The Map of Life

posted Sep 4, 2014, 7:53 AM by Jon Rumfelt

Standing out in the 95+ sun sharing the gospel with some Mormon sisters made me rethink some of the things I said to them. While I know the Holy Spirit was using me as a tool to plant seeds, I can't help but think of the number of times they said "I know if you read the book of Mormon ... "  While standing there, the Holy Spirit showed me so many analogies regarding this whole new "testament" of Jesus as it relates to the Bible. The sister even shared with us a passage from the Bible, and read the parallel from their book. She then asked us if we felt they "lined up." Of course the scripture she shared was slightly different than that which was in the book of Mormon, but I can pick up any book with a scripture reference reworded and say it is a new addition to the Bible. This morning in the shower (my prayer closet) I asked God to give me a practical example of how the Book of Mormon is no different from any other book written by man which references the Bible. Here's what he gave me. A man decides to visit a friend in another town, but needs directions. He calls his friend, a map maker for the town in which he lives, to get detailed directions to the house. Being a map maker, his friend knows the town quiet well and is more than capable of giving directions over the phone. The man on the other hand is not an artist but does his best to draw directions to his friends house, carefully detailing every turn, road, and intersection to the best of his ability. The result is something like this: Another man is planning to visit the same friend, he calls the friend and also asks for directions. This man is a bit more talented with a pen, but lacks a little bit of detail. He ends up drawing something similar to this: On the way to their friends house, both men realized they needed to get gas as soon as they entered the new town to which they had no familiarization. The first man ran out of gas simply because there was no gas station on the route he drew and was afraid to divert from the route. The second man got lost after finding a gas station, but was unable to get back to his route because his map wasn't to scale. The map maker friend waited patiently for both men to arrive, but neither showed. Both men later wrote books of their adventure, the first man wrote a book on how his friend intended him to run out of gas and gave him false information because the friend didn't want the man to come to his house. Many people complained, and vowed never to purchase maps from this master map maker. The second one wrote about his tales as a wanderer through the back streets and even drew maps from his perspective of how the neighborhood was laid out and because he was there, he said it increased the accuracy of his friend's maps. Again many people purchased this book and were amazed at how well it depicted the area and started using it to navigate the area. Both men had maps, both men had street names, and both men had the address of their friends house. But because they didn't have the whole picture, they were unsuccessful at reaching their friend. You see, people can write books about the Bible, and they can quote scripture from the Bible, but those books are NOT the Bible and will not guide you to eternal salvation. The Bible is clear about this, in 2 Corinthians 11 it says: 3-4: But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. Devotion to Christ is simple, but it is also easy to stray from. If God didn't give it to you, don't accept it. Both men gave their accounts to other people, leading many away from finding the friend's house. But even they are warned in the Bible. Reading Galatians 1 we see that believers are easily distracted from the truth: 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Granted, not all books lead you astray, in fact, some can lead you to an even closer walk with Christ. But how do you know when a book attempts to become MORE than a book and becomes a "gospel?" The Mormons have a map, where it came from only they know. One thing is true about their comparisons, they ARE reading the Bible, but there is one very important process they are missing. The direction of comparison. When I am going to a friend's house for the first time, I call them, get directions, write stuff down (maps, roads, directions, stick figures, etc) then I ask for three specific details that will help identify the house on the street. 1. What color is your home? 2. What color/make is your vehicle? and 3. Tell me one distinguishable feature visible from the road that makes your home stand out. Then, I jump on Google Maps and type in his address. I'll even plan a route, sometimes going as far as using street view to try and confirm the directions given to me. What did I do? Did Google maps "line up" with my drawing, or did my drawing "line up" with Google maps? When I am given information, direction, suggestion, I take that information and identify key traits, then I go to the Bible and try and find the direction which Christ has given me, I get down to the roots and confirm the information. The Mormons should follow this direction when comparing books to the Bible.  God > Bible > information = right Information > Bible > God = wrong We know God gave us the Bible, the Bible should then guide our information. If the information can be confirmed in the Bible, then we can know it to be truth. When the sisters read the Bible first, naturally they were able to find a portion of their book to which it lines up. But this like the Duke's of Hazard jumping through a train car. That is one coincidence where both "line up," but extremely risky to then say you can jump any car on the train! Instead, she should be able to pick ANY random portion of her book (as well as any faith based book/study) and then be able to find it within the Bible. If your friend says to go to a specific city and you didn't confirm it on an official map, only you are to blame for not finding your friends house. It is when you confirm your information, that your information then becomes truth. You confirm your map with the Bible, not confirm the Bible with your map. If there is an error in your directions and you find it in the Bible, you don't scribble out the the Bible verse, NO! You change your direction to align with the Bible. By the way, map maker was looking at one of his picture/maps when he gave directions. It looked something like this:   Sorry for the long one, I could have gone on even longer, but that's only because I have a hard time ending these. I hope to make an entry every week or two, so please subscribe! </rant> Jon