Let's say you have a son, nephew, niece, whatever, who is planning to go on a mission when he/she reaches that age. You're one who doesn't believe in the doctrines, and instead tries to get him/her to enroll in a true Christian school so that he/she knows the real gospel of Jesus Christ. You don't want him/her to be programmed into falsehoods. You want him/her to become a good, decent, spiritually strong human being, while still retaining close contacts with TSCC adherents.

Something like a Fuller or a Moody Bible Institute, something like that. You realize seminaries located next to high schools are simply set-ups for the full-force brainwashing that's to come at MTC.

Would you have the situation of him/her studying REAL Christian theology a secret, kept under wraps from Morgbots? The whole point is to "go along" with the TBM crowd while making yourself a better person inside and out.

I say this from a standpoint of either family member who knows the real truth or trusted friend. Any seminaries critical of Mormonism that would accept a teenager, even underage, to go through a rigorous study of biblical truths to build a shield against Mormon doctrine?

I know of a case where public schools are unsuitable and a Christian Science father put his two grade school kids in a Christian Academy. He had to sign a Statement of Faith--and he's the true CS believer! We figure he did it either out of desperation or he "spiritualized" (self-serving reinterpretation) the theological terms.

The irony is that these are the only two kids in the local CS church's Sunday School and were prominently featured on their website.

Ah, I forgot that there are indeed parochial schools in the Morridor. But very few. I guess they are too chicken to stir up the pot as run by TSCC. These schools may have TBM kids enrolled there.

I was thinking some non-Utah-based theological seminary for a Mormon teen to learn real Christian doctrine. Perhaps even an online education. All to provide a shield against indoctrination while placating other family members bent on seeing you "serve the Lord" and return honorably.

Go to the web site www.ats.edu which is the site of the Association of Theological Schools (U.S. and Canada). There are no accredited member schools/seminaries in Utah.

The site does list schools offering online courses, but most of these schools are graduate institutions. Moody and Fuller (your examples) only offer master's and doctorate level degrees. There are Bible colleges for undergraduates.

Outside the LDS world a seminary is understood as a place of advanced education. A pre-missionary age student would not be a qualified applicant. At best, they could attend public lectures at such a school and perhaps participate in youth workshops that such schools sometimes offer. But if they have only known Mormonism, it would be an uneasy fit.

Exactly. Mormonism is the only religious institution that does not think of "going to seminary" as meaning that one is earning one's a Master's (often, that means a Master's level "Master of Divinity," which is actually almost 3 times the credit hours required for a Master of Arts...comparable to Law School) or a Doctorate.

But then, I remind myself: Mormons and non-LDS Christians... same vocabulary, different dictionary.

I doubt this would gain the approval of parents, bishop, stake president etc. The kid would be exposed to anti-Mormon material and lose his/her/its Recommend. Consider buying the mission candidate "The Kingdom of the Cults (Walt Martin) and suggest he learn about various "corrupt religions.". There is a chapter on LDS.

The problem with Walter Martin's book is that he makes a lot of errors of fact, which negates any legit points he has. My impression of him is that (1) he is so biased he loses perspective and (2) he is mistaken in some of his facts and impressions about the faiths he preaches against. Even just one factual error can make a reader wary of his conclusions, especially a reader who is in one of the faith groups that Martin speaks against.

I would not recommend this book to anyone in one of the groups like LDS or JW, the two with which I am most familiar, as they will see the obvious errors and discard the book as being way off base, which it is in that regard.

Like that's going to happen. No one in Mormonism gets any credible training.

agnesbroomhead Wrote:
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> You're one who doesn't believe in the doctrines, and instead tries to get him/her to enroll in a true Christian school so that he/she knows the real gospel of Jesus Christ.

The person who is thinking this way is making a judgement call about Mormonism being "false" while Christianity is "true" and its gospel "real".

>You don't want him/her to be programmed into
> falsehoods.

Many would say this would happen at the Christian school too, due to many of the various *interpretations* of doctrine being slanted, biased, parochial, unproven. I would ask myself how mainstream and objective the Moody Bible School is and compared to what.

>You want him/her to become a good,decent, spiritually strong human being, while still retaining close contacts with TSCC adherents.

First, it sounds as if you/they think this couldn't happen if they are in a Mormon seminary program while the opposite may be true, depending on which other school program they attend. As for retaining close contacts with Mormons, my impression of your comment is that this means a degree of lying would have to be employed. This would negate the "good", "decent" "spiritually strong" part of the young person's character, no?

>...[LDS] seminaries next to high schools are simply
> set-ups for the full-force brainwashing that's to
> come at MTC.

This comment begs that the question be asked: What would be different about a Christian seminary? It's perhaps obvious that a Christian person would trust this way of thinking but do you see how even in a forum where the majority is not loving the Mormon Church comments like this require some back-up, rather than this opinion being taken for granted as belonging to the majority?

> Would you have the situation of him/her studying
> REAL Christian theology a secret, kept under wraps
> from Morgbots? The whole point is to "go along"
> with the TBM crowd while making yourself a better
> person inside and out.

Again, this sounds like lying to me. So how "real" is it? And how does lying (by commission or omission) make you a better person? And, again, who says that in this or that or the other Christian school they would be learning "real" anything? With so many divisions within the Christian fold, where is the "true" doctrine?

> Any seminaries critical of Mormonism that would
> accept a teenager, even underage, to go through a
> rigorous study of biblical truths to build a
> shield against Mormon doctrine?

Why can't they focus on teaching "biblical truths"? Why do they have to be critical of Mormonism? Wouldn't that be a side issue if you were focused on teaching the "true" gospel?

Just asking.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2014 06:43PM by Nightingale.

an lds mission is equally legit to a christer theological seminary.

Going to good seminary like Yale is so rare that when one Yale seminary grad joined TSCC they made him a speaker at the next General Conference in SLC! Just a new member. He did not know the history of TSCC.

William Sheffield - http://www.lds.org/ensign/1986/05/the-question-of-a-mission

Better yet.. Have the young potential missionary learn critical thinking and skepticism. Help them realize that all religion, god and jesus are a myth. That's right! They are stories made up to "explain" the universe. The whole thing is an illusion.

Yeah, I don't track this.

Christianity has the advantage of age and chronology over Mormonism, but that doesn't make their philosophy or theology any more rigorous than Mormonism's. Just older. There are a few notable Christian scholars that make for interesting reading - Thomas Aquinas, CS Lewis, perhaps - but I don't think you can categorically state that Mormons will be persuaded by the philosophies commonly espoused in traditional seminaries.

And, not to put too fine a point on it, anti-LDS 'scholarship' presented by most Christian institutions is crap (ie, Walter Martin, Ed Decker, etc.). Mormonism and Christianity share very miraculous, ethereal foundation stories. Both have angels and demons, speaking in tongues, scriptures with poorly developed provenance, and a bunch of other commonalities. Christians can't say JS never saw an angel, because they'd have to levy the same charge against Paul.

So, the scholarship is reduced to things like "Mormon chapel spires point up to pierce Jesus' hands" and "Mormons are tricked by Lucifer into worshipping him."

I'm sure there's a higher standard of discourse at traditional Christian seminaries, but in the end it boils down to one group of people arguing that their unprovable testaments are better than the other groups. You may as well recommend both Christians and Mormons visit Zoroastrian (an even older precursor to Christianity) schools of thought before engaging in their respective careers for all the good it'll do.

If I were actually in that situation, I wouldn't want my family member going into either. Those who go to the MTC ignorantly and arrogantly think that they are the only ones who aren't being brainwashed. Those who go into the "true" Christian theological seminaries ignorantly and arrogantly think that they are the only ones who aren't being brainwashed.

Both groups are being brainwashed and I would protect my family from either.

I think it would do missionaries some good to be aware of what other churches actually believe as opposed to what the Morg tells them they believe. I don't expect it to happen though, but knowledge is a good thing

If you know Mormonism is a fraud, how on Earth do you still get sucked in by other religions? Use your logic and critical thinking.