Category: Gospel Conversations

The Gospel Cure to Racial Hurt

On By Dave MallinakIn Gospel Conversations, Racial Reconciliation

In the Beginning

Racial hostility didn’t begin in 1619, nor does America own the patent on it.  Many long centuries before the founding of America, sin plunged the world into a pandemic of racial and ethnic hurt.  In Genesis 10, God called the nations of the world to scatter, subduing the earth.  In Genesis 11, mankind united against God under the leadership of Nimrod and built the Tower of Babel, “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”  At the Tower of Babel, we find the launch pad of racism. 

Genesis 11:1 tells us that “the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech” – humanity united against their Creator God. God sent them to subdue the earth, but mankind refused to be scattered. They could not forget the absolute destruction caused by the flood, and they refused to believe God’s promise, symbolized in the rainbow, that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood. Rather than rest in His promise, men united to protect themselves and their offspring from such a tyrant God. They built a tower to the heavens in the vain delusion that if God again sent a flood, they would be able to escape it. As Matthew Henry explains,

God had told them indeed that he would not again drown the world; but they would trust to a tower of their own making, rather than to a promise of God’s making or an ark of his appointing.

Ethnic hostility is rooted in sinful man’s antagonism towards a holy God. When the nations refused to spread throughout the earth and subdue it for God’s glory, God introduced disunity between the different families of the earth:

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LDS Friend, Please Watch This…

On By Dave MallinakIn Gospel Conversations

Through the years, I have been privileged to develop some really good friendships with Utahns who also belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Recently, I watched the video shared at the bottom of this post, and I could not help but think of every one of you.  I want to make a simple request: would you watch this young man’s testimony?

By his testimony, Micah Wilder found the truth when he read the Bible as a child.  What does it mean to “read the Bible like a child?”  Instead of looking at it for confirmation of what you have always believed, read it as if it is your Father writing to you, telling you what He wants you to know about Himself, and what He has done for you.

Since coming to Utah more than 20 years ago, it has been our longing prayer that more of our fellow Utahns would come to know the peace and rest promised in Scripture, that you would be free from the pressure-cooker of performance-based religion and be able to rest completely in Jesus Christ.  This young man found something.  That is clear from what he says.  He found something that he wasn’t looking for and didn’t want.  He wasn’t searching, he wasn’t troubled, he wasn’t hiding any dark secrets or living a double life.  He lived out his religion with a great deal of zeal, but as he says, it was not according to knowledge.  His message is worth considering.  As your friend, I hope you will consider it.

Gregory – Gospel Answers to Ultimate Questions

On By Dave MallinakIn Gospel Conversations, Preaching and Teaching

This is a letter I sent a couple of years ago in response to an email inquiry through our church’s website. I have changed the name of the person I was responding to. I did not hear back from this person, and do not know whether their questions were for research or for their own sake. But as this is a gospel message, I thought I would share it. 

Gregory,

I received your list of questions, and I am glad to give an answer. Thank you for including me in your search. Since I don’t know you, I can only assume that you are searching for the truth by investigating the answers of different churches. If so, I understand why you would feel a little confused about the different answers you have heard. I certainly do not want to add to that confusion.

Can we know the truth? Some scientists (ironically) claim that there is no absolute truth – and they are quite absolute about that. They insist that we cannot know the truth, and are troubled by those who claim to know it. I sometimes wonder if those who insist that the truth cannot be known have ever considered the self-contradiction in that claim. If the truth cannot be known, is that the truth? And if so, how can we know that?

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