Without trying, I have so far devoted a majority of my posts, unintentionally, to the writings of Joseph Smith. It's very easy to do - a thirty volume set will be available in the next few years chronicling every written word penned by or influenced by the man. But in addition to Joseph Smith's thoughts and testimony, there is so much more that is on my mind that I would love to lay out here. I have had it in mind for some time to create a series of posts that lay out my religious beliefs. Here are my reasons for wanting to do this:
Foundation - If this site is going to be about various thoughts about my religion from my own perspective, it might as well start with a foundation for my beliefs.
Understanding - I want to increase in some small way a general understanding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - even if it is from a blog like this that very few will ultimately read. I have had enough experience so far to know that to be a Mormon conjures up a multitude of reactions - both positive and negative. When most people find out that I am Mormon, they leave it at that with no editorializing, leaving me to wonder what exactly they are thinking. Others are more forthcoming with their thoughts and questions. Usually those who are the most curious are all pretty religious themselves. Hopefully, those who fall into either camp will read this and come away with a better understanding of Mormonism and the beliefs that I and so many others around the world hold dear.
Former LDS friends - I'm writing this to my friends who have been members of the church, but who for varying reasons have decided to leave the church. That really is the main reason I started this blog. I hope that at least one of the them, and there are several, will stumble across this page and maybe see things through a different perspective, and re-examine their own faith ---and re-join us! We miss you.
Spread the word - Anyone who knows me well knows that I am an unapologetic advocate for my church, so I do not shy away from saying that I would love to see you or anyone else convert to my faith. I would also love to see members of my faith increase in their faith. I also seek ways to constantly increase my own personal faith. So by saying, "spread the word" I mean that it is my feeling that the truths I embrace can help you and can help the entire world.
However, I am not a salesman and I am perfectly content if you do not agree with my beliefs (see "Understanding" above). I think my non-LDS friends would never say that I push my religion on them. I speak freely of my religion, but I'm not annoying about it, and I love to learn about the faith & convictions of others, whether they be Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, etc. And I forgot atheists. They, too, I believe, are acting on faith to NOT believe in a God. They believe to not believe.
So with that, I'll begin to outline my case for what I believe. If you have strong beliefs in Mormonism or anything else, I encourage you to do the same on your own site, and please share your site with me. I'd love to check it out.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Doctrine on the mind of man
Great Joseph Smith quotes on the core LDS doctrine on immortality & matter from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith,_Jr. ---
There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes. We cannot see it, but when our bodies are purified, we shall see that it is all matter. --Doctrine and Covenants 131:7-8 (May 17, 1843)
[W]e shall find a very material difference between the body and the spirit; the body is supposed to be organized matter, and the spirit, by many, is thought to be immaterial, without substance. With this latter statement we should beg leave to differ, and state the spirit is a substance; that it is material, but that it is more pure, elastic and refined matter than the body; that it existed before the body, can exist in the body; and will exist separate from the body, when the body will be mouldering in the dust; and will in the resurrection, be again united with it. --Joseph Fielding Smith (editor), Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 207 (April 1, 1842)
You ask the learned doctors why they say the world was made out of nothing; and they will answer, 'Doesn't the Bible say He created the world?' And they infer, from the word create, that it must have been made out of nothing. Now, the word create came from the word baurau which does not mean to create out of nothing; it means to organize; the same as a man would organize materials and build a ship. Hence, we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos—chaotic matter, which is element, and in which dwells all the glory. Element had an existence from the time he had. The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed; they may be organized and re-organized, but not destroyed. They had no beginning, and can have no end. . . . [T]he mind of man—the immortal spirit. Where did it come from? All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning; but it is not so: the very idea lessens man in my estimation. I do not believe the doctrine; I know better. Hear it, all ye ends of the world; for God has told me so . . . We say that God himself is a self-existent being. Who told you so? It is correct enough; but how did it get into your heads? Who told you that man did not exist in like manner upon the same principles? Man does exist upon the same principles. God made a tabernacle and put a spirit into it, and it became a living soul. . . . How does it read in the Hebrew? It does not say in the Hebrew that God created the spirit of man. It says 'God made man out of the earth and put into him Adam's spirit, and so became a living body.' The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is [co-eternal] with God himself. I know that my testimony is true . . . Is it logical to say that the intelligence of spirits is immortal, and yet that it had a beginning? The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end. That is good logic. That which has a beginning may have an end. There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are [co-eternal] with our Father in heaven. . . . I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man—the immortal part, because it has no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two; then it has a beginning and an end; but join it again, and it continues one eternal round. So with the spirit of man. As the Lord liveth, if it had a beginning, it will have an end. All the fools and learned and wise men from the beginning of creation, who say that the spirit of man had a beginning, prove that it must have an end; and if that doctrine is true, then the doctrine of annihilation would be true. But if I am right, I might with boldness proclaim from the house-tops that God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself. --History of the Church 6:308-309
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
How We Know What We Know
Today's edition of Meridian Magazine headlines with an article written by Brother Truman G. Madsen, who passed on May 28, 2009. I include it here in his memory.
How We Know What We Know: Reverberations of truth in an age of deeply conflicting voices.
by Truman G. Madsen
Over a period of forty years, I have worked in the area of "how does one know," a study that has become more significant in an age of deeply conflicting voices. And I can report, in a comparative mood, that there are only five main modes that have been appealed to in all traditions, philosophical or religious. An appeal to reason, an appeal to sense experience, to pragmatic trial and error, to authority (the word of experts), and finally to something a bit ambiguous called intuition. I can report, too, that from my judgment, those five modes are harmonized and balanced in our living (LDS) tradition more effectively than any other tradition I know.
Is there a religious way of knowing? Do these modes leave anything out? To answer that, I want to speak of a religious undergirding experience and not just religious experiences. Let me tell you that there are evidences, now widely recognized, that religious experiences are far more common than has been observed in the recent past and that they are not simply the projections of infantile regression, which is what some reductive psychological theories say. It is at least possible that the sense of God originates in God himself.
Let me begin with a few quotations from an almost-forgotten poet, historian, and member of the [LDS] Council of the Twelve [Apostles] -- Orson F. Whitney:
Why are we drawn toward certain persons and they to us as if we had always known each other? Is it a fact that we always have? Is there something after all in that much abused term affinity? In all events, it is just as logical to look back upon fond associations as it is to look forward to them.
We believe that the ties formed in this life will be continued in the life to come. Then, why not believe that we had similar ties before and that some of them at least have been resumed in this state of existence.
After meeting someone whom I had never met before on earth, I have wondered why that person's face seemed so familiar.
More than once, upon hearing a noble sentiment expressed, though unable to recall that I'd ever heard it until then, I found myself in sympathy with it, was thrilled by it, and felt as if I had always known it.
The same is true of some strains of music, some perhaps heard today. They are like echoes of eternity. I do not assert pre-acquaintance in all such cases but, as one thought suggests another, these queries arise.
When it comes to the Gospel, I feel more positive. Why did the Savior say, "My sheep know my voice?" Did the sheep ever know the voice of a shepherd it had never heard before? They who love the truth, and to whom it most strongly appeals, were they not acquainted with it in a previous life? I think so. I believe we knew the Gospel before we came here, and that is what gives it a familiar sound. 1
Now add the lines from Eliza R. Snow that we sing and feel, "Ofttimes a certain something whispers, 'You're a stranger here.'" A friend of mine calls this "celestial homesickness." But also, I would add, that there is a feeling that we are here on purpose--that we haven't just wandered "from a more exalted sphere" but are where we ought to be. This sometimes comes through in a sense that we have seen or felt or experienced a thing before. And so I suggest a premise rather unique to our tradition, that recognition, spiritually speaking, is indeed REcognition, that some discovery is REcovery, that recollection is the REcollection of images from before.
B.H. Roberts once said that "Faith"--and he meant faith in Christ or trust in Christ--"is simply trust in what the spirit learned aeons ago." Behind that statement are two sovereign truths from our modern revelations. One is that man is spirit. Yes, embodied, but man is spirit (D&C 93:30-31). It is even said that man is the spirit of truth from the beginning (D&C 93:23). Hence, says modern revelation, all intelligence, being independent, can either welcome or suppress and repress the Holy Spirit. And if we do not receive it, we are told, we are under condemnation (D&C 93:30-31). On the other hand, if we do receive it, then we are told that our light will grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day (D&C 50:24).
The other truth is that "the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit" (D&C 84:45-46).
Is it then the case that this beginning light is in everyone? Is it a universal experience? If so, does this have enough impact, even in the so-called secular world, that Jung, for example, posits a collective unconscious--you don't just remember your own autobiography, you somehow remember the whole racial experience. And thus, he says, a fourteen-year-old girl can have dreams of all the archetypes of the human consciousness though she has never experienced them directly in this world. Or again, Joseph Campbell, the great student of comparative religion and myth, wants to say that myths express the depths of man more effectively than so-called prosaic or propositional truths. Some eastern philosophers, convinced that we have more in our minds than can be accounted for by this life, have concluded that reincarnation or even transmigration is the only explanation.
William James once argued that, because of this same phenomenon, there may be a reservoir of spiritual insight that not just exceptional persons but the ordinary man or woman can occasionally break into and recognize. Rudolph Otton has written about the idea of the holy and call it the "numinous," just as the word luminous refers to light. This is the sense of the sacred which he holds is universal and isn't discovered or learned, but somehow given. Many of the theists among modern writers in existentialism have talked about the "depth-self" that even our own best introspection cannot reach.
Now, leading into reason for a moment, let me quote from the Prophet Joseph Smith. "Every word," he says, "Every word of Jehovah has such an influence over the human mind--the logical mind." I interrupt to say that I think he doesn't mean the mind of one trained in formal logic, Aristotelian or Russellian, but a mind that hasn't been cluttered by the notion that in religion the more contradictions you find the better, that piling paradox on paradox somehow indicates truth. No. "To the human mind--the logical mind," the Prophet says, every word of Jehovah "is convincing without other testimony. Faith or trust comes by hearing the word." 2
Many of you will encounter, if you haven't already, traditional rational arguments for the existence of God. They are all of them afflicted with fallacies. They presuppose in their premises what they claim to demonstrate in the conclusion. And, further, they presuppose in their premises something about the very nature of God.
I suggest that little is given in holy writ that can be called an argument for the existence of God. I suggest that instead of argument there is witness. Witness to experience. God is not at the end of a syllogism; but rationality, and a mind illuminated, enable us to follow certain clear inferences from proper and authentic premises.
What about witness? That leads us to both the question of authority and the question of our own testimony. Said the Prophet again, "No generation was ever saved, or [for that matter] destroyed, on dead testimony." 3 I think by "dead" he means the record of the remote past. We're not fully accountable to that record, but we are to a living witness who bears living testimony to our living spirit. That's when we reach the zenith of responsibility. We recognize that and perhaps we run from it. When a child runs away with his hands over his ears, what is happening? Doesn't the child already pretty well know the message, even while he covers his ears and says, "I didn't hear you?"
Heber C. Kimball, without being grammatical, put the point elegantly after the outpourings at the Nauvoo Temple . He said, "You cannot sin so cheap no more." Many students have said to me over the years, "I'm afraid to pray because I'm afraid I won't get an answer. I'm not sure I could handle that." I have sometimes said, a little cruelly, "The problem may be exactly the reverse. You're afraid to pray because you are afraid you will have an answer, and you already have a shrewd guess as to what it will be." If we know what's bad for us, we will neither listen to nor bear testimony. But if we know what's good for us, we will. And our spirits know.
Hence, Brigham Young once said, "More testimonies are gained on the feet than on the knees." By which he meant that when you are on record and in the presence of others, and are trying to be truthful, and you consult the depths of your own soul, you yourself may learn how profoundly you know.
Zina D. H. Young once walked into a room where there was a copy of the Book of Mormon on a windowsill. She had never seen it and, therefore, of course, had never read it. She walked over and felt a certain warmth and aura. She held the book and then hugged it, murmuring, "This is the truth, truth, truth!" 4 Later, she read it. I would call that an "a priori" testimony. I know a man who knelt down to pray, "O God, is this book true?" and then interrupted himself: "Oh, never mind, I already know it's true."
A marvelous woman who read part of a chapter in a book--not really mine, I was only citing scripture--shook my hand to thank me. "You know," she said, "I read almost all night, and I laughed all night." That changed my expression. She said, "I don't mean that the way it sounds. You see, I would say to myself, 'I've always known that. But I didn't know I knew' (laugh)." She said, "It wasn't the 'Ho, ho, ho' and it wasn't the "Ho, hum.' It was the 'Ah ha' experience." Whenever that happens, there is an accompanying lift. It is exhilarating, and even things you've heard over and over have new zest and tingle and deepen understanding. Students have said to me and to my colleagues here, "Thank you for teaching me such and such." But the "such and such" was something we did not know, or at least did not attempt to teach that day. A better voice than ours was whispering over our voice something that they were ripe and ready for. And it came.
Said the Prophet again, "All things whatsoever God in His infinite wisdom has seen fit to reveal to us while dwelling in mortality in regard to our mortal bodies, are revealed to us in the abstract, independent of affinity to this mortal tabernacle, but are revealed to our spirit precisely as though we had no bodies at all." Like a laser beam, I suggest. "And those revelations that will save our spirits will save our bodies." 5
On the senses, a colleague of mine at an eastern university said to me one day, "Yes, I've heard you Mormons have a sixth sense. You do. It is the sense that enables you to swallow this nonsense called Mormonism." Even if you conclude, with certain scientific naturalists, that anything that is nonsensory is nonsense, that is endorsement, in a measure, of your heritage. Said Erastus Snow, referring to the Prophet, "Joseph taught that the spirit of the Lord underlies all our natural senses, that is seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching. The spirit communicates with the spirit of man and enlivens all the other senses." 6 We are unique in this view.
Creative as well as scientific people prize accurate observation and all the instruments that have become available to intensify it, whether in the macrocosm or the microcosm. Such people also strive to express what they have learned either in math or in the creative arts, a fullness of expression in another language. This is a platform for scientific and aesthetic effort. The senses, far from being disparaged and denied, may thus be seen as eternal as the spirit. A famous example of logical positivism is "Can you verify that there are mountains on the other side of the moon?" They are presently unseeable. "Yes," they say, "but in principle they are verifiable. One can conceive of the conditions under which they could be seen." True. Someone who came back from space--a cosmonaut, I believe--was reported to have said that they didn't find God out there. President Spencer W. Kimball commented that if they had stepped outside their space capsule, they might have.
God, angels, and spirits are, similarly, observable under certain circumstances, and in due time we will have the opportunity of confirmation through the senses as we now have of the spirit. Jesus did say, "Handle me, and see" (Luke 24:39).
Now, Lorenzo Snow: "We were selected, ordained, and set apart there. Where? In the prior life."--according to our worthiness and preparation and training to come forth when our preparation fitted clearly into the great plan of our Father. And as we live worthy [and, I would say, perhaps not otherwise] the Holy Spirit brings this knowledge to this body, and that is the only way we become acquainted with the knowledge of our spiritual understanding. This body must get acquainted with former pre-existent experiences through being revealed to, and being made part of, this flesh." 7
Said Joseph F. Smith, "If Christ knew beforehand"--and he's talking about this certain foreknowledge that Jesus must have had in order to volunteer for his mission--"If Christ knew, so did we. But in coming here we forgot all [so] that our agency might be free indeed to choose good or evil that we might merit the reward of our choice and conduct. But by the power of the Spirit in the redemption of Christ, through obedience, we often catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul which lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home." 8 Yes, for now the spark. And someday, the whole flame.
Elder Parley P. Pratt, who gave this matter considerable thought, once wrote, "It is when we are off-guard that some of these insights spring up unbidden. You need to pay attention to them and try to remember them because they are fleeting and elusive." But, said he, at night when you are approaching quiet slumber, for example, when the outward organs are resting, then "some faint outlines, some confused and half-defined recollections of that heavenly world may come. And those endearing scenes of the former estate enable spirit to commune with spirit. Soul blends with soul in all the raptures of mutual, pure and eternal love." 9
Said Brigham Young, "Recollect, Brothers and Sisters, that your spirit is pure and under the special control and influence of the [Holy] Spirit.
When evil is suggested to you, when it arises in your hearts, it is the temporal organization. When you are tempted, buffeted, and step out of the way inadvertently, when you are overtaken in a fault or commit an overt act unthinkingly, when you are full of evil passion and wish to yield to it, then stop and let [that's different from "make"; it presupposes that the spirit wants this] the spirit which God has put into your tabernacle take the lead. If you do that, I will promise you that you will overcome all evil and obtain eternal lives. But many, very many, let the spirit yield to the body and are overcome and destroyed. 10
So the spirit has a mind of its own, and it is strong, and it speaks with authority. The spirit has a mind of its own--it is saturated with intelligence. The spirit is what prevents you from sinning wholeheartedly.
Now what about authority? Do you want to hear the party line of those of us who get a bit paranoid because of abuse by the big person who has clout over us? I've often wanted to say that Jesus Christ never lords it over us, but under us. He comes down and lifts us up from below. What about that kind of authority? We sometimes repeat the party line we should reject: "Be independent! You don't have to listen to anyone. What is this 'Take my word for it' stuff?" But we belong to a tradition where the word of the prophets is "Don't just take my word for it. That is blind obedience." How do we know a man is a prophet? Only when we are prophets ourselves. Only when we are actuated by the same spirit. And that's the way we prove the prophetic mantle and how it applies to us.
Said the Prophet Joseph Smith after one of the most revelatory meetings in his life, "There was nothing made known to me or to these men [the Twelve] but what will be made known to all the saints of the last days so soon as they are prepared to receive." 11 This is the religion of every man. Not, "Take my word for my experience," but, "Duplicate it in your own life." How far do I go with this? All the way.
Let me then come to a close. I have hiked with my wife at night all the way from the base of what is known as Mount Sinai to the top (incidentally, with a very sore toe. Climbing hurts, and the more you climb, the more it hurts). We went up to where the air is thinner and the veil thinner. There isn't time here to describe the feeling, but we were able to recollect there that Moses had face-to-face communion with God. He came back down and said to the children of Israel , in the name of the God whose name he knew, "Now, you have been invited to go back up with me." And they said, "Thank you, no. That's for prophets. That's for people who are a bit fanatical. We will stay here, and you go up, Moses." In his absence they built an idol. The power of religious impulses goes in many directions. They built an idol--a thing--and were denied the privileges Moses had (see D&C 84:23-25). That is what our generation is now doing again. We are staying down here below and then claiming superiority for our judgment in doing so.
I bear you my testimony that the ways of knowing are true. I bear testimony that there is locked in you, under amnesia, power greater than you can presently imagine. And I bear my testimony that if that is true, then you don't need to go anywhere else to investigate, for it has reverberated in your souls. I pray that it may continue to reverberate in you as we move together into the twenty-first century.
Notes
1 Orson F. Whitney. In Improvement Era, 13:100-1.
2 Joseph Smith. In The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 237.
3 Smith, Words of Joseph Smith, p. 159.
4 Zina D. H. Young. In Young Woman's Journal 4:318.
5 Joseph Fielding Smith, comp. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1963), p. 355.
6 BYU Special Collections, MSS. 44, Folder 5.
7 Journal of John Whitaker, April 6, 1894.
8 Joseph Smith. In The Contributor, 4 (1883): 114-15.
9 Parley P. Pratt, Key to Theology, p. 119.
10 Brigham Young. In Journal of Discourses (Liverpool, England: Latter-day Saints' Book Depot, 1855-86) 2:224.
11 Joseph Fielding Smith, Teachings of the Prophet, p. 237.
"How We Know What We Know" was originally given as a devotional address at the BYU Marriott Center under the title "Reverberations of Truth." It was adapted and reprinted in Charting a New Millennium, The Latter-day Saints in the Coming Century and is used here by permission.Sunday, May 31, 2009
Of Faith
The word "faith" is almost universally understood as a religious term. The athiest and secularist alike hear the word faith and think of the individual who believes in an unseen power, with little consideration to the application of the word in their own life. Among the religious, faith itself is defined in as many ways as there are religions.
Early in his ministry, Joseph Smith taught a class titled, "Of Faith," and while it is no longer studied closely in the LDS church, it provided the foundation for what was and continues to be a revolutionary approach to the concept of faith.
Seven lectures delivered in Kirtland, Ohio in the winter of 1834-35 are compiled in a book that is now titled Lectures on Faith. The lectures defined what faith is, the object on which faith rests, and the effects which flow from faith.
The first lecture begins with the scripture from Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance [assurance] of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." He then calls faith the "principle of action in all intelligent beings." The secularist, the self-classified athiest, or the unbeliever is taught first that faith applies to all, and is better understood when viewed in that light. He teaches:
***
See also: BYU series on the Lectures on Faith
Early in his ministry, Joseph Smith taught a class titled, "Of Faith," and while it is no longer studied closely in the LDS church, it provided the foundation for what was and continues to be a revolutionary approach to the concept of faith.
Seven lectures delivered in Kirtland, Ohio in the winter of 1834-35 are compiled in a book that is now titled Lectures on Faith. The lectures defined what faith is, the object on which faith rests, and the effects which flow from faith.
The first lecture begins with the scripture from Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance [assurance] of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." He then calls faith the "principle of action in all intelligent beings." The secularist, the self-classified athiest, or the unbeliever is taught first that faith applies to all, and is better understood when viewed in that light. He teaches:
If men were duly to consider themselves, and turn their thoughts and reflections to the operations of their own minds, they would readily discover that it is faith, and faith only, which is the moving cause of all action in them; that without it both mind and body would be in a state of inactivity, and all their exertions would cease, both physical and mental.It is faith in the spiritual, or the unseen, that is the focus of the remaining lectures. The lectures are a great read for those who do not believe but want to better understand those who do, and it is also a wonderful introduction to the first principle of the Gospel as believed and practiced by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Were this class to go back and reflect upon the history of their lives, from the period of their first recollection, and ask themselves what principle excited them to action, or what gave them energy and activity in all their lawful avocations, callings, and pursuits, what would be the answer? Would it not be that it was the assurance which they had of the existence of things which they had not seen as yet? Was it not the hope which you had, in consequence of your belief in the existence of unseen things, which stimulated you to action and exertion in order to obtain them? Are you not dependent on your faith, or belief, for the acquisition of all knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence? Would you exert yourselves to obtain wisdom and intelligence, unless you did believe that you could obtain them?...In a word, is there anything that you would have done, either physical or mental, if you had not previously believed? Are not all your exertions of every kind, dependent on your faith? Or, may we not ask, what have you, or what do you posess, which you have not obtained by reason of your faith? Your food, your raiment, your lodgings, are they not all by reason of your faith? Reflect, and ask yourselves if these things are not so. Turn your thoughts on your own minds, and see if faith is not the moving cause of all action in yourselves; and, if the moving case in you, is it not in all other intelligent beings?
And as faith is the moving cause of all action in temporal concerns, so it is in spiritual...
As we receive by faith all temporal blessings that we do receive, so we in like manner receive by faith all spiritual blessings that we do receive.
(Lectures on Faith, by Joseph Smith, Deseret Book Company, 1985, pgs 1-3.)
***
See also: BYU series on the Lectures on Faith
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
'Major Discovery'
This article cites a new discovery, the 1831 edition of the Book of Commandments & Revelations, found recently in the church's archives. After reading the article, you are probably wondering how you can get your hands on the book?! The author seems to skip over the most important find of the book, which is the fact that it contains seven revelations not included in the modern canon of the church. It may be that some of these revelations are contained in our historical record and that is why more information isn't provided in the article. But if they are not to be found anywhere in available church history, then they will surely be gems to enrich our understanding of the early days of the restoration. In either case, it looks like we will probably see it in an upcoming "Revelations and Translations" volume of the Joseph Smith Papers project.
Speaking of which, the Joseph Smith Papers project is much more popular than I think anyone intended it to be. If you want to purchase the next volume (at a steep cost of $99), you have to pre-order by June 1 in order to guarantee receiving it in September! The staff at Deseret Book told me that they have all been surprised by the many orders they have received, and that it is by far the most popular seller in their store. It's a beautiful thing that there is so much interest in Joseph Smith's original writings. For a teaser into the Joseph Smith Papers project, you can watch BYU TV online, and find two 1/2 hr shows airing each Monday from 5pm to 6pm. The web site allows you to scroll back over weeks and weeks of programming. This particular show has been around for at least a month. The series is really fascinating, and I would like to see them fold the series into a DVD sometime in the future.
We live in a truly remarkable age when so much Gospel-related material is readily available. The historians in the series even say as much as they describe the technological advances that have made the Joseph Smith Papers project possible.
Speaking of which, the Joseph Smith Papers project is much more popular than I think anyone intended it to be. If you want to purchase the next volume (at a steep cost of $99), you have to pre-order by June 1 in order to guarantee receiving it in September! The staff at Deseret Book told me that they have all been surprised by the many orders they have received, and that it is by far the most popular seller in their store. It's a beautiful thing that there is so much interest in Joseph Smith's original writings. For a teaser into the Joseph Smith Papers project, you can watch BYU TV online, and find two 1/2 hr shows airing each Monday from 5pm to 6pm. The web site allows you to scroll back over weeks and weeks of programming. This particular show has been around for at least a month. The series is really fascinating, and I would like to see them fold the series into a DVD sometime in the future.
We live in a truly remarkable age when so much Gospel-related material is readily available. The historians in the series even say as much as they describe the technological advances that have made the Joseph Smith Papers project possible.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Mormon Radio
In the last year, I have wondered why there is no LDS radio station. When I flip through the AM & FM bands I hear a lot of religious stations, mostly evangelical Christian and non-denominational. I also saw a bumper sticker recently for a Catholic radio station, although I haven't heard that one yet. I have thought about it to the point that I wondered how I could start a station on the cheap that just played on a loop General Conference talks, BYU scripture roundtable discussions, and other firesides. There is plenty of church material that has been produced over the years that could easily fill years of unique programming. Well, I don't have to think about that any longer because now the Church has started, "Mormon Channel" on HD Radio. Check it out! The next step is getting a dedicated channel in Sacramento! And I'll hold out hope that Mormon Channel 2.0 will include a talk station that allows for Q&A.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Joseph Smith and Mathematics
James Arlington Bennet was an "unscrupulous opportunist" who, despite no sincere desire to become a member of the LDS church, he hoped to one day succeed Joseph Smith as its leader. He didn't hide his feelings about his lack of religiosity, either. In a letter to Joseph Smith, dated Oct. 24, 2843, Bennet said,
"I am capable of being a most undeviating friend, without being governed by the smallest religious influence.
"As you have proved yourself to be a philosophical divine, you will excuse me when I say that we must leave their influence to the mass. The boldness of your plans and measures, together with their unparalleled success so far, are calculated to throw a charm over your whole being, and to point you out as the most extraordinary man of the present age.
"But my mind is of so mathematical and philosophical a cast, that the divinity of Moses makes no impression on me, and you will not be offended when I say that I rate you higher as a legislator than I do Moses, because we have you present with us for examination, whereas Moses derives his chief authority from prescription and the lapse of time.
"I cannot, however, say but you are both right, it being out of the power of man to prove you wrong. It is no mathematical problem, and can therefore get no mathematical solution."
How would you answer Bennet's claim that religion lies outside of the realm of provability like mathematics? While the rest of Bennet's letter focused on other business, Joseph responded with a rather lengthy treatment on the subject of mathematics and religion. The entire letter, not included here, is a great read and reveals a strong testimony from the Prophet.
---Selections from Joseph Smith's History of the Church, Vol. 6, pages 73-78:
"DEAR SIR:--
"I proceed to answer you, and shall leave you to meditate whether 'mathematical problems,' founded upon the truth of revelation, or religion as promulgated by me, or by Moses, can be solved by rules and principles existing in the systems of common knowledge...
"The boldness of my plans and measures can readily be tested by the touchstone of all schemes, systems, projects, and adventures--truth; for truth is a matter of fact; and the fact is, that by the power of God I translated the Book of Mormon from hieroglyphics, the knowledge of which was lost to the world, in which wonderful event I stood alone, an unlearned youth, to combat the worldly wisdom and multiplied ignorance of eighteen centuries, with a new revelation...
"[T]ruth is mighty and must prevail, and that one man empowered from Jehovah has more influence with the children of the kingdom than eight hundred millions led by the precepts of men. God exalts the humble, and debases the haughty.
"It seems that your mind is of such 'a mathematical and philosophical cast,' that the divinity of Moses makes no impression upon you, and that I will not be offended when you say that you rate me higher as a legislator than you do Moses, because you have me present with you for examination; that 'Moses derives his chief authority from prescription and the lapse of time.' You cannot, however, say but we are both right, it being out of the power of man to prove us wrong. 'It is no mathematical problem, and can therefore get no mathematical solution.'
"Now, sir, to cut the matter short, and not dally with your learned ideas, for fashion's sake you have here given your opinion, without reserve, that revelation, the knowledge of God, prophetic vision, the truth of eternity, cannot be solved as a mathematical problem. The first question then is, What is a mathematical problem? and the natural answer is, A statement, proposition or question that can be solved, ascertained, unfolded or demonstrated by knowledge, facts or figures; for 'mathematical' is an adjective derived from mathesis (Gr.), meaning, in English, learning or knowledge. 'Problem' is derived from probleme (French), or problema (Italian, or Spanish), and in each language means a question or proposition, whether true or false. 'Solve' is derived from the Latin verb 'solvo,' to explain or answer.
"One thing more in order to prove the work as we proceed. It is necessary to have witnesses, two or three of whose testimonies, according to the laws or rules of God and man, are sufficient to establish any one point.
"Now for the question. How much are one and one? Two. How much is one from two? One. Very well; one question or problem is solved by figures. Now, let me ask one for facts; Was there ever such a place on the earth as Egypt? Geography says yes; ancient history says yes; and the Bible says yes: so three witnesses have solved that question. Again: Lived there ever such a man as Moses in Egypt? The same witnesses reply, Certainly. And was he a Prophet? The same witnesses, or a part, have left on record that Moses predicted in Leviticus that if Israel broke the covenant they had made, the Lord would scatter them among the nations, till the land enjoyed her Sabbaths' and, subsequently, these witnesses have testified of their captivity in Babylon and other places, in fulfillment. But to make assurance doubly sure, Moses prays that the ground might open and swallowup Korah and his company for transgression, and it was so: and he endorses the prophecy of Balaam, which said, Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city: and Jesus Christ, as Him that 'had dominion,' about fifteen hundred years after, in accordance with this and the prediction of Moses, David, Isaiah, and many others, came, saying, Moses wrote of me, declaring the dispersion of the Jews, and the utter destruction of the city; and the Apostles were his witnesses, unimpeached, especially Jude, who not only endorses the facts of Moses 'divinity,' but also the events of Balaam and Korah, with many others, as true...
"[I]f you had been as well acquainted with your God and Bible as with your purse and pence table, the divinity of Moses would have dispelled the fog of five thousand years and filled you with light; for facts, like diamonds, not only cut glass, but they are the most precious jewels on earth. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.
"The world at large is ever ready to credit the writings of Homer, Hesiod, Plutarch, Socrates, Pythagoras, Virgil, Josephus, Mahomet, and an hundred others; but where, tell me, where, have they left a line--a simple method of solving the truth of the plan of eternal life? Says the Savior, 'If any man will do his [the Father's] will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.' Here, then, is a method of solving the divinity of men by the divinity within yourself, that as far exceeds the calculations of numbers as the sun exceeds a candle. Would to God that all men understood it and were willing to be governed by it, that when one had filled the measure of his days, he could exclaim like Jesus, Veni mori, et reviviscere!...
"The summit of your future fame seems to be hid in the political Policy of a 'mathematical problem' for the chief magistracy of this state, which I suppose might be solved by 'double position,' where the errors of the supposition are used to produce a true answer...
"Shall I, who have witnessed the visions of eternity, and beheld the glorious mansions of bliss, and the regions and the misery of the damned,--shall I turn to be a Judas? Shall I, who have heard the voice of God, and communed with angels, and spake as moved by the Holy Ghost for the renewal of the everlasting covenant, and for the gathering of Israel in the last days,--shall I worm myself into a political hypocrite? Shall I, who hold the keys of the last kingdom, in which is the dispensation of the fullness of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy Prophets since the world began, under the sealing power of the Melchizedek Priesthood,--shall I stoop from the sublime authority of Almighty God, to be handled as a monkey's cat-paw, and pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of political demagoguery? No--verily no! The whole earth shall bear me witness that I, like the towering rock in the midst of the ocean, which has withstood the mighty surges of the warring waves for centuries, am impregnable, and am a faithful friend to virtue, and a fearless foe to vice,--no odds whether the former was sold as a pearl in Asia or hid as a gem in America, and the latter dazzles in palaces or glimmers among the tombs.
"I combat the errors of ages; I meet the violence of mobs; I cope with illegal proceedings from executive authority; I cut the guardian knot of powers. and I solve mathematical problems of universities, with truth--diamond truth; and God is my 'right hand man.'...
"With due consideration and respect, I have the honor to be
"Your most obedient servant, JOSEPH SMITH."
"I am capable of being a most undeviating friend, without being governed by the smallest religious influence.
"As you have proved yourself to be a philosophical divine, you will excuse me when I say that we must leave their influence to the mass. The boldness of your plans and measures, together with their unparalleled success so far, are calculated to throw a charm over your whole being, and to point you out as the most extraordinary man of the present age.
"But my mind is of so mathematical and philosophical a cast, that the divinity of Moses makes no impression on me, and you will not be offended when I say that I rate you higher as a legislator than I do Moses, because we have you present with us for examination, whereas Moses derives his chief authority from prescription and the lapse of time.
"I cannot, however, say but you are both right, it being out of the power of man to prove you wrong. It is no mathematical problem, and can therefore get no mathematical solution."
How would you answer Bennet's claim that religion lies outside of the realm of provability like mathematics? While the rest of Bennet's letter focused on other business, Joseph responded with a rather lengthy treatment on the subject of mathematics and religion. The entire letter, not included here, is a great read and reveals a strong testimony from the Prophet.
---Selections from Joseph Smith's History of the Church, Vol. 6, pages 73-78:
"DEAR SIR:--
"I proceed to answer you, and shall leave you to meditate whether 'mathematical problems,' founded upon the truth of revelation, or religion as promulgated by me, or by Moses, can be solved by rules and principles existing in the systems of common knowledge...
"The boldness of my plans and measures can readily be tested by the touchstone of all schemes, systems, projects, and adventures--truth; for truth is a matter of fact; and the fact is, that by the power of God I translated the Book of Mormon from hieroglyphics, the knowledge of which was lost to the world, in which wonderful event I stood alone, an unlearned youth, to combat the worldly wisdom and multiplied ignorance of eighteen centuries, with a new revelation...
"[T]ruth is mighty and must prevail, and that one man empowered from Jehovah has more influence with the children of the kingdom than eight hundred millions led by the precepts of men. God exalts the humble, and debases the haughty.
"It seems that your mind is of such 'a mathematical and philosophical cast,' that the divinity of Moses makes no impression upon you, and that I will not be offended when you say that you rate me higher as a legislator than you do Moses, because you have me present with you for examination; that 'Moses derives his chief authority from prescription and the lapse of time.' You cannot, however, say but we are both right, it being out of the power of man to prove us wrong. 'It is no mathematical problem, and can therefore get no mathematical solution.'
"Now, sir, to cut the matter short, and not dally with your learned ideas, for fashion's sake you have here given your opinion, without reserve, that revelation, the knowledge of God, prophetic vision, the truth of eternity, cannot be solved as a mathematical problem. The first question then is, What is a mathematical problem? and the natural answer is, A statement, proposition or question that can be solved, ascertained, unfolded or demonstrated by knowledge, facts or figures; for 'mathematical' is an adjective derived from mathesis (Gr.), meaning, in English, learning or knowledge. 'Problem' is derived from probleme (French), or problema (Italian, or Spanish), and in each language means a question or proposition, whether true or false. 'Solve' is derived from the Latin verb 'solvo,' to explain or answer.
"One thing more in order to prove the work as we proceed. It is necessary to have witnesses, two or three of whose testimonies, according to the laws or rules of God and man, are sufficient to establish any one point.
"Now for the question. How much are one and one? Two. How much is one from two? One. Very well; one question or problem is solved by figures. Now, let me ask one for facts; Was there ever such a place on the earth as Egypt? Geography says yes; ancient history says yes; and the Bible says yes: so three witnesses have solved that question. Again: Lived there ever such a man as Moses in Egypt? The same witnesses reply, Certainly. And was he a Prophet? The same witnesses, or a part, have left on record that Moses predicted in Leviticus that if Israel broke the covenant they had made, the Lord would scatter them among the nations, till the land enjoyed her Sabbaths' and, subsequently, these witnesses have testified of their captivity in Babylon and other places, in fulfillment. But to make assurance doubly sure, Moses prays that the ground might open and swallowup Korah and his company for transgression, and it was so: and he endorses the prophecy of Balaam, which said, Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city: and Jesus Christ, as Him that 'had dominion,' about fifteen hundred years after, in accordance with this and the prediction of Moses, David, Isaiah, and many others, came, saying, Moses wrote of me, declaring the dispersion of the Jews, and the utter destruction of the city; and the Apostles were his witnesses, unimpeached, especially Jude, who not only endorses the facts of Moses 'divinity,' but also the events of Balaam and Korah, with many others, as true...
"[I]f you had been as well acquainted with your God and Bible as with your purse and pence table, the divinity of Moses would have dispelled the fog of five thousand years and filled you with light; for facts, like diamonds, not only cut glass, but they are the most precious jewels on earth. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.
"The world at large is ever ready to credit the writings of Homer, Hesiod, Plutarch, Socrates, Pythagoras, Virgil, Josephus, Mahomet, and an hundred others; but where, tell me, where, have they left a line--a simple method of solving the truth of the plan of eternal life? Says the Savior, 'If any man will do his [the Father's] will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.' Here, then, is a method of solving the divinity of men by the divinity within yourself, that as far exceeds the calculations of numbers as the sun exceeds a candle. Would to God that all men understood it and were willing to be governed by it, that when one had filled the measure of his days, he could exclaim like Jesus, Veni mori, et reviviscere!...
"The summit of your future fame seems to be hid in the political Policy of a 'mathematical problem' for the chief magistracy of this state, which I suppose might be solved by 'double position,' where the errors of the supposition are used to produce a true answer...
"Shall I, who have witnessed the visions of eternity, and beheld the glorious mansions of bliss, and the regions and the misery of the damned,--shall I turn to be a Judas? Shall I, who have heard the voice of God, and communed with angels, and spake as moved by the Holy Ghost for the renewal of the everlasting covenant, and for the gathering of Israel in the last days,--shall I worm myself into a political hypocrite? Shall I, who hold the keys of the last kingdom, in which is the dispensation of the fullness of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy Prophets since the world began, under the sealing power of the Melchizedek Priesthood,--shall I stoop from the sublime authority of Almighty God, to be handled as a monkey's cat-paw, and pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of political demagoguery? No--verily no! The whole earth shall bear me witness that I, like the towering rock in the midst of the ocean, which has withstood the mighty surges of the warring waves for centuries, am impregnable, and am a faithful friend to virtue, and a fearless foe to vice,--no odds whether the former was sold as a pearl in Asia or hid as a gem in America, and the latter dazzles in palaces or glimmers among the tombs.
"I combat the errors of ages; I meet the violence of mobs; I cope with illegal proceedings from executive authority; I cut the guardian knot of powers. and I solve mathematical problems of universities, with truth--diamond truth; and God is my 'right hand man.'...
"With due consideration and respect, I have the honor to be
"Your most obedient servant, JOSEPH SMITH."
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The senses & eternity
The King Follett discourse is famous primarily because of the claim that Joseph Smith made when he presented to the Saints the bold doctrine about the destiny of man. I marvel that the sermon was given just two months prior to the young Prophet's martyrdom (he was only 38).
In the discourse, the principle of intelligence is taught, which is a fascinating doctrine in itself that I could devote a lot of time to on this site. Joseph ties the principle of intelligence to salvation, or living eternally with God.
Before this life, he explains, "God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge."
He goes on by saying that the laws God put into place instruct the "weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits."
At this point in the sermon, Joseph pauses to reflect on the way to know, understand, and comprehend true doctrines. He does this by appealing to a sense we typically do not associate with the way God speaks to our souls. He continues:
"This is good doctrine. It tastes good. I can taste the principles of eternal life, and so can you. They are given to me by the revelations of Jesus Christ; and I know that when I tell you these words of eternal life as they are given to me, you taste them, and I know that you believe them. You say honey is sweet, and so do I. I can also taste the spirit of eternal life. I know that it is good; and when I tell you of these things which were given me by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you are bound to receive them as sweet, and rejoice more and more."
Can you taste that? It calls to mind the scriptural command to "feast," whether it be temporally under the Mosaic Law, or in the spiritual sense as cited here, here and here.
***
All quotes from Joseph Smith's History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 312.
In the discourse, the principle of intelligence is taught, which is a fascinating doctrine in itself that I could devote a lot of time to on this site. Joseph ties the principle of intelligence to salvation, or living eternally with God.
Before this life, he explains, "God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge."
He goes on by saying that the laws God put into place instruct the "weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits."
At this point in the sermon, Joseph pauses to reflect on the way to know, understand, and comprehend true doctrines. He does this by appealing to a sense we typically do not associate with the way God speaks to our souls. He continues:
"This is good doctrine. It tastes good. I can taste the principles of eternal life, and so can you. They are given to me by the revelations of Jesus Christ; and I know that when I tell you these words of eternal life as they are given to me, you taste them, and I know that you believe them. You say honey is sweet, and so do I. I can also taste the spirit of eternal life. I know that it is good; and when I tell you of these things which were given me by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you are bound to receive them as sweet, and rejoice more and more."
Can you taste that? It calls to mind the scriptural command to "feast," whether it be temporally under the Mosaic Law, or in the spiritual sense as cited here, here and here.
***
All quotes from Joseph Smith's History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 312.
Altura?
It's best to first explain what "Altura" means and then I'll get going with my first official post. In the mid-nineties I served an LDS mission in Portugal. As I became immersed in the language and culture, I was fascinated with words that had no direct English translation. One such case is the word, "altura," which has several different meanings. Its various definitions can refer to altitude, time, and stature, among other things. I'm having a hard time finding a good Portuguese definition online, so I found a Spanish translation of the same word:
****
My hope is to share a few thoughts on this site that elevate and inspire, and I welcome your participation.
Oh, and Altura is also a city in Winona County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 417 at the 2000 census. All voting citizens from the city of Altura will get special posting privileges from the author.
altura [al-too’-rah]
noun
1. Height, loftiness. (f)
2. One of the three dimensions of a solid body. (f)
3. Summit of mountains. (f)
4. Altitude, the elevation of the pole or of any of the heavenly bodies. (f)
5. Exaltation of spirits. (Metaphorical)
- Estar en grande altura -> to be raised to a high degree of dignity, favor, or fortune
- Alturas -> the heavens
- Dios de las alturas -> God, the Lord of the heavens
6. (fig.) Sublimity, loftiness
****
My hope is to share a few thoughts on this site that elevate and inspire, and I welcome your participation.
Oh, and Altura is also a city in Winona County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 417 at the 2000 census. All voting citizens from the city of Altura will get special posting privileges from the author.
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