THE FINAL WORD WHAT SCRIPTURE TEACHES ABOUT GOD AND THE GOSPEL VIDEO SERIES WORKBOOK www.maventruth.com THE FINAL WORD: WHAT SCRIPTURE TEACHES ABOUT GOD AND THE GOSPEL Session One | Are Mormons Christians?..........................................03 Session Two | Who Is God? ....................................................................17 Session Three | What Is the Gospel? .................................................35 Session Four | How Do We Know What’s True? ..........................51 Session Five | What Is Your Authority?..............................................63 Session Six | How Do We Engage with Mormons........................79 The session notes and review material presented here accompany the video training series, “The Final Word – What Scripture Teaches About God and the Gospel.” This is the same video series that MAVEN uses to train students and leaders as they prepare to join us for a week-long biblical Immersive Experience. So, you’re going to get some in-depth training here! We encourage you to use this workbook as you watch the series. When you view each individual video session, filling in the outlines as you go will help you to follow along, learn the material and retain more of the information over the long haul. Afterward, use the discussion guides to dialogue with others and engage the material more deeply THE FINAL WORD WHAT SCRIPTURE TEACHES ABOUT GOD AND THE GOSPEL This workbook is set up as an interactive engagement tool to help you dive deep into the truth that will be taught during the six-session teaching series, THE FINAL WORD. You will find the following tools for each session: • Session Outlines: During each session, track along with the teachings by filling in the blanks and taking notes. • Session Reviews: After each teaching, take a minute to quiz yourself on what you just listened to and see how much knowledge you were able to retain. You might learn that you’ll need to re-watch the video training and that’s perfectly okay! Don’t expect to get it all after one viewing. • Session Discussions: Lastly, dialogue and process with others by using the discussion questions we’ve included. Don't be a passive listener, be an active learner. Use these tools! Session One Are Mormons Christians? When it comes to God and the gospel, there is an impossible theological gulf between Mormonism and Christianity. Brett Kunkle Session One Outline _________________________ Are Mormons Christians? Ask a clarification question... _________________________ _________________________ • What do you mean by __________? _________________________ _________________________ Possibility #1 _________________________ 1. Mormonism is just another _________________________ ____________________ under _________________________ ____________________ _________________________ Understanding Mormon History... _________________________ Joseph Smith is the founder, first _________________________ prophet, and president of the Mormon church and was given his _________________________ first vision in 1820. _________________________ ____________________ (NASB) _________________________ “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let _________________________ him ask of God, who gives to all _________________________ generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ____________________ (Pearl of Great Price) “My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong) – and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power of thereof.’” ____________________ (Book of Mormon) “And he said unto me: behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth.” Ask two more clarification _________________________ questions... _________________________ • What is the meaning of _________________________ ____________________? _________________________ _________________________ • Which _________________ do I belong to? _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Possibility #1 Conclusion • Mormonism can’t just be another ____________________ of ____________________ “Mormonism is Christianity; Christianity is Mormonism; they are one and the same, and they are not to be distinguished from each other in the minutest detail.” Bruce McConkie | Mormon Doctrine Possibility #2 _________________________ _________________________ • Mormonism is _______________ to Christianity _________________________ _________________________ Ask another clarification question... _________________________ • Aren’t Christians also _________________________ ____________________? _________________________ _________________________ “Latter-Day Saints believe that, through_________________________ the priesthood conferred to Joseph Smith by the ministries of angels, the _________________________ authority of act in God’s name was brought back to the earth. This is ‘restored’ not ‘reformed,’ Christianity._________________________ Their belief in a restored Christianity helps explain why _________________________most Latter-Day Saints converts, from the 1830’s to the present, converted from other Christian denominations. None of these_________________________ converts thought they were leaving Christianity; they are simply_________________________ grateful to learn about, and become part of, the restored church of Jesus _________________________ Christ, which they believe offers a more complete and rich Christian church spirituality, organizationally,_________________________ and doctrinally.” www.churchofJesusChrist.org | Teachings_________________________ of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, Chapter 8: The Everlasting _________________________Priesthood _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ According to the LDS Church... _________________________ • There was an _________________________ ____________________ of the Christian Church _________________________ _________________________ Possibility #2 Conclusion _________________________ Mormonism is NOT identical to _________________________ Christianity _________________________ What Mormons really mean is... _________________________ _________________________ • Mormons are the _________________________ __________ Christians _________________________ Memory Verse _________________________ ____________________ (NIV) _________________________ “Now this is eternal life; that _________________________ they may know you, the only _________________________ true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” _________________________ _________________________ Differences Can Have Huge Consequences _________________________ _________________________ • Mutually __________ claims _________________________ The Most Important _________________________ Question... _________________________ _________________________ • What is __________? _________________________ _________________________ • ____________________ truth _________________________ A subjective truth is something that is true for the subject. It’s a _________________________ personal preference. _________________________ • ____________ truth _________________________ _________________________ Objective truths are facts. They are true whether anyone believes them _________________________ or not. _________________________ _________________________ Four Key Questions to Ask Your Mormon Friends... _________________________ _________________________ 1. Who is __________? _________________________ 2. What is the _________________________ ____________________? _________________________ 3. How do we know __________ _________________________ __________ __________? _________________________ _________________________ 4. What is our _______________? _________________________ What is Love? _________________________ _________________________ “Love is not [just] an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for _________________________ the loved persons ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” ____________CS Lewis | Theologian_____________ _________________________ ____________________ (NASB) _________________________ _________________________ “...Let us not love with the word or _________________________ with tongue, but in deed and truth.” _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________