What is a Friendly Debate?

The authors of the I Love Mormons blog love Mormons and have a deep desire for each Mormon to come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. Since we personally know former Mormons who were hindered from coming to know Jesus Christ while inside the Mormon religion, we are committed to reaching out in love to share our concerns about Mormonism.

With high stakes, opposing views, and emotions running deep, debating in a friendly manner about these crucial topics can pose a challenge.

In order to create an atmosphere that allows for productive conversation, we have created this comment policy. Comments that do not adhere to this policy may be edited or deleted without notice. Thank you in advance for your efforts to keep the debates friendly, intelligent, and kind.

What Friendly Does NOT Mean:

First of all, friendly does not mean that you must avoid challenging another person’s beliefs that you think are in error. Stephen Robinson says in How Wide the Divide, “I do not expect that we will ever…stop proselytizing each other (and I don’t think that we should)” (p. 20).

We agree! The stakes are too high and we are not very interested in ecumenical dialogue. We feel that time is too short – we think both sides agree that the last days are upon us. There is always room for gaining an increased understanding of each others’ beliefs, but that is not the primary purpose of this blog.

The Bible clearly portrays the existence of an eternal place of torment for those who have not received Jesus Christ in this life. The Bible does not teach an opportunity for a second chance after this life. For these reasons, we feel compelled by the Lord to present our concerns with the teachings of Mormonism. LDS who disagree with us are free to respond with their reasons (I Pet. 3:15).

What Friendly DOES Mean:

Friendly, for the purposes of this blog, means you never personally attack someone with whom you are debating a point. Asking clarifying questions and seeking to understand another’s point of view is considered friendly. It is also perfectly acceptable to state where and how you disagree with a belief system, teaching, or interpretation of scripture (citing your reasons).

The focus must remain on the facts at hand, not the other person(s). We are not here to ridicule other bloggers, question their motives, or try to belittle them. This is not about any individual – whether you agree or disagree with that person, or that person’s level of knowledge/experience. We are examining core differences that divide our belief systems and considering the facts surrounding these differences.

Out of respect for others’ time and for improved quality of discussions, this also means restricting the conversation, as much as possible, to the overall theme of the post.

All quotations must be cited. Copying and pasting from other sources without citations is considered plagiarism, is often investigated by other bloggers, and may result in exposure by other bloggers or the admin.

Links are not usually very helpful for debate unless a summary is provided of the article(s) being linked to. Comments with links that do not include a summary often end up in spam and will not be approved if a summary is not provided.

Swearing/foul language will also be filtered out.

Let’s all remember the following verses as our standard for these conversations:

2 Timothy 2:24-26 “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

I Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”

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