Why in Deuteronomy chapter 13 does it call the people of God to kill non-believers?  It seems pretty specific, and I just wonder why it asks us to even kill our family if they should try and lead us astray.

Sincerely,
Bound To Family

Dear Bound To Family,

Deuteronomy 13 is an Old Testament command.  The laws and commandments of the Old Testament are no longer binding.  When Jesus died on the cross, He blotted out the ordinances of the Old Testament that condemned us (Col 2:14).  The New Testament has surpassed and replaced the Old Contract written on tablets of stone (2 Cor 3:3-8).  The Old Testament was designed to lead mankind to Christ, but now that Christ has come, we are no longer under the Old Covenant (Gal 3:24-25).  The Old Testament was God’s law for the Jewish nation (which included laws for how the Jewish government was supposed to punish criminals), and the New Testament is God’s law for Christians.  There is so much confusion over the Old Testament and New Testament that we have a short video tutorial on the subject on our YouTube channel.  The video can be found here: http://youtu.be/8kPP0G9WSyo.

     I am hoping you can help me in how to answer a friend.  She is Mormon, and so I asked her to explain to me how she is able to use an "extra book" – the book of Mormon, and this is what she had to say.  I was wondering if you could help me understand how to further explain this in a clear way.

Here is the e-mail that she sent to me: "It is super important that we ask questions; God tells us in James 1:5-6 to ask, and He will answer.  So the reason I know the book of Mormon is true isn't because my parents taught me or because I've read it, but it's because I read it and then prayed about it.  I was definitely given an answer and know that it’s true.  From Ezekiel 37:16-17, we know the stick of Judah is referring to the Bible, and the stick of Ephraim is referring to the book of Mormon, and in verse seventeen when it says put them together, they become one.  That's why we believe there are two books that both testify and strengthen a testimony of Jesus Christ when used together.  Also, John 10:16 – Christ is speaking, the Bible is written of and for the people in Jerusalem.  Christ is explaining that there are others, and He will preach to them as well.  We believe He is speaking of the people in the book of Mormon.  Both sets of people wrote what they were taught from Christ, just in different places.  And answering your question about Revelation, we believe that John isn't referring to the Bible as a whole, but rather the book of Revelation when he says ‘do not add to this book’.  Deut. 4 also states something similar."

That's all she wrote, folks!  Thanks again for your help!

Sincerely,
Not A Mormon

Dear Not A Mormon,

There are a lot of components that your Mormon friend brings up, and that is oftentimes the struggle with studying with a Mormon.  They are taught to bring up about ten different things without really dealing with any of them in-depth.  We are going to do the opposite.  If we can prove Mormonism wrong in one area, it falls like a card castle.  Forget about Ezek. 37 and Jhn 10:16… those have nothing to do with the book of Mormon, but it will take you forever to help them put those back in context.  We are only going to deal with two issues:

1. Your friend said she read the book of Mormon and prayed about it, and that gave her the answer that the book of Mormon was from God.  Here is the problem with that.  Right now, there is a Hindu who believes Hinduism is correct praying to his gods.  And there is a Catholic listening to a speech from the Pope, believing that the Pope is correct.  And there is an atheist reading Richard Dawkins who feels that he is correct.  All of their feelings can’t be correct!  God tells us in Isa 1:18 to “reason together”, and Jhn 8:32 tells us, “Know the truth, and the truth shall set you free”.  On top of that, Matt 7:21-23 makes it clear that many people will die feeling they had served God but will be cast out because their feelings were wrong!  It isn’t enough to feel that the book of Mormon is from God; she has to prove it.
2. Mormons agree that God wrote the Bible, so let’s start there.  If the book of Mormon is from God, it won’t contradict the Bible.  If it does contradict the Bible, then it is wrong – Gal 1:8 makes that very clear.  Here is the problem.  The book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price (the Mormons actually have three books they use beside the Bible) all contradict the Bible repeatedly.  In fact, they even contradict themselves.

In short, remind your friend that she has to prove her religious views – feelings aren’t enough… just like you have to prove your views.  She would never accept you saying, “I prayed about it, and I received an answer that Mormonism is wrong.”  The same goes for her saying the opposite.

     One question I've wondered about for some time is why were God's people the children of Israel?  What about all the other people on the earth?  Thanks for the clarifications.

Sincerely,
People Everywhere

Dear People Everywhere,

God once did try to work with all the people of the earth at once – and He ended up having to flood the whole planet because things got so bad (Gen. 6:5-8).  After Noah’s flood, God made the promise never to flood the earth again because He had a different plan in mind.  Instead of leaving every man to do what was right in his own eyes until things got completely and totally depraved (as was the case before the flood), He used one man to bring hope to all men.

After the Great Flood, God called Abraham to be His servant and the father of a great nation (Gen 12:1-2).  God made a promise to Abraham that through Abraham’s seed, all mankind would be blessed (Gen 22:18).  Jesus is the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16).  After the Great Flood, God put into motion His plan to offer salvation to all mankind through Jesus Christ.  That road began with Abraham, and when the proper time came… Jesus was born (Gal 4:4).  Israel was God’s chosen people for one reason – they were the nation that Jesus would be born out of, and the Father was preparing them for the day they would be used to bring the Savior to all of mankind.

     I go to a church called "church of Christ" which has the Lord’s Supper every Sunday.  I never take bread or drink anything because I don't understand the Lord’s Supper.  Is it wrong that I never eat or drink anything for the Lord’s Supper?  Can you explain to me what and why there's a "Lord’s Supper"?

Sincerely,
What’s All This?

Dear What’s All This,

Christ told us that whenever we take the Lord’s Supper, we should do it in remembrance of Him (Lk 22:19). In the book of Acts, we see how often the church observed the Lord’s Supper. In Acts 20:7, we see that Christians ‘broke the bread’ in remembrance of Christ on Sundays. That is when they did it, so that is when we do it.

Paul says that we are to take the Lord’s Supper when the church is gathered together (1 Cor 11:20). Taking the Lord’s Supper is an act of worship done by every congregation of the Lord each Sunday. When we take a look at all the teaching on the Lord’s Supper, we get the truth (Ps 119:160). Christ commands that we do it in remembrance of Him (1 Cor 11:23-28), the church gives us the example of doing it on the first day of the week, and Paul teaches that we should do it when we are assembled as a church.

    I was wondering if practicing magic tricks is a sin?

Sincerely,
Abracadabra

Dear Abracadabra,

Modern magic bears little similarity to the magicians that the Bible condemns.  We must remember that the magic and occult practices that the Bible strictly condemned were performed as a form of worship and a way to gain supernatural power.  For example, look at Simon the magician found in Acts 8.  Simon practiced magic and used that magic as a way to get people to believe he was a god (Acts 8:9-11).  Sorcery was a form of idolatry, and their magic tricks were part of the ritualistic worship of false gods – that is why you found people burning their books of magic when they became Christians (Acts 19:19).

Today, magic is openly considered an illusion.  Everyone knows that magicians use smoke and mirrors to trick the eye, and most modern magicians even refer to themselves as ‘illusionists’.  They aren’t performing tricks as part of idol worship or to get people to worship them – it is merely entertainment.  In short, modern magic isn’t sorcery; it is just harmless fun, so don’t feel guilty about learning to pull that rabbit out of a hat.