Engaging with Mormons (Corey Miller) Part 1

Answering Mormons questions by Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson deals with 36 commonly asked questions by your LDS friends and neighbors. It's a great resource for Christians want to share their faith with friends and loved ones. Be sure to pick up your copy today at your favorite Christian bookstore viewpoint on Mormonism program that examines the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from a biblical perspective viewpoint on Mormonism is sponsored by Mormonism research ministry since 1979 Mormonism research ministry has been dedicated to equipping the body of Christ with answers regarding the Christian faith in a manner that expresses gentleness and respect. And now, your host for today's viewpoint on Mormonism welcome to this edition of viewpoint on Mormonism on your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director Mormonism research ministry with me today is Eric Johnson.

My colleague at MRM, but we also have with us a friend who is been on the show a number of times in the past and that's Cory Miller, Cory Miller grew up in Utah as 1/7 generation Mormon and before coming to Christ as a teenager. He is CEO of Roxio Christie which is if you want to find out about that organization. It's Roxio Christie.org which is a campus apologetics ministry Cory welcome back to viewpoint on Mormonism were glad to have you.

Thanks, Bill and Eric. Great to be here. Thank you.

Will Cory you've written a new book entitled engaging with Mormons understanding their world sharing good news and I always excited when new books come out about Mormonism and I want to tell you that even though this book is short and concise. It really nails a lot of the important issues and you had asked me to read the manuscript which I did and to give you a little bit of a blurb and so I was pleased to say this about Cory's book is that not only does Cory Miller offer practical tips on speaking with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

He gives pertinent information regarding their theology in such a way that the Christian reader can't help but gain a better understanding and compassion for those immersed in this system and I really mean that. I think what you did in your book was to give a pretty concise view of the problems with Mormon theology, but at the same time you do it in a way where the reader will not walk away thinking less of the latter-day St. people and that's always so important what were going to do. Cory today is to go to the back of the book 1st.

Now, as I mentioned in the opening of the show we had you on before and we have talked about your background, but of course we we got a lot of new listeners since the last time you were here so we wanted to talk a little bit about your background, I went through your curve here because I want to ask you this. Now you come from an LDS background, but some people think the only ones who can speak to the subject of Mormonism are those who have an LDS background. What would you say to a person who thinks that I would say that genetic fallacy. It confuses the rationality with the argument and the source of the argument.

It's the same thing that's used in the abortion debate is your mail. You have nothing to offer or in the critical race theory debate.

If you're white or non-black or non-colored.

You have nothing to offer. Let's talk about your background at the book you give a summary of your story and as you grew up as a latter-day St.

You are seventh generation Mormon explain further listeners why that is important.

Sometimes, and in certain quarters of Mormonism. There is a pecking order. You've got good street credit you come from certain families and backgrounds.

I have uncommon dissent from my family say that come from healthy stock and what they mean by that is that my ancestors go all the way back to the founding stories in my previous book lighting Mormonism wife or scholars change their minds. I accidentally said I was six generation Mormon. This one corrected at seventh and it's because I so captured with John Scott, I forgot about his father, Jacob, Scott, who was great friends with William Law, the second counselor of the first presidency and Mormonism. The most credible and highest ranking morning to ever depart for Mormonism and that was because Joseph Smith, along with many of his other wives that he was getting assigned to him. I wanted to marry William Law's wife, Jane, and made it into the doctrine and covenants 132 in terms of his revelation, trying to calm his first wife Emma down about this. What laws would have nothing of it. They departed and my family. At the very top, Jacob, Scott, I was going to part with them that they were going to put this out in the expositor that one publication and boom Joseph Smith sent his minions destroyed the place vandalized it and the municipalities came to Joe Smith to jail in Carthage and you know the rest of history from their where he got killed. John Scott was one of his bodyguards magic son and took his body back to Naboo after death. He used to report to Joseph Smith began reporting to Brigham Young and to show his loyalty to profit Smith having been a colonel in the Mormon Battalion and the knobby Legion. He took the five wives and had 36, 39 children, of which I'm a descendent without you grew up in a broken home, but at the same time. Do you were active in the LDS church. Was this a stabilizing influence in your life as you grew up in a single-parent home if it was kind of rough. Both of my my mother and father were both black sheep and their respective families and both of their parents helped care for me. My grandparents on both sides helped raise me in various ways on my dads side note, my grandma talked about the shot she saw Jesus two times in the temple talk about temple work provisions taught me about five. My other grandparent on the other side of the Pinewood Derby, Cub Scouts involved in my baptism. I did have extended family and community through my Mormon heritage. The community that provided stability I think was no it was present, your church basketball. The dances cupcake day Sunday school you got your CTR ring Cub Scouts as part of Mormonism at the time and I was though I had black sheep parents. In that respect my sincerity was there when I was eight years old and supposed to be baptized, I wouldn't do it because I knew that I wanted to spend eternity with heavenly father and celestial glory and that required a lot. I didn't want to get baptized and have my sins washed away and have a blank slate until I was ready to die so I figured I'd wait till I was 88 years old and beat the system. Unfortunately, I lived in fear for the next year and finally capitulated and got baptized at nine Cory at 16 he went to a Christian camp.

How did that change your perspective about having a relationship with God. I didn't go to the camp to find.I thought that I already had… I had rebelled by that time against my Mormon sociology or culture because I felt ostracized. Growing up in a family with one parent for mom smoked and things like that and so I I ended up rebelling against the culture but I still believed in heavenly father still believe in the plan of salvation I still believed in the church. I just wasn't letting it at the time like I should have, apparently, and I went to this camp because a friend and said hey you can come the whole summer spent the summer the beach is with me and it's time I don't see the great Salt Lake so I thought great, I went there the preacher spoke on hell I tell people it literally scared the hell out of me in heaven into me. I saw the gospel for the first time I saw demonstrated and people fell in love with Jesus in the community in the California my junior high score is discipled as a young person making a decision like that.

No doubt you probably had. I assume peers that maybe one of the pressure you to go back to the church because we find that happens quite often here in Utah where a person can be convinced that Mormonism is not true, but it's difficult to leave because of the peer pressure that they receive right right like I came back my senior year of high school to graduate, high school, Utah, and that's when the pressure was on. With the fear that I'm now an apostate. Maybe I'm a son of perdition. Maybe I stand it if eternity were soft and Hitler and the internal scheme of things, so I was challenged to reread the book of Mormon for the sake of truth rather than tradition, which I did and it was the only during that time I started finding get this discussing severe problems with it but my mind you know if I if if I leave morning some and I'm wrong. I'm doomed to fight biblical Christianity is true and I returned Mormonism undo and so I had to figure this out and I started studying philosophy in comparative religions and and things like that and it put me into a mode of skepticism for a while.

Frankly, where I really had to question whether God existed and whether the Bible how did you overcome that while I was as I was looking into the book of Mormon and reading it. Then pray over it. I also came across material from the tanners. I got engaged with someone who is named Timothy Oliver former return Mormon missionary who with me antenna my friends senior high school we used to do Bible studies at his house every Tuesday after school and I again seen it.

The book of Mormon was fraudulent and problematic and as I was studying world religions current religions velocity.

I came into the field of apologetics as well and that helped me to see the veracity of the truthfulness of Christianity, can I ask you as you're looking at the book of Mormon in that way. What was it from the book of Mormon that stood out and caught your attention and cause you to delve a little bit deeper what what subjects any particular chapters any particular books in the book of Mormon any particular verses that stood out. I'm just curious. Yeah, I'm just a reading of it as I was going through seemed very boorish, repetitive and interesting like something wasn't right. Now that I was thinking more of a critical thinker as well and utilized is meeting with Timothy Oliver. He helped me to see the notion of salvation through the book of Mormon that became for me and for everyone mission impossible and that highlighted the gospel in a contrasted and illuminated the gospel of Christ.

So some of those things and then as I was reading some of the other literature finding some of the historical and archaeological problems with the book of Mormon as well, but theological, archaeological, scientific and and just literary. I would think that the difficulty for an average latter-day St. when it comes to see in the theological problems is what do they have to compare what they're reading in the book of Mormon. If they don't really know what the Bible has to say how would they ever notice the red flags of bad LDS theology in the book of Mormon so it's good that you had someone like Timothy, and Timothy is very good mentor, no doubt to kind of lead you along the way I think becomes important if Christians are listening to this to understand to be there by the side of a Latter Day Saints struggling in order to help them along as they're coming out and give them guidance and direction. I think that's so important to court you have a friend who's a mutual friend of ours, Dave Roberts, could you tell us a little bit about Dave and how he also helped to disciple you during this important time.

Yesterday was a little bit after Timothy after high school I went to camp served with the Army National Guard in Utah for little while got plugged in with the group about 17 to 22-year-olds about 25 of them radical Christians did some street preaching Temple evangelism University of Utah tracking and so forth.

And through that process through those young people that Rev. Dave Roberts who is a great friend of ours took me under his wings, and I started meeting with him quite frequently.

At least since become faster throughout my life we've been talking to Cory Miller. She is with an organization called Russia. Christie, a former latter-day St., who wrote a book engaging with Mormons and tomorrow are going to continue talking to Cory and asking about his background and the experience that he had not only as a latter-day St., but his transition from Mormonism into Christianity. Thank you for listening.

If you would like more information when guarding images research ministry. We encourage you to visit our website www.mrm.org you can request our free newsletter Mormonism research. We hope you will join us again as we look at another viewpoint is sharing your faith with a Latter Day Saints kid helps to know what their church is taught in several basic topics. For this reason, this research ministry has provided its crash course Mormonism crash course, Mormonism includes concise articles highlighting what LDS leaders and church manuals have taught on issues that will probably come up in a typical conversation. You can find these informative articles and crash course Mormonism.com that's crash course Mormonism.com