All Things Witness

Thoughts on the mission and power of Jesus Christ

Tag Archives: Religion

Refugees


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Being Right and Wrong

It seems I upset a few people with my post of yesterday. That wasn’t my intention. Given two of the three examples I used for living according to the scriptural injunction were based on my experience in the LDS church (tithing and polygamy), and that most of my readers are LDS, I knew there might be some discomfort for some people. But I expected it to be in relation to tithing and/or polygamy. I did receive one message from a lovely LDS woman about tithing, but every single other comment was about immigration – and not a single person had a positive thing to say about it. Indeed, quite a few were angry that I dared suggest a scriptural approach to the issue.

On the one hand, I probably should have foreseen this. I know immigration is a hot-button issue for a lot of people, and it does appear to be more prevalent amongst the Christian right, which the Mormon church definitely identifies with.

But on the other hand, it is both bewildering and soul-crushing.

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Open Bible


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Discerning Truth From Counterfeit

‘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.

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Nephi with Sword of Laban


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The Sword of Laban

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.

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Jesus and Children


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The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven

I find that some of the most tender scenes in the scriptures are when Jesus is with children. For Latter-day Saints, perhaps the scene in the Book of Mormon when Christ visits the people after his resurrection comes to mind.

‘Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full. And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. And when he had done this he wept again; And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones. And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.’ (3 Nephi 17:20-24)

Any parent would desire such a blessing for their children.

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Lehi teaches his family


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Arise From the Dust

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?

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Nephi and Laman arguing


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Being Laman

I don’t believe there is any single ‘right’ way to read or interpret the scriptures. Throughout my life, passages of scripture have meant different things to me at different times. You might have had the experience of reading a verse for the umpteenth time, only to have it jump out at you for the first time, and saying to yourself, ‘I’m sure that verse wasn’t there last time I read.’ It happens to me a lot.

The Jews had 4 ways to read the scriptures:

1. Peshat: the literal, simple level.

2. Remez: the allegorical level

3. Derash: the sermonic level – what the text means to individual people applying it in their lives

4. Sod: the mystical level

I often tell myself that I ‘should’ really spend more time examining the scriptures with each of these four ideas in mind. And when I listen to talks given by Robert Kay, for example, on understanding what it means to call upon the name of the Lord in Ether 3-4, it blows my mind at what there is to discover (see the video here). Robert is totally fascinating and I encourage you to give him a listen if you haven’t previously.

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Our Sacrifice for Him

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.

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A woman standing in a field raising her arms to the sky with a sunset behind her


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Praise the Lord

I gave this talk in our church meetings today and thought I’d post it. There are a few paragraphs that are copied from previous posts, so my apologies to regular readers of this blog.

When I served my mission in Chile far too many years ago, one of the things we would teach investigators is how to pray. Chile was a very religious nation and most people had prayed before, but not everyone. The pattern was a very simple four steps, which will be familiar to most here today.

We begin by addressing our Heavenly Father. Next, we thank Him; then we ask Him for things we need. Finally, we close in the name of Jesus Christ. It’s a pattern I’ve repeated myself from my first memories of prayer both personally, in my family and in church. 

Now, I’ve recently been spending some time studying the Lord’s prayer, as found in the sermon on the mount in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. That’s the pattern for prayer that Christ Himself has taught us, and one thing I’ve come to wonder is whether our standard LDS prayer follows the example and pattern he showed.

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Salt Lake temple


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The Holy Church of God

Have you ever read a passage of scripture – maybe even for the ‘umpteenth’ time – and had it hit you so profoundly that it’s caused you to re-evaluate something? Or maybe even re-evaluate everything? It’s caused a total shift in your paradigm of some principle, or even your foundation?

In my last post, I talked about the things we believe, but which are false, that prevent us from coming to know the truth (often called unbelief or traditions of the fathers in the scriptures). The truth must be our goal, because it’s the truth that sets us free. When we can truly let go of one or more of the false beliefs that we hold, the scriptures can open up to us in new ways, allowing us to have these profound experiences of life-altering understanding enlighten us. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

Now with that background, when I talk about the ‘Holy Church of God’, what do you think I’m referring to? Is it an organisation or institution? If so, which one?

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Our Iron Gates

Jesus told His disciples that in the latter days, many of even the very elect could be deceived (Matthew 24:24). That means that wherever you and I think we are in terms of being elect, we’re at risk of deception. Stop and think about that. Think about how important that is to you. Is it important to you that you avoid deception – I mean really important? What would you give up in order to ensure you had the truth?

Would it be nice to you to avoid deception or is it essential? Is your job more important than avoiding deception? Are family relationships more important than avoiding deception? Is staying comfortable in your traditions more important than avoiding deception? Is there anything you wouldn’t give away to God to avoid being deceived in these last days?

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