Sort of Uniquely Mormon -- Lectures on Faith

I've been re-reading the work called Lectures on Faith (https://archive.org/details/LecturesOnFaith), because I think I want to use it in the novel I'm currently writing:

http://joel-rees-economics.blogspot.com/2016/06/econ101-novel-toc.html 

and I don't want to get my references too much confused.

It occurs to me that the contents of the Lectures is very much available elsewhere in scripture and in the Church's current teaching materials.

Much of the work is simply listing other scriptures, with commentary tying the lists together and pointing out what seems to me to be obvious.

Well, it seems obvious to me now, after a lifetime of study. :-/

There are a few points where the wording reflects the multiple authorship.

The explanation of the Godhead as three independent "personages" as we call them now, is introduced with the word "personage" used in a different sense, I think, from the sense we now use in the Church. In that sense, the text describes the Godhead as consisting of two personages. And, yet, later on in the same lecture, it says, "... these three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost" (Quoting from memory, look it up for yourself.)

The same lecture also seems to make a difference between the Father and the Son in its description of the Son as a personage of tabernacle. But the Son is the express image of the Father, and scripture given later describes both as beings of flesh and bone (see D&C 130: 22).

So some cry, "Confusion!"

The Lecture in which this apparent confusion is found never says the Father is without a body. It only emphasizes that the Son is a being of tabernacle. And then it says that the Son is essentially just like the Father. Where is the argument?

This same lecture talks about the "mind of God" and calls it the Holy Spirit. I think this is a specific use of the term "spirit", and should not be confused with the third member of the Godhead, even though the third member of the Godhead is essentially the spiritual embodiment of the mind of God.

I do believe the understanding of the Godhead did evolve, especially among those who helped Joseph Smith prepare and teach these lectures. That Joseph Smith did not micro-manage these lectures seems to me more an indication of what he understood to be the management style of God than a fault in his own comprehension of things. 

If your purpose is to find fault with a work, that is easy. Even the Bible is easy to find fault with. If that is what you want to do.

Finding fault does not lead to faith. (This seems very ironic, here.)

If you have a scales, and find fault with it, you will likely refuse to use it.

If you prefer, you can see the problems with a particular scales and still use it to weigh things to a certain degree of accuracy.

If, say, you have a scales that gives eccentric readings in the range from 50 Kg. to 60 Kg., you can still use it below 50 and above 60, and with some clever usage (using extra, known weights, say) you can even weigh things between 50 and 60 Kg.

Why bother if you have another scales that gives more consistent readings?

Consistency is not always a virtue.

(Yes, I am saying that there are a lot of intellectual devices applied to evaluating religion that simply do not evaluate religion well, even though they seem to sometimes produce consistent results. Your mileage will vary, eventually.)

I've attempted to talk about faith here:

http://guerillamormonism.blogspot.com/2015/07/ch-01-foundation-faith-in-jesus-christ.html

But maybe I ended up talking around it, instead.

Faith is belief that motivates.

If you don't have faith in the scientific method, you generally will not be able to obtain meaningful results with it.

If you don't have some degree of faith in your school, you will find it much harder to get good grades there, and, more importantly, much harder to get the sort of education the school advertises, or attempts to present.

If you don't have faith in the company you work for, you are far more likely to call in sick, to ignore the established procedures, to fail to do the required work, and so forth.

If you refuse to have faith in your country, why would you pay taxes? Why would you bother defending your country? Especially, why would you bother trying to find candidates worth voting for?

Faith is constructive.

Refusing to exercise faith is destructive.

(In which case, sure, if you can't exercise faith in something, maybe you should move on to something you are willing to exercise faith in. I'm not saying, here's the door, goodbye. I'm saying, please do something that helps you instead of something that doesn't.)

Faith is a belief that motivates. That is the first message of the Lectures on Faith.

Scripture-a-Week: Greed, and Counseling the Lord

It has been more than a week, and I'm not faced with any burning questions, but this seems related to things that are happening.

Which does the Lord come down harder on?

Rich people who don't share what they have?

Is what you have really not enough?

Poor people who are greedy for things they don't have?

Is what you have really not enough?

People who think they know more than God?

Is what you are doing with what you have pleasing to God?

Are these things related?

Is material success really all that meaningful?

What do you think?

Should you really take pride in success?

What should we do, if neither poverty nor riches save us?

Which is more important, looking cool or really helping other people? Can you do both? Should you go out of your way to try to both?

The scriptures I'm seeing as related here are

Doctrine and Covenants 56: ca v 14-17

and Jacob 2: ca 13-21.

Oh, and Luke 6: ca 24-38.

And it's worth reading before and after, of course. 

Scripture-a-Week: Whom Should We Fear?

Matthew 10: 28 --

And 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 soul and body in hell.

Wait.

Are we supposed to fear the devil? Why does this other scripture (Deuteronomy 4: 10) say,

... I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth,...

That's not the devil speaking there, that's God.

Wait, why are we supposed to be afraid of God, even?

Hebrews 12: 28 is worth a thought.

... let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

Godly fear. What is that? What does it have to do with reverence?

What do you do when you are afraid? Do you panic? Behave like the proverbial deer in the headlights and freeze? Become hysterical or otherwise lose your sense of reason, perspective, and self?

When psychologists talk about responses to stress and fear, you often hear the expression

fight or flight.

I don't think this is godly fear at all. The 34th Psalm is pretty explicit:

4: I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
...
8: O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

9: O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

Let's look in a dictionary. In the middle of all this stuff about distress and anxiety, we see words like awe and respect. I linked the LDS sripture helps entry on fear above (and here).

I think godly fear is like godly sorrow, it moves us to do good things (2 Corinthians 7: 10). And, more than just motivating us to do good things, it teaches us to have confidence when we stand before God.

... perfect love casteth out fear ... (1 John 4: 16-19)

So, let's look back at some verses around Matthew 10: 28.

29: Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

...

31: Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

By the way, what kind of power does the devil have?

... Why will ye yield yourselves unto him that he may have power over you, to blind your eyes, that ye will not understand the words which are spoken, according to their truth?  (Alma 10: 25.)

If we don't believe the devil's lies, what kind of power does he have over us?

Is the devil actually able to destroy the soul in hell? The way I read the book of Job, he is not even able to start causing us trials and problems without permission from God. (Job 2: 2-7.) And, if we continue to fear God more than man or the devil, God helps us. It can be kind of painful, but he takes care of us at the end. (Job 42: 10, 12.)

Can we trust God? I think we can -- far more than we can trust human teachers, coaches, family, friends, enemies, whatever.

I admit, I sometimes complain when life gets hard, but I think I can trust Him. He doesn't give me exactly what I think I want when I think I want it, but, like two troubadours said,

... if you try sometimes, you get what you need.

(Yeah, I listen to the Stones, too, sometimes. Owl City, too.)

We don't need to fear the devil, just understand that he will try to decieve us, and tempt us to do things that will not make us happy in the end.

People aren't perfect, and we let each other down sometimes. We don't need to fear people, either. We should try to understand them, instead.

God can be scary sometimes, but I think He is much more dependable than the alternatives. If our fear of God moves us to understanding ourselves, what we are and what we can be, we do not have to be afraid of Him.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4: 18-19.)

If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8: 31, 32.)

Scripture-a-Week

Jesus instructed the unbelieving Jews:

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5: 39)

He also used the scriptures when teaching His chosen disciples:

  And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24: 44-47)

From the Book of Mormon, Nephi tells us how important he thinks the scriptures are:

And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children. (2 Nephi 4: 15)

The leaders of the Church also tell us regularly about the importance of scripture. For instance, in the last general conference, Devin Durrant talked about one method of getting oneself deeper into scripture study:

First, choose a verse of scripture each week and place it where you will see it every day.

Second, read or think of the verse several times each day and ponder the meaning of its words and key phrases throughout the week. (Sunday afternoon, Octobr 4th)

These are just a sampling of scriptures that talk about the immportance of studying and understanding the scriptures.

Sort-of-in-the-spirit of Br. Durrant's scripture-a-week suggestion, my wife suggested we start talking about a scripture each week as a family. And I'm thinking I'll blog some of them.

This is the first.

Ch. 0.2: Foundation -- Repentance

It's easy to get lost in arguments about whether faith should be active or passive. (See James, chapter 2, start with verse 18.)

Or to waste time idly discussing how far one can take the philosophical concept that there is nothing so constant as change. (See the 102nd Psalm, around verse 26, and also  Isaiah 51: 6, or where Nephi quotes that in the 2nd book of Nephi chapter 8, verse 6.)

Some people get stuck in the rut of thinking that repentance is for the unbelievers. (If you are inclined to think so, see 2nd Nephi ch. 30, starting from verse 1. If that doesn't convince you, try the 6th Chapter of Moses, in the Pearl of Great Price, around verse 50.) 

They say that the word in the Greek New Testament source texts which we translate as "repentance" is "metanoia", the "great change". That reminds me of the "mighty change of heart" talked about in Alma 5: 14.

So, what exactly is this repentance thing that Jesus and his followers preach?

In the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, section 58, verse 43, we find that a person who repents of his or her sins will confess those sins and give them up.

To whom should one confess? Matthew 5: 23, 24 gives us a clue, and Jesus repeated that to His disciples in ancient America, recorded in the 3rd Nephi 12:23, 24.

What if we think someone has offended us? Similar clues are available in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 42, verse 88.

There is a pattern here.

Repenting requires us to understand, to some extent, the nature of our offence. What have we done wrong? Whom have we offended?

We cannot repent if we refuse to believe we have really done something wrong, and we can't repent if we refuse to understand how and why it was wrong. That means we have to talk with the people that we have sinned against and be reconciled to them.

And we have to change our ways.

Members of this Church talk about steps of repentance. Elder Richard G. Scott, addressing the entire Church, summarized the steps this way:

recognition, sorrow, abandonment [of the sin], confession, and restitution

(in a conference address titled, "The Path to Peace and Joy", October 2010, down at the 11th paragraph, if I counted that right).

And the ultimate goal is to be reconciled to God, as described in 2nd Nephi 10: 23, 24.

The ultimate goal, again, is to be reconciled with God.

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Ch. 0.1: Foundation -- Faith in Jesus Christ

If you go looking for the meaning of the name, "Jesus", you find that it is cognitive of the name, "Joshua": "God is help."

Now, some people translate that as "God is our help." I suppose that is not exactly wrong, but we have to be very careful about how we read "our".

It is true that, before His death and resurrection, He often said that He was sent to the Jews. But that didn't stop Greeks and Samaritans from believing, nor from receiving the benefits of faith.

And He was explicit to His apostles that they were called to take the Gospel to all the world.

The Book of Mormon tells us more. He explained to His followers in the Americas, after His resurrection, that the "other sheep of His fold" (John 10: 16) which He went to visit were not just those who heard His voice in the Americas (3rd Nephi 15: 21, 22), but His believers all over the world (3rd Nephi 16: 1-5).

And, if you continue reading the references I've linked in here, you find that He tells the believers that the non-believers are to be taught by the believers, especially by example (Matthew 5:16 or 3rd Nephi 12: 16).

I can provide some scriptures that indicate that ancient Israel was under the same obligation. The warning voice mentioned so often is not that the chosen people are coming and everyone better just give up or you'll got the snot beaten out of you.

Read Jonah carefully, for starters. Jonah's message is not that Nineveh is going to be destroyed. Jonah was himself displeased that it was not. But the king of Nineveh understood the message and convinced his people to change their ways, and Nineveh averted the destruction they had been inviting upon themselves by their wickedness.

That was what God wanted, that the people of Nineveh should be saved as long as they were willing to follow moral law.

Likewise, read Ezekiel 33. Those who believe and exercise faith to change their lives in keeping with God's moral laws are saved.

God helps everyone who is willing to believe in Him.

God is help.

And the first principle of the Gospel is to believe in the Son of God, who was sent to us to show us quite plainly that God helps us through our belief.

Some might call this a vicious cycle. You have to believe to be a believer.

I call it a beneficent cycle. We believe, we have faith, our faith moves us, and God strengthens our faith, gives us more reason to believe.

But we do have to believe things that are true. Yeah, it seems obvious, but apparently it has to be said: Belief in things that are not true doesn't really save us.

What should we believe, then? The sermon on the mount (starting from Matthew 5) is one place to start.

But all the scriptures testify of Jesus Christ, which is why it is good to read all the scriptures, a little at a time, and think about them, and ask God for understanding and direction and help in applying what we learn from them.

But the very first thing is to believe that God is really on your side, to believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.

(I explain a little about why we can believe in Jesus here.)

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Trivia: How Was Jesus Perfect?

I suppose I may be the only one who thinks this worth commenting on, but Jesus was not perfect the way the people around him wanted him to be perfect.

To the religious leaders, He was the exact opposite of what they wanted in a messiah. They wanted validation of their excessively detailed versions of the law of Moses, and the social structures and authority that they had built on top of those detailed versions of law.

To those among the Jews and their friends who hoped for a repeat of David's political kingdom, again, he was anything but perfect: too willing to let the things of Caesar be Caesar's, too focused on individual freedom and responsibility. And what did repentance and faith have to do with revolution and war?

To the impressario, the Iscariot, He was too casual about money and too willing to let publicity take a back seat.

To His mother and His assigned guardian, Joseph, He was often too casual about artificial schedules and social expectations.

We only have unsubstantiated and misreported or even mistaken tradition to tell us about how his childhood friends and playmates might have viewed him, but, from their reactions as His miracles and preaching became well know, we can tell that His childhood did not force them to believe that He was superhuman or such.

And so forth.

He often told his followers, supporters, detractors, friends, and family that He would only do what the Father showed Him. That was what He did perfectly.

Bends your mind.