The mission trip ended with me taking Patrick to the airport. Witnessing on the streets today was not possible as I was now on the road back to Boise. However, on the ride back, I called a missionary named Gavin who is friends with another Mormon Apologist named Robert. This is a different Robert than who I talked with on this trip, although the two Roberts are both friends. During this call, Gavin put Robert on as soon as he could in order to discuss “Sola Scriptura” with me. And this we did for the next hour on the phone. I brought up the fact that only in Mormonism do people say that other books outside the Bible are scripture. He countered by saying Catholics have more books than Christians do in their Bibles. And my response was that they keep to what was originally in the KJV 1611 version, which had the apocryphal writings. Therefore, us having the standard 66 books in the Bible or them having the Bible with the Apocrypha is still technically “Sola Scriptura”. This is because these other books are not outside the 1611 version of the original KJV Version of the Bible.
I also brought up the warnings in Deuteronomy, Proverbs, and Revelation, when it talked about not adding to the Bible. Where Deuteronomy is about that book, same with Revelation, but how Proverbs talks about all of God’s Words. Those verses read, “every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:5,6) He was not able to dispute this fact. As for why Christians hold to the books of the Bible as scripture, this goes all the way back to the counsel of Nicaea in 325AD. This is when the 66 books of the Bible were selected in the canonization process. However, certain books that were still acceptable reading materials were also made available and called Apocryphal books. I mentioned that we keep to the chosen books of the Bible and have been teaching from them for the last two thousand years. God does not have other scriptures today, although Mormons would love to see their book of Mormon and other extra-Biblical books to be this way also. Amen.
Let us pray:
Lord, although this trip went by so fast, it was more fruitful than I could have imagined. Thank You for leading Patrick and I to so many people, in order to witness Your gospel truths. It was a success in every fashion of the word. You led us to Chloe and she ended our last full day of evangelism with even more people to witness to and pray over. I know that You wanted us to get together and for that reason, You put her at the train depot the moment I was preaching. Lord, she, including Adam, and Jonathan, were wonderful additions to this trip. You have made it work on different mission trips with just Patrick and I, but it is much better when we have others with us in our efforts. Lord, be with Patrick as He is now back in Florida. I am also grateful for the people I spoke with over the phone during my trip back to Boise. Speaking on “Sola Scriptura” is something that Mormons always want Christians to explain, so I pray that I explained it in a way that both Gavin and Robert could understand. This phone call was very fruitful and I am grateful for it and the discussion we had on this trip. I love You, Lord. Amen.
