Friday, November 16, 2012
Looking Forward
Today I finally had my senior meeting with Mrs. Long. I probably had the longest meeting out of all the students, it lasted over two hours! Before today, I was entirely unsure of where I planned to go to college or how I was going to go about it, plan for it, or apply for anywhere. Now I know where I am going to go, how to get started with it, and how to get where I want to be. It made me so excited for what is going to come after high school instead of it intimidating me as it usually does. We also talked a lot about my personal life as well, she seemed to be very interested about how things where like at home for me. After talking to her about how I live and work, and my circumstances and so forth, she seemed to be very concerned about me. She was trying everything she could to make things work out better for me than they have been. Which has led to an entire schedule change in order to come to school in the morning, take the 2 classes I need, and then leave so I can work. Unfortunately, this means that starting next semester, I will have to go to a different English class. I don't want to change necessarily but I know it will help me tremendously. Things will be a lot easier on my and it wont be so hard to juggle my 40 hours of work a week along with school since I will be able to start working a little earlier in the day. It's a little bitter sweet.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Interpretation Goes A Long Way
As many already know, I am a very religious person. The religion that I am apart of is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, other known as Mormon. With Romney running for president (or WAS), Mormonism has really come to light recently and I have endured the most criticism, questions, and talked to many people about how they feel about the church. What everything boils down to is why people seem to separate us from other Christians, and ultimately, is all about interpretation. How? Well all Christians believe in Christ and base teachings off of the Bible. This we also do. The only thing being, the Bible can be a very controversial book and can be interpreted in many different ways, we just happen to interpret a few things differently, so in turn, we do things a little differently.
For starters, many Christians, not all, believe that the Bible is the only inspired book of Christ and is perfect, they greatly disagree that Mormons four books of scripture. We have the Holy Bible (king James Version), the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Mormon. We have these different books as a means of clarification and deeper testimony, if you were unsure of something that you read in the Bible, you will find more information on it in the other books. Many Christians do not agree with this simply because Deuteronomy states “you shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2). From this verse it refers to “this book” in which the Bible had not been fully created yet, so we interpret this to mean adding or taking away from his own book, his own words; the Book of Revelation. We have added separate books, written with different words of different people (just as the Bible does), giving us more of a perspective and a fuller understanding.
For instance members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe that it is Christ’s atonement by which we are saved, but we also believe that we must do good works throughout our lives; Nephi states “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). Whereas critics to our doctrine say that with accepting Christ as our savior and through Christ’s grace, there is nothing more necessary to be saved. This idea of grace alone, I must add, is never stated in the bible. Although it does say “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:9-9). Well does this not plainly say that only His grace is needed? Well here is the thing, we accept the Bible in its entirety regarding what it says of Grace, faith, and works, and not just a few selected passages which are often misinterpreted. We believe that this verse was to simply teach the importance of grace. Christians may pull out that verse as their reason for believing this, but leave out that James wrote: “For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). This verse, and many like it, perfectly embody what the LDS Church believes on this matter. There is another instance of criticism in which Mormons believe that Heavenly Father has a physical body, whereas other Christians believe he is of spirit form. This belief is often claimed to be non-Christian by citing “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24) as it is stated in the King James Version. However, this verse should simply read “God is spirit”, due to the fact that in the Greek language (the language in which this verse was translated from) there is no “a” or “an”. With it now reading “God is spirit”, it no longer means God is a spirit, rather stating that spirit is one of his many attributions. Mormons, nor do Christians interpret “God is light” (1 Jn. 4:5) to mean that God is only light, or “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8) to mean that God is only love. So why interpret "God is spirit" so literally?
Non-believers will often pick at small contradictions that they think they have found between the Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible. We cannot rule out an entire religion due to a few contradictions, especially when there are countless contradictions within the Bible itself. In john we read “I and my Father are one” (Joh. 10:30), then later in John we read “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I” (Joh. 14:28). So are they equal or not? In Isaiah it says “Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities” (Isa. 14:21). Then again, later, in Deuteronomy is says “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deu. 24:16). In one it clearly says to be punished for the fathers sins, whereas the second says the very opposite. And how are we to truly know the last words of Jesus Christ, when in Matthew it claims “and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is to say, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”… Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” (Mat. 27:46,50). Then in Luke it claims “and when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, “Father, unto thy hands I commend my spirit:” and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luk. 23:46). Once again, in John, it claims “when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “it is finished:” and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” (Joh. 19:30). So which of these is truly the last words of Jesus Christ? I have found multiple contradictions pertaining to rather or not god can be seen. “and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my backparts” (Exo. 33:23), “and the Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend” (Exo. 33:11), “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Gen. 32:30), all of which testify to us that God CAN be seen. “no man hath seen God at any time” (Joh. 1;18), “and he said, thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live” (Exo. 33:20), “Whom no man hath seen nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16), all of these testify to us that God CANNOT be seen. As you can see, by just these few examples, that the Bible is full of contradictions, so claiming that Mormon’s are not Christian because there are some contradictions in the Book of Mormon to the Bible, is just as valid as saying Christianity itself is not true because of the contradictions in their own Bible.
I could go on for days, but the bottom line, Mormon's are Christian, we believe in God, and just for the record, we do NOT believe in Polygamy.
For starters, many Christians, not all, believe that the Bible is the only inspired book of Christ and is perfect, they greatly disagree that Mormons four books of scripture. We have the Holy Bible (king James Version), the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Mormon. We have these different books as a means of clarification and deeper testimony, if you were unsure of something that you read in the Bible, you will find more information on it in the other books. Many Christians do not agree with this simply because Deuteronomy states “you shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2). From this verse it refers to “this book” in which the Bible had not been fully created yet, so we interpret this to mean adding or taking away from his own book, his own words; the Book of Revelation. We have added separate books, written with different words of different people (just as the Bible does), giving us more of a perspective and a fuller understanding.
For instance members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe that it is Christ’s atonement by which we are saved, but we also believe that we must do good works throughout our lives; Nephi states “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). Whereas critics to our doctrine say that with accepting Christ as our savior and through Christ’s grace, there is nothing more necessary to be saved. This idea of grace alone, I must add, is never stated in the bible. Although it does say “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:9-9). Well does this not plainly say that only His grace is needed? Well here is the thing, we accept the Bible in its entirety regarding what it says of Grace, faith, and works, and not just a few selected passages which are often misinterpreted. We believe that this verse was to simply teach the importance of grace. Christians may pull out that verse as their reason for believing this, but leave out that James wrote: “For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). This verse, and many like it, perfectly embody what the LDS Church believes on this matter. There is another instance of criticism in which Mormons believe that Heavenly Father has a physical body, whereas other Christians believe he is of spirit form. This belief is often claimed to be non-Christian by citing “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24) as it is stated in the King James Version. However, this verse should simply read “God is spirit”, due to the fact that in the Greek language (the language in which this verse was translated from) there is no “a” or “an”. With it now reading “God is spirit”, it no longer means God is a spirit, rather stating that spirit is one of his many attributions. Mormons, nor do Christians interpret “God is light” (1 Jn. 4:5) to mean that God is only light, or “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8) to mean that God is only love. So why interpret "God is spirit" so literally?
Non-believers will often pick at small contradictions that they think they have found between the Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible. We cannot rule out an entire religion due to a few contradictions, especially when there are countless contradictions within the Bible itself. In john we read “I and my Father are one” (Joh. 10:30), then later in John we read “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I” (Joh. 14:28). So are they equal or not? In Isaiah it says “Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities” (Isa. 14:21). Then again, later, in Deuteronomy is says “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deu. 24:16). In one it clearly says to be punished for the fathers sins, whereas the second says the very opposite. And how are we to truly know the last words of Jesus Christ, when in Matthew it claims “and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is to say, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”… Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” (Mat. 27:46,50). Then in Luke it claims “and when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, “Father, unto thy hands I commend my spirit:” and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luk. 23:46). Once again, in John, it claims “when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “it is finished:” and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” (Joh. 19:30). So which of these is truly the last words of Jesus Christ? I have found multiple contradictions pertaining to rather or not god can be seen. “and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my backparts” (Exo. 33:23), “and the Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend” (Exo. 33:11), “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Gen. 32:30), all of which testify to us that God CAN be seen. “no man hath seen God at any time” (Joh. 1;18), “and he said, thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live” (Exo. 33:20), “Whom no man hath seen nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16), all of these testify to us that God CANNOT be seen. As you can see, by just these few examples, that the Bible is full of contradictions, so claiming that Mormon’s are not Christian because there are some contradictions in the Book of Mormon to the Bible, is just as valid as saying Christianity itself is not true because of the contradictions in their own Bible.
I could go on for days, but the bottom line, Mormon's are Christian, we believe in God, and just for the record, we do NOT believe in Polygamy.
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