From Exclusion, Toward Embrace: Latter-Day Saint and Traditional Christian Thought Through the Lens of the Lord's Prayer

By Bill Heersink and Richard J. Mouw

On the four corner lots formed by the intersecting of Main and Church Streets in Palmyra, NY, one finds four large Protestant churches today. Two centuries ago on the Smith family farm a few blocks to the south, a teenage Joseph Jr. found himself caught in the rivalry between such churches contentiously competing to claim the allegiance of repentant converts from the most recent revival. He wrote that, while praying in a grove of trees a short walk from his log cabin home, “I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong.” He would go on to organize a new church, which—ironically—would soon claim to be “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.”
Over the years Protestant denominational loyalties and exclusivity claims have faded and expressions of mutual embrace are not uncommon. However, the lines between these churches and the one founded by Joseph Smith Jr.—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—have remained stark and at times harsh.
How does Jesus Christ, himself, perceive this excluding of one another? In the Lord’s prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus appears to anticipate these divisions arising among his would-be followers. So he prays repetitively and passionately that they be protected from these. At stake is the validity of their witness to the world of his own exclusive claims. To be sure, differing beliefs as to what those claims are should not be superficially dismissed. But, in the light of how Jesus prayed, should they not be honestly and prayerfully discussed in a mutually respectful way?
To stimulate and facilitate this discussion is the intent of this book, using as our guide the simple but profound petitions Jesus taught us in the more well-known Lord’s Prayer.

“I came to know and admire Bill Heersink in a formal theological dialogue between Evangelical Christians and Latter-day Saints. Bill has chosen to look carefully at the beliefs of Evangelicals and Latter-day Saints through the lens of a scriptural passage beloved by both groups—the Lord’s Prayer. And how better could we hope to achieve unity of purpose and ‘convicted civility’ than through Jesus Christ?”
—Robert L. Millet is Professor Emeritus of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, where he served as Dean of Religious Education.

“Bill Heersink, seminary professor and participant in many dialogues, brings his most irenic and upbeat spirit to this gem of a book. Fully abreast of the most important academic questions, the book nevertheless wears its learning lightly and at times reads more like a devotional. Warmly to be commended to all readers of any or no faith communities.”
—Craig L. Blomberg is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary and co-author of the groundbreaking book How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation.

“Having lived in Utah among the Latter-day Saints for many years, the author affirms his own deeply Christian beliefs while respectfully seeking to reconcile differences between Mormon and Protestant theology and beliefs.”
—Richard E. Bennett is Professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University and former President of the
Mormon History Association.

“Bill has brought all of that experience to the writing of a book that expresses a pastor’s heart, a love of Mormon neighbors, theological savvy, and a Christ-centered spirituality … a book that evangelical pastors and Mormon bishops can recommend with confidence.”
—Richard J. Mouw was President of Fuller Theological Seminary,1993-2012.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973679462

Bill Heersink

Bill Heersink has been a parish pastor and theology professor while living in Ogden, Utah for the past forty-five years.

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Copyright © 2019 Bill Heersink.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-7945-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-7947-9 (hc)

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019918049

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/03/2019

I came to know and admire Bill Heersink in a formal theological dialogue between Evangelical Christians and Latter-day Saints. Through our years of dialogue, Bill has emphasized the importance of practical theology, ‘lived religion.’ He has insisted, for example, that any efforts to make sense of our respective views on the Trinity/Godhead must examine closely the place the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit occupy in an individual’s daily life. In this book, Bill has chosen to look carefully at the beliefs of Evangelicals and Latter-day Saints through the lens of a scriptural passage beloved by both groups—the Lord’s Prayer. And how better could we hope to achieve unity of purpose and incorporate ‘convicted civility’ than through Jesus Christ?

Robert L. Millet is Professor Emeritus of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, where he served as Dean of Religious Education, Director of the Religious Studies Center, and Richard L. Evans Professor of Religious Understanding.

Mormon-Evangelical dialogue has taken great strides in recent years but there is still much more to do. Bill Heersink, long-time Utah resident, seminary professor, and participant in many dialogues brings his most irenic and upbeat spirit to this gem of a book. Using the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer as his topical springboard, Heersink guides Protestants and Latter-day Saints alike into unresolved questions about their movements, encouraging developments, and important questions still to ask. Fully abreast of the most important academic questions, the book nevertheless wears its learning lightly and at times reads more like a devotional. Warmly to be commended to all readers of any or no faith communities.

Craig L. Blomberg is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, Littleton, CO. His many published writings include commentaries on various New Testament books and the groundbreaking How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation, which he co-authored with Stephen E. Robinson from Brigham Young University.

Pastor Bill Heersink’s sensitively written, deeply personal, book-length essay is an honest, heart-felt effort not merely to understand but also to appreciate Mormon doctrines and practices. Having lived in Utah among the Latter-day Saints for many years, the author affirms his own deeply Christian beliefs while respectfully seeking to reconcile differences between Mormon and Protestant theology and beliefs. Carefully crafting his essay around the tenets espoused in The Lord’s Prayer, Heersink’s erstwhile desire is for Mormons and other Christians to hallow the Lord’s name and to break bread together. His hope is truly for us to be able to worship together. As the psalmist said: We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. (Psalms 55:14)

Richard E. Bennett, Professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, has been the chairperson for his department and also served as president of the Mormon History Association.

To My Parents

From my earliest memories,

seeing my dad kneeling in his pajamas to pray before bedtime

and hearing the earnest tone of my mother’s mealtime prayers

persuaded me that surely there must be a

Father in Heaven listening.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Foreword by Richard J. Mouw

CHAPTER 1 Introduction: Focusing Our Lens

Our Father in Heaven

CHAPTER 2 Can I Grow Up To Be Like My Heavenly Father? In Which Ways?

CHAPTER 3 Do I Really Have The Right To Call God Father? Why?

Hallowed Be Thy Name

CHAPTER 4 Worthy of Worship: What is God’s Holiness?

CHAPTER 5 Worthy Worshippers: Who Is A Saint?

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done

CHAPTER 6 The Reign of The Kingdom: What is God’s Sovereignty?

CHAPTER 7 The Realm of The Kingdom: Where is Zion?

CHAPTER 8 The King of The Kingdom: Who Holds The Keys?

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

CHAPTER 9 Kingdom Economics: Do Material Matters Matter?

Forgive Us Our Debts As We Forgive Our Debtors

CHAPTER 10 Debts to Each Other: How Can Hurts Be Healed?

CHAPTER 11 Debts to God: Is The Cross Crucial?

Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From Evil

CHAPTER 12 Temptation and Truth: Can Testimonies Be Tested?

CHAPTER 13 Temptation and Triumph: Is Perfection Possible?

For Thine Is The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory, Forever. Amen!

CHAPTER 14 Conclusion: With A Single Focus

Notes

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

If a book can be called an author’s baby, this book’s labor and delivery has lasted thirty years. The point of conception goes back at least forty-five years. And the list of those whose traces can be found on its DNA is long, much too long to list here. So those noted in what follows should be thought of as representing many others.

These contributors have come from both faiths, at least as many from the Latter-day Saint tradition as from my own. I’d like to begin by acknowledging a group from each, both of whom had a significant influence during the embryonic stages of this baby.

When I first set out to write, members of my family and my church, along with other friends who shared my beliefs—fifty persons in all—committed themselves to pray with me as I was seeking to find a focus, and the format for following the Lord’s Prayer emerged.

A decade prior to this, in one of my early years in Utah, another group—again an even fifty persons—responded to my request for an hour of their time to tell me what they valued most about their Mormon beliefs and practices. I related their responses and my reflections in a pamphlet, A Protestant Pastor Listens to Latter-day Saints.

A note of appreciation is due to the church I pastored (Family in Christ) and the school where I taught (Salt Lake Theological Seminary). My preparations for, presentations to, and interactions with parishioners, students, and colleagues were formative in formulating my own theological framework.

I am indebted to Tom McClenahan, Academic Dean at the seminary, for his thoughtful comments as I wrote. I first met Tom when he took an interest in my listening pamphlet, and he then became one of the original fifty prayer partners. At his invitation I joined the seminary faculty and with his support pursued further graduate studies.

A special thanks to Richard Mouw—in the midst of all his responsibilities as President of Fuller Theological Seminary, he took the time to supervise my Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller. With his encouragement I pulled this manuscript out of a dormant folder, began to rework it, and found the courage to present it in print for public critique.

While grateful for interactions with a broad spectrum of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I consider myself privileged to have come to know certain leaders in positions with significant influence: Elder Neal A. Maxwell, a member of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for over twenty years; Elder Marlin K. Jensen, member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and official church historian and recorder; and BYU Professor Truman Madsen, a scholar most gifted in articulating Mormonism to a non-Mormon world. All three have influenced my perceptions as much by their dispositions toward me and my faith as by their expositions of their own truth claims.

A more structured form of interfaith dialogue is often more conducive to an in-depth understanding of a different religious tradition, as well as one’s own. I have been blessed by two such experiences in which discussions were very intense and forthright, but also most respectful and friendly.

For several years I participated with faculty from various evangelical colleges and seminaries in a dialogue with Mormon professors, mostly from Brigham Young University. Twice a year, often for two full days, we met in a variety of places, including historic sites significant to each other’s traditions. Thank you, Craig Blomberg, Greg Johnson, Robert Millet, and Richard Mouw for initiating and facilitating these memorable encounters.

Insight and enrichment also came from a group of local pastors meeting with instructors at the LDS Institute of Religion on the nearby campus of Weber State University. These get-togethers over lunch and open Bibles were less academic, but no less honest and relational. I am grateful for Alan Thacker’s efforts in convening the Mormon contingent.

Alan and I, along with his wife, Wendy, became good friends, and together with my wife, Claire, we organized a home Bible study group with other couples—the type of event I hope this book will foster and facilitate for others.

Services provided by my editor, Kelsy Thompson (Word Maven), and publisher, Westbow Press, have also given me cause for gratitude.

This list of contributors would certainly be incomplete without acknowledging my family, the people who have stayed close by through all the travails of this prolonged delivery. Caring comments or curious inquiries about what their dad or granddad was up to in trying to write a book have done more to sustain me than they realize.

Putting my thoughts on paper comes much more fluently if I can first vocalize them to an active listener, and my wife, Claire, is the best. Much of my awareness about the value and the qualities of good listening—so important in gathering the substance for this book—I have learned from her.

Finally, I’m so thankful to the Lord Himself, Jesus, for teaching us prayer’s priority petitions and for giving me the many hours for reflecting on and requesting them from our Heavenly Father.

FOREWORD

A few years ago, a young man emailed me with a theological question about his relationship with the woman he was dating. He was, he said, an evangelical Christian and she was a Mormon. They were not thinking yet about the long term outcomes of their relationship, but since they each took their respective religious commitments with utmost seriousness, faith topics kept coming up. You don’t know us, he said, but we have heard that you spend a lot of time talking with Mormons about theology. So here is our question: Can we pray together? She asked her bishop and he said no problem. But my pastor—who thinks I should not even be dating her—says that Mormonism is a dangerous deceptive religion!

In a follow-up phone conversation I sided with her bishop on the praying question. I encouraged the two of them not only to pray together, but also to talk with each other about praying.

I have had no further contact with this couple, but I wish that when we had talked I could have given them this wonderful book by Bill Heersink. The couple was seeking the same counsel that the disciples expressed when they asked of Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray. And the prayer that the Lord taught them is also an appropriate one for Mormons and evangelicals to pray together.

Bill and I first began talking about how the Lord’s Prayer could be a key focus for bringing Mormons and traditional Christians together in productive ways when he was still an active pastor in Utah. Having become convinced from his own daily interactions with LDS folks that the countercult type antipathy toward Mormonism was misguided, he was enthusiastic about the idea of exploring a shared spirituality as a way of moving forward.

Not that Bill has ignored the important theological issues at stake. For several years he was an active participant in the more scholarly-oriented dialogue between evangelicals and Mormons that Robert Millet and I have been convening. Bill himself has also taught about these matters in a seminary setting, and now he has brought all of that experience to the writing of a book that expresses a pastor’s heart, a love of Mormon neighbors, theological savvy, and a Christ-centered spirituality.

This is more, though, than a really fine book by a good friend. What Bill is doing in these pages addresses what I have come to see as an urgent need. As I write this our Mormon-evangelical dialogue—co-sponsored by Brigham Young University and Fuller Theological Seminary—is approaching the two decade mark. We began these discussions knowing that we faced some challenging issues. Mormons and evangelicals disagree about some important matters, and we have explored in detail our theological differences over the years. We still find a lot to argue about. But in all of this we have formed deep friendships. And these friendships have increasingly taken on the character of a spiritual bonding. We have sung hymns together. We have prayed for each other’s families. And we have, when one of our number died of cancer, grieved together,

In all of this, we have—evangelical and Mormon alike—come to want the bonding that we have experienced together for others in our two communities. That does not mean, of course, that other members of our respective communities have to do the kind of technical theological groundwork that we have been pursuing in our dialogues. Our debates about technical points of theology have been good and important. We can insist, though, that a faithful community requires a grounding in sound doctrine without requiring that every member of such a community must be able to articulate the technical points of doctrine. Different members have different gifts, and we definitely need some members who explore the theological depths. But there are other ways of engaging the theological issues that shape our lives. We all—theologians and farmers alike—operate with at least implicit understandings of some important theological matters. The ways we talk about God and God’s relationship with the world in which we are called to serve him—these presuppose crucial understandings of the divine attributes and of God’s revealed purposes for his creation.

So, back to that dating couple. It is a good thing for them to think theologically together about their prayer lives. And rather than directly addressing—as we scholars are inclined to do—the technical issues relating to the traditional doctrine of the Trinity, they can explore the lived theology of their devotional lives. To whom do they each think of themselves as addressing in their prayers? When they pray that God’s Kingdom will come to earth, what goals and concerns do they have in mind? When they express gratitude to God, what are they typically grateful for? When they repent of their sins, what do they hope that God will correct in their lives? And what do they see the Lord as having done for them to set them on the right path of following Jesus?

In exploring these kinds of questions together Mormons and evangelicals will likely come up with some theological differences. But it can be a good thing to see those differences in the light of what may very well be some shared hopes and yearnings in their spiritual journeys. And they will surely also be surprised—this has been the case in my own life—that not every theological difference is as stark as they anticipated.

I am excited about a new enthusiasm in our two communities for friendly discussions of shared concerns. And, thank the Lord, we now have this wonderful book by Bill Heersink to provide some structure to those conversations. The Lord’s Prayer plays a key role in the devotional lives of both of our communities. There is no reason to feel awkward about praying it together, since in doing so we