This past month I was invited to join Tyler, an Evangelical who was meeting with two LDS missionaries and an LDS Stake President (hereafter referred to as “President Jones”).  A couple of things made this opportunity particularly intriguing, at least to me.  First, Tyler is a bright young man who currently attends one of our “Strategies” classes and who is a self-professed novice at this sort of thing.  Furthermore, the Spirit through our classes has ignited a fire in his soul to reach out to Latter-day Saints.  Second, it is rare indeed for a Stake President to sit in on these types of meetings given their high level of responsibility in “the Church.”  Lower-level members are typically assigned this duty.

This was their fourth meeting so Tyler had already wisely created a good deal of “conversational debt”—it was now his turn to share his understanding of the biblical gospel of grace in contrast to the LDS gospel of works.  I sat idle for the ensuing 60-minute discussion not only because I wasn’t asked any questions by the Elders or President Jones, but primarily because Tyler handled himself so well by averting potential affronts.

When the time was right Tyler took President Jones and the Elders to John 6:26-29 and began to explain how “eternal life” (equivalent to the LDS celestial kingdom) was attained by faith in Christ’s work and NOT at all by our “works” or commandment-keeping.  (See page 10.9 of Rock #10 for more information.)  No doubt sensing or perhaps even already knowing the tension between Jesus’ words here and the LDS gospel, President Jones interrupted Tyler’s discourse and began a rather lengthy discourse of his own—a good portion of which was OFF topic but gracious nonetheless.  I sat in sheer amazement as Tyler listened intently to President Jones and demonstrated remarkable restraint—most Evangelicals would have attempted to short-circuit the Stake President by force-feeding their apologetic out of fear of losing the upper hand.  This is not to say that Tyler wasn’t as eager as a Thoroughbred at the starting gate, however.  It is to say that he hung in there until the opportune time to finish what he had started.

Tyler later took his guests to Ephesians 2:4-9 and again began to explain how salvation by grace according to the apostle Paul was synonymous with being “made alive with,” “raised up with” and “seated with” Christ in the same place LDS doctrine identifies as the celestial kingdom.  (See pages 10.10-10.12 of Rock #10 for more information.)  Just when Tyler was ready to launch into verses 8 and 9 for the coup de grace, President Jones interrupted him again—this time with a poignant discourse on the LDS interpretation of Paul’s writings here followed by an unveiling of “the sacred Church doctrine of exaltation.”  This time I was certain President Jones knew exactly what the apostle Paul had to say in verses 8 and 9 and was compelled to chime in before the other shoe dropped.  However, I wasn’t so sure Tyler was going to be able to muster the same restraint and manage the primal urge to pounce on his prey.  To tell you the truth Tyler’s silence was almost deafening throughout President Jones’ spiel, but once again he surprised my socks off and waited to finish what he earlier started.

In closing it is important to note that during both of his interruptive commentaries President Jones repeatedly warned Tyler he was not there “to debate.”  Later during my debriefing with Tyler I explained how incredibly telling and strategic this was on the President’s part.  First, the rhetoric was designed to hold Tyler at bay and take some of the wind out of his sails at the most critical points in his apologetic.  Second, had Tyler acted on the impulse to recapture that “wind” by reciprocating the interruptions, President Jones would have had the perfect excuse for either ending the meeting and/or putting an end to all future meetings.  I am proud to say that Tyler was handsomely rewarded for his self-control and sensitivity to the Spirit.  When the time came for us to adjourn President Jones jokingly agreed to allow Tyler to “beat up on” the two Elders next week and even offered to join Tyler again in two weeks.  My dear friends, this is what it’s all about! 

Charis kai eirene (Grace and peace), Mike