About Bill Pratt
Why am I writing this blog?
I am passionate about intellectually defending and explaining the Christian faith to all who will listen. I especially like to tackle tough questions that many folks have, but are afraid to ask. If you’ve ever wanted to dig into the Christian faith and seek answers that your friends, parents, or pastor can’t or won’t answer, then you’ve come to the right place. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I can help honest questioners with their search for honest answers. It is my goal to provide a place where people can clear away any intellectual barriers to the Christian faith that are plaguing them. I understand these barriers, as I have had many in my own life. In clearing away those barriers, I hope to give people a clear view of Jesus Christ, the only One worth seeing.
What are my credentials?
I have been studying Christian apologetics (rational defense of the Christian faith), theology, and philosophy for about 6 years. I am more than halfway through a 60-hour Masters Degree in Christian Apologetics at Southern Evangelical Seminary, which is arguably the premiere apologetics seminary in the world. I regularly teach and speak about apologetics at my local church, Cornerstone Baptist Church, which is a conservative evangelical church in Greensboro, NC.
Personal Information
I have been married to my beautiful wife for 14 years and we have two children – a 12-year old boy and an 9-year old girl. I am an engineering director for a major semiconductor company that provides radio component products to multiple wireless markets.
About Darrell
I was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) for a large portion of my life. During my time in the LDS Church I held a Temple Recommend and served in several leadership positions. In 2001 I began to closely research the history of the LDS Church and to compare its doctrine to that of The Bible. Through several years of study I came to realize for myself that the LDS Church is not, as Mormons call it, ”true”. It was at this time that God called me to become a Christian. Due to my background in the LDS Church, I have a special place in my heart for those who are misled by false doctrine. I have developed a passion for defending God’s Word and for correcting unbiblical teachings. I want others to experience the true joy that comes from having a relationship with God through the grace that is provided by faith in Jesus Christ.
Personal Information
I have been married to my gorgeous wife for 15 years. We have 4 beautiful children who keep us incredibly busy. I am a Branch Manager for a small mortgage company and have recently begun taking classes at Southern Evangelical Seminary.
Guys,
What a blessing to have Jennifer send me to your blog. I will follow it with both interest and desire to learn more.
Billy, I am so proud of you – and no doubt, the Lord is as well.
Darrell, I have prayed for you for a couple of years and am thrilled to see you as such a vibrant brother in the body of Christ.
Give your sweet wives my love (a hug from me would also be nice).
From Kiev…………In Him,
Marsha
Wondeful to meet other former LDS now in the body of Christ! Praise the Lord!! I was LDS for 19 yrs — deeply active and married in the LDS temple. The Lord ardently persued me and I became part of the body of Christ in Nov of 2007! My children as well have embraced the Lord Jesus and we are praying and anxious to have my husband join us as well. Please pray for him as he still is active LDS. ( his name is dru).
God bless you in the work you do here,
gloria
Gloria,
Thank you for you kind comments and it is great to hear about you as well! I will be certain to lift up your husband in prayer! God can do miracles… it took my wife 6 years to come out.
Darrell
Dear Bother Darell? for first, I am pator George Caleb Oguta
I am a kanyan , who is sunday worshipper, I mean trinitarian, I have been looking how you give asnswer to many teachings and how you publish things, its really encouraging, please keep it up.
Thank you so much to hear your religion background, it’s inspiring.
Sorry to have ask this, are you a prophet, you have answer to many question.
I would love to invite to to Kenya to come and help me in bible discussion
God bless you
Hi Bill. I saw a link to this blog from my own. Looks like you and I both wrote about the Licona/Ehrman debate. I blog at http://www.deeperwaters.wordpress.com. Maybe I’ll hear from you one day.
Hello,
My name is Roger Morris. I am a medical doctor and company director from Queensland, Australia. I have recently started a blog called ‘FaithInterface’, discussing the interface between Science, Philosophy & Christian Theology. I would love to do more study in the future, either the MA apologetics/philosophy through SES or the MA Science & Religion through Biola. You are welcome to view my blog and interact with it as you please. I think we will have much in common regarding our interests.
Regards,
Roger Morris.
Roger,
It’s great to hear from you. Your website looks very interesting and I certainly look forward to another strong defender of the faith joining our struggle! Please feel free to jump in any of our blog commenting threads and I will keep an eye out for your posts as well!
God Bless you and your efforts,
Bill
(( Darrell))
Wow! I just now realized I have fallen upon your blog prior to Jessica referrig me… cool…
Your note gives me hope — 6 yrs! Wow that is a long time…. when you have a moment I would love to hear how things went during that time. Perhaps you have blogged here about it already, so I need to go and look thru the archives.
God bless you brother for contending for the faith!
Gloria
Gloria,
Thanks for stopping by. It is always wonderful to meet others who have left the LDS Church and to share experiences. I will be in prayer for you and your husband. I know how hard it can be having religious differences in the home. Don’t lose faith though, God can do miracles.
How did my six years go? I started doubting the LDS church while my wife was pregnant with our second child (2002). My wife did NOT take my questioning the church very well. It was very hard on the family and I doubted myself continually… wondering if it was just me… could the church really be “true” and I am just crazy. However, the more I read The Bible, prayed and researched the more I knew that it WASN’T just me. My wife knew where I stood and I continued attending the Mormon Church more or less to keep peace in the home. I tried talking to my wife about the problems with doctrine and history but all it did was cause us to fight. She wanted no part of it. I eventually became completely broken… my wife developed Breast Cancer while she was pregnant with our fourth child which only added to the stress of the situation. Finally, I made the decision to turn it ALL over to God. I prayed…
“God, I believe in YOU. I believe in Jesus Christ and believe He is my Lord and Savior. I want Him in my life. If the LDS Church is TRUE, please keep me in it and take away my doubts. However, if it is NOT true I want my family and I out. I want to follow YOU!! Lord, this is going to have to be YOUR work though. I cannot do it on my own and don’t want to do it if it is the wrong thing. I am so afraid of making a mistake! Lord, I am going to stop trying to talk to my wife about it. I give it to you. If it is true, keep us in. If it is not, please take us out.”
I can’t tell you how many times I had this conversation with God. But I continually gave it to Him. I quit pushing issues and tried my best to keep my mouth shut. I even held a minor calling at church as I was not sure what God wanted me to do… I was just trying to keep peace and I did not feel God telling me to push things. At times, I would feel the human nature in me creeping up and wanting to “handle it” or “point out the problems” but I would go for a jog or a walk and talk with God. It was pretty wild what happened over the next couple of years. God worked a miracle… plain and simple. He brought Christian women into my wife’s life WHO HAD NO IDEA that I had issues with the LDS Church. These were ladies who we did not even KNOW prior to all of this. I was still attending church with my wife and they ALL thought I was a True Blue Mormon. One of these ladies invited my wife to a Bible study and to my surprise, my wife agreed to go. We began to carpool for our kids school with another lady and she and my wife became close friends. They started hanging out together and having lengthy talks about God (she is a church planter and is heavily involved in ministry). My wife saw something in these wonderful ladies that was missing in the LDS Church. The Bible study turned her onto the Word of God and in just a few months she started having doubts about the LDS Church. The rest, quite honestly, is history. It was amazing!!
Now we are out and could not be happier!! Our home life has taken a 180 degree turn… our children are happier (and they now enjoy church which is a huge change), our marriage is better, and we have the REAL Jesus in our lives. To make things even better my wife is in remission and our fourth child is now 3 and is as healthy as can be!! Praise God!!
I look foward to talking with you more and to hearing more about your story!!
I will visit your blog as well and check it out.
God Bless!!
Darrell
Oh, wow! Praise God for what He has done in your life and in the life of your wife!! Amazing…..I am so encouraged!
Thank you so much for taking time to share with me, and for the testimony of God’s goodness and His redemptive work in the lives of His children! We truly serve an awesome God!
I will email you and exchange contact info, as I would love to speak with your wife.
God bless you both and those beautiful kids!
Gloria
Darrel,
Thanks for your calm and straightforward answers. I stumbled on your page and read the whole front page. I especially enjoyed the LDS posts, and found the one called “Does God hate Esau?” really enlightening. God used your page to confirm some things to me, so thank you for putting it out there.
Grace and Peace,
Dallas
Dallas,
Thank you for your kind words about my posts on Mormonism. This is a dual blog and the credit for the “Does God Hate Esau” post goes to Billy.
Have a great night!!
Darrell
Hi I live In scandinavia and it is lot off Christians ,Jehovas whitnesis,musslims,buddhisists etc. here.but i think like a taiost.If yuo are a god christianfor,ex yuo have to believe that god are all mighty and Jesus for real existed and are the son off God right!?Also yuo then have to believe that is only throght Jesus yuo can come to Haeven because Jesus says so in the bible,right?How can a Christian believe that when there noProves that God exist and even less proves that Jesus existed for real?Isent it only in christiannity yuo can come to the Heaven thruoght Jesus?Why is Jesus better than ,for.ex Buddha,moses,muhammed or Lau tzu in this case?(If yuo believe that)I belive only in 60% off the bible ,what are yuo present then?More or less?I dont believe in old testamentets genesis for.ex.if they talk about intelligent design or Creation without energy from nothing etc.I dont believe in a God who cares or loves us etc. but I believe in higher and mightier forces than yuo and me ,and everlasting energy and natural laws etc. with are not created but exist for ever and so on.Also I believe that everything have one and only true and mighty suorce etc.What do yuo think abuot that? wonders Aki.T. The sun off cosmos. e-mail aki@aol.se
Hi Aki,
You’ve written so much that I don’t know where to start. Would you mind focusing on one topic that you would like to discuss?
Thanks,
Bill
Cool site, love the info.
Hey good stuff…keep up the good work!