compared with other Utah metro areas. And, although Michigan as a state has below-average religiousness, that state's Holland-Grand Haven metro area is tied as the nation's fifth most religious. Specific data on religious service attendance — one of the two components of the religiousness index — highlight stark behavioral differences between the two cities at the extreme ends of the religiousness distribution. Seventy-seven percent of Provo residents say they attend church weekly or nearly weekly, while 18% say they seldom or never attend. Residents of the Burlington area represent nearly a mirror image, with 18% saying they attend church weekly or nearly every week, and 76% saying they seldom or never attend. The 77% level of frequent church attendance among residents of Provo is clearly exceptional; 63% of residents in Montgomery, Ala., second on the church attendance list, say they attend church on a weekly or nearly weekly basis.

Implications of Religious Diversity

America is a remarkably religiously diverse nation, and much of this diversity is geographically based. Residents in some areas and cities — namely, those in the South and in Utah — are two or three times as likely to be very religious as those living in cities in the Northeast, the Northwest, and other Western locations.

Shawn, I thank you for all you are doing and may GOD forever bless your ministry. Now I have a question about something within Christianity. My brother has recently taken up Calvinism and is a firm T.U.L.I.P. believer. What are your feelings on the subject and what does the Bible say on the subject? Thank you for all you do and GOD bless you. PS. I am a born-again Christian and my wife is New Ex Mormon. She resigned from the LDS church about 2 years ago and had her records removed last month (Praise GOD). My brother is a youth pastor at CornerStone Church (formerly First Southern Baptist Church Salt Lake City) on 6th north Rose Park SLC, UT.

Sean, I'm 20 years old, from Logan, and leaving on my mission in about 6 weeks. For the last year or two I've been watching a lot of your Heart of the Matter videos on YouTube. I find your arguments very supported and well researched but what I don't like about the videos is the type of callers that you have call in. It's obvious that there are a lot of uneducated Mormons who are just mad that you are using facts that they know little about. I'd be much more convinced if you actually had church officials, aka stake presidents, 70's, and missionary presidents debate religion with you. And if you have hosted them already then you need to post them as well because whoever posts the videos obviously filters out the smart, more educated Mormons to make you seem like more of a religious genius than you really are. Not saying you don't know what you're talking about. But come on, most of those videos are just pathetic.

-Brett Reynolds

Shawn, I have been on a tremendous walk with the Lord for the last twenty-three years. I was raised (an orphan) by a widow, my grandmother in one of the most Days of Our Lives soap operas anyone could ever begin to share with another person. I was raised to question everything, raised that my choices have consequences and I need to consider those consequences before ever making a decision. It has been a blessing and it has been a curse. While I was in my teenage years I had made a commitment to my grandmother that I would attend a Word of

A Life-Changing Journey

Life Summer Camp in Florida but I was in a relationship with a girl and wanted to stay to be with her. My grandmother said to me, "She never thought she would live to see the day that I would become like my parents and turn away from a commitment of anything to suit my own selfish desires" and I agreed begrudgingly to go. This trip changed my life forever. I decided to attend Bible College at Word of Life in New York and unlike most motivations for someone going to Bible College I wanted to learn about the savior I had marginalized in my life the last few years. The bitterness and hatred toward my parents grew as I got older and felt this odd pull from my relationship with God that was established when I was ten years old. When I got to Bible College, I knew I was going to learn more about the Bible and more about Jesus but I learned very quickly what Denominational differences were because if you answered outside of the denominational norm this impacted your grade…and I was in danger of failing. One of my professors invited me to his home and told me that as long as my papers agreed with the theology and doctrine of the Baptist Denomination they were associated with I would be fine and I engaged him on a conversational level I have engaged no one else since making a firm final stand that, "I was not there for the grade. I was there because I was headed down a road that would lead to death, a path that destroyed so many other people in my family and I wanted to grow in my relationship with my great savior and if part of that journey meant parting ways with the Bible College that was acceptable to me." I never failed, I graduated from their 2 year program with a C Average. Comparative to what my grade was graduating out of high school.

Challenges and Growth

From there I attended Crossroads Bible College desiring a degree in nouthetic counseling and a minor in Youth Ministry. During my first year I met my wife in a Yahoo Chat Room, we spoke for a couple of months, met, and at the end of my junior year of college I moved to North Dakota and we were married that August. In moving, I sent my resume to the local churches explaining my situation and that before my education, I believed one of the largest callings on my life was to do "Family" different than my family previously had for many generations. That if I died married to my wife, raising my children and teaching them about Jesus then I would feel as though I had been most graciously blessed. A church understood and took a gamble accepting a Youth Minister that hadn't finished Bible College and I was there for three years but I was only paid 12,000 per year (their part time salary) but on most weeks they wanted full time attendance (over 100 hours per week) I had to get more jobs and had three for quite some time. I worked there, at Applebees as a cook and Blockbuster Video as a Sales Rep.

Facing Adversity

I had always smoked cigarettes but had quit while attending Bible College and it was easy to pick up again. Soon a youth that was related to one of those who attended and was a member of the church took a picture of me smoking at work and circulated it around the Deacons and I was suspended. During that suspension I found an accountability partner to help me quit, the director of Youth For Christ in our area and our pastor told the congregation that He assigned me to him for accountability. Then, out of nowhere and quite unexpectedly the Board met during my suspension for their Annual Budget Meeting (which in and of itself was no surprise) but they said they could not find $12,000 for the Youth Budget (my salary) even though they listed their Mission Budget including local projects all over town. In the end they closed the entire Youth Program and a diaspora of the youth occurred and I was officially "Laid Off." The pastor came to dinner shortly after and asked if he could speak with my wife in private in which time he told her that the Board could not reconcile my smoking cigarettes with Youth Work because I was a direct role model and so they…

Challenges and Community in Faith

Quietly had me removed. He said it was to protect my reputation. I soon learned my reputation had nothing to do with it, because I almost immediately was looked at different by my fellow youth pastors, ministers etc from the different boards of cross denominations for the community. Since then, we have not attended church we almost got picked up by the 2×2 Movement but when they had no literature, dressed funny and dodged some of my questions and looked up Nameless Church I quickly learned what I was dealing with and felt extremely bad for the family that invited us to the Gospel Meeting. I have been attending Griffin First Assembly of God in Griffin Georgia via internet connection but recently they felt lead to move from their regularly scheduled evening service into a service that was just praise and worship and I felt this strange feeling I never felt online before. I was missing something. I have grown to realize how badly my wife and I and our two children need community with fellow believers.

Discovering Faith and Community

A lot of what has gone on since has really placed our view of Christianity in direct opposition with EVC churches and have realized how different our faith feels, how different it looks and I have been SO impressed discovering you today that I cannot help but initially say there needs to a CAMPUS in Jamestown North Dakota and I want to be a part of bringing it here but I have nothing of value to bring to a discussion like that. It is needed so badly though, we have even thought of moving just so we could find like minded individuals. I read your campus What? page and I have been trying to word how I have felt and what I have poured out in tears to the Lord and I fall so short but I read this and would love to know more about getting involved with CAMPUS.

Sincerely,
Justin Batz
P.O. Box 1771
Jamestown, ND 58402-1771
701-658-0378

Reflections on Religious Influences

From a dear brother Terry Steele – Malcolm Muggeridge's "The End of Christendom," Stanley Hauerwas' "After Christendom," Stuart Murray's three works, "Church After Christendom" and “The Naked Anabaptist” and "Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World" Lesslie Newbigin: "The other Side of 1984" and "Foolishness to the Greeks." STEAVE CONLEY: Were there Dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark?

This is so great! I'm so glad to hear this news, especially right now because I've been so discouraged lately. I recently discovered (yet again) how bad these so-called evangelical Christian leaders are misleading people. But this time it's regarding Christian Colleges, (My son is a junior in HS, on college search) especially the most popular one, Liberty University. I cannot believe that these academic Pharisees mandate community service and chapel attendance in order to be "worthy" to graduate!! They make me sick to my stomach. Go get'm Shawn! I've got your back. 🙂 Praying like crazy. Love, Monica

Dear Shawn, I'm from Beaumont, TX and ran across your program a couple years ago. I'm happy to see where you're going with it. I wish y'all luck I haven't watched your programming for a long time not out of any misgivings or being offended. I was never Mormon but, sadly this past election season I did let my disdain for Obama cloud my judgment and threw my support behind Romney. I'm pretty ashamed of it now to be honest after watching your program because you're completely right had he won, so would Mormonism won World Wide. I'm glad he didn't win even though I'm not happy that Obama won. I have to say speaking of evangelical churches the one I attend and have for nearly 7 years now has never gotten itself into the political forey of party affiliation, at least not the messages preached there. From what I have seen we preach Jesus and Jesus Crucified. Sure Pastor Ron does use some anecdotal references to times in his life to bring relevance to the message but it is majoratively dominated by the Word and scripture.

Faith-Based Education and Growth

In fact, Wednesday nights for the past new year pastor Hammonds has been preaching, "Life Shape" where a key foundational teaching is presented for Christian growth http://www.churchonline.tv (that's the site we broadcast around the world with). I count my self blessed to be part of such a church and also to have found your program. I noticed that it was taken off the air/internet after your New Years broadcast where are y'all now? Even though I'm not sure if this

Pursuit of Truth

e-mail address is still receiving messages or if they're being answered at all, I hope you get this! Thank you for being on the air and going after the pursuit of Truth sir God bless you in all you touch.

Sincerely,
Scott Laudano
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Questioning Religious Beliefs

Dear Shawn, while you are disproving Joseph Smith, isn't is possible to disprove Jesus Christ? You cannot prove that Jesus Christ existed, that the New Testament is the word of god, and you cannot prove the the miracles of Jesus Christ were nothing but a fable written down in the a fairy tale book entitled the New Testament.

Potential Outcomes of Religious Debate

You may think that if you could get Mormons to quit their church and join some other church, but what may instead is the conversion of a Mormon into an atheist. What say you on this subject?