There are a lot of voices in today’s world. I would hazard a guess and say more than ever before in the history of the earth. We can stay on social media and news sites all day and night, continually bombarded with more and more information in a way that none of our ancestors could. The noise comes from all across the globe, sometimes peaceful and beautiful, all too often angry and divisive. Yes, there are voices that seek our wellbeing, but many more do harm.
A popular scripture passage in LDS-world is from 1 Kings. Elijah is having a really hard time of it – so hard in fact that he asks the Lord to take his life from him. This remarkable prophet thinks he is no better than his wicked ancestors. He wants to die. (1 Kings 19:4)
On a social media feed the other day, I came across this quote:
‘I was considering how powerful Truth is, that it is not something intangible like a simple concept or idea. It has a real and substantial impact on people, as impactful as a hurricane or an earthquake. When spoken with pure motive and without corruption, especially when the love and kindness of the Holy Spirit prompts it, truth becomes like a sword. It can be used to break a person’s chains and set them free, but it can also bring great offense. Some prefer to remain slaves to a lie, and anything that challenges those lies is seen as dangerous or heretical. But regardless of the reaction of the person, there is always a reaction, making truth as real as when we are touched by sunlight, wind, or rain. Some people recognize the truth when they hear it, while for others, the realization that it is truth slowly dawns upon them, like a seed growing until one day it bears fruit. Truth is rarely simply disregarded without emotion. When the truth is rejected, it is often done in anger, which has the potential to turn violent. When the truth opposes doctrines inherit to a person’s particular religious belief, people often lash out using harsh words. They may mock or belittling the person speaking the truth as if they are ignorant or stupid. Or they may label the person as deceived or evil. Regardless of how truth is received or rejected, its impact is meaningful and reveals much about the state of a person’s heart. Do they desire the truth above their own comfort, or will they do whatever it takes to find some way to dismiss the very thing that could set them free.’1
Amongst the comments to this post was one asking about how we determine the truth, given the conflicting messages and voices we hear.
There is a group of passages in Isaiah that causes a lot of speculation in LDS (and wider Christian) circles. In reality, there are many such passages, but here I’m referring to those relating to an end times servant, sometimes called the ‘Davidic servant’. Throughout Isaiah, the prophet uses a combination of King David, Moses, and the future Cyrus as types of the future end times servant.
In Isaiah 49, the Lord is speaking to this servant, who has been labouring in vain to bring the children of Israel back to God. ‘I have spent my strength for nought,’ says the servant. (Isaiah 49:4) But God is looking on the servant and seeing that he can do much, much more than ‘only’ bring Israel back to Him – this despite the servant’s apparent lack of success thus far.
‘And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.’ (Isaiah 49:6)
I’ve come across numerous theories about who this servant is or will be. Some say he will be someone named David because the Lord works in patterns and it will be a ‘second David’, and therefore must have the same name. Some have claimed to be this end times servant (usually while hiding their identity). Some LDS say that the end times servant is Joseph Smith and that he will return, either miraculously raised from the dead or resurrected. A spin on this latter point is that Joseph will be reborn as a new of his ‘multiple mortal probations’ (if you haven’t heard of this fringe doctrine, see the footnote below1). Some say this end times servant has already come and is currently hidden to the world2. Still others say the servant is Christ Himself and there will be no other.
6 April 1830 is a date well-known to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On that date, in New York State, Joseph Smith Jr organised the Church of Christ. When Joseph later began collecting revelations he had received into what would become the Book of Commandments (the predecessor to the Doctrine and Covenants), the Lord then dictated to Joseph the preface for that book – what is now known as Section 1 of the Doctrine and Covenants.
In that section, we read the God had given, ‘… power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually …’ (D&C 1:30)
I recall referencing this scripture extensively when a full-time missionary for the church in Chile many years ago. ‘See,’ I would say, ‘God Himself says this is the only true church.’
Another thing we would do is when people would pray about whether the Book of Mormon is true and felt God answered them in the affirmative, we would tell them that if the Book of Mormon is true, then that means Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and if Joseph Smith was a true prophet then the church he organised is the true church and they should join it.
I am something of a broken mess. I’ve known this for many years, although some of the reasons for this have only begun to become apparent to me over the last few months. My life-long struggle with depression, repeatedly escalating into debilitating episodes, now has some explanation. I am grateful for that, although the path to find my way out of it is long and currently shows no potential end. I trust that in either this life or the next, my soul will finally be free of the pain and affliction that have tormented me these past 50+ years.
As I was pondering this morning, the words came to me, ‘the things of my soul’. I thought it sounded like Nephi in the Book of Mormon, and a quick search led me to 2 Nephi 4:15
‘Today Christians … stand at the head of [this country]… I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity … We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press – in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past … (few) years.’ – Adolf Hitler (Cline, Austin. “Adolf Hitler on Christianity: Quotes.” Learn Religions, Apr. 5, 2023, learnreligions.com/adolf-hitler-on-christianity-quotes-248190.)
Angel Studios recent film release, Truth and Treason, has been getting a fair amount of publicity in the circles I inhabit online. I haven’t seen it yet, but I want to. It tells the true story of a young 17 year old Helmuth Hübener who resisted the Nazis and was executed by them. What the film doesn’t tell you is that Helmuth was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that he was also excommunicated by the Church for his resistance to the Nazis.
One of the YouTube channels I follow is Connor Boyack. For those who don’t know him, Connor is a fairly well-known commentator and activist in Utah, probably of a more Libertarian bent, and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Sometimes I agree with him, and sometimes I disagree but I usually find his ‘Sunday musings’ well thought-out and researched.
Yesterday, he entitled his musing ‘What would a modern Samuel the Lamanite sound like?’ You can watch his musing here.
The story of Laban and his sword in the Book of Mormon has long fascinated me. For many, it’s a problematic story, because Nephi cuts off Laban’s head with his own sword, as commanded by the Spirit and, well, that sort of thing is more likely to be a sign of mental illness in our days and times. So, I get that.
But I think we’ve long misinterpreted this passage and today I’d like to perhaps recast this tale and hopefully help us to all understand it in a new light.
First off, it’s probably worth emphasising a couple of things. One, although told in narrative story form, Nephi isn’t writing in order to tell us a story. He is teaching us about how to come to Christ. He is most explicit about this effort in 2 Nephi, but it’s the same message in 1 Nephi – just expressed differently.
In my last post, I talked about one way to interpret the writings of Nephi in the Book of Mormon is to assume that the characters of Laman and Lemuel represent you and me. Remember, they were always obedient to the Law of Moses – Nephi never once calls them out on that. They were also just like the majority of the Jews at Jerusalem – those who were about to be destroyed because of their wickedness (see 1 Nephi 2:13).
Although this approach makes us feel uncomfortable – after all, none of us likes to believe that we are included amongst the wicked – it causes some deep introspection and self-examination. We start to look more closely at how Nephi describes his older brothers. If he never criticises them for their approach to the Law of Moses, when does he call them to repentance?
If you’re not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or any of the other splintered organisations descending from Joseph Smith, you might not have read the Book of Mormon – and maybe you don’t think there’s any reason for you to do so. But before you click away, please read this from Baptist minister, Lynn Ridenhour:
I’m a licensed Southern Baptist minister and I embrace the Book of Mormon.
All Things Witness 