Maranatha

One of the last verses in 1st Corinthians is the following:

1 Corinthians 16:22
22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

The King James translators considered this verse to be one sentence, but it was probably two, changing the meaning slightly:

(1) If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed (anathema, an English word derived from Greek and Latin).

(2) Our Lord cometh (a translation of “Marantha,” an Aramaic phrase from the language spoken by Jesus).

If you look up the term “maranatha” (probably pronounced mah-ran a-TAH in Aramaic) in the LDS Bible Dictionary, one learns that it may have been an early Christian watchword or prayer. Remember that Paul was writing to the Greek Corinthians. For him to use an Aramaic term, maranatha, suggests that his audience was very familiar with the foreign term and its meaning.

The reality is that early Christians believed they were in the last days. They believed that the second coming of Christ was imminent. This is probably why Paul in 1st Corinthians Chapter 7 suggested to Christians NOT to get married. His thinking probably was, “Why bother if the end is near.” This is why Paul used phrases like maranatha. See also as examples: Phil 4:5; James 5:8,9; and Rev. 22:20.

So, are we also mistaken to believe we are in the latter-days? No. We are on much more solid ground. However, I like the sentiment expressed by Elder Richard L. Evans, who attributed the following to Wilford Woodruff:

Richard L. Evans, Conference Report, April 1950, p.105 - p.106
Some of the brethren of his time are said to have approached him … and to have inquired of him as to when he felt the end would be -- when would be the coming of the Master? These, I think, are not his exact words, but they convey the spirit of his reported reply: "I would live as if it were to be tomorrow -- but I am still planting cherry trees!" I think we may well take this as a page for our own book and live as if the end might be tomorrow -- and still plant cherry trees!

We live in the latter-days (even if not the very last days). However, let’s not stop living. Let’s plan marriages and plan for the future. Let’s do real work and try to build a better world while we wait. Let’s do science and try to find the cures for diseases; let’s paint murals and write books; and let’s realize true joy.

In LDS theology the world does NOT end in the latter-days. Instead, the latter-days are a time to prepare for Christ and His second coming. After His coming, during the so-called Millennium, there will still be much work to do.

That is the LDS view – there is always work to do – there always will be periods of time to improve the world.

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.

Proactive in Preston:

Expressions of Mormon Individuality

The picture just below shows five “Indians” on horses in Preston, Idaho in about 1910-1915 (judging from the Ford Model T in the background).

The person on the second horse from the left was my grandmother, very much a non-Indian, but very proud to be dressed up as one. I remember her showing me this picture from her photo album and being very proud of it. “That’s me,” she would say, chuckling.

Handwritten on the side of the picture is something about Preston 6th Ward MIA – but as I remember her telling me, this scene was a 4th of July parade that she liked to participate in every year. In those days “ladies” only rode horses side-saddle. Well, note that my grandma was riding that dang horse straddle like a man!!! In fact, she was dressed like a brave, not a woman.

Now, I should say, my LDS Grandmother was very spiritual (she could not be more so), and had a very strong testimony (it could not be more so), BUT she also had a very strong independent streak!!

She loved horses; she liked Indians; and she liked riding straddle. I kind of imagine that some of the prim and proper LDS ladies of Preston might have been a little perturbed by my grandmother riding straddle as an Indian brave in this parade. Well, I just love this expression of individuality, and this is why this picture is one of my favorites.

Anyone is free to stereotype Mormon women, but I will tell you one thing: My LDS Grandmother and her daughters were (are) among the most successful, independent-minded individuals I have ever known. They managed self-owned businesses that thrived, taught school, wrote books, ran Relief Societies, and raised well-adjusted children. That list scratches the surface. Others can typecast LDS women as suppressed and oppressed, but in my lifetime in the Church I have not known many women of that ilk. Rather, I mostly saw (and still see) women like my Grandmother and her daughters.

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Some people like to operate from the sidelines and be very passive. They will say things like, “If God wants something to happen, then He will make it happen.” The idea extends to all kinds of thinking: God will put food on the table. God won’t let me get fired. God will make sure we are safe. God will help us pay the bills. God will help me get good grades.

Elder Bednar had this very important concept to teach in 2001:

David A. Bednar, “In the Strength of the Lord,” Speeches Brigham Young University 2001–2002, October 23, 2001
Nephi is an example of one who knew and understood and relied upon the enabling power of the Savior. In 1 Nephi 7 we recall that the sons of Lehi had returned to Jerusalem to enlist Ishmael and his household in their cause. Laman and others in the party traveling with Nephi from Jerusalem back to the wilderness rebelled, and Nephi exhorted his brethren to have faith in the Lord. It was at this point in their trip that Nephi’s brothers bound him with cords and planned his destruction. Now please note Nephi’s prayer in verse 17: “O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound” (emphasis added).

Brothers and sisters, do you know what I likely would have prayed for if I had been tied up by my brothers? My prayer would have included a request for something bad to happen to my brothers and ended with the phrase “wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren” or, in other words, “Please get me out of this mess, now!” It is especially interesting to me that Nephi did not pray, as I probably would have prayed, to have his circumstances changed. Rather, he prayed for the strength to change his circumstances. And may I suggest that he prayed in this manner precisely because he knew and understood and had experienced the enabling power of the Atonement of the Savior.

I personally do not believe the bands with which Nephi was bound just magically fell from his hands and wrists. Rather, I suspect that he was blessed with both persistence and personal strength beyond his natural capacity, that he then “in the strength of the Lord”(Mosiah 9:17) worked and twisted and tugged on the cords and ultimately and literally was enabled to break the bands.

Brothers and sisters, the implication of this episode for each of us is quite straightforward. As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed. We will become agents who “act” rather than objects that are “acted upon” (2Nephi 2:14).

The last line of the quote above could not be more important. We should become agents who act rather than “reactors” who are acted upon. We should mold and change our lives, as opposed to waiting for God to change our situations. We should pray for the strength to change our circumstances!!!!!

What freedom this simple doctrine brings. We can be individuals. We can act and not just react. We can be proactive and not passive. Grace becomes a gift that empowers us, and not a gift that indulges our weaknesses.

This is what the picture of my grandmother means to me. It reminds me of that little spark within us that says, “I can be something different than everybody else.”

*****

In one of my favorite scenes from the movie “Napoleon Dynamite,” Napoleon has a conversation with his friend Pedro in the halls of Preston High School:

Pedro – Are you going to the dance?
Napoleon Dynamite – Well, nobody’s going to go out with me!
Pedro – Have you asked anybody yet?
Napoleon Dynamite – No, but who would? I don’t even have any good skills.
Pedro – What do you mean?
Napoleon Dynamite – You know, like numchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.

The movie is absolute silliness, true to life, and clean. It was made by BYU students. It has one funny scene after another. It clearly was a low budget movie, but it more than made up for its small budget by being large on creativity and humor. Oh, yeah, and the whole movie and story was in Preston, Idaho.

People could not believe Mormons made the movie – "it’s just too funny to be made by anyone from that strict religion. Besides, Mormons are robots, and the people in this movie … , well, they are very human!!" What is my response to such a view? Hmmmm.

When I looked on the web for quotes from the movie, it was fascinating to see what people thought they heard in the film. Some of the “remembered” quotes had a lot of swearing and the Lord’s name in vain, etc. Actually, all the movie had in it was what Preston, Idaho kids are most prone to say: flippin’; freakin’ ; dang; gosh; idiot; and the other typical Mormon expletives. (I know Mormons can say a lot worse; I learned all my colorful vocabulary growing up in Southern Utah – every single word of it).

*****

BIG LESSON: Mormonism develops individuality; it does not zap it. The following statement by Jesus just makes common sense:

John 8:32
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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Answers to Contender Ministries

“Contender Ministries,” challenged LDS individuals to answer the following questions, and so I made an attempt. All of the questions come from their website.

Many of their questions are legitimate. Others are designed after the manner of questions addressed to Jesus by the Sadducees and Pharissees – that is, simply to be embarrassing. For the most part, I will let the reader decide which is which. I will simply do my best to answer the questions as written. The answers are solely my own and might be answered in different (and better) ways by other Mormons.

I am not really a Church apologist. I would rather be considered an apologist for the truth. Therefore, I just call them as I see them. Not every answer is slanted to “standard” Church views. Obviously, not everyone is going to like my answers.

Note: I did skip four of their questions because they were redundant, I could not decipher the question, or they were asking questions about personal testimony (willingness to accept of Jesus into the heart). Consequently, my numbering scheme differs a little bit from theirs.

QUESTION 1.

If Gods are individuals who have passed through mortality and have progressed to Godhood, how has one person of the Trinity (the Holy Spirit) attained Godhood without getting a body? (See Acts 5:3,4)

Answer: Good question, and no one knows the answer. Mormonism does not claim to have all the answers. Here’s one for you: If God is just a spirit, then why do you need a Holy Ghost in your trinity? Since you believe the terms God and Holy Ghost are the same essence, don’t you have a “duality” (Father & Son) instead of a true “trinity” (Father, Son, & Holy Ghost)? I don’t think you have all the answers either.

QUESTION 2.

If Gods are individuals who have passed through an earth life to attain Godhood, how is it that one person of the Trinity (Jesus Christ) was God before He received a body or passed through earth life? (Matt. 1:23 and Hebrews 10:5)

Answer: Again, we do not claim to understand all mysteries. Your basic question boils down to: How did God become God? How can anyone know the answer to that? We know that Jesus was Jehovah (Yahweh) who created (organized) the earth. However, even Jesus while on the earth increased in wisdom (Luke 2:52). “He received not of the fulness at the first, but continued from grace to grace until he received a fulness” (D&C 93:12–13).

QUESTION 3.

If the Book of Mormon really contains the fullness of the Gospel, why does it not teach the doctrine of “eternal progression”? (See D&C 20:8,9)

Answer: “Fullness of the gospel” means fullness of the first principles of salvation (faith, repentance, baptism, and Holy Ghost). There is no greater missionary tool in this Church than the Book of Mormon. It is a great tool because it emphasizes first principles. Eternal progression (theosis) is not a first principle of salvation, and Joseph Smith did not teach the concept until 1844. No book of scripture contains all gospel knowledge. This is why we need (and have always needed) prophets.

QUESTION 4.

How can any men ever become Gods when the Bible says, “Before me there was no god formed, neither shall there be after me”? (Isaiah 43:10)

Answer: There is only one God the Father. It will always be so. In the case of Isaiah 43:10, the reader needs to read verse eleven to realize that the context is “beside me there will be no saviour.” Jesus (Jehovah) is indeed the only savior. The doctrine of humans becoming like God is an ancient Christian doctrine known as theosis. Such a doctrine does NOT change the status of God the Father.

QUESTION 5.

If Adam is the “only God with whom we have to do”, did Adam create himself? (Journal of Discourses Vol. 1, pg. 50, 51)

Answer: Your question refers to the so-called “Adam-God doctrine” ostensibly taught by Brigham Young. The Church does not accept the notion that Adam is equivalent to our Father in Heaven. However, Adam does have a special status as an earthly father, and he holds a special patriarchal status (see D&C 78:15-16). Brigham Young’s teachings on Adam-God were confusing and sometimes contradictory. The “Adam = God the Father” concept is NOT scriptural (see Genesis 1, Luke 3:38; Moses 2-5; D&C 78:15-22). According to the following Brigham Young quotation, Adam was subordinate to the Father:

Journal of Discourses, Vol.13, p.311 - p.312, Brigham Young, April 17, 1870
[T]he Gospel tells us that we are the sons and daughters of that God whom we serve. Some say, "we are the children of Adam and Eve." So we are, and they are the children of our Heavenly Father. We are all the children of Adam and Eve, and they and we are the offspring of Him who dwells in the heavens, the highest Intelligence that dwells anywhere …

If Brigham Young believed in an Adam-God theory, then he was wrong. If he had taught a clear and consistent doctrine, then one must wonder why his teaching never became official doctrine. The Council of Twelve never accepted such a doctrine. Finally, teachings from the temple that Brigham Young promoted, recognized the subordinate role of Adam to God the Father.

QUESTION 6.

Joseph Smith stated that without the ordinances and authority of the priesthood no man can see the face of God and live (D & C 84:21, 22). He also said that he saw God in 1820 (Joseph Smith 2:17). Joseph Smith, however, never received any priesthood until 1829 (D&C 13). How did he see God and survive? In which was he in error: his revelation in D & C 84:21, 22 or his experience in the grove?

Answer: The “grove” experience took place about 1820, and D&C Section 84 was given in 1832. The short answer is that God was saying in D & C 84:21-22 that He would work through the priesthood. The Lord said in verse 75: "this revelation...is in force from this very hour upon all the world." The “hour” was 1832.

Clearly, the 1820 grove experience was exceptional, because there was no priesthood on the earth at the time. After the priesthood was restored, the Lord announced in D&C 84 that he would reveal Himself through the appropriate lines of the priesthood.

QUESTION 7.

If a spirit is a being without a body (see Luke 24:39), why do Mormons teach that God the Father has a body of flesh and bones? (See John 4:24).

Answer: God is a dual being consisting of a perfected spirit and a perfected body. We do not accept that God is only a spirit. In fact, the Luke verse cited above testifies to the physical nature of the resurrection. Are you suggesting Jesus had a body and no spirit? Probably not. Neither are we.

QUESTION 8.

If the Father is Elohim and Jesus is Jehovah (as the Mormons teach), how does a Mormon explain Deuteronomy 6:4, which in the Hebrew says, “Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our Elohim is one Jehovah”?

Answer: The term “Elohim” often does not refer to God the Father. One must rely on context. The very common term LORD-God (e.g., Genesis 2:18) could be translated as Jehovah-Elohim. Deuteronomy 6:4 is a slight variant of that name combination. The LORD our god is indeed one LORD, meaning that we do not also worship Baal, Asherah, or Zeus.

QUESTION 9.

If the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the Gospel, why doesn’t it teach that God was once a man?

Answer: Your question is based on the common Protestant assumption that God gives all gospel knowledge through the scriptures. This is why so many believe that there can be no other “Bible.” Mormons have never believed that a single book could contain all of God’s will. Unlike you, we believe in continuous revelation. The Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the principles of salvation based in first principles. It is a fabulous introductory book, but make no mistake, the Book of Mormon is introductory.

QUESTION 10.

If Mormonism is the restored church, which is based upon the Bible, why are Mormon leaders so quick to state that the Bible is “translated wrong” when faced with some conflict between the Bible and Mormonism?

Answer: Your question is based on a number of false premises. While it is common knowledge in academic circles that the Bible has numerous translation problems, it is extremely rare for Mormons to point to a passage and claim, “It was translated wrong.” Mormons merely recognize that the Bible was transmitted to us through generations of error-prone human beings. What is remarkable is how accurate the Bible is. Mormons concentrate on the Bible’s accuracy, not on any of its presumed errors.

Finally, we are NOT a restored Church based entirely on the Bible. Our Church is consistent with the Bible, but too much has been lost through the ages to rely upon the Bible alone. The restored Church required much additional revelation beyond the Bible to become what it has become.

QUESTION 11.

If Jesus was conceived as a result of a physical union between God and Mary, how was Jesus born of a virgin? (Journal of Discourses Vol. 1, page 50)

Answer: This is a ridiculous question that presumes we understand how Jesus was conceived. True, Mormons believe in physical processes, not magic. Mary was a virgin in the sense that Joseph did not impregnated her. Otherwise, we should not presume what happened. Again, Mormons do not claim to have all the answers.

QUESTION 12.

Why did Christ not return in 1891 as Joseph Smith predicted? (History of the Church, Vol. 2 page 182).

Answer: He did not make the prediction you described. This question appears to be based on D&C 130: 14-15, which is found in HC 5: 323-325, not volume 2 as you indicate. Verse 15 indicates that “if thou [Joseph Smith] livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man.” Joseph Smith died when he was 39.

QUESTION 13.

Journal of Discourses Vol. 2, page 210 says Jesus was being married to Mary and Martha in Cana. Why then was he INVITED to his own wedding? (John 2:1,2)

Answer: You refer to Orson Hyde’s speculation in 1855. He would have to answer your question. All I can do is quote the following:

DeseretNews.Com, Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Dale Bills, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a statement released Tuesday:
"The belief that Christ was married has never been official church doctrine. It is neither sanctioned nor taught by the church. While it is true that a few church leaders in the mid-1800s expressed their opinions on the matter, it was not then, and is not now, church doctrine."

QUESTION 14.

Why does the Mormon church teach that there is no eternal hell when the Book of Mormon teaches that there is? (I Nephi 14:3, II Ne. 9:16;28: 21-23, Mosiah 3:25, Alma 34:35, Heleman 6:28 and 3:25,26).

Answer: Hell would be the place where God does not abide. Mormons certainly believe in such a place. It is probably true, however, that the Mormon concept of Hell differs from yours.

QUESTION 15.

How can Mormons teach that the repentant thief was not saved when the Book of Mormon states that Paradise is where the righteous go? (Luke 23:43, Alma 40:12, 16)

Answer: Mormons teach that the thief was saved, but he will not necessarily be exalted. Joseph Smith taught:

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Six 1843-44 p.309
I will say something about the spirits in prison. There has been much said by modern divines about the words of Jesus (when on the cross) to the thief, saying, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." King James' translators make it out to say paradise. But what is paradise? It is a modern word: it does not answer at all to the original word that Jesus made use of. Find the original of the word paradise. … There is nothing in the original word in Greek from which this was taken that signifies paradise; but it was -- This day thou shalt be with me in the world of spirits: then I will teach you all about it and answer your inquiries… .

Strong’s Concordance indicates that the Greek word for paradise (#G3857) in Luke 23:43 signifies, among other meanings, an enclosed park for hunting, an abode for souls in hades, and a place in neither earth or heaven but above the world. Joseph Smith’s interpretation is not too distant from modern scholarship.

QUESTION 16.

How did Nephi with a few men on a new continent build a temple like Solomon’s while Solomon needed 163,300 workmen and seven years to build his temple? (See I Kings 5:13-18 and II Nephi 5:15-17)

Answer: Nephi did not say he built an exact replica. This is what he actually said:

2 Nephi 5:16
16 And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.

Notice that he was saying that he did the best he could with very limited resources.

But, let’s recognize an empirical fact: ancient peoples did built temples (even if not based on Solomon’s temple) on the American continent. There is no reason to cut short the capacity of ancient people. They could move big stones.

QUESTION 17.

If the book of Mormon is true, why hasn’t a valid geography been established for the book?

Answer: Many Book of Mormon scholars consider Mesoamerica to be very consistent with the geographical requirements of the book. However, no one knows for sure. Generally, I have not been impressed with LDS scholarship on the matter, except those studies which have argued that the Book of Mormon has a consistent and coherent internal geography. Book of Mormon archeology falls well short of Bible archeology. The strength of the Book of Mormon is its spiritual teachings, NOT its geography lessons.

QUESTION 18.

Why was Joseph Smith still preaching against polygamy in October 1843 after he got his revelation in July 1843 commanding the practice of polygamy? (D & C 132; and History of the Church Vol. 6, page 46, or Teachings of the Prophet, page 324)

Answer: Polygamy in Nauvoo was a very limited secret practice. Monogamy was sanctioned for everyone else in the Church. This is a tough issue. If Joseph Smith handled the practice badly, then he must bear his own mistakes.

QUESTION 19.

If Lehi left Jerusalem before 600 B.C., how did he learn about synagogues? (See II Nephi 26:26)

Answer: The concept of synagogue (Hebrew = Beth Knesset) was just beginning to be adopted around the time of Lehi. All we really know is that Joseph Smith translated some term into the Greek-based word “synagogue.” Whatever the original word, it meant something like: religious congregation. “Synagogue” could be simply a “best equivalent.” All translations are a compromise.

QUESTION 20.

If the Book of Mormon is true, why do Indians fail to become white when they become Mormons? (II Nephi 30:6 – prior to 1981 revision)

Answer: This is a most ridiculous interpretation of LDS scriptures that the LDS people do NOT accept. See my essay: Racism has no place.

QUESTION 21.

What kind of chariots did the Nephites have in 90 B.C. some 1500 years before the introduction of the wheel on the Western Hemisphere? (Alma 18:9)

Answer: I do not know. However, the Book of Mormon message is Christ, not chariots. I think we have much left to learn about transportation systems in the Americas. Even so, your question is good. The verse you cite also refers to horses. I know of no strong evidence that horses or chariots were in the Americas in 90 B.C., the rough time frame of the passage.

QUESTION 22.

How do Mormons account for the word “church” in the Book of Mormon, about 600 B.C., which was centuries before the beginning of the Church on the day of Pentecost? (I Nephi 4:26)

Answer: Again, refer to #19 above. The Book of Mormon consists of modern terminology for the benefit of modern readers. We do not pretend to know anything about the actual ancient words that were used. No translation has perfect word equivalents.

QUESTION 23.

How do Mormons account for the italicized words in the King James Version (indicating their absence in the Hebrew and Greek) being found in the Book of Mormon? (A comparison of Mosiah 14 and Isaiah 53 will provide at least 13 examples)

Answer: Obviously, Joseph Smith was influenced by the King James Version of the Bible in his translation. I do not see why this is a problem for anyone inside or outside of the Church. It seems to me that God expects us to use all the resources at our disposal. The Bible was available. Maybe I am missing something. The 1830 Book of Mormons quotes large passages from Isaiah, and although there are some wording changes, the punctuation is nearly identical with the KJV. While it is true Joseph Smith may not have provided punctuation in the translation process, somewhere along the line the KJV was involved in the printed product. Regardless, Isaiah was certainly in Joseph Smith’s head, if not elsewhere. None of these issues affects the validity of the Book of Mormon.

QUESTION 24.

How did the French word “adieu” get into the Book of Mormon? (Jacob 7:27)

Answer: “Adieu” is a French word that was commonly used in English. The word is found in Webster’s 1828 dictionary. Many, if not most, common words in English have a foreign derivation. The usage merely reflects a word choice made by Joseph Smith.

QUESTION 25.

Was it right or wrong for Solomon to have many wives? (See Jacob 2:24; D & C 132:38,39) Which is it?

Answer: The short answer is that both David and his son Solomon took legal (e.g., 2 Sam. 12:7-9) and illegal wives (e.g., 1 Kings 11:1-6). The illegal wives were the sin, not the polygamy that had been sanctioned. The key is a verse you did not cite: Jacob 2: 30, which indicates that if God wants He will raise up a seed unto Him; otherwise polygamy is prohibited.

QUESTION 26.

If polygamy was a provision for increasing population rapidly, why did God give Adam only one wife?

Answer: The notion that polygamy produces rapid increases in population is a complete myth. A polygamous woman can have only one baby at a time. In fact, polygamous wives usually have less children than monogamous ones, since they see their husband less. Why did Adam have only one wife? Who knows? You ask the question as if Mormons should care. We do NOT care that Adam had only one wife.

QUESTION 27.

D&C 129:4, 5 says, “When a messenger comes saying he has a message from God, offer him your hand and request him to shake hands with you. If he be an angel he will do so, and you will feel his hand.” How can this test distinguish between an angel of God and a Jehovah’s Witness missionary…or a Mormon Elder?

Answer: The citation you give is incomplete. The full section consists of nine verses, all of which are necessary for context (v. 1-9). This section of the D&C gives the keys to discerning ministering angels from evil spirits. Nothing is given that suggests these keys will discern between angels, missionaries of other faiths, and LDS Elders. Thus your question is faulty.

QUESTION 28.

If Joseph Smith was a true prophet, why did he fail to realize that “Elias” is the N.T. form of the name “Elijah”? (D & C 110:12,13 and 1 Kings 17:1 and James 5:17) How could Elijah (Elias) have appeared to Joseph Smith in the Kirkland Temple as two different people?

Answer: Ancient writers often combined characters and names in confusing ways. Elijah was Elias, but there is also another sense for “Elias.” Bruce R. McConkie stated the following:

Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah, ~p.103
There is no valid reason for confusion as to the identity and mission of Elias. There was a man named Elias who came to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on April 3, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple to restore "the gospel of Abraham." (D&C 110:12.) Whether he was Abraham himself or someone else from his dispensation, we do not know. Elias is one of the names of Gabriel who is Noah, and it was in this capacity that Gabriel visited Zacharias the father of John the Baptist. (D&C 27:6-7.) Elias is the Greek form of the Hebrew Elijah, and in this sense has reference to the prophet from Tishbe. Elias is also the title or name of a forerunner who goes before to prepare the way for someone who is greater; this is the doctrine of Elias, and in this sense John the Baptist was both Elias and an Elias. John came in the way that Gabriel (who is Elias) promised, that is, "in the spirit and power of Elias, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:17.) In this sense also, the Aaronic Priesthood is the Priesthood of Elias because it prepares men for the greater priesthood. We shall hereafter speak of Joseph Smith as the Elias who came to prepare the way for the Second Coming.

QUESTION 29.

If children have no sins until they are eight years old, why are they baptized at age eight to wash away non-existent sins? (See Moroni 8:8)

Answer: This question seems to suggest a misunderstanding of the purpose of baptism. Anyone who is baptized must have the capacity to "come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, . . . to bear one another's burdens, . . . to mourn with those that mourn, and . . . to stand as witnesses of God . . . even until death" (Mosiah 18:8-9). Infants do not have this capacity. Baptized individuals enter a covenant to keep God's commandments, and to serve Him to the end (2 Ne. 31:6-17; Moro. 6:2-4; D&C 20:37). In turn, God promises remission of sins, redemption, and the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 22:16; 3 Ne. 30:2). Mormons believe that eight-year olds have the capacity to sin as they are at the age of accountability.

QUESTION 30.

How could the Garden of Eden have been in Missouri when the Pearl of Great Price declares that it was in the vicinity of Assyria and had the Euphrates and Hiddekel Rivers in it? (See P of GP Moses 3:14 and D&C 116 and 117; Genesis 2:8-15)

Answer: See the footnote in Moses 3:13. Adam-ondi-Ahman had rivers and lands with names that were used at other locations. This is a common cultural practice: e.g., York and New York. You refer to a somewhat obscure teaching. I believe there is more to learn about locations. A far more important (and clear) concept is taught in Articles of Faith #10: “…Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent.”

QUESTION 31.

Brigham Young said, “The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy”. (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, page 269) Why did the Mormons yield to the pressure of the government and stop practicing polygamy?

Answer: Polygamy was taught as the highest form of marriage for a period of time (1852-1890). That practice has now discontinued. The Church did not yield the practice easily, but fought the government over the issue for nearly forty years. We can only guess why the Lord removed this obligation. However, it was important in the 1890s for the Church and Utah to begin to move into the mainstream of American social life. The discontinuance of polygamy allowed this progress to happen. Polygamy is now entirely prohibited. Modern practice of plural marriage leads to immediate excommunication.

My early Mormon ancestors practiced polygamy. Based upon what I have read of their lives, I am glad to be a monogamist.

QUESTION 32.

Heber C. Kimball stated, “We are the people of Deseret, she shall be no more Utah: we will have our own name”. Why did this prophecy fail? (J of D. Vol. 5, page 161)

Answer: Elder Kimball did not indicate that his statement was a prophecy. His statement was merely aggressive rhetoric. This statement was made on August 30, 1857, a date when the “Utah War” (almost the first U.S. civil war) was beginning to flare up. During this brief time the Church was not real excited about being a part of the United States. Many wanted the territory to be renamed to “Deseret,” a label given to the territory when the Mormons first arrived. These heightened emotions led in part to the infamous Mountain Meadow Massacre in September. Fortunately, things calmed down, and Utah territory retained its name.

QUESTION 33.

How did Joseph Smith carry home the golden plates of the Book of Mormon, and how did the witnesses lift them so easily? (They weighted about 230 lbs. Gold, with a density of 19.3 weighs 1204.7 lbs. Per cubic foot. The plates were 7” x 8” by about 6”. See Articles of Faith, by Talmage, page 262, 34th Ed.)

Answer: Your question has many flaws. Joseph Smith described the plates as about 6x8x6 inches (HC: 4: 537). You assume the plates were made of pure gold. You also assume the plates would lie perfectly flat allowing no air as part of the volume. Most LDS scholars believe the plates would have been made of a gold, silver, and copper alloy yielding a much lower density coefficient. Allowing for air between plates, most LDS estimates (and eyewitnesses) put the weight of the plates between 40 and 50 pounds.

QUESTION 34.

When Christ died, did darkness cover the land for three days or for three hours? (See Luke 23:44 and III Nephi 8:19-23).

Answer: The Book of Mormon citation indicates that for about three hours in the western hemisphere there was thunder and lightening, high winds, and earthquakes. A vapor of darkness then settled over the land for about three days. Evidently, this was different than the meteorological events that took place on the eastern hemisphere. All we can go by are the scriptural accounts.

QUESTION 35.

If the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, why have the Mormons changed it? (There have been over 3,000 changes in the Book of Mormon …).

Answer: There may have been about 3000+ grammatical and spelling changes in the current Book of Mormon relative to the original 1830 version. It is easy to compare the new version with the old version on the internet. One can see that the changes were necessary for improved punctuation, grammar, and spelling, and numerical identification (versification).

I know of only one change that significantly altered the meaning of the passage. It is found in Mosiah 21: 28. The 1837 Kirkland edition (approved by Jos. Smith) changed “king Benjamin” to “king Mosiah.” While there have been a handful of other word insertions, those changes clarified meaning rather than altered the meaning.

For example, some critics have tried to make an issue that “God” was changed to “Son of God” in 1 Nephi 11: 18, 21, & 32 in the 1837 edition. The context of these verses is clearly about Jesus, but further, in the same chapter “son of God” was present in the 1830 version in verses 6, 7, and 24. The Kirkland changes were made merely for clarity and not for reasons of some fantasized conspiracy.

Note: The Church does not claim that the Book of Mormon is free from any errors. It is a correct book in its doctrine, but that does not make it error free.

QUESTION 36.

If God speaks through a prophet, why do Mormons vote on whether or not to receive and authorize it?

Answer: Mormons have their agency. All official principles and revelations of the Church are canonized by “common consent,” which is different than a “vote.” If a new writing is presented as revelation to the body of the Church at Conference, then individuals may either sustain or reject that action. It is much like sustaining someone in a new calling, which is not an act of democracy.

QUESTION 37.

It has been established that the “Sensen” manuscript was simply a common Egyptian burial papyrus. Why do the Mormons still accept the Book of Abraham which was translated from that manuscript?

Answer: You are making assumptions. We do not know what Joseph Smith “translated,” or even exactly how he “translated.” The papyri seemed to be a stimulus, but we are not sure how Joseph did his work. I think Joseph translated the mind of God more than the mind of Egyptians. He did not understand Egyptian. In any case, it is idle speculation to answer your question any farther.

QUESTION 38.

Why is it that no other writings have been found in the language of “Reformed Egyptian”, the supposed language of the Book of Mormon plates? Is there evidence that such a language really existed?

Answer: This is a very good question. I do not have a satisfactory answer, except please realize that early Europeans destroyed all ancient American records that they could find. The conquering Europeans believed that heathens wrote those ancient records. Who knows what valuable archeology was lost? However, you are correct. There are no known American records that fit Joseph Smith’s description of a reformed Egyptian. On the other hand, there are Middle East writings that might, such as those written in hieratic or demotic.

QUESTION 39.

Joseph Smith said that there are men living on the moon who dress like Quakers and live to be nearly 1000 years old. Since he was wrong about the moon, is it safe to trust him regarding the way to heaven? (See The Young Woman’s Journal, Vol 3, pages 263, 264.)

Answer: This is an absurd question. Joseph Smith had his opinions, and his frontier notions of science were often superstitious and wrong. So what? Joseph Smith was a prophet only when acting as such.

QUESTION 40.

Why do Mormons not study Hebrew and Greek so that they can intelligently discuss the accuracy of the translation of the Bible?

Answer: This question is based in religious prejudice. There are many Mormon scholars who know Hebrew and Greek. In fact, BYU is often considered the most multi-lingual university in the United States – due to the many returned young missionaries who serve internationally.

QUESTION 41.

Joseph Smith prepared fourteen Articles of Faith. Why has the original No. 11 been omitted?

Answer: You are wrong. Joseph Smith prepared 13 articles in his 1842 Wentworth letter to the Chicago Democrat. Orson Hyde considered 14 articles in his 1850 newspaper The Frontier Guardian. The Church never accepted the Hyde version. Canonical documents have always had 13.

QUESTION 42.

According to Hebrews 7:24, the Melchizedek Priesthood is not transferable. Why do Mormons pass it from one to another?

Answer: Let’s have an intelligent discussion of Greek. Read the following:

S. Kent Brown; BYU Studies, Vol. 23, No. 1, pg.56
The rather late Christian understanding that Jesus would be the last High Priest of the Melchizedek order (see Hebrew 7:24 …) is based on an erroneous interpretation of the Greek word aparabaton which does not mean "intransmissible" but means "unchangeable" when referring to Jesus' priesthood. More modern versions of the Bible agree with this interpretation.
Hebrews 7:24 (NIV)
but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. (emphasis added)
Hebrews 7:24 (NASB)
but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. (emphasis added)
Hebrews 7:24 (RSV)
but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues for ever. (emphasis added)

Hebrews 7:24 does not imply that the Priesthood of Jesus is not transferable, but rather it implies his Priesthood is unchangeable and permanent. Naturally, Jesus has the power to pass down his eternal authority.

QUESTION 43.

If Mormonism came as a revelation from God, why are the Mormon Temple Oaths almost identical to the oaths of the Masonic Lodge?

Answer: In the LDS temple members of the Church make covenants to live moral lives. These convenants are most definitely not identical to Masonic oaths. There may be common threads, but the experienced would never confuse one for the other. There are far more differences than similarities.

QUESTION 44.

Why did the Nauvoo House not stand forever and ever? (D&C 124:56-60)

Answer: All I know is that the Nauvoo House is still standing!!!!!!! I have visited it many times, since I live near it by about 3 hours.

QUESTION 45.

If genealogies are important, why does the New Testament tell Christians to avoid them? (I Timothy 1:4; Titus 3:9)

Answer: The Bible simply advises Jewish Christians not to brag that they descended directly from Abraham in order to make others feel bad who do not. These verses are advice against bragging, not advice against geneology.

QUESTION 46.

The Bible says, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin”. Why did Brigham Young say that there are some sins which can be atoned for only by the shedding of ones own blood.

Answer: Brigham Young probably was thinking of murder. I would need to see the quotations to which you refer. Perhaps you have reference to the concept of “blood atonement,” which Brigham is accused of preaching, but the Church never accepted. By the way, the members of the Church do NOT think of their prophets as infalleable.

QUESTION 47.

Why do Mormons insist that Ezekiel 37:15-22 is about two books instead of about two kingdoms as god Himself explained in verse 22?

Answer: The verses are about two kingdoms: the House of Judah to the south and the House of Joseph (consisting of Ephraim and Manasseh) to the north. The House of Judah produced the Bible. The Book of Mormon claims to be derived from the House of Joseph.

The LDS interpretation from verse 16 is that the written messages on the stick of Judah (the Bible) and the stick of Ephraim (the Book of Mormon) will play significant roles in gathering the House of Israel into their own lands. The LDS understand these verses better than anyone else, because only the LDS Church claims to have scripturally significant writings from the House of Joseph (Manasseh). And, yes verses 21 and 22 are particularly important:

Ezekiel 37: 21-22
21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:

These verses clearly indicate there will be a gathering process, and that eventually the northern and southern kingdoms will be one. This is a prophecy not yet fulfilled. We believe that scriptures from Judah and Josesph will play a big role – as the verses claim.

QUESTION 48.

If Acts 3:20, 21 is a prophecy about the restoration of Mormonism, why didn’t Jesus return in 1830?

Answer: Jesus did return in 1820 in the first vision. He returned at other times as well during the process of the restoration (e.g., D&C 76: 22-23).

QUESTION 49.

Revelation 14:6,7 is part of the body of prophecy about the future Great Tribulation. How could that passage have been fulfilled by Moroni in 1830?

Answer: Five million Book of Mormons are published each year in a hundred and six languages (Ensign, August, 2005, p. 4). If the angel Moroni is not preaching the everlasting gospel to nearly every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, then what angel is???

QUESTION 50.

In light of Ezekiel 28:13-15 and Hebrews 1:5, how can Satan and Jesus be brothers?

Answer: Isaiah, John and Jude tell us that the Devil and his angels were cast out from their heavenly home (Isaiah 14:12-20; Revelation 12:4, 7-9; Jude 1:6). Read the following:

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.2, FIRST ESTATE
Latter-day Saints believe that all mankind were begotten as individual spirit children of God, with individual agency, prior to being born into mortality. Using this agency, a third part of these spirits followed Lucifer and rebelled against God and the Plan of Salvation that God proposed to bring about the eventual exaltation of his children through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Because of their rebellion, these spirits "kept not their first estate" (Jude 1:6) and were subsequently cast out of heaven, being denied the opportunity of having a mortal body on this earth (D&C 29:36-38; Moses 4:1-4; Abr. 3:26-28; cf. Rev. 12:4, 7-9). All the remaining spirits proved themselves sufficiently faithful to be permitted the privilege of experiencing earth life with a physical body (Abr. 3:22-26).

Jesus and Satan are NOT brothers except in the sense that God created everything. Ultimately, they are NOT comparable because Jesus is the Son of God and is identifiable as God. Satan is the complete opposite, with less status than a human being.

QUESTION 51.

If no person ever receives the Holy Spirit before baptism or without the laying on of hands, how does a Mormon explain the case of Cornelius? (See Acts 10:44-47)

Answer: The Holy Spirit does influence non-baptized individuals. In fact, LDS theology claims that the Holy Spirit is central to the process of conversion. The “gift of the Holy Ghost,” given at the time of confirmation, is a promise of the abiding spirit at all times if the person continues to live the commandments.

QUESTION 52.

If baptism for the dead was a Christian ceremony, why did Paul use the pronoun “they” rather than “we” or “ye”? Why did he exclude himself and other Christians when referring to it? (I Cor. 15:29)

Answer: Paul was saying if the dead are not resurrected, then why bother with baptism for the dead? Paul was using the practice of proxy baptism to help justify the concept of resurrection. Your question implies that he was referring to non-Christians. It makes no sense that Paul would have referred to a heresy to justify the doctrine of resurrection.

Who are the “they?” The New English Bible (published in Great Britain and a non-LDS Bible) says in its footnote to the verse in question:

The most likely interpretation is that some Corinthians had undergone baptism to bear witness to the faith of fellow believers who had died without experiencing that rite themselves.

In other words, many non-LDS scholars accept the possibility that the “they” were practicing Christians.

The true plan of salvation provides billions of people, who have died without hearing of Jesus, a way to reach God. The true plan of salvation is a plan of success. Those who propose that most of God’s children go to Hell are putting forward a plan of failure. I have trouble believing that God’s plans fail.

QUESTION 53.

Since the Bible says that a Bishop should be the husband of one wife, how can Mormons claim that polygamy is proper for New Testament Christians? (I Timothy 3:2)

Answer: We do not claim that polygamy was practiced by New Testament Christians. It was practiced in Old Testament times.

QUESTION 54.

Why does the Mormon church teach that the broad way leads to the Terrestrial Heaven when Jesus taught that it leads to destruction? (Matthew 7:13, 14)

Answer: Where in LDS scripture does it say the broad way leads to the Terrestrial Kingdom? I have never heard of such a thing. It is only the straight and narrow way that leads to God. All else is destruction in one form or another.

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Dissection of a Miracle:

An Analysis of the “Inexplicable” by Science and Religion

Science and religion are often at odds when both attempt to account for extraordinary events. Religion involves a “will to believe” in the intervention of God, and the substance of things not seen or heard. By contrast, science involves an insistence upon empiricism, data, and objective mechanisms involving nature. Most of the time the two fields do not work at cross-purposes, but occasionally the popular press picks up a story that is touted as inexplicable or beyond nature. The purpose of this essay is to illustrate respectfully how non-scientific explanations of extraordinary events are sometimes a jump to conclusions without relevant data.

The purpose of this essay is NOT to make fun of the theology of miracles. By theological definition, God is involved in all things, whether by nature or by some other means. It is my experience, however, that extraordinary events reported in the news media that seem to defy science often have not been investigated deeply enough.

Please note: scientific explanations of events never supplant God. Science is just a method of investigating a matter more deeply than commonplace explanations. This essay will discuss respectfully how scientists and theists react to proposed miracles.

The primary case in point will be the story of Laura Hatch, an injured 17-year old female who laid slump for eight days in her wrecked automobile in a remote forested area until she was found. The incident is well documented and the basic facts are not in dispute.

The Story as Reported
Laura Hatch seemingly was a typical teenager from Redmond, Washington. However, the events that happened to her on the night of Saturday, October 2nd, 2004 were anything but typical. She was on her way home from a teenager party. During the trip home her car, a Toyota Camry, veered off a winding road and went down a 150-foot wooded ravine. The car was severely damaged and Laura suffered multiple injuries. The area of the accident was heavily forested, and her crippled car could not be seen from the road. Unable to move very far, Laura remained in her car for eight days without food or water.



Her parents reported Laura missing within hours, but the police investigation did not turn up much. Laura’s teenager “friends” initially were reluctant to talk to police about the party, and some suspected the reluctance was because there was under-age drinking. Ignorant of the nature of the party, the police considered Laura just another runaway. Finally, details emerged on October 6th, and the police began to trace probable routes Laura might have taken to reach home. Police and volunteer search parties still turned up nothing, even though they searched areas close to the accident.

The Dreams of Sha Nohr
At this point, the story turns a little bizarre. On Saturday the 9th, volunteer search parties were quite active. Sometime during the day Bethann Nohr, a friend of Laura, asked her mother, Sha (pronounced “Shay”), what they could do for Laura. Sha told her daughter all they could do was pray. They did.

During the night Sha Nohr had some restless dreams. She dreamt of a familiar intersection in a wooded area. She would wake up then go back to sleep and have the same static dream about the intersection. This happened several times. It was a strange dream because there was no story line as most dreams have. After a succession of these dreams, she had an even more bizarre dream. She dreamt of a talking bunny rabbit, something like out of “Alice in Wonderland,” that repeated, “Keep going. Keep going.”

Image: Sir John Tenniel - 1865
Nursery Version of
Alice in Wonderland (1890)
by Lewis Carroll

Laura found
When Sha Nohr woke up Sunday morning the 10th, she felt like the dreams might be compelling her to look for Laura. She and Bethann promptly drove to the intersection on Northeast Union Hill Road, the one in her dream. They pulled over and got out, but it did not feel right. Praying all the while, they drove a little further down the road and Sha was attracted to a steep embankment (near the 20200 block) where there was a gap between concrete barriers leading to a wooded ravine. Leaving her daughter behind, Sha made her way past the concrete barrier and climbed down the steep embankment. Although the area was heavily vegetated, she thought she saw something shiny. About 100 feet down Sha discovered that the shiny object was nothing but a garbage bag. She was about to return back up when Bethann shouted from above, “Keep going. Keep going,” the same message she had heard in her second dream. Sha kept going further down. This time, she saw damaged trees and thought she saw a car.

Sha was frightened to approach the car. She yelled to her daughter to get help. The daughter stopped a passing motorist who then assisted Sha in approaching the newly found car. They found Laura huddled in the back seat of her car with dried mud on her clothes. Sha spoke to Laura and was surprised that she spoke back. Laura’s first words were, “I think I might be late for curfew.”

A cell phone call had the ambulance there in about five minutes. When Laura was taken to the hospital she was treated for severe dehydration, a blood clot on her brain, broken ribs, a broken leg and facial injuries.

Facts beyond dispute
What are the facts that both the scientist and religionist must agree upon?

1. Laura Hatch was lost in a remote forest location, severely injured, and apparently without food and water for about eight days.

2. Systematic search for Laura by local authorities produced no result. Many prayed for Laura’s return.

3. Sha Nohr, perhaps prompted by dreams, found Laura in an injured but alive condition at the scene of the accident.

Religious Explanations
The unexpected events of Laura’s story make it tempting to embrace divine intervention. How could Laura stay alive for so long, severely injured and without food or water? How could Sha Nohr find Laura’s location without the help of God? The events seem beyond coincidence and certainly beyond the ordinary.

The concept of a God that watches over us, guides us, and keeps us safe is a very desirable and attractive notion. Sure, it may have been God that kept Laura alive and who prompted Sha by dream to find Laura. Science could never say otherwise. However, should religion deny naturalistic explanations?

Religious texts are full of prophetic dreams. One of the most important is found in the 2nd chapter of the Book of Daniel in which Daniel the prophet interprets the dream of king Nebuchadnezzar and shows (v. 28) “there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets.” Later (chapter 7:13), Daniel had his own dream: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven….” There is no need to recount further the many instances in various sacred texts in which dreams have played some primary role (Van de Castle, 1994).

While use of the divine as religious explanation may be appealing, it also raises some difficult questions? Why are other young children allowed by God to die in car accidents? If it was so important to God for Laura to remain alive, why was she allowed to crash her vehicle in the first place? Since many individuals searched for days, why wasn’t Laura found earlier, and why was Sha singled out by God to make the find? Many such questions could be asked. A theologian’s answer to such difficult questions usually is, “It was the will of God.”

Scientific Explanations
How could Laura remain alive for so long? Science never gives complete answers, but it can give partial ones. Weather and temperature played an important role in her survival. If the daily temperature had been too hot she would have dehydrated in mere hours, not days. If the nocturnal temperature had dropped below freezing, then survival would have been unlikely too. Examine the weather chart below corresponding to the time Laura was lost and found:



Notice that the temperatures were never too extreme. They were always in a moderate range. Notice also that Laura may have been able to get some water, especially on Tuesday and Friday. She was found with mud on her clothes and evidently had been out of the car at least once.

Randall K. Packer, a Professor of Biology at George Washington University, in an article (posted Dec. 2002) for ScientificAmerican.com entitled, “How long can the average person survive without water?” indicated that, “An adult in comfortable surroundings … can survive for a week or more with no, or very limited, water intake.” Laura’s survival verifies that this claim is quite reasonable.

(There is at least one caveat worth mentioning about dehydration: Laura was driving home from a drinking party and may have been drinking herself. She did crash after all. Alcohol is well known to increase dehydration by increasing the rate of urination.)

How would science explain Sha’s dreams? Dreams are usually bizarre nonsense often created by the brain during rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep. Dreams are such twaddle that they are highly forgettable and seldom recalled (Hobson, 1988). Since dreams are typically bizarre and forgotten, it is a bit ironic that theologians sometimes view them as a medium of divine communication.

Dreams produced in REM sleep usually have a story line. Nohr’s static dream of a wooded intersection does not fit that characteristic, but such imagery is consistent with that produced in Stage-1 non-REM sleep (Hobson, 1988, p. 145). Any form of dreaming incorporates past learning (Domhoff, 2001). Since Nohr knew the areas being searched for Laura, mental imagery of familiar roads and woods might well be expected.

Nohr’s dream of a funny rabbit repeating, “Keep going,” is quite consistent with the tendency of REM dreams to mix the bizarre with the relevant. Everyone concerned with the search for Laura was pushed to stressful extremes. As such, the phrase “Keep going” was a mantra of all involved, whether specifically spoken in the verbal community or not.

Harder to explain, Sha Nohr actually did find Laura. But, many individuals searched for Laura. Fortunate things do happen. Someone eventually wins the lottery. The odds are small, but the winner always produces a lot of news. The finding of Laura was notable indeed. It was notable, however, because such finds rarely happen. Searches that fail may also fail to make much news. Dreams that fail don’t make any news. The rare successes are brought to our attention precisely because they are rare. The finding of Laura Hatch received national attention.

Some luck was involved, no doubt, in Sha Nohr finding Laura Hatch, but we need not suppose the her entire search was random. As she drove near the site of the accident, perhaps there were discriminative stimuli that guided her behavior that she could not or did not verbalize. The winding road had concrete barriers to prevent accident, but Sha was attracted to a gap wide enough for a car to pass. Perhaps near the gap there were tire tracks on the road where the car veered. Tree branches and trunks may have been damaged as the car pitched down the ravine. Some of these clues would have been sufficient to guide her.

Although the story as given is explained easily by natural events, we must remember that as participants retold the story there may have been a tendency to exaggerate and inflate. Omitting critical facts and escalating the dramatic can improve any “story.” It would be natural for storytellers to smooth the details of Laura’s story to make them sound more miraculous. Even so, the basic facts of the story are not in dispute.

Contrasts and Conclusions
Sometimes skeptical scientists resist claims of divine intervention with such vigor that they risk demeaning religious behavior altogether. I hope that mistake has not been made here. To numerous reporters Sha Nohr explained her heroic actions as the answer to prayers. They were, but maybe not for miraculous reasons.

Scientists, unlike theologians, cannot address the role of God in natural events. What scientists can do is address whether a particular claim is within the normal limits of human operation. Sha Nohr’s story of finding Laura was well within those parameters, even though the story was truly remarkable.

It is never the job of science to say that divine intervention is not possible. The concept of God is outside of the circumscribed purview of science. However, it is the job of science to show how natural processes can give a plausible account for events.

In the end, science is no threat to religion. The concern of science is natural mechanism and the concern of religion is final cause – God. No matter what the mechanism, God can always be construed as the final cause.

Scientific educators shape verbal responses, expert observing, and organized actions in the laboratory. Repertoires of religious behavior are not normally reinforced. However, if the hand of God involves natural mechanism, then science indeed is a kind of religious experience – a true revealer of secrets in the laboratory.

Scientists always seek natural mechanisms over miraculous ones. By contrast, theists often seek to place the hand of God on the steering wheel of the universe. Since science cannot prove a negative, it can never completely rule out God, nor should it try. Yet, theists may sometimes overplay the role of God as the proximate (immediate) explanation of both ordinary and perhaps extraordinary events.

Science and religion are NOT enemies. Ultimately, the job of both scientists and theists is to SEE CLEARLY.

*****Addendum: A LDS Perspective*****

It is time to take off my scientific hat.

LDS doctrine is absolutely clear that God answers prayers and that God communicates with ALL people who will listen. Also, God works through natural processes and sometimes through processes we may not currently understand. The Church would not pretend to understand or confirm all the circumstances behind the story of Laura Hatch, but it would respect the subjective experiences with the divine of all those involved.

The scriptures are clear that God is a source of spiritual protection, which are expanded upon in another essay in this blog series. However, here are a few essential verses:

New American Bible Standard: Matthew 11: 28-29
28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

Psalms 55: 22
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

Psalms 91: 11-12
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

As I end this essay, it is useful to note, counter to all stereotypes, that the Church allows its members to be scientists and scientific thinkers. There are MANY LDS scientists (in all major scientific fields) throughout the United States and elsewhere. In fact, because the Church is organized around a lay ministry, there have been several times in my 50+ years where my immediate ecclesiastical leaders have been scientists and physicians. Further, there have been individuals with such training in the highest Councils of the Church. I have considered such leadership a blessing in my attempt to find the proper balance between my science and my religion.

Selected References and Recommended Reading

Domhoff, G. W. (2001). A new neurocognitive theory of dreams. Dreaming, 11, 13-33.

Hobson, J.A. (1988). The dreaming brain. Basic books: New York.

Van de Castle, R. (1994). Our dreaming mind. New York: Ballantine Books.

*****

Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. 
Used by permission.

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




Please feel free to give my blog site a "Blogged.com" rating and review by clicking here.

*****

Deliver us from Evil

A central question for Latter-day Saints is NOT why the righteous must suffer. We all suffer, the righteous and the unrighteous. Rather, we are more likely to ask can we overcome suffering and become better people as a result of it.

Joseph Smith endured a tremendous amount of suffering to establish this Church. His trials were daily. Read the following which contains paraphrases from Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (TPJS):

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.3, SMITH, JOSEPH
Evil and pain are real, losses are real, temptation is real, overcoming is real. Both risk and reward attend the mortal experience. These are the conditions of soul growth. God's purpose is to lift his children, but he cannot do so without their cooperation; nor can he intervene in a way that removes the need for experience, even bitter experience.

Life is a trial, a probation: "All these things shall give thee experience" (D&C 122:7). Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac was a similitude of the Father's sacrifice of his Only Begotten Son. One cannot attain the heirship of the Son without being willing to sacrifice all earthly things. The overcoming of such trials is the foundation of perfected love, and until one has perfect love, one is liable to fall (TPJS, p. 9). The view that all suffering in the world is punishment for sin is "an unhallowed principle" (TPJS, p. 162). The Saints must expect to wade through much tribulation, but afflictions may be consecrated to their gain.

In times of trial, recite the Lord’s Prayer:

Matthew 6: 9-13
9 … Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Faux Paraphrase: Matthew 6: 9-13
9 … Our Father in Heaven, holy is thy name.
10 Thy kingdom comes quickly. Even so, let thy commands now reign on earth as they do in heaven.
11 Give us our daily bread that we may live truly.
12 Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
13. Strengthen us as we are tempted, and deliver us from evil. Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory everlasting – in thy Son’s name, Amen.

My conceptual paraphrase is an attempt to capture the intent of the Lord’s Prayer. The last sentence in the prayer (“For thine is the kingdom…”) is known as a doxology. A doxology is a Jewish tradition to end prayers with praise for God, which can vary from prayer to prayer and person to person. Thus, the ending need not be the same every time to be “the Lord’s prayer.”

With respect to verse 13 above, we might ask what is meant by: “lead us not into temptation.” Why would God lead us into temptation? Elder James E. Talmage indicates that “the intent … appears to be that we be preserved from temptation beyond our weak powers to withstand; that we be not abandoned to temptation without the divine support that shall be as full a measure of protection as our exercise of choice will allow” (Jesus the Christ, Ch.17, p.224 - p.225).

The Book of James gave a clear explanation of God’s role in temptation:

James 1: 12-15
12 Blessed [is] the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
13 ¶ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Elder McConkie gave a similar interpretation:

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, TEMPTATION
The saints should pray always lest they enter into temptation. (3 Ne. 18:18; D. & C. 61:39.) The meaning of the petition, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (Matt. 6:13; Luke 11:4; 3 Ne. 13:12), is: Suffer us not to be led into greater temptation than we can bear, but deliver us from evil.

Not only should we pray to avoid temptation, but we should study the scriptures:

Harold B. Lee, Stand Ye In Holy Places, ~p.370
[O]ur Father has in every dispensation given to us, His children, the holy scriptures by His inspiration to make us wise in overcoming temptation through faith in Him. These scriptures are "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:16-17.) So important in the Father's plan of salvation are the scriptures that incidents are recorded wherein God commanded the taking of life to obtain possession of precious writings without which His children would stumble and be blinded by the darkness of the world, but with which "they could be likened to the people of the scriptures for their profit and learning.”

Elder B.H. Roberts said:

B. H. Roberts, The Gospel and Man's Relationship to Deity, ~p.197
It is by resisting temptation today, overcoming a weakness tomorrow, forsaking evil associations the next day, and thus day by day, month after month, year after year, pruning, restraining and weeding out that which is evil in the disposition, that the character is purged of its imperfections. Salvation is a matter of character-building under the Gospel laws and ordinances, and more especially with the direct aid of the Holy Spirit.

The Book of Revelations gives us a nice summary statement:

Revelations 2:26
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.>




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The Table of Shewbread:

How Jesus Taught Setting Proper Priorities

We should not be disturbed when we find small errors in the Bible. We believe in the Bible in so far as it is “translated” correctly. Of course, we also mean “transmitted” correctly as well. Take for example,

Mark 2:25-26
25 And he [Jesus] said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?

First of all, Jesus was teaching that rules are made for man, not man for the rules. One must use commonsense, because there are exceptional circumstances where hungry non-priests should be allowed to eat the shewbread. In other words, the law of charity should override ritualized rules on occasion.

The error: The story of David and the shewbread is found in 1 Samuel 21: 1-6, and a problem arises with the reference by Jesus to the high priest Abiathar. Ahimelech, not Abiathar was the priest who gave David the shewbread. However, Abiathar was a son of Ahimelech (1 Sam. 22: 20). Read the full reference:

1 Samuel 21:1-6
1 ¶ THEN came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why [art] thou alone, and no man with thee?
2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed [my] servants to such and such a place.
3 Now therefore what is under thine hand? give [me] five [loaves of] bread in mine hand, or what there is present.
4 And the priest answered David, and said, [There is] no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.
5 And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women [have been] kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and [the bread is] in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.
6 So the priest gave him hallowed [bread]: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

One must wonder why Jesus picked this story of David to tell. David broke a lot of rules, and the consequences were heavy.

King Saul was in a state of jealousy over David, and David was trying to escape from Saul. David lied when he told the priest that he was on the King’s business (v. 2). This lie fooled the priest into giving him the shewbread.

The shewbread (see “Shewbread” in LDS Bible Dictionary) was a high quality of bread kept in the temple and normally eaten only by the priests as prescribed by law (Lev. 24: 5-9). Twelve loaves of bread were placed on a table to represent the 12 tribes of Israel and the presence of God in the temple. Every week the priests ate the old bread and new loaves were replaced on the altar. Bruce R. McConkie gave the following description:

Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, Vol.1, ~p.101
All that was part of or placed in, or performed in the [ancient] tabernacle was symbolical of Christ and his atoning sacrifice. The sacrifices on the great altar in the court were performed in similitude of the coming sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and each detailed step in their performance bore record in one way or another of something concerning the infinite sacrifice of Israel's Promised Messiah. Light from the seven candles on the golden candlestick shone forth as a reminder of him who is the Light of the world; clouds of odors rising from the altar of incense were as the prayers of the saints before the throne of God ("golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints," John says in Rev. 5:8): and the shewbread, the bread on display, the bread of the Presence bore record that there in the temple was found the Presence of God. These loaves of bread, twelve in number, one for each of the tribes of Israel, spread out on "the table of the bread of the Presence," were both an acknowledgment that Jehovah gave life and nourishment to Israel and a witness that Israel was grateful for the goodness of their God to them.

King Saul was angry at the priests who aided David, the fleeing fugitive. Therefore, the king ordered all the priests to be put to death. “He slay fourscore and five of those who wore a linen ephod.” And then Saul exterminated the city of Nob, killing men, women, children, and animals (1 Sam. 22: 19). Whew! Old Testament stories are intense.

Anyway, one can see that it is really a minor issue whether the priest was Ahimelech or Abiathar. (Further, I do not care how the error was introduced). The law of charity, if practiced by all (especially Saul), could have stopped all the horrible things that happened. After all, just a bit of sacred bread was eaten -- no good reason for a whole city to be destroyed. Jesus was using the example of David to illustrate this principle when he taught:

Mark 2: 27-28
27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

*****

A deeper understanding of LDS doctrine is obtained by being literate in Judaism. LDSism is not Judaism. Even so, our religion has deep roots into Judaism. Consider the following quote:

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.1, ALTAR
The temple complex in Jerusalem had four different altars. In an ascending order of sacral primacy, they were as follows: First, the Altar of Sacrifice, often called the altar of burnt offering or the table of the Lord (Mal. 1:7, 12; 1 Cor. 10:21), was placed outside of the temple itself in the Court of Israel and was more public than the others. Sacrifices for the sins of Israel were offered here, anticipating fulfillment in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Heb. 9:25-26; Alma 34:9-10, 14-16). Second, the Altar of Incense stood in the "holy place" before the veil inside the temple proper. John describes the smoke of this altar as the "prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne" (Rev. 8:3-4). Third, within the same area of the temple stood the Table of Shewbread, upon which rested twelve loaves of bread, frankincense, and a drink offering. And fourth, the ark of the covenant rested in the holy of holies, the most inner, sacred area within the temple. The ark was to Israel the portable throne or Mercy Seat and symbolized the presence of the Lord. It was here that the high priest, once a year on the Day of Atonement (Heb. 9:7; Lev. 16:1-17), made covenants with the Lord for all Israel, as though he represented all at the altar.

It is a mistaken impression to assume that our modern temples are a copy of the temple of Solomon. While there are many similarities, there are also more dissimilarities. The quote above should give some feel for that.

Temples have had to adapt to the times. Yes, there are ancient roots, but remember we are a religion of revelation. Our religion changes and advances by its very nature.

[COMMENTS ARE MOST WELCOME!]

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

HE HAS COME TO LIFE AGAIN!

The primary truths of the gospel revolve around the physicality of Jesus. The baby Jesus was God incarnate. The man Jesus suffered a tortuous death as atonement for all sins. Finally, Jesus assumed a resurrected body, never again to be disposed. Despite the clear centrality of a physical Jesus, much of the educated world has argued that such a god would be anthrocentric, anthropomorphic, and worse – primitive.

Consequently, the LDS views are in the minority. Most Christian theologians think of god as “abstract, absolute, transcendent, imminent, … unknowable, without body, parts, or passions, and dwelling outside space and time” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Nov. 2007, Ensign, p. 40).

Yet, the message of the New Testament is simple: Jesus came back to life. Read the following:

Bible in Basic English: Matthew 28: 1-6, 16-20
1 Now late on the Sabbath, when the dawn of the first day of the week was near, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the place where his body was. 2 And there was a great earth-shock; for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, rolling back the stone, took his seat on it. 3 His form was shining like the light, and his clothing was white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the watchmen were shaking, and became as dead men. 5 And the angel said to the women, Have no fear: for I see that you are searching for Jesus, who was put to death on the cross. 6 He is not here, for he has come to life again… .

16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had given them orders to go. 17 And when they saw him they gave him worship: but some were in doubt. 18 And Jesus came to them and said, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go then, and make disciples of all the nations, giving them baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 20 Teaching them to keep all the rules which I have given you: and see, I am ever with you, even to the end of the world.

In the simple verses above we learn much:

1. It was two women, not men, who first learned of the resurrection.
2. Angels speak to people.
3. The 11 remaining Apostles had orders to follow after the death of Jesus.
4. These Apostles witnessed the resurrected Jesus as a physical personage.
5. Jesus declared his authority and then dispatched authorized Apostles.
6. The Apostles were to carry the gospel message to all nations.
7. The Apostles were to baptize. Ordinances were necessary.
8. The Apostles taught people to keep the commandments.
9. Jesus would be ever with us. Revelation would continue without end.

These verses beg questions, such as: Do angels still communicate with men and women? Are there modern Apostles who still carry the authorization of Jesus? Can one be baptized under this authorization? Is Jesus still with us in any meaningful way?

The answers to these questions require an understanding of the godly physicality of Jesus. I leave you with the following thoughts --

Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 42
…[W]e believe, as did the ancient prophets and apostles, in an embodied—but certainly glorified—God. To those who criticize this scripturally based belief, I ask at least rhetorically: If the idea of an embodied God is repugnant, why are the central doctrines and singularly most distinguishing characteristics of all Christianity the Incarnation, the Atonement, and the physical Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? If having a body is not only not needed but not desirable by Deity, why did the Redeemer of mankind redeem His body, redeeming it from the grasp of death and the grave, guaranteeing it would never again be separated from His spirit in time or eternity? Any who dismiss the concept of an embodied God dismiss both the mortal and the resurrected Christ. No one claiming to be a true Christian will want to do that.

Our earthly existence now is but a type and a shadow of things to come. The universe is NOT magic – it is physical. God the Father and Jesus both have substance, figuratively and literally.

In the context of the questions raised in this short essay, I invite you to watch or listen to the 178th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6, 2008. For details, click here. To obtain the proceedings of past General Conferences click here.

[HAVE A HAPPY AND MOST JOYOUS EASTER!]

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

“All Is Well”:

Appreciating LDS Pioneers and their Marching Anthem Across Iowa

We are just a few days into springtime (March 21, 2008), and we are recovering from the long Iowa winter here. The average daytime temperature for the past months has been about 20 degrees, plus a little or minus a lot. The wind chills have been torture. During this February and March my mind has often turned to the Mormon pioneers who made their way across my state in an exodus during the same months over 160 years ago. Then, as now, the winter in Iowa was cold and miserable.

The Latter-day Saints of February 1846 had been driven from their Nauvoo, Illinois homes due to persecution. The Saints left in waves across the Mississippi River into Iowa. Many could not leave Nauvoo right away because they were sick, pregnant, or in need of further supplies. Those in the vanguard worried about the remainder left behind, and they made as many arrangements as they could to retrieve the others in Nauvoo.

The pioneer diary materials of this period that I have been fortunate to read reveal a mix of emotions by the authors: depression, stoicism, determination, and optimism. I am struck by the latter emotion because it is the preponderant theme.

The special form of optimism of these pioneer saints was captured best by a hymn written by one of their own here in Iowa. The composer was William Clayton. The date was Wednesday, April 15th, 1846, and the place was Locust Creek, southwestern Wayne County, Iowa, which was 103 miles from Nauvoo, Illinois.

Clayton composed the lyrics when he heard word that his wife, Diantha, had given birth to a healthy boy (William Adriel Benoni Clayton) back in Nauvoo. This is what he wrote in his diary on Wednesday, April 15th:

This morning I composed a new song—‘All Is Well.’ I feel to thank my heavenly Father for my boy … his life and that of his mother. …

Note that the song was originally named “All Is Well,” but that later the title was changed. Also, I think it is significant that the song was written three days after Easter, which was on April 12th.

The song is obviously about the challenges being faced by the traveling pioneers, but there is also a second meaning. As you read the lyrics, think about the first Christians who had just lived through the first Easter:

“COME, COME, YE SAINTS” By William Clayton, 1846
(formerly titled: “All Is Well”)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy, wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
’Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
’Tis not so, all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward,
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take;
Our God will never us forsake,
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell,
All is well! All is well!

We’ll find the place which God for us prepared,
In His house full of light,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints will shine bright.
We’ll make the air with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we’ll tell,
All is well! All is well!

And should we die before our journey’s through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the saints their rest obtain,
O how we’ll make this chorus swell,
All is well! All is well!

A large part of Clayton’s source of inspiration came from an older Protestant hymn also named “All is Well.” Here are the words:

All is Well (Old Protestant English hymn)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
What’s this that steals, that steals upon my frame.
Is it death? Is it death?
That soon will quench, will quench this vital flame.
Is it death? Is it death?
If this be death, I soon shall be
From every pain and sorrow free.
I shall the King of Glory see.
All is well; all is well.

Weep not my friends, my friends weep not for me.
All is well; all is well.
My sins are pardoned, pardoned I am free.
All is well; all is well.
There is not a cloud that doth arise
To hide my Savior from my eyes.
I soon shall mount the upper skies.
All is well; all is well.

Tune, tune your harps, your harps ye Saints in glory.
All is well; all is well.
I will rehearse, rehearse the pleasing story.
All is well; all is well.
Bright angels are from glory come,
They’re round my bed; they’re in my room.
They wait to waft my spirit home.
All is well; all is well.

You can actually hear BOTH songs by going to an article by Howard Berkes posted on the National Public Radio website entitled Mormons Return to Nauvoo. The hymns can be heard by clicking on the buttons under the heading: “Hymns of the Nauvoo Refugees.”

Both hymns are very beautiful, and I listen to both often. However, the hymns have a difference in emphasis. Clayton’s hymn looks forward to building a better life in this world – improving the here and now. The second hymn, the older one, seems very resigned to this world and praises death as a release.

The lyric differences reflect alternate perspectives in theology and philosophy. The LDS philosophy is that there is WORK to be done here on this earth, since the way must be prepared for the return of Christ. In that context, death simply does not get the job done.

*****

When life’s trials meet you, recall the pioneer faith of those who sung, “All is well! All is Well!”

*****

If you would ever like to visit the many LDS Church history sites in Iowa, then I highly recommend the following: “National Historic Trails: Auto Tour Interpretive Route: The Mormon Trail Across Iowa in 1846,” produced by the National Trails System. It can be found on-line by clicking here.

The Iowa Mormon Trails Association website can be found here.

[COMMENTS ARE MOST WELCOME!]

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Where is Golgotha?

The New Testament says that Jesus was crucified at “the place of a skull… Golgotha” (e.g., John 19: 17). The word Golgotha comes from the Hebrew word “gulgoleth,” meaning skull (see Strong’s Hebrew #1538). The Gospel of John (19:41) is clear that the sepulcher of Jesus was at the same location. Where is this important Golgotha, the Calvary of the cross?

The map above is a modified version of Map 12 from the LDS Bible (1979). Site #1 on the map, as indicated, is one possible site for Golgotha. For reasons to be made clear, I have inserted the location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was not in the original map. (For the original unmodified Map 12 click here.

Any reader interested in the geography of early Christian sacred history is likely to become confused in his or her research. Most sacred sites are not well documented, and there is considerable disagreement on the proposed sites by scholars. For example, Galbraith, Ogden, & Skinner (1996) in their book, Jerusalem: the Eternal City (Salt Lake: Deseret Book) give a map (p. 164) with two possible locations for Golgotha, one that is "protestant/LDS" and the other that is "Catholic." Depending upon the author, some Jerusalem maps show only one site, excluding all mention of the other. Such authors are merely taking sides in the debate. Map-readers, like myself, should beware.

The suspected Golgotha site with the longest tradition is the Catholic one, where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre now stands. The Emperor Hadrian raised a Roman temple on this site in the 2nd century. Constantine destroyed that temple and in its stead put up a Christian edifice between 325-336 A.D. As the story goes, the local natives of the time had a tradition that the Roman temple location was THE burial site. So, Constantine declared it to be true. But, maybe Constantine was merely trying to replace a pagan monument with a Christian one. It is not clear to me why the Romans would call attention to a sacred Christian site by building a Roman temple on it. Nevertheless, the famous British archeologist, Martin Biddle, favors this site as legitimate.

The LDS Church clearly favors the alternate site -- the so-called “Gordon's Calvary.” Again, see Map 12 and Photo 13 in the LDS Bible (1979). The history behind this site is quite suspicious, even if it is correct. The British General Charles George Gordon noticed this second site in 1883. It was a mound or hill that looked like a skull, and thus Gordon literally dreamed that it was Calvary. It has attracted tourists ever since.

Galbraith, Ogden, & Skinner (1996) in their book Jerusalem: the Eternal City, do a nice job of reviewing some of the pros and cons of each proposed site. (See pages 177 to 183). They lean to the Gordon site, but also urge caution. John A. Tvedtnes, a LDS scholar in Hebrew, makes a strong argument for the Gordon site based in archeological evidence (see “The Garden Tomb,” Ensign, Apr. 1983, 8). He states,

As circumstantial as some of the evidence may be, one thing is certain about the Garden Tomb: It fits all the qualifications for the tomb in which Jesus was buried, from both the archaeological and the scriptural points of view."

In the end, choosing one site over the other based on scientific evidence amounts to not much more than an archeology of hope, since the real archeology from both sites does not quite reach to Jesus. But, the sites do make for fascinating study.

It is hard to extract much detail from the New Testament. The events of the life of Jesus require inference. For example, the scriptures do not exactly say that Jesus was nailed to the cross -- except indirectly. The resurrected Jesus showed the prints of the nails to his followers. The Catholic Church has filled in a lot of details with its own traditions. An example is found in the 14 stations of the cross depicted in most Catholic chapels. The sixth station depicts St. Veronica wiping the face of Jesus, as he carries the cross on his way to Golgotha. The towel becomes imprinted with a likeness of Jesus – a vera icon (hence, the name “Veronica”). The story has no scriptural basis, and the name of Veronica is never used in the Bible.

We imagine Jesus on the Via Dolorosa carrying his full cross. But, maybe he was carrying only the cross-beam. Maybe the other beam was already planted in the ground in preparation for His arrival. How much does wood weigh anyway? How heavy a cross could a beaten man, even Jesus, drag across town (despite being helped by Simon the Cyrene)?

While most religious people are not bothered by these little details, they consume me. Truth is in the details, or so says Sherlock Holmes.

While I am Christian (LDS), I do not, for one moment, believe that Christianity is free from made-up traditions. I do not see how it could be otherwise. For example, the New Testament is full of so many female characters named Mary that it is small wonder that traditions have developed to keep the “Marys” distinct. For example, many non-LDS Christians believe Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Nowhere in the scriptures is that stated. There are too many examples of extra-Biblical traditions to give here. Because of them, I must view religion with a filter, always sifting the wheat from the chaff.

Some describe "faith" as the state of being anxious to believe, “seeking things hoped for.” True faith, however, should not be a readiness to embrace falsehoods, especially ones dreamed-up by Emperors or British Generals with vivid imaginations. Where science can clarify, it should. Where it can't, our faith must be the guide.

Science cannot give direction to religion, but it can inform its history. However, in the case of identifying Golgotha and the sepulcher of Jesus, archeology appears to be at an impasse. In the end, only prophet leaders, like unto Moses or Isaiah, can inform faith with true inspiration. Fortunately, LDS Prophets have provided a firm clarity on this issue.

There is one indispensable article that should be given to every LDS tourist traveling the Holy Land. It is: Harold B. Lee, “I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked,” Ensign, April 1972. This is an account of President Lee's visit to Jerusalem while serving as First Counselor in the First Presidency. He stated:

[W]e prayed that the Lord would deafen our ears to what the guide said about historical places but would make us keenly sensitive to the spiritual feeling so that we would know by impression, rather than by hearing, where the sacred spots were.

Significantly, President Lee stated the following about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre:

We followed the way of the cross supposedly to the place of crucifixion and the place of the holy sepulcher. But all of this, according to tradition, we felt, was in the wrong place. We felt none of the spiritual significance that we had felt at other places….

President Lee continued:

There was yet another place we had to visit, the garden tomb. …
Something seemed to impress us as we stood there that this was the holiest place of all, and we fancied we could have witnessed the dramatic scene that took place there.

This last statement by President Lee pretty well establishes the Gordon site as the official LDS site. To reinforce his previous statements, President Lee said:

I came away from some of these experiences never to feel the same again about the mission of our Lord and Savior. I had impressed upon me, as I have never had it impressed before, what it means to be a special witness.

Gordon B. Hinckley traveled with President Lee on this trip to the Holy Land, and reaffirmed these spiritual experiences: “On that sacred occasion, when moonlight filtered through the leaves of the olive trees [at the Garden Tomb], he whom we sustained as prophet spoke in humble, quiet testimony. We felt something of heaven and I saw that night President Harold B. Lee as a man of true humility, with the faith of a child, standing in the stature of a prophet who bore witness of the living reality of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (cited in: Breck England, “Harold B. Lee: Master Teacher,” Ensign, Jan. 2002)

Years later, Russell M. Nelson (“Why This Holy Land?” Ensign, Dec. 1989) provided further confirmation of the accuracy of the Gordon site:

God the Father offered His son Jesus at Golgotha (or Calvary), a northern outcropping of Mount Moriah [the Gordon site], where Abraham had nearly sacrificed Isaac some two thousand years previously. Foreseen long before, there the Savior’s atoning sacrifice was completed.

Thus, Prophets have spoken, indeed, about sacred locations in Jerusalem. While in some figurative sense I still seek Calvary, I now understand why Map #12 in the LDS Bible shows only one location for Golgotha. The little dot on the map is a statement of firm LDS belief.

[COMMENTS ARE MOST WELCOME!]

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




Please feel free to give my blog site a "Blogged.com" rating and review by clicking here.

*****

Advice for LDS Combat Soldiers:

Being a Military Mormon in the Middle East Mess

If you have been reading this blog, then you may have run across my post entitled: Advice for about-to-be missionaries. My missionary son who received that advice returned home a year ago February. As fate would have it, a few months later, another son in the Army was deployed to the Middle East. As he was preparing to leave, I pulled up the missionary-advice file on my computer and I adapted it for my son in the Army before he left. My missionary advice was converted to military advice.

There is a huge disparity between what a father must say to a combat soldier versus what he must say to a LDS missionary. The difference is at times stark but completely necessary. Yet, in other areas the advice can be the same. This is what I came up with:

1. Jesus lived and died to illustrate that we could follow in his footsteps. Jesus did not promise that we could avoid hell on earth (such as war), but He did promise we could conquer hell if we would come unto Him. Jesus conquered both life and death. Therefore, do not fear either.

2. Study the scriptures. Learn them in the following approximate order: New Testament, Book of Mormon, D&C, PofGP, and Old Testament, giving priority to the first three.

3. Use wisdom and be safe. God requires (note the word "requires") that you use your brain and that you move about in wisdom and safety. This means keeping your wits about you, seeing clearly, being aware of the safety of your surroundings, and obeying the Army’s safety rules.

4. Listen to the still small voice. Using prayer is an art that is refined over a lifetime. God does not make decisions. You do. Take big decisions (and sometimes even small ones) to the Lord and seek confirmation of your decisions. God promises that you can be guided in all things. Pray as a wise man prays, not as a fool prays. The fool acts foolishly, but the wise man sees clearly. See D&C 9: 8.

5. Stay in communication with your commanders, officers, chaplains, and priesthood leaders. Let them know the good and the bad. Let them know how you are working through problems. Let them know your successes. Attend Church whenever you can.

6. Be a leader. This is advice you really don’t need. You have always been a leader. Inspire confidence. Console others when needed. Lead by the Spirit of God, not through blindness, but through study, preparedness, and revelation. See D&C 9: 8, again.

7. Adhere to the rules of engagement. Follow all moral orders without hesitation, and refuse to follow any immoral ones. In war, events are not clearly right or wrong. You must make decisions based upon your Army training and upon the Spirit. As a proud U.S. soldier, you are a defender and killer – NOT a murderer. Know the difference.

8. Preach the gospel, but also learn to respect the views of others. In fact, learn from others. Adhere to Article of Faith #11. Do service and live as Christ would live. Remember, Jesus was a radical: Judge not; don't remove the sliver from your friend's eye, when you got a timber in your own; the sabbath is made for man; the whole have no need for a physician, keep your thoughts clean, etc.

9. Respect females like they were goddesses. Develop love with your “significant other” by NEVER crossing boundaries that would keep you out of the Temple.

10. Stay away from depression. War is hell, and depression will only make your problems worse. So, find other ways to deal with problems. The answers are in the scriptures.

11. Set your mind on success. Defeat should not be part of your vocabulary. Your current deployment will show you what you can do if you set your mind to it. Apply lessons learned to the rest of your life.

12. Several young depressed soldiers are going to need your help. Be ready to provide spiritual counsel when the opportunities arise.

13. In 1926 boxing champ Jack Dempsey was beat soundly by underdog and former Marine Gene Tunney. When the battered loser finally saw his wife Estelle in the dressing room, Dempsey announced, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” While in combat, do NOT forget to duck.

14. The gospel of Christ understands that some things are worth fighting for. Our Church has been at various kinds of war since its inception. T.C.D. Howell, our first Mormon relative to be in the military, was part of the Mormon Battalion of 1846. Therefore, fight fiercely in the best traditions of the U.S. Army.

15. Learn to put your ultimate trust in the Lord (Prov. 3: 5-6).

16. "Ye receive no witness until after a trial of your faith." Ether 12: 6.

17. Even the Brother of Jared got cussed out by the Lord for 3 hours. Ether 2: 14.

18. Calm your mind by meditating about the Temple, its Celestial Room, and its prayers. Such meditation would be especially useful after battle or other stressful challenges in your life.

19. You are in the same tradition as the warrior Sons of Helaman, also known as the Sons of Ammon. They fought “as if with the strength of God” (Alma 56: 56). They were men of truth who kept the commandments (Alma 53: 21). They valued liberty more than their own lives, and their mothers taught them that God would deliver them (Alma 56: 47). Killing many enemy, they were “firm and undaunted” (Alma 57: 19-21). They put continual trust in God (Alma 57: 27). Earn their same blessings.

20. Live honorably. Your name will be continually put in the Temple.

21. Call and write Mom & Dad. We will not be the same until you return …

I am truly grateful for having a religion that teaches parents how to receive inspiration for their children in times of need. One does not come away from such an exercise with dry eyes.

As of this date, my Army son still serves in the Middle East, but he is preparing to return home soon.

[COMMENTS ARE MOST WELCOME!]

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Stations of the Cross:

Latter-day Saints love Catholics

The Easter season is a good time to contemplate the atonement, which brought about the three “R’s:” resurrection, redemption, and relief. A reader of a previous blog, Wayne Merkley, in an astute comment noticed that all three “Rs” were captured in the following verses from the Book of Mormon:

Alma 7:11-12 [brackets are mine]
11 And he [the Son of God] shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people [in other words – redemption].
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people [in other words – resurrection]; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities [in other words – relief].

Note how often the word “people” is used in the verses above. Who are the people of the Son of God, Jesus? The verses are speaking to everyone, not just the LDS. Jesus as Son of God provides resurrection, redemption, and relief for all.

The Book of Mormon is NOT a primitive 19th century work from a jejune frontier American mind. Rather, it is a sophisticated book of scripture with many allusions and complicated ideas. However, one must give it something better than a superficial reading to come to this realization.

*****Ecumenism and Tolerance*****

Again, in the context of this Easter season my mind has turned to thinking about my many friends who practice other versions of Christianity. We LDS share with all Christians a love and appreciation for Easter.

A fundamental LDS belief about other religions is found in a section of our scriptures called The Articles of Faith, which has 13 statements of firm belief. The eleventh statement relates to other religions, and it reads:

11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

The LDS practice behind this belief is integral to the point that the Church asks children around age twelve to memorize it and to retain it.

In the above context, an unfortunate story was released in the news this month. Some LDS missionaries allegedly vandalized a shrine at the Sangre de Cristo Catholic Church in San Luis, Colorado. See the news article: LDS Church apologizes to Catholics. Photos were produced showing the young missionaries holding the broken head of a religious statue, and preaching the Book of Mormon at a sacred altar. The actions of the missionaries described in the news articles were inexcusable. The LDS Church deeply apologized.

Some of my best friends in the world are faithful Catholics. Anyone who has deeply studied Catholicism should have no reason to denigrate it. Further, we LDS can and should learn from this religion, especially about spirituality.

In this context I provide what follows:

*****Never Give Up*****

A favorite movie of mine is about the success of Rudy, a Catholic college student with ambitions in football. Here is my favorite scene:

From the TriStar Movie “RUDY:”

Rudy sits broodingly in a pew of a Holy Cross College chapel. His goal is to transfer from Holy Cross to his dream school, Notre Dame University, in order to play on the famous football team, but he has been frustrated.

A Catholic priest sees Rudy and stops to counsel him.
The priest asks Rudy, “Taking your appeal to a higher court?”

Rudy replies, “I’m desperate. If I don’t get in next semester, it’s over. I’m done. Notre Dame doesn’t accept senior transfers.”

“Well, you’ve done a great job, kid, chasing down your dreams.”

“I don’t care. If it doesn’t produce results, it doesn’t mean anything.”

The priest countered, “I think you’ll discover that it will.”

“Maybe I haven’t prayed enough,” Rudy replies.

“I’m sure that’s not the problem. Praying is something we do in our time. The answers come in God’s time.”

“Have I done everything I possibly can? Can you help me?” Rudy asks.

The priest smiles and then kindly says, “Son, in 35 years of religious studies, I’ve come up with only two hard, incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and I’m not Him.”

True story, Rudy did get to Notre Dame and did get on their football team, even though he was a long-shot.

*****Stations of the Cross*****

Every educated person should know a little about the Catholic “Stations of the Cross.” Early in the history of the Catholic Church it was believed that if a person could make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and visit the major scenes of Christ’s sufferings and death (known as the “passion”), then that person would receive an indulgence of sin. These fourteen scenes of the passion were collectively known as the Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross. According to Catholic tradition, the road Jesus took during these events is known as the Via Dolorosa or Via Crucis.

Since most Catholics cannot travel to Jerusalem, now days almost every Catholic Church depicts the stations within the church building. Each station is at a separate location, and is depicted by some work of art or plaque. Adherents move from location to location saying special prayers until all fourteen stations have been visited.

The stations are:

1. Jesus is condemned to death (Jn 19:13-16; Lk 23:20-24; Mt 27:22-26).
2. Jesus is required to carry the cross (Jn 19:17).
3. Jesus falls (extra-biblical tradition)
4. Jesus meets his sorrowful mother, Mary (tradition, but see Jn 19:25-26).
5. Simon of Cyrene assists Jesus to carry the cross (Mt 27:32; Lk 23:26; Mk 15:21)
6. St. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus (tradition; an image or icon of Jesus appears on the towel; her name, Veronica, stems from “vera icon,” meaning accurate image).
7. Jesus falls a second time (tradition)
8. Women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus (Lk 23:28)
9. Jesus falls a third time (tradition).
10. Jesus is stripped of his garments (Lk 23:34; Jn 19:23)
11. Jesus is nailed to the cross (tradition and indirectly by Jn 20:25-27). Note: the gospels’ description of the crucifixion do not discuss nails.
12. The cross is raised and Jesus dies (Mt 27:50; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53; Jn 19:38)
13. The body of Jesus is removed from the cross (Mt 27:58; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53; Jn 19:38).
14. Jesus is laid in a sepulcher (Mt 27:60; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53; Jn 19:42).

Note that the passion of Christ does not include the resurrection because the passion refers to his suffering. Also, note that the passion does not include the suffering of Jesus in the Garden. Only the LDS view the Garden suffering as an essential part of the atonement process.

LDS missionaries must respect others’ religious beliefs and practices. One should never make fun of them, and certainly one should never desecrate another’s holy sites.

One interesting aspect of the list of stations above is the clear mixture of scriptural information with extra-biblical tradition. This is a good representation of what happened to early Christianity as a whole. Many different practices and beliefs were mixed with scriptural based beliefs. We LDS dispute only a few details and the sequencing of priesthood authority. We respect Catholic traditions and find much good in them, even if there are differences in our practices.

Keep in mind that the LDS, like Catholics, also have extra-biblical traditions. We LDS preach all the time that the restoration is not possible with the Bible alone. Other scripture and modern prophets are essential. Once one is well grounded in LDS doctrine, it is important to have a reasonable understanding of Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Judaism. From these religions we can get a better picture of how modern Christianity evolved from the primitive Christianity of the original Apostles.

*****The Good News*****

The good news for ALL, whether delinquent missionaries or a disenchanted Rudy, is the reality of the resurrection, which figuratively and literally elevates everyone.

The Douay-Rheims Bible: Matthew 28:1-6
1 And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. 2 And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and coming rolled back the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his countenance was as lightning and his raiment as snow. 4 And for fear of him, the guards were struck with terror and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answering, said to the women: Fear not you: for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 “He is not here, for he has risen … .

Without question or any dispute, the LDS and the Catholics agree on this central event of world history, to which all Christians pay respect on Easter.

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Book of Mormon & Isaiah :

Was the "View of the Hebrews" used as a Source?

Preface: I may lose a few readers with this particular blog-essay. The essay is complicated and a bit technical, because sometimes I like to turn my gospel studies into a scientific project. If you cannot muster through this essay, still feel free to chastise me by making a comment something like: “Science should not try to inform religion.” I promise that my return comment would be gentile.

*****

Ethan Smith’s book View of the Hebrews (1823, 1825 2nd edition, Poultney, Vermont; henceforth abbreviated “View”) is sometimes cited as a source that could have inspired Joseph Smith to author the Book of Mormon. Indeed, both books claim a Hebraic influence on the American Indian. However, beyond that point, the similarities between the two books are superficial at best. Nonetheless, the apparent similarities provoked B.H. Roberts to produce a systematic comparison between the two books. This analysis now titled Studies of the Book of Mormon (1992, Signature Books) notes that "Ethan Smith's "View" quotes copiously and chiefly from Isaiah in relation to the scattering and gathering of Israel." B.H. Roberts then raised the query (p. 335): "Did the Author of the Book of Mormon follow too closely the course of Ethan Smith in this use of Isaiah…[?]"

A number of antagonistic sources have concluded that Joseph Smith was not an astute theologian, and therefore relied on or borrowed from Ethan Smith’s use of Isaiah. To determine the accuracy of this claim, Spencer Palmer and William Knecht ("View of the Hebrews: Substitute for Inspiration?'' BYU Studies, 5(2), 105-113, 1964) compared the number of overlapping chapters in Isaiah used by both the Book of Mormon and the View of the Hebrews. The rationale was that if Joseph Smith plagiarized from Ethan Smith, then there should be a non-random overlap in the usage of Isaiah between "View" and the Book of Mormon.

The study presented in this essay was my attempt to replicate and partially extend Palmer and Knecht (1964). My findings and conclusions were very similar.

*****

A comparison of scriptural usage in "View" and the Book of Mormon is complicated by the fact that the Book of Mormon often quotes entire chapters of Isaiah, whereas Ethan Smith usually limited his citations to one or two verses per quotation. I therefore constrained my tabulations to chapters of Isaiah that were cited in either book without respect to the particular verses used (see Footnotes #1, 2, and 3). I also did a similar comparison of the Book of Mormon with the New Testament’s use of Isaiah (see Footnote #4).

It is important to indicate that my methods of counting the chapter overlap differed slightly from Palmer and Knecht’s methods. For example, they equated 2 Nephi 7:2 with Isaiah 65:12 and 66:4, but I considered the correspondence trivial. Also, they found correspondences with Isaiah 60, the Book of Mormon, and “Views,” which I rejected. Given these caveats, my results were as follows:

Comparison of the 1823 edition of "View" with the Book of Mormon: The actual chapters of Isaiah cited in these two books are given in Footnotes #1 and #2. This edition of "View" cited 30% of Isaiah (20 chapters) and the Book of Mormon cited 33% or 22 chapters. (Note: Isaiah has 66 chapters). Statistically speaking, assuming randomness, the expected overlap in shared citations would be about 6.67 chapters (computed as (20 * 22) / 66). Actually, 6 chapters of Isaiah were cited in common to both books. In effect, we are asking is the observed overlap of 6 chapters to 22 cited Isaiah chapters (6 / 22) in the Book of Mormon statistically equal to the proportion of Isaiah chapters cited in Views (20 / 66). The test of Chi-square (1 d.f.) was not statistically significant, meaning the proportions were equal within expected random variation.

Comparison of the 1825 edition of "View" with the Book of Mormon: The actual chapters of Isaiah cited in these two books are given in Footnotes #1 and #3. This edition of "View" cited 38% of Isaiah (25 chapters) and again the Book of Mormon cited 33% or 22 chapters. Statistically speaking, assuming randomness, the expected overlap in shared citations would be about 8.3 chapters (computed as (25 * 22) / 66). Actually, nine chapters of Isaiah were cited in common to both books (Chi-square [1 d.f.], not statistically significant).

Conclusion: There is no statistical evidence that the Book of Mormon excessively borrowed from "View" in its usage of Isaiah. Overlap in the usage of Isaiah between the two books appears to be the product of pure chance.

In fact, other lines of evidence suggest the same conclusion. For example, "View" devotes a whole chapter to an analysis of Isaiah 18. Ethan Smith says chapter 18 "is clearly an address to some people of these last days; and concerning events intimately connected with the battle of that great day of God, which is now future and not far distant, and is to introduce the Millennium" (1823 edition, p. 132). Such a theme would have had clear interest to Joseph Smith, and yet, the Book of Mormon never cites Isaiah 18. By contrast, Isaiah 29 played an integral role in the Book of Mormon, but was never cited in "Views."

Is it possible that Joseph Smith relied on the New Testament’s usage of Isaiah to make decisions about what portions of Isaiah to use in the Book of Mormon? The New Testament cited 50% of Isaiah (33 chapters) and again the Book of Mormon cited 33% or 22 chapters. Statistically speaking, assuming randomness, the expected overlap in shared citations would be about 11.0 chapters (computed as (33 * 22) / 66). Actually, twelve chapters of Isaiah were cited in common to both books (Chi-square [1 d.f.], not statistically significant).

Much additional evidence could be marshaled, but the conclusions would remain the same. It is clear the Book of Mormon relied on Isaiah, but all other connections with "Views" are superficial, coincidental, and unconvincing. Moreover, it would appear that the Book of Mormon usage of Isaiah was statistically independent of the New Testament.

This study is not designed to identify how the editors of the Book of Mormon chose their Isaiah passages. However, these findings can suggest that the editors were not influenced by either “View of the Hebrews” or the New Testament. In my opinion, the choices were based on actual content, suggesting a strong familiarity, if not a scholarly familiarity, with the Isaiah of the Old Testament.

*****

Footnote #1: Book of Mormon cites Isaiah chapters 2-14, 29, 48-49, 50-51, 52, 53, 54, and 55 (actually, just one verse is used from this chapter; see 2Ne. 26:25). A few briefly paraphrased passages of Isaiah (as listed in the Book of Mormon Reference Companion, 2003, Deseret Book, p. 344) were not included in the count, but do not alter the conclusions when analyzed.

Footnote #2: The 1823 edition of View of the Hebrews cites the following chapters of Isaiah: 3, 6, 11, 18, 26, 28, 35, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 49, 51, 54, 56. 59, 60, 63, and 66.

Footnote #3: The 1825 edition of View of the Hebrews cites the following chapters of Isaiah: 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 18, 24, 26, 28, 35, 36, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 49, 51, 54, 56, 60, 63, 65, and 66.

Footnote #4: The New Testament cites or closely paraphrases passages from the following chapters of Isaiah: 1, 6-11, 21, 22, 25, 28, 29, 34, 35, 40-43, 45, 49, 52-57, 59, 60, 61, and 63-66.

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Restoration with Trumpets

Introduction: Toward the beginning of his ministry, on a Sabbath day, Jesus stood up in a synagogue in Nazareth and announced his authority. He read these words (taken from Isaiah 61:1-2):

Luke 4: 18-19
18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And then Jesus said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4: 21). Jesus declared himself to be the “anointed,” with authority to preach and heal in a manner acceptable to God.

Matthew 7: 29 says, “For he taught them as [one] having authority, and not as the scribes.”

Shortly later, Jesus established the pattern of his Church:

Mark 3: 14-15
14 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,
15 And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

Much later, Jesus said to his Apostles:

Mark 16:15
15 … Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Jesus brought a new covenant. He ordained Twelve Apostles to organize the Church. There were clear lines of authority with Peter, James, and John taking the primary roles of leadership after the death of Jesus.

The Church endured with Apostolic control for a few decades. Even during those years the epistles of the Apostles expressed great concern that the purities of the gospel were being polluted.

It would appear that the Twelve were systematically stalked and murdered. (See the first essay in this blog series: Apostasy from Apostolic Authority). Attempts were made to replace Apostles after their deaths, but deaths came frequent. There was a falling away of legal authority, which necessitated a restitution.

The Trumpets Sound

The claim of the Latter-days Saints is that the full priesthood of God has been restored to this earth in these times. I cannot review all the events that led to this restoration. I would simply encourage you to read the following:

Joseph Smith-History 1:66-73 (on p. 57-58 of the Pearl of Great Price, 1981 Ed.) recounts the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood by the resurrected John the Baptist, and the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood by Peter, James, & John in 1829.

Finally, I recommend Doctrine & Convenants 110 (p. 228, 1981 Ed.), which recounts the return of Elijah in fulfillment of ancient prophecy as well as other great prophets on Easter Sunday April 3, 1836. Elijah restored the priesthood keys associated with the temple ceremonies.

What is the evidence that these claims are realities? The most tangible evidence is the Book of Mormon itself and the circumstances by which it came forth.

The Book of Mormon was derived from golden plates (an actual ancient medium for archival records) delivered by the angel Moroni to Joseph Smith on September 22, 1827. Few Latter-day Saints appreciate that those golden plates were brought forth on the day of the ancient Jewish celebration called the Festival of Trumpets. On that day the trumpets (shofars) were sounded to represent a call to repentance and to prepare for God’s judgment. The trump or shofar represented a prayer to God to remember his exiled peoples. This fact gives added meaning to the widely cited Alma 29: 1, “O that I were an angel… that I might … speak with the trump of God… and cry repentance unto every people!” This festival initiated with trumpets marked a period of 10 days of penitence, the so-called “Days of Awe.”

On the day Joseph Smith retrieved the plates there were trumpets or shofars literally sounding across the earth, as if to announce and celebrate the event, as if to announce new revelation, a return to new law, and a time for Israel to prepare for judgment (Lenet Hadley Read [1993]. “Joseph Smith’s receipt of the plates and the Israelite Feast of Trumpets,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 2, 110-120). The trumpets of this feast also figuratively signaled the gathering of Israel. (Of course, I am NOT suggesting the Jewish people were aware of this at the time, or that they would agree with my interpretation). This new era of restoration set the stage for the following:

Isaiah 27:12-13
12 ¶ … and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Many individuals recognize the statue of the golden angel Moroni on top of LDS temples. Most do not understand why he blows a horn. Moroni blows a horn to signal to the House of Israel to prepare to repent, gather, and learn the full gospel. Further, the sound of the horn is a signal to ALL people. "The voice of the Lord is unto the ends of the earth, that all that will hear may hear" (Doctrine & Covenants 1:11)

The Calling of Joseph Smith

A basic question might be: Why was the burden of the restoration placed upon Joseph Smith, who was an unschooled frontiersman? Why would God give such a person this immense responsibility?

I CANNOT readily answer why God chooses whom he chooses. God chose Moses who was raised under a Pharaoh (Exodus 2:10), murdered an Egyptian (Exodus 2:12), and who was slow of speech (Exodus 4:10). God called Jonah to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh, but instead he fled in the opposite direction to Tarshish (Jonah 1:2-3). God called Saul who later became Paul, who severely persecuted Christians (Acts 9:4). By these standards Joseph Smith seems rather tame, but I will never claim he was an obvious choice.

He was born in December of 1805, founded the Church in April of 1830, and then died in June of 1844 at the age of 39. This meant that Joseph had about 14-15 years to accomplish the following:

1) produce, publish, and distribute the Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Book of Moses, Book of Abraham, & History of the Church.
2) convince thousands to join the church;
3) found and design the cities of Far West and Nauvoo;
4) build major temples at Kirkland and Nauvoo;
5) give major sermons every week, if not several times per week;
6) hold the church together after multiple major relocations, economic depression, and extensive persecution;
7) be mayor of Nauvoo & head the Nauvoo Legion;
8) organize & contribute to Church newspapers;
9) introduce the temple endowment and related rituals;
10) write a new prophetic translation of the Bible;
11) preside over & organize the church;
12) and run a general store in Nauvoo.

This list could be extended, but the point has been made. There was much to be accomplished in very little time. This amount of accomplishment required a special kind of personality. Joseph Smith was gregarious, intensely spiritual, ambitious, unconcerned about riches, a little imposing, intellectually sharp, grandiloquent (great speaker), charismatic, somewhat manipulative, and had an unusual grasp of theology. (For an excellent and balanced biography, see: Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, New York: Knopf, 2005).

Why did God choose such a character to work with? The simple answer is that he could get the job done.

CONCLUSION: Sound the shofars, the restoration has begun.

[Feel free to respond. I would love reactions – positive or negative.]

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Racism Has No Place

Racial prejudice is one of the truly significant sins, and there are very few unrighteous acts that I would rank above it on the scale of immorality. Racial prejudice directly violates the second great commandment: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt. 22:39).

I do NOT believe any race is superior to others. I do NOT believe that people “of color” were inferior in the preexistence!!!! These stances of mine fit Mormon theology.

Racism is pure nonsense and should have NO place in any truly Christian society.

*****Moral Principles*****

What are the fundamental LDS moral principles about race? They are clearly read in the Book of Mormon. Considering the following:

2 Nephi 26:33
33 … he [the Lord God] inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.

Jacob 3:9
9 Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remember your own filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers.

3 Nephi 18:22
22 And behold, ye shall meet together oft; and ye shall not forbid any man from coming unto you when ye shall meet together, but suffer them that they may come unto you and forbid them not;

Nephi 17:35
35 Behold, the Lord esteemeth all flesh in one. …

These passages are very strong anti-racist statements. This is the morality LDS people seek.

*****Modern Prophets*****

What do modern prophets have to say on the topic of racism in the Church? Here are just two quotes:

Gordon B. Hinckley, Priesthood Session, Saturday, April 1, 2006
I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. … How can any man holding the Melchizedek Priesthood arrogantly assume that he is eligible for the priesthood whereas another who lives a righteous life but whose skin is of a different color, is ineligible?

The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. E. L. Kimball. Salt Lake City, 1982, pp. 236-37.
We do wish that there would be no racial prejudice. . . . Racial prejudice is of the devil. . . . There is no place for it in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All people of any colored skin are children of God. They should be treated as such. There is no room for bigotry in the Church.

*****A Symbol of Purity*****

Newcomers to the Book of Mormon sometimes do not realize that the term “white” is often used synonymously with the concept of moral purity. This symbol of purity has nothing to do with race. Again, consider the following:

Alma 13:12 [emphasis mine]
12 Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God.

Alma 32:42 [cf. 1 Ne. 8:11 and Nag Hammadi codices II.5 and XIII.2] [emphasis mine]
42 And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience … ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, … which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

Mormon 9:6 [emphasis mine]
6 O then ye unbelieving, turn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day.

In other locations the context makes it clear that “white” is just a symbol. For example,

1 Nephi 12:10 [emphasis mine]
10 And these twelve ministers whom thou beholdest shall judge thy seed. And, behold, they are righteous forever; for because of their faith in the Lamb of God their garments are made white in his blood.

We need to understand that much language in the Book of Mormon is figurative, symbolic, and metaphorical. (Besides, Issac Newton demonstrated in his book “Opticks” (1704) that white light consisted of all the colors of the rainbow). If one reads the Book of Mormon and concludes that certain races are inferior, then such a reader has come away with the wrong message.

*****Some Early Mormon Views*****

In the early 19th century the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith recognized that blacks had the same capacity as whites, even if not the same circumstance:

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Five 1842-43 p.269
Elder Hyde inquired the situation of the negro. I replied, they came into the world slaves, mentally and physically. Change their situation with the whites, and they would be like them. They have souls, and are subjects of salvation. …
Had I anything to do with the negro, I would … put them on a national equalization.

One of my favorite quotes from John Taylor, the 3rd President of the Church, is the following:

John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom, p.63
ALL ARE GOD'S CHILDREN. -- How does God feel towards the human family? He feels that they are his children. What, all? Yes, the white, the black, the red, the Jew, the gentile, the heathen, the Christian, and all classes and grades of men. He feels interested in all. He has done so from the beginning and will continue to do so to the end. He will do all that lies in his power for the benefit, blessing, and exaltation of the human family, both in time and eternity, consonant with those laws and those eternal principals that I have referred to, from which he himself cannot deviate. -- JD, 21:16, February 8, 1880.

Is it possible to find prejudicial statements by LDS individuals in the 19th century that were racially insensitive? Yes. I think such prejudice was in the minority. Regardless, it was wrong.

No one should feel inferior in this Church because of skin color, social status, country of origin, previous religion, etc. We need to counter racial prejudice.

*****A Modern Perspective*****

One of the doctrines of restoration brought forth by the Latter-day Saints is that God loves all people and speaks to designated individuals in many different lands. In effect, that was a prime message in the following talk:

Dallin Oaks, Conference Session, Sunday, April 2, 2006
The Lord will eventually cause the inspired teachings he has given to his children in various nations to be brought forth for the benefit of all people. This will include accounts of the visit of the resurrected Lord to what we call the Lost Tribes of Israel, and his revelations to all the seed of Abraham.

There are inspired writings all over the world. Some are just waiting to be re-discovered.

The moral lesson is that God talks to all of us, regardless of skin color. We are made in his image, regardless of skin color. Jesus would have had a very dark skin. We should not forget these things.

*****The Tree of Life*****

The tree of life is a key symbol for diversity and brotherhood. The Bible alludes to the tree of life but gives us only a little description:

Proverbs 3:13, 18
13 ¶ Happy [is] the man [that] findeth wisdom, and the man [that] getteth understanding. …
18 She [is] a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy [is every one] that retaineth her.

In Lehi’s vision of the tree of life there is a most interesting description of the fruit:

1 Nephi 8:11
11 And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen.

The description of the fruit is almost identical to that found in the Nag Hammadi Papers (discovered in Egypt in 1945), ancient manuscripts much like the Dead Sea Scrolls:

Nag Hammadi Papers: codices II.5 and XIII.2
The color of the tree of life is like the sun… . Its fruit is like a bunch of white grapes.

Once again, the Book of Mormon corresponds with ancient manuscripts, but this is not my point. A few pages later, the Book of Mormon explains what the tree of life symbolizes:

1 Nephi 11:21 – 23 [emphasis mine]
21 And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?
22 And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.
23 And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.

The tree and the fruit is the love of God for ALL of his children. Alma, then, alluded to the tree of life story when he said (as previously cited):

Alma 32:42 [emphasis mine]
42 … ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, … which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

God’s love for us is pure. So must our love be for him. So must our love be for ALL of God’s children. A pure love of God is expressed only when one lacks racial prejudice.

CONCLUSION: People of any color are welcome and needed in the LDS Church. There is no such thing as an inferior people, because ALL are children of God. Enter the doors and feel welcome -- any and all.

*****
[For an honest documentary on the history of African American's in the LDS Church, see: Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons].

[Please promote this blog. Feel free to email to others by clicking on the envelope below. Also, I would enjoy reading any comments.]

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

The Worth of Sacrifice

Imagine getting wounded in World War II. You would have been brought back to a field or evacuation hospital. The recovery rate was so good that one soldier was quoted as saying: “We were convinced the Army had a regulation against dying in an aid station.”

You would wake up groggy because a field medic would have injected you with morphine. The first sight you might see would be an American nurse from the Army Nurse Corps. She would be wearing fatigues, and be very busy, nearly to the point of complete exhaustion. But, as an American girl she would have a smile that would be better than morphine.

One nurse was quoted as saying:

We have learned about our American soldier and the stuff he is made of. The wounded don’t cry. Their buddies come first. The patience and determination they show, the courage and fortitude they have is sometimes awesome to behold. It is a privilege to receive you and a great distinction to see you open your eyes and with that swell American grin, say, “Hi-ya, babe.”

Seventeen Army nurses were killed in combat during WWII. Was their sacrifice worth it? Of course, yes. Was their sacrifice any less important than a combat soldier's? Of course, no.

*****

A primary question of life regards its value. Why do we have to live under such challenging circumstances? Is it all for naught?

The Old Testament says (Psalms 82: 6-7): “I have said, “Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” [Emphasis mine].

In the New Testament (John 10: 34-36): Jesus was approached by some Jews who accused him of blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God.

Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law [the Psalms], "I said, Ye are gods?" If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him, whom the Father hath… sent into the world, ‘Thou blasphemest;’ because I said "I am the Son of God?"

Jesus defended his claims by quoting Psalms 82. In effect, he was saying, "I can claim to be the Son of God because the scriptures say that EVEN you are gods!"

A Simile: Rising through the challenges of life is like rising through the ranks in the military. In life we are born as Privates; as parents and professors we become Sergeants; as police chiefs and mayors we become Captains, and so on. The final rank, such as with 5-Star General or Commander-in-Chief, we become like our Father and Mother in Heaven.

Joseph Smith preached,

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345
God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. …[I]f you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form – like yourselves…. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did.

Mormonism, almost like some modern science fantasy, paints a vision of worlds without end – civilizations without end. The good life is really the "God Life" -- "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). (See: Theosis). We were born with the seeds of both good and evil, and either tendency can grow within us. The message of the Church is that evil need NOT prosper. The sacrifice is worth it.

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Advice for "about-to-be" missionaries

The following is a list of 21 items of advice I gave to my son who was about to be called as a LDS missionary three years ago. I am happy to say he served a successful mission, and is now going to college.

*****

1. You will be no more "perfect" on a mission than you are now. Be just happy that you are improving. If you are a better person when leaving a mission than when you entered, then you accomplished something significant.

2. Study the scriptures. Give priority to the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine & Covenants.

3. Use wisdom and be safe. God requires (note the word "requires") that you use your brain and that you move about in wisdom and safety. This means driving cars safely, working in areas that are safe, keeping your wits about you, being aware of the safety of your surroundings, and realizing that Americans are hated throughout many parts of the world.

4. Listen to the still small voice. Using prayer is an art that is refined over a lifetime. God does not make decisions. You do. Take big decisions (and sometimes even small ones) to the Lord and seek confirmation for your decisions. God promises that you can be guided in all things. Pray as a wise man prays, not as a fool prays. The fool acts foolishly, but the wise man sees clearly.

5. Stay in communication with your Mission President. This means every week. Let him know the good and the bad. Let him know how you are working through problems. Let him know your successes.

6. Be a leader -- you must be, because most missionaries are 19 year olds with 19 year old mentalities. To be a successful 19 year old missionary, you must act 30 years old. This is a key to success.

7. Keep the mission rules (in the white book). No movies. No girls. Keep the schedule, but don't go overboard. Tracting at night makes no sense. Find other things to do.

8. Tracting is a waste of time. Be creative and find other ways to use time. Approach people who are moving about, working in gardens, mowing lawns, and walking in the streets. Ask people for drinks of water (if the water is clean). Do service and live as Christ would live. Remember, Jesus was a radical: Judge not; don't remove the sliver from your friend's eye, when you got a timber in your own; the sabbath is made for man; the whole have no need for a physician, keep your thoughts clean, etc.

9. Learn to love the people with whom you work. Enos went through a 3-step conversion process: He was concerned about himself ("soul hungered"); then he was concerned about his friends, the Nephites, and finally he became concerned about his enemies, the Lamanites.

10. Stay away from depression. Missions are hard. They are not vacations. They are full of problems. Depression is a waste of time. So, find other ways to deal with your problems.

11. Be prepared for significant challenges as a missionary. If you can survive a mission, then the rest of your life will be easy. One purpose of a mission is to show young men what they can do if they set their minds to it.

12. Some young depressed missionary is going to need your help. Be ready.

13. You will learn that Church members are not perfect. But, just remember, that Jesus lived the same experience. The Jewish scribes and pharisees were always attacking him and trying to trip him up. Jesus would say, "Know ye not the scriptures?" The scriptures are the standard. If some church member does not live the standard, then that is his problem, not yours.

14. The scriptures teach spirituality and morality, not science. Solomon's molten sea (baptismal font) was described as 10 cubits in diameter and 30 cubits in circumference (1 Kings 7:23; 2 Chron. 4:2). This would mean that "Pi" is 3.0 rather than 3.1416 according to the Old Testament. If the diameter was 10 then the circumference would have to be 31.416. Circumference is Pi times the diameter. Don't read the scriptures to learn anything about science.

15. Scientific skeptism should be a method for pursuing knowledge, not a belief-system. Trust in the Lord (Prov. 3: 5-6).

16. Remember: "Ye receive no witness until after a trial of your faith." Ether 12: 6.

17. Remember: Even the Brother of Jared got cussed out by the Lord for 3 hours. Ether 2:14.

18. Leaders are not perfect. Mormon 9:31.

19. The "Great & Abominable Church" is a state of mind and behavior, not a particular religion. All religions are good; many are very, very good indeed. Missionaries are called to build the "New Jerusalem." Perhaps others are supposed to stay in the "Old Jerusalem." Always respect others' beliefs. Mormonism adds to truths more than it corrects falsehoods.

20. Do nothing that you will be ashamed of later in life. Live honorably on a mission. Live such that your companions will say you were one of the finest missionaries they ever met.

21. Write Mom & Dad. We will not be the same until you return.

*****

I would like to believe that I helped make my son's mission become a success. The reality is that he carved out his own. If his parent's had an influence, then it was from years before. These twenty-one admonishments, given a few weeks before getting his missionary call from Salt Lake, are really not much more than an extended way of saying: "I love you; good luck." Oh, well, the exercise did let off a little of my anxiety. Actually, the greatest relief came when he posted the advice on his mirror for two years.

CONCLUSION: Be extra nice to the Mormon missionaries when they knock on your door. They have parents back home (across many states or continents) who truly love them and who worry about them. Rather than slamming the door in their faces, remember the words of the Savior (Matt. 25:40): "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

[PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BECAUSE I WOULD BE REWARDED TO HEAR FROM YOU!!]

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

The Lord's Heavenly Protection

The following is from a letter I wrote for my Army son who was sent to the Middle East at the edge of conflict. Even so, the religious principles apply to all.

*****

Although Jesus is the “Prince of Peace,” he knew that his teachings of peace would cause divisions among men. He expressed it this way:

Matthew 10:34
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Jesus knew that some of his disciples would be involved in war, and he knew that ALL of his disciples would be persecuted for their religious beliefs. Therefore, in the same sermon Jesus taught:

Matthew 10: 22
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Matthew 10: 28
28 … fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.

In the passage above, Jesus was saying in effect, “Respect God, not men.” Further, in the same sermon Jesus said:

New American Standard Bible: Luke 12: 6-7
6 "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.
7 "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Is God aware of your situation? He knows every hair on your head. Not a sparrow will fall without his knowledge. If God values the sparrow, how much more will he value you?

A very important passage in the Doctrine & Covenants summarizes all of the teachings given above:

D&C 101: 36-38
36 Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full.
37 Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body; but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul.
38 And seek the face of the Lord always, that in patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eternal life.

Seeing the face of God is a goal. This concept will be discussed further below. But, the point is now that this VERY life has purpose and that purpose does NOT stop with death. We are always striving to come into contact with God, whether in this life or the next.

Life on this earth is extremely valuable. We came to this earth to gain a body, and it is important to gain as much physical experience as possible. Therefore, God will go to extremes to preserve us.

In these latter-days, we will be involved in many wars and rumors of wars. Heavenly protection is available to us even in war.

Probably the most powerful scriptural promise of heavenly protection is found in the 91st Psalm. I have altered a few words for clarity, but have not changed a single item of meaning.

New Revised Standard Version: Psalm 91
[Underlined words are substitutions taken from other respected translations. Meaning has been preserved.]
1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, 

2 will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress;
 my God, in whom I trust.’ 

3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter 
and from the deadly pestilence; 

4 he will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and an armor. 

5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
or the arrow that flies by day, 

6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but harm will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge, 
the Most High your dwelling-place, 

10 no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you 
to guard you in all your ways. 

12 On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. 

13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra,
 the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14 Those who love me, I will deliver;
 I will protect those who know my name. 

15 When they call to me, I will answer them;
 I will be with them in trouble,
 I will rescue them and honour them. 

16 With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.

Psalm 91 is worth memorizing, and worth reciting in a Church meeting someday. Obviously, some righteous soldiers die in war, but eventually “good” always wins over “evil.” God ensures that this is the case, but in his own time.

The Bible’s overall tone is one of optimism. Yes, it has its sour notes. For example, Psalms 30 states: “weeping may endure for a night,” but then it responds: “joy cometh in the morning” (Psalms 30:5). No matter how bad things get, joy is just around the corner.

Despite the troubles around us, our purpose is to live in such a way that we can return to God and see his face. This is normally done in the next life, but it can be done in this life. Temple ordinances are the essential ingredients that take us toward that goal. Read the following closely:

Psalms 27: 4-8
4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

Elder McConkie elaborates:

Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p.579 - p.584
A perfectly stated and marvelously comprehensive formula that shows us what we must do to see the Lord is given us in these words: "Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am." (D&C 93:1.) Who made the promise? The Lord Jesus Christ. To whom is it given? To every living soul. What must we do to see his face? Five specifics are named: (1) Forsake our sins, for no unclean or impure person, no sinful man, can abide in his presence. (2) Come unto him; accept him as our Savior; receive his gospel, as it has been restored in our day. (3) Call on his name in mighty prayer as did the brother of Jared. (4) Obey his voice; do what he directs; put first in our lives the things of his kingdom; close our ears to the evil voices of the world. (5) Keep the commandments; endure in righteousness; be true to the faith. Those who do these things, being pure in heart, shall see God. …

Then follows some counsel relative to right living, which is climaxed with these words, the full import of which is known only by those who are endowed with power from on high in holy places: "Sanctify yourselves; yea, purify your hearts, and cleanse your hands and your feet before me, that I may make you clean; That I may testify unto your Father, and your God, and my God, that you are clean from the blood of this wicked generation." Why? "That I may fulfil this promise, this great and last promise," this promise that you shall see me and that I will unveil my face, that I may fulfill this promise "which I have made unto you, when I will." (D&C 88:62-75.) To those of understanding we say: The purpose of the endowment in the house of the Lord is to prepare and sanctify his saints so they will be able to see his face, here and now, as well as to bear the glory of his presence in the eternal worlds.

The MOST famous Psalm (song) in the Bible is the 23rd:

Psalm 23 KJV
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

The Gospels in the New Testament allude to verse 2 above when they refer to Jesus requesting the multitudes to sit in the green grass (see Mark 6: 39; Matthew 14:19; Luke 9: 15; John 6:10). It is in this setting that Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish. The disciples feared no evil and they were fed.

Sorry, but the scriptures are NOT perfect. Mark has the multitudes sitting in green grass (Mark 6:39) and Matthew has them sitting in a desert (Matthew 14: 13-15). (Well, perhaps there are green patches in the deserts of the Holy Land). We should remember as we read scriptures that little details could be in error.

Jesus said:

New American Standard Bible: Matthew 11: 28-29
28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

When Jesus offered us to rest upon him, he must have had the following verse in mind:

Psalms 55: 22
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

To cast thy burden upon Jesus is to put faith in God: “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me” (Psalms 56:11). A soldier in God’s army always has this assurance.

Let’s briefly return to Psalms 91, because it reminds us that armies of angels surround us. This time I will quote from the King James Version:

Psalms 91: 11-12
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Not just angels, but songs of comfort surround us:

Psalms 32: 7
You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.

In times of trouble pray this prayer:

Faux’s accurate translation: Psalms 140: 4
Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; keep me safe from the violent man who wants me overthrown.

When our prayers are answered, Psalms 34:4 tells us how to respond: “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

The Bible describes God as a tower of safety:

Bible in Basic English: Proverbs 18:10
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the upright man running into it is safe.

God is also a force field:

New American Standard Bible: Psalms 84: 11
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

The best armor is that described below:

Bible in Basic English: Ephesians 6: 11-18
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take to you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which ye will be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching for this purpose with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Please note in verse 17 that the sword of the Spirit is scripture. In other words, the scriptures are powerful weapons against evil.

I am fully confident that the soldier of God is the best kind of soldier. Why? The soldier of God values peace over war, but also understands that some must die in order for others to live. It is the soldier of God that can bring battles and wars to an end.

[PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BECAUSE IT WOULD BE REWARDING TO HEAR FROM YOU!!]

*****

Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. 
Used by permission.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Mahijah

God communicates to us through fairly ordinary means. He does not usually shout. Instead, God usually whispers and make deep impressions. A good illustration of the former comes from the Book of Moses “translated” in 1830-31 by Joseph Smith:

Moses 6: 26-40
26 And it came to pass that Enoch journeyed in the land, among the people … .
27 And he heard a voice from heaven, saying: Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people, and say unto them--Repent, for thus saith the Lord: I am angry with this people … ;
28 And for these many generations, ever since the day that I created them, have they gone astray, and have denied me … .
29 … they have brought upon themselves death; and a hell I have prepared for them, if they repent not;
30 And this is a decree, which I have sent forth in the beginning of the world … .
31 And when Enoch had heard these words, he bowed … , saying: Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?
32 And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance … .
33 Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you.
34 Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify … .
35 And the Lord spake unto Enoch, and said unto him: Anoint thine eyes with clay, and wash them, and thou shalt see. And he did so.
36 And he beheld the spirits that God had created; and he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye … .
37 And it came to pass that Enoch went forth in the land … and cried with a loud voice, testifying against their works; and all men were offended because of him.
38 And they came forth to hear him, upon the high places, saying unto the tent-keepers … behold the seer, for he prophesieth, and … a wild man hath come among us.
39 And it came to pass when they heard him, no man laid hands on him; for fear came on all them that heard him; for he walked with God.
40 And there came a man unto him [Enoch], whose name was Mahijah, and said unto him: Tell us plainly who thou art, and from whence thou comest?

I bolded the last verse on purpose. Note the name “Mahijah,” which is the only non-Biblical name in the Book of Moses.

Hebrew was a language without vowels and without an exact equivalence to English letters. For example, a common alternative spelling to the Old Testament’s Jehovah is Yahweh, which is a perfectly acceptable (in fact, preferable) alternative form of that name. Note that the name Mahijah has the Hebrew root “Jah” or “Yah” in reference to Jehovah. An alternative spelling for Mahijah is “Mahway.” All of this will become important in a moment.

In the verses quoted above, note that Mahijah or Mahway is intimately linked to the prophet Enoch. Is this linkage verified in ancient literature? The answer is yes.

Discovered in the late 1940s was the Dead Sea Scrolls, which contained the Enoch story called “The Book of Giants.” In the story 450 feet tall giants, half man and half angel, asked Mahway to approach the prophet Enoch and ask him to interpret some of their dreams.

As a sidenote, Fragment 1 of 6Q8 indicates that Mahway’s father was Barakel. Interestingly, one of Joseph Smith’s codenames (given in D&C 103: 21 pre-1981) was “Baurak Ale.” Another codename was “Enoch” (given in D&C 78:1 pre-1981). Are all these connections coincidence?

Back to our story: 4Q530-Fragment 7 Column 2 says: “Mahway … flew with his hands like an eagle … and Enoch saw him and hailed him, and Mahway said to him … I was sent hither … to you. … The giants await your words.” [All quotations from the Dead Sea Scrolls are from the Wise, Abegg, & Cook translation, 2005, with minor changes in punctuation for readability].

Well, the message of Enoch to the giants was to REPENT or be destroyed. Fragment 8 of 4Q203 describes how Enoch wrote a letter to the giants saying, “Let it be known to you that … the things you have done … by your licentiousness on earth … [and] the harm that you have done to it … . Behold, destruction is coming, a great flood, and it will destroy all living things… . But now, loosen the bonds … and pray.”

So, how does the Book of Moses connect to this story. Reads for yourself:

Moses 7: 13-15 [emphasis mine]
12 And it came to pass that Enoch continued to call upon all the people … to repent;
13 And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God, and … spake the word of the Lord … ; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him.
14 … so great was the fear of the enemies of the people of God, that they fled and stood afar off … .
15 And the giants of the land, also, stood afar off; and there went forth a curse upon all people that fought against God;

Are the two versions an exact match? No. But, in the Dead Sea Scrolls we find coherence among the terms Enoch, Mahway, giants, and Barakel. In the Book of Moses we find Enoch connected to Mahijah and giants, and in the D&C (pre-1981) we find the term Baurak Ale.

No one can be sure what all these connections mean. “The Book of Giants” was not available to Joseph Smith, but it is possible (although not likely) that he had access to an early 1821 translation of the Book of Enoch. What would he learn from that book? The Book of Enoch describes how a group of angels impregnated human women giving rise to giant children. The giants devoured humans and began to destroy all animals. The name “Mahway” is not found in the book and neither is the message from Enoch to the giants.

So, I am left with the question: How did Joseph Smith know these things and get the story basically right?

Revelation involves study and prayer. I do not know exactly what Joseph Smith studied, but he seemed to know more than was what at his ready disposal. The renowned scholar Richard Bushman said in his book Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (p. 452) that Joseph “had an uncanny ability to recover long-lost traditions for use in modern times.” Maybe there were times God did shout at him. We may never fully know.

[For an extended analysis of "Mahijah" see: Hugh Nibley (1978). Nibley on the timely and the timeless, Ch. 8. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, p. 155 - 186].

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Ur of Chaldea

Preliminary Background: Joseph Smith was inspired to produce the Book of Abraham when he purchased some Egyptian papyri in Kirtland, Ohio in July of 1835. The heading of the Book of Abraham in italics reads: “A Translation of some ancient Records… .” In reality, we do not have the ancient records that correspond to what Joseph produced in the Book of Abraham. Further, we may call the revelation process used by Joseph as “translation,” but we must admit that Joseph did not understand Egyptian.

Regarding “how” questions, we simply know this: Chapters 1 and 2 were completed by 1837. The remainder was finished by 1842. The Book of Abraham was first published in the Nauvoo Times & Seasons on March 1, 1842, with portions printed in the March 15th and May 16th issues (see: Richard Bushman, 2005, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, p. 286).

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Main Thesis: Scripture written by inspired prophets is always a mix of the divine with the human. Such is the nature of our world: nothing is perfect.

The human aspect of scripture is illustrated by the phrase “Ur of Chaldea.” The scriptures, both the Bible and the Book of Abraham, indicate that the prophet Abraham of old was from Ur of Chaldea, a region of southern Iraq. The problem is that there was NO region called Chaldea during the time of Abraham. Chaldea came into existence about 1000 or more years after Abraham.

Here are all the Old Testament references to Ur of the Chaldees:

Genesis 11:28
28 And Haran [brother of Abraham] died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

Genesis 11:31
31 And Terah took Abram his son, … from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan;

Genesis 15:7
7 ¶ And he said unto him, I [am] the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

Nehemiah 9:7
7 Thou [art] the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;

Dating the time period of Abraham is difficult at best, but the span between 2100 and 1550 BCE seems most likely (Biblica, 2007, New York: Barron’s). Other than Bible accounts, the first written reference to “Chaldea” was found in the archives of Ashurnasirpal II, the king of Assyria from 884 to 859 BCE. In fact, Chaldea or Neo-Babylonia did not reach its prominence until 626 to 539 BCE. The actual location of Ur is still in dispute, but many locate it very near An Nasiriyah, Iraq about 100 miles from Kuwait. It was certainly within the region that ancients once called “Chaldea.”

So, why are we raising all these details? It seems likely that an ancient scribe of the Bible inserted “of the Chaldees” after “Ur” in order to assist with identification. If so, then this would have occurred after 600 BCE, when Chaldea became very famous.

This brings us to the Book of Abraham of the Pearl of Great Price produced by Joseph Smith, the founder of the LDS Church. In most of the quotations below, notice that a comma separates Ur from Chaldea – that is, the Book of Abraham parenthetically refers to “Ur, of Chaldea.”

Abraham 1:20;
Times & Seasons Mar. 1, 1842, 3(9), p. 705
20 Behold, Potiphar's Hill was in the land of Ur, of Chaldea … .

Abraham 2:1;
Times & Seasons Mar. 1, 1842, 3(9), p. 705
1 … my father, yet lived in the land of Ur, of the Chaldees.

Abraham 2:4;
Times & Seasons Mar. 1, 1842, 3(9), p. 705
4 Therefore I left the land of Ur, of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan;

Abraham 2:15;
Times & Seasons Mar. 1, 1842, 3(9), p. 706
15 And I took Sarai, whom I took to wife when I was in Ur, in Chaldea, … and came forth in the way to the land of Canaan… ;

Abraham 3:1;
Times & Seasons Mar. 15, 1842, 3(10), p. 719
1 AND I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my God had given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees;
[Note: this verse was published in a separate issue of T&S than the above verses.]

The parenthetical phrases “Ur, of the Chaldees” or “Ur, in Chaldea” seems to function as identifiers or placeholders, just as in the Bible. This placeholder notion also applies to phrases found in the book such as "land of Chaldea" (e.g., 1:8) and "Chaldeans" (e.g., 1:13). There is no scientific reason to believe that Abraham would have used the term “Chaldea.” Therefore, one might conclude that Joseph Smith used the term as a clarifying English translation. Obviously, Joseph Smith, influenced by the Bible, used his own language when producing the Book of Abraham. Specifically, Joseph's ambition was to translate the mind of God more than the mind of the Egyptian.

The strength of the Book of Abraham is in its doctrinal teachings. For example, in the book we find the best description in holy writ of the Covenant of Abraham:

Abraham 2:9-11
9 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations;
10 And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father;
11 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee … shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal.

Possible Conclusions: Is the Book of Abraham scripture? Yes. Does the book teach essential doctrines? Yes. Is the book worth scholarly study? Yes. Will archeologists and historians find significant physical and documentary parallels with the Book of Abraham? Maybe yes and maybe no, but the answer to this last question is irrelevant → because the answers to the previous questions will remain in the affirmative. Such is the nature of scripture.

Non-LDS scholars who insist upon denigrating the Book of Abraham would do better trying to understand the Mormon culture’s conception of revelation. As argued, naturalistic pokes at the book have no relevance to the religious convictions behind the book. Sadly, too few understand the deeper relevance of the book – which is a mix of the divine and the human like the Bible.

[For a related thesis about the nature of scripture, see my essay: End of Revelations]

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Constantine and Apostasy

The so-called “Great Apostasy” did not happen in a single moment of time, but it began to be apparent to the first Apostles as they made their missionary travels.

Bear with me: I just randomly opened my New Testament to the letters of Paul. The first verse I read was the following:

1 Corinthians 1:10
10 ¶ Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

All of Paul’s letters plead for unity and the preservation of the correct doctrines of Christ. You can play the same game. Just thumb through any letter of Paul, and you will not have to read very far to find this basic theme.

Paul and the other Apostles appeared to know that they were fighting a losing battle, even though they knew they would eventually win the war. Paul taught that “the day of Christ is at hand,” and said:

2 Thessalonians 2:3
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.

Naturally, the problem was NOT with the gospel itself. The problem was the bad choices men (and women) of the Church were making.

When the Apostles died, the process of apostasy accelerated. The remaining people in the Church were by and large good people who had lost track of the full teachings of Jesus. Many early converts did not understand the importance of the loss of priesthood authority. They just continued the Church the best they could. (Who could blame them for trying?)

By the 2nd and 3rd centuries, Christianity had fractionated into many different sects. Unification was attempted by one man, the Emperor Constantine, who converted in 312 AD and legalized Christianity. He, then, organized the Bishops to declare what was “orthodox” and what was not.

Government-condoned persecution of Christians ended in 313 AD with the Edict of Milan, issued by Constantine Augustus of the West and Licinius Augustus of the East. It read as follows:

Therefore, … it has pleased us to remove all conditions whatsoever, which were in the rescripts [laws] formerly given to you officially, concerning the Christians and now any one of these who wishes to observe Christian religion may do so freely and openly, without molestation. We thought it fit to commend these things most fully to your care that you may know that we have given to those Christians free and unrestricted opportunity of religious worship. When you see that this has been granted to them by us, [you] will know that we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have the free opportunity to worship as he pleases; this regulation is made that we may not seem to detract from any dignity or any religion.

Constantine sought a unified Roman Empire under his leadership by making Christianity the state religion. He therefore declared war on his eastern rival Licinius, and defeated his army in the Battle of Adrianople on July 3, 324 AD. The next step in Constantine’s empire grab was to create a unified religion. He therefore called for the First Council of Nicaea (May 20 to July 25, 325 AD) to unify Christianity, to settle doctrinal disputes, and to squash any so-called heresies.

It was during this Council that the famous Nicene Creed was developed. It developed the so-called doctrine of the Trinity and in effect declared Arianism to be a heresy. The Creed declared that Jesus was one substance with the Father.

Arianism, a Gnostic form of Christianity, believed that God the Father was separate from Jesus Christ (the son), contrary to the Nicene Creed. Not everything the Arians believed was compatible with LDS belief, but some of it was. Arianism was destroyed by Constantine.

Jump ahead 15 hundred years: the claim of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (founded in 1830) is that it is a restoration of that which was lost.

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

LDS Chaplains

Have you ever wondered what it would take to be an LDS Chaplain?

Here is an example: J. Nathan Kline is an Army Chaplain deployed with the 3rd Infantry Division to Iraq. He served two-years in the active Army as a tanker in Friedberg, Germany from 1988-1990. He served a mission for the LDS Church in the Philippines from 1990-1992. He received an undergraduate degree from Florida Southern College, and then received a Masters of Divinity from the University of Chicago. His blog is at: Chaplain Kline.

There is a significant shortage of LDS Chaplains. Of course, it is hard to become one. Here are the list of requirements:

*****Requirements for becoming a Chaplain*****

The Army requires the following:

1. An undergraduate degree.
2. A Masters of Theology degree from an approved theological school (72 credit hours). [The BYU Chaplain program takes 3 years to complete (75 credit hours), and acceptance into BYU Chaplain program requires a 3.5 undergrad GPA.]
3. Be no older than 34 years at the time of appointment to Chaplain, but there are liberal age waivers for individuals with prior military service.
4. Two years of practice ministerial experience.

To receive an ecclesiastical endorsement from the LDS Church, the following is considered:

1. A Temple Marriage and a current Temple recommend is required.
2. Have you served a Mission? (See note below)
3. Have you served in leadership positions in the Church? (See note below)
4. The recommendations of your Bishop and Stake President.
5. Have you ever been charged with, accused of, moved because of, or changed employment because of any sexual misconduct or sexual harassment?

Detailed requirements can be seen at: Requirements.

NOTE: The Department of Defense requires applicants to have two years of practical ministerial experience. LDS who have completed a 2 year mission will have fulfilled this requirement.




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Yahweh Sabaoth

Over and over and over again in the Old Testament, especially, the Bible refers to the LORD of hosts, which means the LORD of armies, the armies of good against evil. The armies are both heavenly and earthly. For example,

1 Samuel 17:45

45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

Isaiah 44:6

6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I [am] the first, and I [am] the last; and beside me [there is] no God.

Micah 4:4

4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make [them] afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken [it].

The names of God include many military titles: He is a "our captain" (2 Chr. 13:12), a "man of war" (Ex. 15:3), a "leader and commander" (Isa. 55:4), and a "shield" (Gen. 15:1).

The Old Testament name for Jesus (before he came to earth) was Jehovah, commonly re-spelled Yahweh. To avoid overusing this name, the King James translators of the Old Testament often substituted the word “LORD” (in all capital letters) for the name Jehovah.

As mentioned , LORD of hosts means LORD of armies. The Old Testament often uses “LORD of hosts” as a title (e.g., 1 Chron. 17:24; Ps. 84:12; Isaiah 1:24), and the Hebrew transliteration of that title would be Yahweh Sabaoth. Yahweh in addition to meaning “I Am” can also mean “He creates” or “He brings into existence.” In some sense Yahweh Sabaoth means “He originates divine armies.” The title Yahweh Sabaoth is often associated with the military themes in the Old Testament (e.g., I Sam. 15:2-3; II Sam. 5:10).

Sometimes the New Testament literally uses the words "Lord of Sabaoth" (e.g., James 5:4) in a partially untranslated fashion. The LDS Bible Dictionary at the back of the Bible under “Sabaoth,” p. 764 indicates that the phrase “Lord of Sabaoth” means Lord of hosts, and the hosts are the armies of Israel.

Note how well the term Lord of hosts fits into the following:

D&C 87:7
7 That the cry of the saints, and of the blood of the saints, shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies.

Also notice the appropriateness of the following definition of Lord of hosts:

D&C 95:7
7 … the Lord of Sabaoth, which is by interpretation, the creator of the first day, the beginning and the end.

Note the similarity between D&C 95:7 and Isaiah 44:6 with respect to the Lord being "the beginning and the end" versus "I am the first, and I am the last."

These D&C quotations beg the question: How did Joseph Smith know all these things? Actually, I am not so sure he did know these things or that he even had to know these things. Regardless, the D&C is rich with deeper meaning.

Historian Richard L. Bushman (2005) describes Joseph Smith as having “an uncanny ability to recover long-lost traditions for use in modern times” (Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, p. 452). Joseph also had an uncanny ability with the little known.

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] c0m; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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*****

Mormons as Truth Seekers

Mormons believe in truth wherever they find it – in the Church or outside of the Church. Mormons can be scientists, English teachers, philosophers, or almost any kind of thinker that one could imagine. It is true, however, that they will NOT be atheists by definition.

A prominent LDS scripture reads:

D&C 109:7
7 And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith;

Mormons can even learn from Catholics and they often do!! I was very pleased by the following quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley, who recently passed away.

Gordon B. Hinckley, “We Look to Christ,” Ensign, May 2002, 90
Once we have tasted the sweet fruit of God’s peace, we are naturally inclined to share it with others. Francis of Assisi was known as the “lover of creation” who lived most of his life ministering to the poor and the needy who were around him—including the animals. The peace he found in his service energized him and made him yearn to embrace others with it. He wrote:

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

It was clear from President Hinckley’s teachings that he was broadly educated and that he was widely read. His quote of St. Francis is a subtle proclamation that Mormons do not claim to have a monopoly on truth.

Mormons are often portrayed by outsiders, especially on the internet, as creatures who have no individuality or who do not think for themselves. Such stereotypes will NOT take us very far, because they are UNTRUE.

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Need for Restoration

Nowhere in scripture do we find the suggestion that Apostolic organization was temporary. In fact, holy writ indicates just the opposite. When Judas Iscariot died, the resulting vacancy was filled by Matthias (Acts 1: 21-26). Paul, an Apostle ordained years after the death of Jesus, wrote:

Ephesians 2: 19-21
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner [stone];
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

In other words, if the Church is properly organized with authorized apostles and prophets, and Jesus at its head, then it is a holy institution, like a temple “fitly framed.”

It is essential that Apostolic positions be called of God. Men cannot call themselves, and the earliest Church fathers recognized this. Clement of Rome, one of the first Bishops, wrote:

Clement of Rome (a.d. 30-100)
First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians,
Chapter XLIV -- Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol 1
The apostles have preached the Gospel to us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ [has done so] from God. Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the apostles by Christ. Both these appointments, then, were made in an orderly way, according to the will of God.

It is fascinating that almost all modern Christian religious organizations see the Apostleship as a defunct office or obsolete. Yet, Clement said the Apostles were appointed in an orderly manner.

One thing is certain. The original Apostles (save John) died within 50 years after the death & resurrection of Jesus. Although attempts were made to fill vacancies of the Twelve, the Apostles were systematically exterminated faster than they could be replaced. According to tradition they were killed in countries far and wide, such as Turkey, Armenia, India, Egypt, Persia, and Ethiopia.

Simply put, the Apostles in doing their jobs were scattered about the world when they died. Their untimely deaths represented a loss of authority or priesthood.

The deaths of the Apostles created a problem acknowledged by early Church fathers:

Tertullian (a.d. 160-220)
THE PRESCRIPTION AGAINST HERETICS.
Since the Lord Jesus Christ sent the apostles to preach, (our rule is) that no others ought to be received as preachers than those whom Christ appointed; for "no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" [paraphrasing Matthew 11: 27]. … It remains, then, that we demonstrate whether this doctrine of ours, of which we have now given the rule, has its origin in the tradition of the apostles, and whether all other doctrines do not ipso facto proceed from falsehood.

Tertullian (a.d. 160-220) was a famous early theologian who recognized that there was a beginning apostasy. He believed that there should be authority from the Apostles, that there should be modern revelation, and he attacked the laxity of the mainstream Christianity of his time. Paradoxically, he was wrong on many points as well. For example, he insisted that widowers and widows NOT remarry, and he believed the Father and the Son were the same. Nonetheless, he was a great theologian with many inspiring words.

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The need for a restoration was recognized by great theologians:

Even the great scientist and theologian Isaac Newton (1733) foresaw the falling away and the need for a restoration:

Sir Issac Newton (1733). Observations on the prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (part 1, Chapter 1, last paragraphs)
For the prophets and apostles have foretold that as Israel often revolted and brake the covenant and upon repentance renewed it, so there should be a falling away among the Christians, soon after the days of the Apostles, and that in the latter days God would … make a new covenant with his people.

We claim the Latter-day Saints are part of that new covenant.

Roger Williams, a very famous American reformationist of the 17th century, refused to continue as pastor in a Rhode Island church because he concluded:

Picturesque America, or the Land We Live In, William Cullen Bryant (ed.)., New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1872, vol. 1, p. 502.
"There is no regularly-constituted church on earth, nor any person authorized to administer any Church ordinance: nor can there be, until new apostles are sent by the great Head of the Church, for whose coming I am seeking."

Roger Williams referred to himself as a seeker. He sought that new authority.

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Latter-days Saints claim that Apostolic authority was restored through Joseph Smith in the 1830s. Here is what Joseph Smith had to say about the apostasy:

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.15
Christ said to His disciples (Mark 16:17 and 18), that these signs should follow them that believe:--"In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover;" and also, in connection with this, read 1st Corinthians, 12th chapter. By the foregoing testimonies we may look at the Christian world and see the apostasy there has been from the apostolic platform; and who can look at this and not exclaim, in the language of Isaiah [24: 5], "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant?"

If we follow-up and actually read what is in 1 Corinthians 12, then we find the following:

1 Corinthians 12: 27-31
27 ¶ Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
29 [Are] all apostles? [are] all prophets? [are] all teachers? [are] all workers of miracles?
30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

By their fruits and gifts ye shall know them. Righteousness emanates from truth. Falsehood, no matter where it originates, generates anxiety and pain.

*****

Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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Shibboleth

The biblical term “shibboleth” needs to be part of our vocabulary. A shibboleth in modern usage is any language or idea that distinguishes between opponents. For example, the Democrats often argue that U.S. military presence in Iraq just generates more Al Qaeda enemies, not less. Somebody making this argument would probably be a Democrat rather than a Republican. Therefore, the argument would be a kind of shibboleth.

The term shibboleth comes from the Old Testament book of Judges 12:5-6 wherein captured Ephraimite fugitives were given a pronunciation test to determine their ethnicity by the stronger Gileadites. Ephraimites pronounced the word “Shibboleth” as “Sibboleth,” because they could not make the “sh” sound. If someone mispronounced the word, they were killed by the Gileadites. Thus, a shibboleth is a verbal test to detect a hidden enemy or to confirm a friend.

The shibboleth story has a deeper meaning in terms of Christian doctrine, even Mormon doctrine, because shibboleths function as passwords. The ultimate shibboleth is the name of Jesus Christ, because one cannot enter heaven without confessing his name as savior. It is His words and atonement that parts the veil and allows us to enter and see God face to face.

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Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




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Becoming Spiritual

The title of this essay may seem presumptuous. Perhaps it is, because I do not presume to be very spiritual. Instead, I claim to have paid close attention to many relatives, friends, and Church leaders who I think are. Such are the limitations of my expertise, and the reader can take this into account.

It is easy to read the Bible, go to church, say “Lord, Lord,” and still have missed the point. For example, the Pharisees thought they were spiritual because they lived all the rules, but Jesus was not impressed with their rules. True spirituality is something other than living a long list of rules. In fact, true spirituality is somehow transcendent.

Jesus taught two great commandments: 1) love God with all your heart, mind, and spirit; and 2) love thy neighbor as thyself. Jesus, of course, did not advocate breaking the Ten Commandments, but he also did not worry about his Apostles gathering food on the Sabbath. After all, the Sabbath was made for man, not vice versa (Mark 2: 27).

Becoming spiritual is NOT sitting on the front row of sacrament meeting (Luke 11: 43). I am not saying the front row is bad, but it could be if the purpose were to attract attention. (Besides, the quoted verse gives me a good excuse for sitting on the back row).

Becoming spiritual is NOT saying long flowery prayers in public. Rather, it involves praying sincerely in public and also praying in the closet (Matt. 6:6; D&C 19:28).

Becoming spiritual is NOT necessarily praying some specific number of times per day (morning, noon, and night). Rather, spirituality involves having a prayer in one’s heart at all times (D&C 19:28).

Becoming spiritual is NOT abandoning science and good books. The glory of God is intelligence, not ignorance (D&C 93: 36). ( I highly recommend: Donald R. Prothero (2007): Evolution: What the fossils say and why it matters, New York: Univ. of Columbia Press).

Becoming spiritual is NOT found in a particular Church office (Matt. 20: 27). One should be spiritual well before one is ever made into a Bishop or a Relief Society President.

A truly spiritual person does NOT believe he or she is better than others. The moment one loses humility, an essential ingredient of true spirituality is lost (Luke 18: 10-14).

Becoming spiritual is NOT judging and condemning others (Matt 7:1). (Well, judging is sort of what I am doing in this essay, which is why I better not claim to be very spiritual).

Becoming spiritual is NOT in what you wear (Alma 31: 28). Fancy clothing at Church is NOT a mark of spiritual success. Such clothing may have other roles, but not spirituality. (I had a Bishop who sometimes had to come to Church in his farmer clothing. My gratitude for him increased on those days).

Becoming spiritual is NOT from making large money donations to the Church. Remember the story of the widow’s mite (Mark 12: 41-44).

Becoming spiritual is NOT in seeing angels or visions. Rebellious Laman and Lemuel saw an angel (1 Nephi 3: 29). Saul, the persecutor, on his way to Damascus had a vision of Jesus, and he did not become “Paul” overnight (Acts 9-13).

Becoming spiritual is NOT telling fantastic stories from the pulpit and getting the audience to love you (e.g., Acts 7:51-60).

So, what is being spiritual? What is it? Well, a short essay cannot sum up the essence of the Standard Works (the scriptures). However, the Book of Mormon Reference Companion (“Wisdom, wise”) does a nice job of giving some strong hints:

Book of Mormon Reference Companion, p. 786
Individuals may acquire true wisdom [spirituality], especially if they are willing to be humble, teachable, and obedient to God’s commands (2 Ne. 28:30, Alma 32: 12; cf. Mosiah 8: 20; 12: 27). Moroni listed teaching the “word of wisdom” as a spiritual gift (Moro. 10: 9; cf. D&C 46: 17-18; 1 Cor. 12: 8). Those possessed with true wisdom [spirituality] understand the importance of service (Mosiah 2: 17), are prudent in their labors (Mosiah 4: 27), consider the effect their desires or acts might have on others (e.g., Mosiah 29: 8-10), select righteous leaders (e.g., Mosiah 29:11; Alma 4:16), appropriately teach the gospel (e.g., Alma 18: 22; cf. 31: 35), provide protection for those whom they love (e.g., Alma 22: 33-34; 30: 20; 49: 5, 15), keep the commandments of God (Alma 37: 35; cf. Morm. 9: 28), and know that salvation comes only through Christ (Alma 38: 9).

To me, there is an extremely strong link between advanced spirituality and true wisdom. It is hard to imagine one without the other. Advanced spirituality encompasses true wisdom, but a full definition of spirituality only can be captured when individuals deeply search the scriptures for themselves. In this context I recommend the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine & Covenants (D&C).

There is a difference between being holy and acting holy. The Pharisees were satisfied with acting holy and being seen of men. A truly spiritual person does not act to be seen of others, but rather to be seen of God. It’s a huge difference.

As for me and spirituality, I still have a lot of work left to do.

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Copyright 2008 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] com; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.




Please feel free to give my blog site a "Blogged.com" rating and review by clicking here.

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