}
On the four corner lots formed by the intersecting of Main and Church Streets in Palmyra, NY, one finds four large Protestant churches today. Two centuries ago on the Smith family farm a few blocks to the south, a teenage Joseph Jr. found himself caught in the rivalry between such churches contentiously competing to claim the allegiance of repentant converts from the most recent revival. He wrote that, while praying in a grove of trees a short walk from his log cabin home, “I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong.” He would go on to organize a new church, which—ironically—would soon claim to be “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.”
Over the years Protestant denominational loyalties and exclusivity claims have faded and expressions of mutual embrace are not uncommon. However, the lines between these churches and the one founded by Joseph Smith Jr.—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—have remained stark and at times harsh.
How does Jesus Christ, himself, perceive this excluding of one another? In the Lord’s prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus appears to anticipate these divisions arising among his would-be followers. So he prays repetitively and passionately that they be protected from these. At stake is the validity of their witness to the world of his own exclusive claims. To be sure, differing beliefs as to what those claims are should not be superficially dismissed. But, in the light of how Jesus prayed, should they not be honestly and prayerfully discussed in a mutually respectful way?
To initiate and facilitate this discussion is the intent of this book, using as a guide the simple but profound petitions Jesus taught us in the more well-known Lord’s Prayer—with a prayer that in the process, participants will relate more deeply to Jesus, and through him to each other.
“Using the petitions of the Lord’s prayer as his topical springboard, Heersink guides Protestants and Latter-day Saints alike into unresolved questions about their movements, encouraging developments, and important questions still to ask. Fully abreast of the most important academic questions, the book nevertheless wears its learning lightly and at times reads more like a devotional.”
Craig L. Blomberg , Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary and co-author of the groundbreaking How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation
“Pastor Bill Heersink’s sensitively written, deeply personal, book-length essay is an honest, heart-felt effort not merely to understand but also to appreciate Mormon doctrines and practices. Having lived in Utah among the Latter-day Saints for many years, the author affirms his own deeply Christian beliefs while respectfully seeking to reconcile differences between Mormon and Protestant beliefs.”
Richard E. Bennett, Professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University and former President of the Mormon History Association
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