At first glance, 2 John 1:9–11 appears to be a prohibition against inviting non-Christians into our home. It says this about anyone who doesn't accurately teach the gospel:
"If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching [about the gospel], do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work."
What does this mean?
There's nothing ungodly about offering hospitality to non-Christians. In fact, it's one way we witness to them (1 Corinthians 5:9-11). But we should not do anything that shows support for a false teacher.
Many years ago, my husband and I had a personal experience where this principle applied even though it wasn't in our home:
We were attending the protestant chapel service at a military chapel when a new chaplain was introduced who would be helping to present the service that morning. And he was Mormon (LDS). We quietly slipped out of our seats and went home, feeling that participating in the service would be approving of Mormonism. And we later shared our concerns with the chapel leadership.
Mormons deny the Trinity, the unique deity of Christ, and the divine inspiration of Scripture.
We were attending the protestant chapel service at a military chapel when a new chaplain was introduced who would be helping to present the service that morning. And he was Mormon (LDS). We quietly slipped out of our seats and went home, feeling that participating in the service would be approving of Mormonism. And we later shared our concerns with the chapel leadership.
Mormons deny the Trinity, the unique deity of Christ, and the divine inspiration of Scripture.
Christians should treat Mormons kindly and share the gospel with them when given the opportunity, but we cannot and should not partner with them in any way that gives value or validity to their beliefs (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
Note: One reason that God tells us not to partner with false teachings is that we are tempted to change our views. For example, working with Mormons caused filmmaker Dallas Jenkins to change his view of Mormonism and affirm some of his LDS friends as true brothers in Christ. See Be Careful that You Don't Let "The Chosen" Affect Your Discernment.
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Bible Love Notes
I find this quite confusing as I have a mormon friend who professes to be a Christian also. Could you suggest a book for .
ReplyDeleteme to read on this subject please. ?
Hi Unknown,
DeleteMany of the words used by Mormons sound the same as those used by Bible-believing Christians, and for some reason, they are not forthcoming about the actual differences in their beliefs unless you ask quite a few questions.
But to give you a quick overview:
They will say Jesus died for our sins, but they believe Jesus is a created being, not on the level of God the Father.
They will say that they believe the Bible, but they believe it was corrupted and they have "holy books" they hold in higher esteem than the Bible.
They will say they are Christians, but their founder, Joseph Smith said all Christians denominations are abominations, and the Mormon church is the only true faith.
Some of their beliefs change with time because they believe the prophets in the church can hear new things from God, some of which contradict former things they claim God spoke to them, polygamy for example.
I encourage you to check out this site which gives in depth information about Mormonism: https://www.mrm.org/
In addition, the Bible Love Notes site has an archive of articles about Mormonism which you can find here: https://biblelovenotes.blogspot.com/2010/11/mormonism.html
I think these resources can help you better understand what you friend means when he says he's a Christian.
God bless you.
Hi Gail.
ReplyDeleteI follow your devotions daily because I believe you do have a relationship with God and are pursuing the deep things of God.
I agree we shouldn't allow false teaching into our home cause that would be supporting it and can cause confusion.
I'm not Mormon either but I was surprised when you posted you are a trinitarian.
I would've taken you for oneness.
Hi Mary,
DeleteI'm not aware of any Christian denomination that doesn't believe in the Trinity. Nor have I ever heard of any non-denominational Bible-believing church that doesn'nt believe in the Trinity.
Rejecting the Trinity is actually one obvious sign of a cult. And the other obvious sign of a cult is that they don't believe Jesus is God.
What church do you belong to?
Gail
Oh, but I do believe that Jesus is God incarnate. The word of God says this in Isaiah 9:6, John 1:1, 14 (and many others)
ReplyDeleteI also believe that God is one. Deut 6:4, Isaiah 37:16, Isaiah 44:6,8,24, Galatians 3:20 ( and many others confirms)
Hi Mary,
DeleteBelieving in the Trinity means believing we serve one God, not three Gods. But our one God exists in 3 persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I'm not sure what church you attend that teaches that the Trinity is a false teaching, because I'm not aware of any legitimate Christian denominations that teach this.
Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons are two major groups that teach against the Trinity, and they also teach that Jesus is not God plus many other things that contradict Scripture. If you are a JW or Mormon, I commend you for reading your Bible for the answers, and I recommend you keep doing it because it will help you see that the doctrines you are being taught are incorrect.
For a more thorough understanding of the Trinity, let me recommend this article. You can copy the link: https://www.gotquestions.org/Trinity-Bible.html