Day 114 –Water and the Trinity- July 20, 2006
Today was the one year mark for Elder Pierce. Now, before you start thinking I’ve forgotten how to count, let me explain that it is Elder Kris Pierce’s one year mark. July 20th, 2005 Elder Kris Pierce first entered the M.T.C. My, how time flies.
So, how did he celebrate? He wore his old tracting shoes. These were his first pair of mission shoes. They looked a little beat up. They were held together with duct tape, but you couldn’t tell from looking. We also went out to lunch at Taco Bell. It did not agree with me. I felt sick. It was the first time I’ve felt sick since being on my mission. I told Elder Pierce, “I think I’d better go lie down for a while.” I knew that if I tried to work, I’d end up making it worse.
The Taco Bell is only a short distance from the “A” apartments; (the place where we live). I didn’t feel up to riding, so we walked back with our bikes. On the way home we were stopped by a man in a car. He asked, “Are you Mormon missionaries?” This was C. I already felt sick. This didn’t help. C said, “Hang on, let me park my car.” He parked and then came over to talk to us.
Now what manner of man is C you may ask? I will tell you. C is a new breed of fundamentalist anti-Mormon. He’s what you’d call a “lemme at’em”. It isn’t enough that he tells his friends and family anti-Mormon garbage, be he goes out of his way to talk to missionaries. The point of that being was to explain to us why we shouldn’t be missionaries. He was telling us how we need to study the Bible more and the Book of Mormon a lot less. I mean, he wants to talk to us. The problem is, if we waste our time talking with someone who’s closed-minded, we won’t be out there finding and talking with people who are interested in the message we share. C’s goal may have been to convert us away from Mormonism, but all he did was waste our time.
He told us that there’s only one God. My companion, Elder Pierce, knew that there wasn’t a point in continuing talking with this guy, but didn’t want to be rude. Just listen to his message, explain our belief, then gracefully bow out. (“And don’t think it hasn’t been a little slice of heaven … ‘cause it hasn’t.” – Bugs Bunny)
In response to his only one God theory, I asked him (as I ask everyone who believes this theory), to please explain the Trinity. He said, “Sure thing.” He asked me if he could borrow my bottled water in my backpack. Holding the bottle of water and pointing to it he asked me, “What’s in here?” (Now the bottle of water was half full. At this point I still felt sick. I was in a pessimistic enough mood to say it was half empty, but I knew what he wanted me to say.) “H2O,” I said. “H2O! That’s right. The water in the bottle is H2O,” said C. (The weather in Herndon at the time was about 95° in the shade. As a result a nice thick vapor of evaporation had formed near the top of the water bottle.) C next pointed to the vapor at the top and asked, “What’s this?” “(sigh) That’s vapor. Also H2O,” I said. “That’s right!” C said. “When it’s water it’s H2O, and when it’s a vapor, it is still H2O. Now, what would happen if we were to put it in the freezer?” I answered him, “It’d turn to ice, which is also H2O.” “So you see,” said C “It doesn’t matter if it’s in vapor form, water form or ice form. There’s one name for it and that’s H2O. It is the same thing with God. He can come in the form of the Father, in the form of the Son, or in the form of the Holy Spirit, but it doesn’t change the fact that there’s one name for it; God. There is one God.”
“Can something be a liquid, a solid and a gas all at the same time?” I asked him. “Uhh…,” said C. C then changed the subject. He was so good at dodging our questions he could’ve been in the Matrix. I didn’t press the question any further. If I did though, I’d have said to him, “Thanks for the science lesson, Bill Nye, but you still didn’t answer my question about how the Trinity works. (Just for the record, it doesn’t work) You told us that H2O in three different forms is still H2O. When Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was baptized as recorded in Matthew 3:13-17 all three members of the Godhead were represented at the same time. Jesus is baptized, the Holy Ghost descends on Him in the form of a dove and our Heavenly Father speaks from Heaven. Now, the only way you could have vapor, water and ice in one place at the same time is if they were separate. Not one being, one in purpose.”
The last thing he asked us before we left was more of a challenge. He told us, “You guys don’t need to be around here in Herndon talking to these people. Come with me to D.C. some night, in the slums with the drunks and the addicts and the crazy people! That’s where you need to go to truly see if you have the Spirit with you.”
He then told us how he’d seen people cast out devils and such. He told us, “Come on guys! We can go out late one night, find some possessed people and take turns casting out devils. If you think you’ve got the Spirit.” We told him maybe later, but as missionaries, we had a curfew. After we left, Elder Pierce said, “Well, that was a waste of time.” He then told me later that the reason people like C rely on other sources to prove things (like casting out devils or other forms of table jumping) is because they can’t teach by the Spirit. The Holy Ghost isn’t going to back them up when they’re telling us lies. So they’ve got to go with something people can see.”
So yeah, C you weren’t much help. Although, I must admit I have a better understanding of why the Trinty doesn’t work.
We also taught D later that evening. He seems to be progressing well. We got to talking about what we’re taught him before. He told us how much he liked the lesson with the cups {Day 100}. He told us, “When you guys showed me that, something clicked and I got it. It made sense to me.”
Tonight we watched the Bruce R. McConkie talk on the Atonement. D thought it was very powerful. “Man,” he said, “that dude’s cryin’. Is he still alive?” I told him, “No, he was very sick at the time he gave this talk. He passed away less than two weeks later.” “Dang,” said D. So, it was a great lesson with D tonight. Before we left we invited him to a church activity on Saturday. The Elders quorum is getting together to play waffle ball. It should be a lot of fun. Plus there is going to be hotdogs afterwards. We’ll try and see if we can get D a ride. We also gave him an invite to church on Sunday. D says that he is moving to Minnesota to live with B for a while. He’s leaving next week. We told him that we’d love to take him to the Washington DC Temple visitor’s center sometime before he goes. We’ll see what we can work out.
I feel much better now. All I needed to do was lie down for a little bit. Settle my stomach. I asked Elder Pierce how he enjoyed his one year mark. He said it stunk. (“Well, those are the breaks.” – Coach Z, homestarrunner.com) Tomorrow we have exchanges.
So, how did he celebrate? He wore his old tracting shoes. These were his first pair of mission shoes. They looked a little beat up. They were held together with duct tape, but you couldn’t tell from looking. We also went out to lunch at Taco Bell. It did not agree with me. I felt sick. It was the first time I’ve felt sick since being on my mission. I told Elder Pierce, “I think I’d better go lie down for a while.” I knew that if I tried to work, I’d end up making it worse.
The Taco Bell is only a short distance from the “A” apartments; (the place where we live). I didn’t feel up to riding, so we walked back with our bikes. On the way home we were stopped by a man in a car. He asked, “Are you Mormon missionaries?” This was C. I already felt sick. This didn’t help. C said, “Hang on, let me park my car.” He parked and then came over to talk to us.
Now what manner of man is C you may ask? I will tell you. C is a new breed of fundamentalist anti-Mormon. He’s what you’d call a “lemme at’em”. It isn’t enough that he tells his friends and family anti-Mormon garbage, be he goes out of his way to talk to missionaries. The point of that being was to explain to us why we shouldn’t be missionaries. He was telling us how we need to study the Bible more and the Book of Mormon a lot less. I mean, he wants to talk to us. The problem is, if we waste our time talking with someone who’s closed-minded, we won’t be out there finding and talking with people who are interested in the message we share. C’s goal may have been to convert us away from Mormonism, but all he did was waste our time.
He told us that there’s only one God. My companion, Elder Pierce, knew that there wasn’t a point in continuing talking with this guy, but didn’t want to be rude. Just listen to his message, explain our belief, then gracefully bow out. (“And don’t think it hasn’t been a little slice of heaven … ‘cause it hasn’t.” – Bugs Bunny)
In response to his only one God theory, I asked him (as I ask everyone who believes this theory), to please explain the Trinity. He said, “Sure thing.” He asked me if he could borrow my bottled water in my backpack. Holding the bottle of water and pointing to it he asked me, “What’s in here?” (Now the bottle of water was half full. At this point I still felt sick. I was in a pessimistic enough mood to say it was half empty, but I knew what he wanted me to say.) “H2O,” I said. “H2O! That’s right. The water in the bottle is H2O,” said C. (The weather in Herndon at the time was about 95° in the shade. As a result a nice thick vapor of evaporation had formed near the top of the water bottle.) C next pointed to the vapor at the top and asked, “What’s this?” “(sigh) That’s vapor. Also H2O,” I said. “That’s right!” C said. “When it’s water it’s H2O, and when it’s a vapor, it is still H2O. Now, what would happen if we were to put it in the freezer?” I answered him, “It’d turn to ice, which is also H2O.” “So you see,” said C “It doesn’t matter if it’s in vapor form, water form or ice form. There’s one name for it and that’s H2O. It is the same thing with God. He can come in the form of the Father, in the form of the Son, or in the form of the Holy Spirit, but it doesn’t change the fact that there’s one name for it; God. There is one God.”
“Can something be a liquid, a solid and a gas all at the same time?” I asked him. “Uhh…,” said C. C then changed the subject. He was so good at dodging our questions he could’ve been in the Matrix. I didn’t press the question any further. If I did though, I’d have said to him, “Thanks for the science lesson, Bill Nye, but you still didn’t answer my question about how the Trinity works. (Just for the record, it doesn’t work) You told us that H2O in three different forms is still H2O. When Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was baptized as recorded in Matthew 3:13-17 all three members of the Godhead were represented at the same time. Jesus is baptized, the Holy Ghost descends on Him in the form of a dove and our Heavenly Father speaks from Heaven. Now, the only way you could have vapor, water and ice in one place at the same time is if they were separate. Not one being, one in purpose.”
The last thing he asked us before we left was more of a challenge. He told us, “You guys don’t need to be around here in Herndon talking to these people. Come with me to D.C. some night, in the slums with the drunks and the addicts and the crazy people! That’s where you need to go to truly see if you have the Spirit with you.”
He then told us how he’d seen people cast out devils and such. He told us, “Come on guys! We can go out late one night, find some possessed people and take turns casting out devils. If you think you’ve got the Spirit.” We told him maybe later, but as missionaries, we had a curfew. After we left, Elder Pierce said, “Well, that was a waste of time.” He then told me later that the reason people like C rely on other sources to prove things (like casting out devils or other forms of table jumping) is because they can’t teach by the Spirit. The Holy Ghost isn’t going to back them up when they’re telling us lies. So they’ve got to go with something people can see.”
So yeah, C you weren’t much help. Although, I must admit I have a better understanding of why the Trinty doesn’t work.
We also taught D later that evening. He seems to be progressing well. We got to talking about what we’re taught him before. He told us how much he liked the lesson with the cups {Day 100}. He told us, “When you guys showed me that, something clicked and I got it. It made sense to me.”
Tonight we watched the Bruce R. McConkie talk on the Atonement. D thought it was very powerful. “Man,” he said, “that dude’s cryin’. Is he still alive?” I told him, “No, he was very sick at the time he gave this talk. He passed away less than two weeks later.” “Dang,” said D. So, it was a great lesson with D tonight. Before we left we invited him to a church activity on Saturday. The Elders quorum is getting together to play waffle ball. It should be a lot of fun. Plus there is going to be hotdogs afterwards. We’ll try and see if we can get D a ride. We also gave him an invite to church on Sunday. D says that he is moving to Minnesota to live with B for a while. He’s leaving next week. We told him that we’d love to take him to the Washington DC Temple visitor’s center sometime before he goes. We’ll see what we can work out.
I feel much better now. All I needed to do was lie down for a little bit. Settle my stomach. I asked Elder Pierce how he enjoyed his one year mark. He said it stunk. (“Well, those are the breaks.” – Coach Z, homestarrunner.com) Tomorrow we have exchanges.
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