I (Do Not) Love to see the temple

I personally believe the church continues to build temples to make money. To attend temples, members must pay tithing. All members are told to get a temple recommend which requires tithe-paying. If there is a temple within reasonable distance, the pressure to attend regularly (and pay) is even greater. They claim their temples are based on the ancient Biblical temple but they are not. (See the Mormon Coffee article mentioned below, it's illustrated.)

From Mormon Coffee, posted May 11, 2015:

"...considering the fact that every detail of the biblical temple is clearly presented in the Bible, the Mormon Church knows its assertions are untrue. Which means the Church is willfully deceiving people about Mormon temples."

I've been talking to a friend who is Mormon but has "lost her testimony." She hasn't completely left the church yet and sometimes points out what she thinks are its good points. I remind her on occasion that the LDS church lies to people. They can't claim to have made a mistake, to have erred based on incomplete or wrong information.

How can a church that continues to hide information and lie be a church that serves God?

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:24, KJV

Is God an Organizer or a Creator?

I have a Mormon grandmother. (I had two, but one passed away, and I hope she is in Heaven and not in the Spirit World of Mormonism.) My living Mormon grandmother is 100% dedicated, word and deed, to the Mormon church. At any time of day she can be found indexing names for Family Search, reading General Conference talks or the Sunday School lesson, listening to the Tabernacle Choir, or writing in her journal. She faithfully attends church meetings, rain or shine, unless she is very ill indeed. She is quick to quote scriptures and the words of General Authorities and give morality lessons to everyone at every opportunity. 

I often like talking to her about God because she waxes enthusiastic. I try to avoid areas where I know we'll have a conflict of ideas. Yesterday I brought up creation ex nihilo, creation from nothing, because we were talking about the greatness of God. (It's been three years since I left the Mormon church so I'd forgotten they don't believe in that.) I told her I'd read that all other religions besides Bible-based one like Judaism and Christianity believe that their god or gods only organized materials, or were already part of the world or the universe. 

She and I both thought she'd misunderstood me. (She's hard of hearing.) So I repeated myself and clarified that God is so awesome that He created everything from nothing and there are only two religions that hold to this. Grandmother, then understanding, insisted then that no, God organized everything. Then she corrected herself and said that Heavenly Father and Jesus and the others organized the matter that already existed. I told her that this was not based on the Bible but on the words of the Books of Abraham and Moses. Even science may support the idea that there was creation from nothing (the Big Bang). She got her stubborn look on and said she wasn't going to talk about it anymore. They organized all the worlds and that's that. 

I didn't want to fight with her so I steered the conversation toward  her comment about "all the worlds" and we speculated on whether we'd ever meet people from other planets. Soon it was dinnertime and the conversation had an excuse to end. But it left me with a sorrow that her god is a small god. He's a bureaucratic organizer. My God is a Great Big Amazing God who created the Universe. 

Today I researched creation ex nihilo. I read some articles that explained that there is no one Biblical verse that explicitly states this idea, but it is derived from various ideas presented in the Bible. (This is like the idea of the Trinity.) Most Christians do believe our God is the Creator, not the organizer. For example, see these verses in Colossians 1:

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 

"In him all things were created." ALL things. "Through him and for him." These words were directed to the Christians of Colossae to teach them about Jesus and saved for all the world to read. If I trust that the Bible comes to us because God wants us to know him, then I trust that God is the creator of all things because these words are preserved in the Bible. Further, this trust leads me to believe that if my God can create all things in heaven and on earth, then I can believe he can do other miracles.

My grandmother is adamant that she be buried, not cremated. She quotes the scripture in Ezekiel 37 as supporting her reasoning to not have her bones destroyed. She talks like she is afraid if this should happen. She thinks God needs our bones to raise us. But her god is an organizer. Of course he has to have something to work with to resurrect people. 

If my God is the Creator of all things, then I trust he can make me again, bones or no bones. 

(For further reading, see an article by William Lane Craig.)

Salt Lake City less "Bible-minded" than New York or Los Angeles

Seriously:

"A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible"

That's a quote from 2 Nephi 29:6 in the Book of Mormon. Let's talk Bible translations. I heard someone say that some languages began to be written down for the first time just so that they could have the Bible in their own tongue.

A Bible translation organization called Wycliffe.org.uk has some statistics on their site:

As of 2013, over five hundred languages have complete Bibles
Over one thousand have at least the New Testament
About one thousand more have at least one book 

They also estimate that 98 million people speak something for which there is no known Bible translation (yet). 

This is somewhat mind-boggling for me, not only how much translation has been done but that there are so many languages in the world. I looked up how many there might be and found 7,105 according to Ethnologue. Tower of Babel, anyone?

I am thinking the world still needs more Bibles. 

A river does NOT run through it

In the book of First Nephi, chapter 2, Lehi takes his family three days into the wilderness away from Jerusalem. They camp in a valley by a river:

 8 And it came to pass that he called the name of the river, Laman, and it emptied into the Red Sea; and the valley was in the borders near the mouth thereof.

 9 And when my father saw that the waters of the river emptied into the fountain of the Red Sea, he spake unto Laman, saying: O that thou mightest be like unto this river, continually running into the fountain of all righteousness!

Okay, show me a map of the area so I can see this river: 

Hmmm, not seeing it. What do other sources say?

 The Suez Canal only opened in 1869 and it's at least a five day walk to where it meets the Red Sea, according to modern conditions and as perceived by Google Maps. There are seasonal rivers in Eritrea...but that's in Africa, much more than three days away from Jerusalem. There's the Gulf of Aqaba, but it doesn't look like a river. And the Red Sea itself is quite salty, as Wikipedia announces:

The salinity of the Red Sea is greater than the world average, approximately 4 percent. This is due to several factors:

1. High rate of evaporation and very little precipitation.
2. Lack of significant rivers or streams draining into the sea.
3. Limited connection with the Indian Ocean, which has lower water salinity.

Did you see the part about "lack of significant rivers or streams draining" into it?

If there was a wadi, perhaps, that had seasonal water...but the family stayed camped there while Nephi and his brothers went back for the Brass Plates. If it was only a stream resulting from rainstorms, Lehi was not hoping for much when he wished his son Laman would be "continually running into the fountain of all righteousness." 

Now let's see about rivers mentioned in the Bible, how many of them can be found today? Jordan, check. Tigris and Euphrates, check. The "river in Egypt," aka the Nile, check. Kishon, check. 

Now perhaps there was some river that existed three days distance from Jerusalem and it emptied into the Red Sea, but has since silted over. But this is only one of the examples of how Book of Mormon geography and history look like they were invented for a novel.

How did this false prophet end up making a true prophecy?

Most important, you must know that no prophecy of scripture represents the prophet’s own understanding of things, because no prophecy ever came by human will. Instead, men and women led by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

But false prophets also arose among the people. In the same way, false teachers will come among you. They will introduce destructive opinions and deny the master who bought them, bringing quick destruction on themselves.  Many will follow them in their unrestrained immorality, and because of these false teachers the way of truth will be slandered.  In their greed they will take advantage of you with lies. The judgment pronounced against them long ago hasn’t fallen idle, nor is their destruction sleeping.

2 Peter 1:20-2 Peter 2:3, Common English Bible Translation

I read these verses today and thought about Joseph Smith. I consider him to be a false prophet. You can read about how his own "prophecies" failed. You can find out about his "unrestrained immorality." You can read how he "introduced destructive opinions."

In his "translation" of the Bible, Joseph made it seem that he himself was mentioned in Biblical prophecies. It's with a bitter smile I see that indeed someone prophesied of Joseph--as a warning to us in the latter days.

Who judges us?

According to chapter 46 of Gospel Principles posted online at lds.org, at the Final Judgment, people will be judged by "The Son" with the assistance of the "The Twelve." I presume they mean Jesus and his apostles. To support this idea, they quote Matthew 19:28, which in the King James Version reads,

"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." In the New Revised Standard Version, "Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." It seems that they take the English word "judging" literally. In Greek it is κρινοντες and can mean to preside over, or to rule, as well as pass judgment. I looked through several Bible commentaries available online and couldn't find any support for the LDS doctrine that the apostles would be helping Jesus in the Last Judgment. Instead, I found multiple sources that said something similar to this statement from the Scofield reference notes: "The kingdom will be administered over Israel through the apostles, according to the ancient theocratic judgeship." In my personal opinion, Jesus doesn't need any help to judge us. The triune God is perfectly loving and omniscient and it's a relief to entrust my eternal salvation to God and not to any other person.

Where can I turn for info?

Here are some of my favorite sites for information about the LDS church (that aren't church-sponsored):

Mormon Coffee blog
http://blog.mrm.org

Mormonthink, with a comparison of LDS vs critics' views
http://www.mormonthink.com

Mark Cares, a pastor in Idaho who started a ministry especially to help Mormons
http://markcares.net

Mormonism Investigated, UK: Yes, there are people working to educate Mormons overseas too
http://mormonisminvestigated.co.uk

One Way to Rethink that Guilt Trip for Leaving the Church

Sadly, it seems that when someone chooses to leave the church, not only are they are blamed for being weak or deceived, but those people important to them also blame themselves for not doing enough to keep that person in the church. This goes right back to the root teaching of Mormonism that works are necessary. If enough isn't done, then people aren't saved.

I have a new perspective now. I believe God works in each person individually to bring them around. We are not responsible to save anyone else--that's God's job and that's why we have Jesus. God also works in us to help others. 

I'm personally relieved and very grateful to lay down my guilt and let God do the work and take the credit.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

John 3:16-17, NRSV

Are We All a "Royal Priesthood"?

Image from Wikimedia Commons, user Ariely, CC 3.0 unported

Women in the LDS church can heave a sigh of relief: they will probably never have to conduct a sacrament meeting or preside at a stake conference. They don't have to ask a blessing on the bread and water served as communion, or pass it around to the members. They won't have to baptize anyone, perform a marriage, or direct a funeral. They don't have to lead a prayer in the temple prayer circle or pretend to be Jesus at the veil. I know several LDS women that are content to be left out of these things: they don't want the responsibility of holding the priesthood and doing what is expected of the men who do.

There are some male members that for one reason or another never obtained the priesthood or never progressed to a higher level of priesthood. These male members are looked down upon as though something is wrong with them.

Would either of these two groups, women and men with less priesthood, be astonished to know that they actually are priests of God after all?

No need for approval of earthly church leaders or laying on of hands or finishing any checklist of rules...if only Mormons would consult and believe their Bibles they would see this:

1 Peter 2

King James Version (KJV)

⁵ Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

⁹ But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Revelation 1:5-6

King James Version (KJV)

⁵ And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

⁶ And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

And our great High Priest is Jesus:

Hebrews 4:14

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁴ Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

Whither was I to go?

So there I was last year, a short time after realizing the LDS church was not all it claimed to be, wondering if there could even be a God if such a profound deception was allowed to exist. I sat in my car and talked out loud to myself. I reasoned the following: if the atheists were right and this life was all there was to existence, then when I died, I would blink out and nothing more would matter. If the Hindus and Buddhists were right, then I would be reborn and have another chance to get it right in the next life. If the Christians were right, then if I turned my back on God, then the next life might be hell. I figured I'd better stick with Christianity since the potential for reward was great (heaven) and the risks low--if I was wrong about Christianity I either wouldn't exist to regret it or would have another shot at life, even if were only as an insect.

I am very happy to report that the further along I go on the path of Christianity, the closer I feel to God and the more peace and change for the good I sense in me.

13 things I didn't know when I was a Mormon

These things weren't part of the Sunday School curriculum. Heck, they might not be on a Christian church's curriculum either.

• There weren't necessarily three Magi that came to see the baby Jesus. There might have been more or less than three. Take a look and see if the Gospels actually name how many came.
• The New Testament was written in a form of Greek called koine and yet Jesus may have originally spoken Aramaic, so even the earliest manuscripts may have been translations of what he said.
• The Septuagint was a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible created by Jews. The Greek Orthodox church's Old Testament is based on the Septuagint translation. When the early Christians quoted the Bible, they were often quoting from the Septuagint.
• Speaking of translations, I had absolutely no idea how many English translations of the Bible exist. Wikipedia has a big list. 
• Some of the translation errors found in the King James Version are copied in the Book of Mormon. Now why would God perpetuate those errors in the "most correct book"?
• Some women were leaders of churches in the New Testament. Check out Phoebe, a deacon in Cenchreae.
• And speaking of deacons, I haven't yet seen how the LDS church can say their "priesthoods" are a restoration of anything Biblical. If so, wouldn't Aaronic priesthood holders have to sacrifice animals at the temples?
• And there's Deborah, a prophet in the book of Judges.
•  I found out that Mormons aren't the only church that say their way is the only way to salvation. 
• God didn't "give" multiple wives to Old Testament men like Abraham and Solomon. They chose to have more than one woman and they and their wives usually suffered for it.
• A lot of the scary, ugly, nasty stories in the Old Testament aren't there because God was condoning the bad things that happened. The stories highlight the mistakes people made and how God works with imperfect humans anyway.
• Having a liturgical calendar sure adds variety to worship.
• And I'll stop with my new understanding of grace as compared to how I used to think about it. In the past, I was a fan of a book called "Believing Christ" by LDS author Stephen Robinson. He told a "parable" where a little girl really wanted a bicycle so she gave all her money, a pittance, to her father, who then made up the difference and bought her the bike. I thought that was great--I do my very best, which amounts to very little, then God makes up the rest. I just had to hope that my very best would be enough to stretch up to God's hands. Now I know that's NOT grace. Grace is a free gift. God did it ALL. I can choose to accept it or not. It's about what God did, not about how much genealogy I did or if I gave the neighbors a Book of Mormon. I can't save myself. And actually, I'm relieved.

What is Sin? (part 2)

This is my opinion: Sin is doing the opposite of what love would do.

If we love God, we'll want to do good things, serve God, praise God. If we love other people, we'll want to be there for them, forgive them, cheer them. If we have love in our hearts, we won't be so likely to act out in ways that hurt ourselves, other people, or the world in general.  The kindness and gentleness and courage that comes from love changes everything.

 Jesus could have given us a list of specific "don't"s, but instead he gave us two "do"s that apply to every circumstance and every century:

Matthew 22:34-40

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

³⁴ When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵ and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷ He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Mark 12:28-31 (NRSV)

²⁸ One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰ you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

 

Luke 10:25-28 (NRSV)

²⁵ Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” ²⁷ He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

John 13:33-35 (NRSV)

³³ Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ ³⁴ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Romans 13:8-10 (NRSV)

⁸ Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
 

1 Peter 4:8 (NRSV)

⁸ Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 
 

1 John 3:23 (NRSV)

²³ And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

What is Sin? (part 1, According to the Latter Day Saints)

As a Mormon, I associated sin with breaking the rules of the church, going against the words of the prophet, or failing to do what was expected of me as a member. For example, I never was a smoker, but I knew an older man who was and he struggled  over continuing to smoke because it was against the Word of Wisdom. He still came to church, and even served in a voluntary position as the ward clerk, but he smoked in secret. I knew this because as a missionary in his ward, I ran into him after church one day in the street. He flipped his cigarette over and somehow put it out in his own hand before my companion and I arrived at his side. My companion and I had heard rumors and then we saw him in the act. But we didn't say anything about it to him because we'd heard his wife was ashamed of it and we didn't want to make it worse and have him go inactive.

As for me, I felt worried if I skipped going to sacrament meeting and taking the sacrament because that was considered to be a necessary "renewal of my baptismal covenant" with God. (One of the LDS apostles, David Bednar, said this: "Through the ordinance of the sacrament we renew our baptismal covenant and can receive and retain a remission of our sins.") I was fearful if I didn't pay my tithing because I didn't want to "burn" when the Lord came again to the Earth. (He that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming: D&C 64:23) Once I refused a calling and felt guilty for that because I'd been taught callings came from God, and refusing a calling was refusing to serve God. Various church leaders and prophets said that members should not watch R-rated movies, so I felt wicked for giving into temptation and seeing "Schindler's List." Not getting visiting teaching done, not going regularly to the temple, not treating garments (underwear for people who have been "endowed" at the temple) with proper respect (seriously--don't drop them on on the floor, don't let people see them, don't roll them up to wear more revealing clothing over top, wear them 24/7) ("How it is worn is an outward expression of an inward commitment to follow the Savior," First Presidency Letter, 10 Oct. 1988)....there are many ways for a Mormon to "sin" besides breaking the Ten Commandments. Now perhaps I missed something in all those 27 years of being a member and am classifying all this as  sin for Mormons when perhaps another member of the church would say sins are only things like being unchaste, lying, murdering. Let me look up how they define it on their official church website.

Sin: See also Abominable, Abomination; Filth, Filthiness; Offend; Rebellion; Ungodly; Unrighteous, Unrighteousness; Wicked, Wickedness

Willful disobedience to God’s commandments.

So now I ask, what do they consider to be God's commandments?

Commandments of God: See also Commandments, the Ten; Law; Obedience, Obedient, Obey; Sin; Word of God

The laws and requirements that God gives to mankind, either individually or collectively. 

Remember the man I saw smoking? Well, the Word of Wisdom is considered to be a commandment currently, although it was originally "given as a principle with a promise." If a person uses tobacco, drinks tea, coffee, or alcohol or uses illegal drugs, they are not allowed to attend the temple.

There's the "law of chastity"--no sexual relations before marriage. Breaking that can get a person as far as excommunicated depending on how much happened and if the person has been "endowed" in the temple.

Here are a couple more things (found under under the definition for Obedience):

In nothing does man offend God, save those who confess not his hand and obey not his commandments: Doctrine&Covenants 59:21

I the Lord am bound when you do what I say: D&C 82:10

When we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated: D&C 130:21 

People must be chastened until they learn obedience: D&C 105:6

Really?

Can you see why Mormons run around stressed out, doing everything they believe is expected of them? It isn't just the peer pressure they put on each other to conform. They think they have to earn blessings, contribute to their salvation, prove themselves to God. I feel so sorry for them.

A Year Forward into Freedom

I don't know the exact date that I pulled an all-nighter and discovered that the LDS Church was full of lies. It's been about a year now. I have been musing on the changes in my life, the miracles, the challenges, the freedom I grow to love more each passing month and the anger I still feel.

I had a lot of good times as a member of the LDS church, mostly due to my friends and the warm fuzzy feelings from being an included part of the group. Or else due to my own strong desires to be good, to seek God. I learned at least one useful skill--how to speak to groups of people without fainting.

I also still feel very betrayed by the historic and current church leadership. In the age of the Internet it is hard to hide information and yet they still do it the best they can. They still rule over their kingdom that continues to grow in wealth.

I did give away a Bible during this past year. It was The Message, a modern language paraphrase translation by Eugene Peterson. I gave it to my dear friend who was the first member outside of my family that I told about leaving the church. I don't know if she has looked at it yet. It seems one of the side effects of leaving the church is the way I am separated from people I called friends because they are constantly busy with their church callings and activities. I am not so busy anymore, which I have found is a relief. But I am not with my friends in all their meetings anymore so I rarely see them now. I have spoken to my friend and seen her a few times, but it has been me that reaches out to her.

Meanwhile I am happy with my new church home. When I see same sex couples I rejoice that everyone is welcome there. When I sing in the small choir I think about how I am doing it to praise God. When I don't agree with the pastor I am free to discuss it with him. If I give money to the collection plate I do it because I want to keep the church going and growing and meet its needs, not because I'm afraid of what might happen if I don't give. One longtime member of the Christian church I attend has always been a Christian and she is sometimes baffled by her Mormon neighbors' beliefs. We had a talk about my change of church and I told her I would never go back. God has led me out of bondage and fear to where I am free to worship Him of my own free will.

I had a nice surprise the other night. I've been reading The Message at night and using the NIV and NRSV as my primary study Bibles. I really like the NIV translation. I hadn't so much as cracked open a King James Version in a few months. But I purchased a Jefferson Bible, used, out of curiosity. I was shocked to see that the archaic language wasn't such an impediment for me anymore. I choose to believe that my time studying and loving the Bible has paid off by God granting me understanding. Topics like grace are so much clearer now.

A friend who is still LDS told me the Bible was distasteful because of the sex and violence and stories about the dark side of human nature.  She's been reading it though, and sharing with me her questions and thoughts. I have probably been a little too enthusiastic in sharing the new knowledge I am gaining, but I revel in the fact that she is Thinking as she reads. I have told her some of the many questions I had as I read too. I have a notebook where I keep track of some of them, and the research I've done on them. I decided in the beginning to be courageous in my asking and I have found answers. Sometimes I talk out loud to God to ask Him why in the world something was done a certain way.

One of the Christian ministries to Mormons wrote something about God becoming so much bigger for people leaving the LDS church. It's true for me. God is Huge, and I am still getting to know Him. Now that I know He's not the limited being of flesh and bone, one of a succession of many gods, as the Mormons think of him, I know He is with me. I invite Him along with me and I found He is a very patient companion. I love the Christian idea about a relationship with Him. I am further along in understanding His real love for us all here. Instead of a god to fear if I let him down by me not doing enough, I am learning that it's all about what He did. And I am so glad for what He has done!

What Not to Do if You Want to Win Someone Over to Christ

I apologize for the long hiatus. I'm back. I've been suffering through the loss of family and friends dear to me who all passed away within a month. I saw and felt lots of evidence of God's love and care for me all this while. I just didn't have the wherewithal to continue blogging till now.

Today after church one of the members brought a visitor to meet me.  This woman was introduced to me as a member of the LDS church who was worried about her family finding out that she was looking outside the church. The woman was young and had small children with her.  They were all nicely dressed just like many Mormons are on Sundays, and the woman was smiling.  She had been brave enough to write down her contact information for the church.

This is where I wanted to say all the right things when I should have been listening. I told her I used to be LDS and had just transitioned last year. Then I babbled on in my enthusiasm, even mentioning this blog. I gave her my email address. And I think I killed the conversation with my eagerness. She was distracted by her children and then was gone, meeting other people.

I hope the other people were better with her than I was. I assessed my experience once I sat in my car and realized it would have been better to find out what brought her to our church than to overwhelm her with information. The Spirit taught me something important today and I am grateful.

I hope the next time I meet one of these rare people courageous enough to look around I will ask more questions and listen and put myself on the back burner until I am needed.

Looking back from the other side

This weekend was General Conference for Mormons.  While they gathered at the Conference Center in Salt Lake or around their TVs and PCs, I spent part of Saturday in my new church helping do some detail cleaning that the paid weekly cleaners don't do. I pondered how my views have changed so much this year. 

I looked at a photo of a wealthy woman from the 1800s who put her money into building the church I was cleaning.  I remember seeing her photo when I first visited the church around Christmastime last year.  My LDS visiting teaching companion and I went to see the Nativity scenes on display inside and to show support for the woman we visit-taught, who attended the church and even worked there. 

I chuckle now at my viewpoint then.  I wondered why was the woman we visited attending this church? Surely any Christian church was just a poor mockery of the true gospel of Christ.  Was she perhaps offended by someone in our LDS ward? And then this woman in history, why would she fight against the tide so much that she spent her money building the church?

But on this past Saturday, I thought to myself: Thank God that I visit-taught this woman who introduced me to this happy, welcoming church. And I tipped my baseball hat to the woman in the black and white photo for making this building possible.

I can hardly believe that I was so sure of myself back in the LDS days. I spent so much time judging everything else to be less-than and didn't even recognize it.

Manuscript under scrutiny by our friend Textual Criticism

"Now British scholar pours water on 'fake' papyrus text that claimed Jesus had a wife." See the full article at the Daily Mail.

"New Testament scholar Professor Francis Watson of Durham University says the fragment, which caused an international sensation this week, is a collage of texts from the Gospel of Thomas, copied and reassembled out of order."

A Harvard Divinity professor, Dr. Karen King, brought the papyrus into the spotlight.  Scholars dated it to the fourth century AD (300s) and said it was probably from Egypt.

As soon as I saw the headlines earlier this week, I knew there would be LDS members getting excited that this was proof that Jesus had to marry to achieve godhood. But keep in mind that if the manuscript is not a forgery, it was written well after the time of Jesus and even Dr. King said it isn't reliable as a biography compared to the other sources we have.

Who really wrote the Bible?

Ever heard of the Documentary Hypothesis? I hadn't until about a month ago. My pastor handed me a book called, "The Bible with Sources Revealed." It was written by the same fellow whose "Commentary on the Torah" had been helpful to me earlier. Richard Elliott Friedman is his name and he is a well-known Biblical scholar. I read the introduction and wanted to understand it better, so I purchased a used copy of "Who Wrote the Bible?" It is Dr. Friedman's first offering to the public of his theory, published in 1987.

He did not invent the Documentary Hypothesis; it evolved in the 1700s and 1800s. People studying the Bible noticed certain trends, like some stories appearing two times with different renderings. The Creation story does this, as does the Flood. These scholars surmised that someone might have edited together documents by different authors. Other clues were the way God was called "Elohim" sometimes and "Yahweh" other times. There were other patterns, like how those who used "Elohim" don't mention the Ark and those who wrote "Yahweh" don't talk about the Tabernacle.

At first, learning about this rocked my world in a bad way. Hadn't I always heard that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible? Apparently I wasn't the only one who didn't like hearing that this might not be the case, at least not in the form as the Pentateuch exists today. As I read about the evolution of the hypothesis, I found out that people were excommunicated and put to death for suggesting such things.

But as I continued to read, I saw that Dr. Friedman did not rob me of hope. He states that the editors and authors of the Bible as it stands today put together their works from older records, either oral or written. So far as I understand it, the Documentary Hypothesis is not saying that the Bible is myth, or its writings were invented well after events, but that the Bible as it appears today is a composite. That intrigues me.

Lee Strobel believes the Bible is reliable

I love this guy.  He was an atheist journalist who became a Christian pastor.  When I began to transition to being a Christian myself I read his book "The Case for Christ."  When I found myself wondering if there really was a God, I read "The Case for a Creator."  He presents common doubts and questions and interviews scholars about them.  Each time God is revealed in the evidence.

I find myself needing a boost now and then, so I am currently reading "The Case for the Real Jesus."

I still have doubts pop up over stuff that I thought I was sure about.  The other evening I read about the apostle Paul and how his letters have information that conflicts with the story written in Acts.  That started me worrying about the reliability of the Bible all over again.  Funny when I've just been writing about how trustworthy it is.  I don't have an explanation for that discrepancy yet, but I am sure I am not the first person to wonder about it.  Turns out the world of Christian apologetics is rich in explanations and full of different denominations.  I don't have to take anyone's word for it, I can study it myself, which I both stress over and enjoy.  It used to be simple to just accept what the LDS leaders said and not question. That is the path to hell, in my mind anyway, to rely on the words of men who claim to know God's will and have His authority, but whose policies change over the decades according to culture and the economy.

It's harder to take in opposing viewpoints and sort through a lot of information.  I am sure there are Christians who are content to not dig around, but I don't want to be like that.  I want to know for myself and I want to be able to explain to others when they are hurting for answers, like Lee Strobel does.