David Alexander: An Amazing Testimony or Mormon Myth? (Part 2)
Part 1
We continue our examination of Alexander with his second video posted on March 7th, 2023:
Alexander shares that he was saved at the age
of 21 and was part of the Jesus Movement / Jesus People. He also mentions
that he has tried a lot of different flavors (denominations) of Evangelicalism
/ Christianity, what exactly they all were he doesn't say, however. Though,
it would certainly shed significantly more light on his past & his theology, were he to do so at some point in the future.
He spends a lot of time speaking about John 17:20-24, where he twists the text to say a lot of things that it doesn't actually say, nor does it support his conclusion of it somehow affirming Mormonism. He tips his hand a little more
here, by criticizing Sola Scriptura. For some reason he calls it ‘Scripture
Sola’ which is not the way adherents like me would use the term or refer to it
by. I have no way of knowing with
certainty whether he himself believed in Sola Scriptura in the past, but if he did,
he does not seem to say. Still, this is
an odd thing to hear from someone who was an 'Evangelical' for nearly half a
century…
He continues citing a figure of there being about "40-46,000 different
Christian denominations" and cites Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) as his source for the number. To Alexander’s credit, he does reduce the 46,000 figure down to 40,000 or so and acknowledges that not all of these ‘denominations’ would be considered ‘Christian’ by Evangelicals, and I would agree with him there.
However, the question ought to be asked - are there REALLY that many denominations? What is the definition of 'denomination' that GCTS is using to justify that figure? Here's the answer:
Additionally, they have this to say about non-Christian cult groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses & the Mormons:
This is a lot of word salad that essentially affirms that yes, they do consider such groups to be Christian.
Immediately, two major red flags are evident: First, the CSGC / GCTS gives an arbitrary criteria on how they define a denomination per se. Second, all other denominations who on a doctrinal basis would condemn groups like the JW's and the Mormons as fundamentally being 'non-Christian' for whatever reason, seem to be excluded from having a voice on whether or not they're actually on the same team.
Why they opted for this, I'm not sure. Perhaps they consider that a more balanced or neutral approach, but such a methodology is grossly flawed to say the least, Christians shouldn't accept this sort of shoddy approach to statistics. This methodology is problematic & wildly misleading to the average reader.
Even Catholic apologists have written about these sorts of statistics and acknowledge that Catholics shouldn’t be using them as an argument against Sola Scriptura or Protestants/Evangelicals because to do so is a red herring as the
numbers are grossly inflated and actually includes the Mormon denominations
among them which we know Mormons would not agree with at all.
Moreover, when one bothers to do the math, comparing how many protestant
denominations there are compared to that Mormonism - according to the World Christian Encyclopedia (approximately 9,000 Protestant vs. 122 Mormon) already, they're at a disadvantage in terms of unity. But, don't just take my word for it, let's look at some facts first.
There are approximately 8,032,000,000 billion people in the world today, as of 2023 the 17 million or so Mormons make up a measly 0.002% (Less than 1%) of the global
population. If Alexander wishes to
posit a lack of unity & division argument as a form of evidence of the
truthfulness of the Mormon Church, then he should be aware that particular sword cuts both
ways and he ought to be prepared to adequately defend it. (If he can) So, when we swing it in his direction all we need to do is lump some of the Mormon splinter groups together with
the main Mormon group - the Brighamites.
In Steven L. Shields book Divergent Paths of the Restoration: An Encyclopedia of the Smith–Rigdon Movement he documents over 500 of these groups that would all identify as being Mormon/LDS.
As a thought experiment, what happens to these membership numbers compared to the global population once we start factoring them and then increasing the increment? The answer is we see the percentages shrink drastically:
With just 1 splinter
group: = 0.001%
With just 5 splinter
groups = 0.0004%
With just 10 splinter
groups = 0.0002%
The irony is when Mormons & seemingly Alexander make use of this bad argument, is that unlike the Protestant / Evangelical denominations who typically have the same God & same gospel, these Mormon splinter groups do not. Radical claims to exclusivity on the path to exaltation, proper authority, true prophets and declaring all the other groups as corrupt or apostate is typical with these splinter groups, how about that?
What this means though, is that Protestants / Evangelicals (with an estimated 312+ Million membership as of 2008) boast far higher numbers, where unity on the fundamentals of the faith is normative.
“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” – Proverbs 18:17
Whether or not Alexander weighed these things prior to reaching any of his conclusions, he doesn’t say. There appears to be some level of ignorance here on his part, whether it’s true ignorance, or the willful sort I can’t really say. But what is clear to me is that he has been grossly misinformed on this point.
This not affirmative proof of the supposed 'universal apostasy' as taught in Mormonism by any stretch of the imagination. It's a flawed argument that plays fast & loose with its terms & facts, taking what was typically a Catholic Myth and repurposing it as a Mormon Myth.
In Part 3, we will examine what Alexander has to say about Jeff Durbin of Apologia Studios, the Council of Nicaea, the Trinity & and his time spent as an Evangelical Pastor.... stay tuned.
