Temple Square started out chill: Shared the gospel with some jolly-and-soft-hearted Danish car-trippers (touring the country). They had grown up in Christian schools but had never heard the gospel of grace.

Then I similarly shared the gospel with some ex-Mormon gay guys and their friend, all who work at Noodles and Company. They were out for Pokémon Go. Conversations like these remind me of the Four Laws presentations from Campus Crusade. Simple gospel.

Then we talked to a group of Catholics in town for a business trip. A guy from Denver, Colorado was curious about why we shared our faith on a sidewalk. He said he had just started visiting a Christian church where he lives because of some hard things happening in life. He was exploring.

At the end there was a large group of military chaplains taking a tour of Temple Square. They waited to cross the street to see the choir. Half of them took our tracts, and I preached to the whole group.

When they came back again later an old man put his hand on my shoulder. He smirked and patted me. He said, “Don’t you have anything better to do with your time? You’re just trying to destroy people’s faith.” I replied that no, it was Mormonism that was destroying people’s faith. People are leaving Mormonism and becoming cynical agnostics, throwing Jesus out. I am the one trying to preach a Jesus that outlasts disillusionment with Joseph Smith. If Mormonism really wanted to encourage the right kind of faith, it would preach a Jesus that doesn’t depend on Mormonism being true.

As we talked the rest of the chaplain group came and eagerly took tracts from me! This was awkward. They were coming up and asking for them even as their tour guide was expressing his displeasure with me.

It turns out that the old man was the Director of Military Relations at the LDS Church. He had given the visiting chaplains a tour, and was upset that I had engaged them. Our conversation got intense. We talked about the nature of God, the Trinity, Adam-God, the King Follett Discourse, grace, the Council of Nicaea, paid ministers, the LDS Gospel Topic essays, polyandry, standards of accountability for New Testament leaders, and testing the fruits of alleged prophets. It started with confrontation and heat. And things were spirited, since right next to us Ritch was talking to a lively ex-gang member!

Our conversation gradually became more cordial and it ended well. I invited him to come back on a Thursday night and talk with us.

• ⌘+[number] for quick tab change in Chrome.
• To finish typing filenames or directories in the command line use the tab key to autocomplete.
• Install zsh + oh-my-zsh. Type some letters, then press up arrow. This will filter through command history.
• Use SourceTree to quickly build small git commits from untracked files. Stage, commit, then push.
• Use console.debug for logging in development. You can filter console logging in Chrome’s dev tools.
• Shift-command-F in Atom for project-wide search.
• Command-P in Atom for quick file search. Try misspelling the query, it will likely still work.
• Use an eslint plugin in Atom to catch errors before anything else has to.
• Use the SelfControl app to block social media for X number of hours.

A young Russian man named Anton watched Randy tonight talking to someone else. Randy was holding a stack of tracts in his hands. Anton came up to Randy and slapped the stack down to the ground. Randy was shocked, but he said this worked in his favor, as those surrounding had compassion on him.

We had no idea until later that this happened. Anton made his way to the North Gate where the rest of us were. I offered him a tract and he complained that we were “against the Mormons.” He gladly explained that in his country preaching was illegal as of a few months ago.

I said: We live in a country with free speech, and that it was unethical for Russia to deny basic human rights. He said he loved “Mother Russia”, and that America was pathetic because of its problem of homosexuality. He smirked and chirped, “We [Russians] beat the !@#$ out of gays.”

I asked him where he thought the universe came from, whether there was a God, where good and evil came from. He said, “Who cares? You live. You drink. You f@$%. You die and go into the ground.”

At this point I started rebuking him for being immature and wicked. That he was created with a mind more capable than the world’s smartest super computer. He was created for more than this. That he was meant to ask the big questions and be more than an animal. That he was meant to know his Creator. That Jesus would call him to account for all his sins at final judgment. That there was a heaven and a hell. He laughed.

My brother Anthony J. Rubi started taking over more of the conversation at this point. I am so glad he did. I did not feel much compassion or affection for Anton (regrettably). But Anthony then went on to supernaturally pour love on Anton. He told Anton that God knew him and loved him. That God cared about him and wanted the best for him. Anthony kept pulling up Bible verses to share with him. And for some reason Anton kept listening.

I exited and conversed elsewhere, but Anthony continued to love on Anton for at least another 30 minutes. He said Anton ended up showing a more humble side. He listened and he opened up.

---

I believe we spoke to Anton years earlier. On March 15, 2013, I wrote:

A nice Russian guy named Antone (sp?) was trying politely to explain to me that it is rude to try to convert people from one religion to another. He said this seriously, with a straight, matter-of-fact face (and a Russian accent), “I don’t mean to be rude, but in Russia we beat people like you.” … [He is an] Eastern Orthodox Russian who is flirting with Mormonism. A friend (Matt) showed him Joseph Smith’s boasting quote and it had an immediate impact on him.

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” (Matthew 7:6)

Right: “I don’t want to speak with that person because they will react abusively.”

Wrong: “I don’t want to speak with that person because I don’t think they will ever convert.”

1. A nation inescapably has a shared set of values, beliefs, symbols, orthodoxies, stigmas, doctrines, founding narratives, heroes, and even rituals. This is a religion (broadly defined).

2. “Separation of church and state” is really about having 1) a “civil religion” that is generic enough to be inclusive of denominations (and people of conscience) compatible with the nation’s sense of public morality and civil values. And 2) a separation of civil institutions and more particular denominational institutions.

3. Both liberals and conservatives inevitably want a civil religion: They want the government to encourage and in many cases even enforce a civil code that reflects a notion of public morality and human flourishing.

4. Liberals should acknowledge that they are trying to change our country’s civil religion and enforce their own orthodoxy / doctrine.

5. Christians should acknowledge that we too prefer a “civil religion”: a generic set of Judeo-Christian / Western values.

6. Since America is now abandoning its original “civil religion”, it is all the more appropriate for Christians to own our identity. America is not our final home. We are like foreigners, immigrants, and refugees. We are wandering. Longing for our true home. Awaiting the return of our true President/King, Jesus Christ.

Benefit of confronting early: Our frustration isn’t pent up.

There is more time to demonstrate patience and kindness. Our love isn’t soiled by our own inner frustration and bitterness. We show trust in God by planting the seed of confrontation and then showing we are committed in long-term relationship to help another person changing.

The alternative is to keep it quiet, say nothing, grow in our bitterness/frustration, and then say something too late.

Review of chapter 2 of Tim Chester’s You Can Change.

Summary quote:

“We don’t change so we can prove ourselves to God. We’re accepted by God so we can change. God gives us a new identity, and this new identity is the motive and basis for our change.” (29)

Continue reading “New Identity Comes Before True Holiness” →

The first gift for Isaac’s new prospective wife: a gold nose ring.

“When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ringweighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.” (Genesis 24:22, NIV)

Sounds positive here:

“And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.” (Ezekiel 16:11-12)

My friend Edyth comments,

Customs, customs–not a command from God. The Bible presents people in all their sinfulness and strange customs.

My reply:

Too late, already encouraging my wife to exchange her finger-ring for a nose-ring!

In all seriousness, I love the raw grittiness of the Bible. 100% divinely inspired and 100% human.