How many of you have had this happen?

truefiction1 said:

Good point. That's another reason why I usually like talking with them.

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yeah, you just always gotta let them think they are getting somewhere with you, or else they stop coming.

truefiction1 said:

I've noticed that there are an awful lot of anti-Trinitarians online in various social media sites these days, thinking they're the true Christians. I usually can't help but refute their belief that Christ is a created being, given how unbiblical and obviously false that teaching is. Still, they insist even in the face of sound reasoning. I comment not so much for their sake, knowing they likely won't recant. I suppose it's more for the sake of others who might otherwise be confused and be lead astray into heresy.

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I think it’s a combo of sincere truth seeking, but only through their own reason.

ArmyMatt said:

I think it’s a combo of sincere truth seeking, but only through their own reason.

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They are convinced Unitarianism is the truth and the JWs are especially convinced that they are the only ones who are right

BPPLEE said:

They are convinced Unitarianism is the truth and the JWs are especially convinced that they are the only ones who are right

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well, neither of those would be an issue if they had the history or evidence to back that up.

ArmyMatt said:

well, neither of those would be an issue if they had the history or evidence to back that up.

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If you Google Christian forums it's the third result. I don't know if I can post the name on this forum but I call it Cultianity Board . I understand the same thing is going on on other forums

BPPLEE said:

If you Google Christian forums it's the third result. I don't know if I can post the name on this forum but I call it Cultianity Board . I understand the same thing is going on on other forums

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oh yeah, there’s some wackiness out there

ArmyMatt said:

oh yeah, there’s some wackiness out there

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It will really make you do some research to be able to debate and discuss with these people

BPPLEE said:

It will really make you do some research to be able to debate and discuss with these people

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yep, which isn’t always a bad thing

A few years ago I used multi-modal transportation as primary to/from work. I would ride my bicycle in most mornings and bike/bus home. One afternoon, on a city bus, two young attractive females sat near me. One was in the seat in front, the other the seat behind.
They first engaged in some small talk, then transitioned to questions about church and the Bible; "Do you believe the Bible? Do you go to church? etc"
When I told them I am an "Orthodox Christian," they seemed puzzled, closed the conversation and moved elsewhere to engage someone else. I overheard and they were basically looking for the "I'm a Christian because my grandaddy was a preacher" style protestant to challenge and proselytize.

ArmyMatt said:

for me, both LDS and the JWs kept coming back for months.

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Really? Man, they must have thought you a prize to be worth the fight.

After I had an episode with four JW's at my house, they never returned. In a very polite conversation, I led them in this way:

ME: Do you agree that the Bible says that God is love?

THEM: Yes. Sure

ME: So, in order for God to be love, there must be someone for Him to love?

THEM: Uh, okay. Sounds right.

ME: So, if Jesus Christ is not God who existed with the Father from always, then who did God love when He was alone? If there was a time that God did not exist as a Trinity, then how could He be love with no one to love?

ONE OF THEM: Gosh, I never thought of it like that.

CULT LEADER: It's been nice talking with you, but we have to go.

Never saw them again, even though I invited them back.

BPPLEE said:

I've been in the drive thru and when I got to the window they said the person in front of you paid for your food and said to give you this. It was a card for Church of the Highlands. It's happened twice.

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Oooooooh . . . hey! That's a nice evangelizing technique!

Light of the East said:

Really? Man, they must have thought you a prize to be worth the fight.

After I had an episode with four JW's at my house, they never returned. In a very polite conversation, I led them in this way:

ME: Do you agree that the Bible says that God is love?

THEM: Yes. Sure

ME: So, in order for God to be love, there must be someone for Him to love?

THEM: Uh, okay. Sounds right.

ME: So, if Jesus Christ is not God who existed with the Father from always, then who did God love when He was alone? If there was a time that God did not exist as a Trinity, then how could He be love with no one to love?

ONE OF THEM: Gosh, I never thought of it like that.

CULT LEADER: It's been nice talking with you, but we have to go.

Never saw them again, even though I invited them back.

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It's pretty hard to argue with such reasoning. Even if one made the claim that God became "Love" after He made creatures for himself to love, then how is He also the God in Whom "change" is not possible, which is also a teaching of the Bible. The phrase that we often here in our Liturgical prayer, ... "Thou art ever-existing and eternally the same..." is directly derived from Biblical teaching. God, therefore, does not undergo "development", regardless of what LDS people choose to believe about the Father, Who at one time, according to them, was no different than we are now, and that he grew from being a simple human to become the "god" that He is today, and that we also are undergoing that same evolution, so that we too will become "gods", just as He is. Such ideas are completely alien to what was ever believed in Judaism, or in Christendom.

And the idea that the "Logos" of God, Who is in fact the "intellect" of God is not an Eternal part, or aspect of God, but rather, merely the first created being and not Himself God... well, all we can say about that is that it just goes to show how effective pride (being attributed to the Father) and fear of God the Father's pride (which the Father does not have, except in their imaginations) gets in the way of understanding and sound reasoning. Their fear is that by considering Christ to be one in Divinity with the Father, that the worship of the Father is being diminished by what they believe to be an idolatrous relationship with the Son. Whereas, in fact, the very Bible in which they boast tells everyone clearly that worshipping the Son, Who is the "express image of the Father" (Col 1:15) is how the Father is best worshipped. Projecting our own passions into God is what the serpent convince Eve and then Adam to do, was it not? Did the devil not trick them by suggesting to them that "God does not want you to eat this because He knows you'll become like Him"? Does this sort of selfishness; this sort of sin, exist within God? No, of course not. The Father loves the Son, and gives everything to Him, even all the glory, honor and worship due to the only God, Who is three: Father, Logos (Son), and Spirit.

Light of the East said:

Really? Man, they must have thought you a prize to be worth the fight.

After I had an episode with four JW's at my house, they never returned. In a very polite conversation, I led them in this way:

ME: Do you agree that the Bible says that God is love?

THEM: Yes. Sure

ME: So, in order for God to be love, there must be someone for Him to love?

THEM: Uh, okay. Sounds right.

ME: So, if Jesus Christ is not God who existed with the Father from always, then who did God love when He was alone? If there was a time that God did not exist as a Trinity, then how could He be love with no one to love?

ONE OF THEM: Gosh, I never thought of it like that.

CULT LEADER: It's been nice talking with you, but we have to go.

Never saw them again, even though I invited them back.

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that’s because I let them keep talking. it was only after a month where I started actually debating them. and I did it faking ignorance about the topic.

truefiction1 said:

God, therefore, does not undergo "development", regardless of what LDS people choose to believe about the Father, Who at one time, according to them, was no different than we are now, and that he grew from being a simple human to become the "god" that He is today, and that we also are undergoing that same evolution, so that we too will become "gods", just as He is.

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it’s actually interesting because some early LDS stuff has contradictory teachings on what God’s eternity is, and Who He is.