Ravi Zacharias, one of two evangelical leaders who addressed a Mormon crowd at the flagship Mormon temple in Salt Lake City, defended his decision to speak at the joint Mormon-Evangelical gathering last month, in a statement to “the critics who objected to my being there.”
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Fuller Seminary President Richard Mouw addresses a Mormon crowd at the flagship Mormon temple in Salt Lake City in this November 14, 2004 file photo. After numerous evangelical Christians raised questions about the reasoning and motive for the gathering,
“All my life as an apologist I have spoken across wide chasms of thought and virtually to every major religious group, sometimes at the risk of threats and violence. Differences ought not to keep us from carrying the truth to everyone. Must we not graciously build one step at a time in communicating our faith with clarity and conviction?” he explained.
In the 6 weeks since Zacharias and Fuller Seminary President Richard Mouw addressed the Mormon crowd, numerous evangelical Christians raised questions about the reasoning and motive for the gathering. Specifically, they questioned Mouw’s brief statements concerning evangelicals’ treatment of the Mormon community.
"We've often seriously misrepresented the beliefs and practices of members of the LDS faith," Mouw was quoted as saying. "It's a terrible thing to bear false witness ... We've told you what you believe without first asking you."
"I remain convinced there are serious issues of difference that are of eternal consequence, but now we can discuss them as friends," Mouw said, according to the Salt Lake City Tribune.
Mouw released a statement of clarification within days of the Nov. 14 gathering, during which he apologized for the “unnecessary confusion” caused by his address. He assured critics that he sees the differences between the Christian and Latter-Day-Saints faith traditions.
Nonetheless, he stood by his initial comments, saying to the evangelical community that “at the very least admit that we have not always been fair in our wholesale condemnation of Mormonism as simply a false religion.”
Zacharias’ comments echoed that of Mouw’s.
“Is it really necessary at the early stages of such openness to “dump the whole truckload of goods,” rather than first gaining a hearing and respect?” he wrote. “I have no doubts about the differences between the LDS faith and the historic Christian faith, differences that are deep and foundational in terms of authority.”
Zacharias added that the message he preached is available online, and thus encouraged critics to hear it.
”As you hear the message presented, I pray you will hear the sound of the seed being sown. Only Heaven will reveal the fruit that has resulted,” he wrote.
The following is the full text of the statement released by the Ravi Zacharias International Ministry:
Many have asked how the invitation to the Mormon Tabernacle came about. Ten years ago, I was invited by the philosophy department at Brigham Young University to deliver a series of lectures on atheism and theism, a comparative study. At that time I also presented a defense of the Christian faith. Much has transpired in the intervening years as evangelical Christian scholars and Mormon scholars have held discussions on their differing faiths. Sometime ago, a group of about 150 churches and academic institutions under the leadership of Greg Johnson of Standing Together invited me to speak in defense of the Christian faith at a series of open forums on university campuses in Utah. Greg then suggested that perhaps the LDS church would open the Tabernacle for a major presentation by an evangelical Christian. Continue >>
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