The Doctrine of Continual Revelation

15 Comments
President Thomas S. Monson

President Thomas S. Monson

The emails I receive these days give me ample opportunity to teach the gospel. Below is my response to a fundamentalist.

I will explain why you do not understand the doctrine of continual revelation, and why it is leading you away from the truth.

First, a scripture:

And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.

Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written. (2 Ne. 29:9-10)

Revelation can be a nebulous thing.  It is not always so clear cut that it builds on top of prior revelations and is in harmony with them.  Every prophet that has ever lived on the earth was rejected by his own generation because they thought he did not conform to the “old revelations,” that they changed them, and gave them something new.  Joseph gave us the script.  And I repeat.  [Read more…]

Access the Scriptures via SMS Text or Instant Message

4 Comments
DearScriptures.com

DearScriptures.com

I’m always looking for better ways of accessing, searching, and reading the scriptures.  They are truly the words of eternal life.  Whenever I hear of a new way of encountering the scriptures, I check it out.  DearScriptures.com is an online version of the scriptures that now allows you to text message (SMS) or instant message (IM) scripture references to it, or search for scriptures, and it will reply with the references and/or text of the scripture(s). It includes other great features as well, such as searching hymns and retrieving hymn lyrics.  And it’s all free! [Read more…]

Are Church Leaders Accountable to the Membership?

Accountability

Accountability

I received an email today which highlights a serious error which I believe runs rampant among some members of the Church, especially those I encounter online. Here are some excerpts from the email which demonstrate the issue:

… You should allow this point to be made.  You can always oppose that point, but to suppress it altogether points to a lack of honesty, and integrity in the debate…

Being a fan of Nibley, you should recognize that all is not well in Zion, and it’s up to the inhabitants of Zion to make corrections.  … We have a duty to put pressure on our leaders …   [Read more…]

Attaining the Resurrection in Mortality

11 Comments
Margaret Barker

Margaret Barker

The use of those two words together, resurrection in mortality, appears to be perfectly incongruous at first glance.  In our common parlance in the Church we understand resurrection to be something that can only happen after mortality.  The resurrection “consists in the uniting of a spirit body with a body of flesh and bones, never again to be divided” ((“Resurrection.” LDS Bible Dictionary. http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bd/r/28)).  This is an event which happens only after there has been a separation of the spirit body from the mortal body through the process called death.  In my reading over the weekend, however, I came across a fascinating perspective from Margaret Barker which gives added meaning to the word resurrection, and our understanding of it, a meaning which can apply to us while still in our mortal estate. [Read more…]

Temple Construction Costs vs. Humanitarian Aid?

27 Comments
LDS Humanitarian Services

LDS Humanitarian Services

I received a comment this evening from YouTube user JAMaddict, which stands for Jim and Pam Addict, on my video Inside the LDS (Mormon) Twin Falls Temple.  This is what they said:

It makes me physically ill to think about the “hand selected” granite flooring. What a waste, when so many millions of people need various types of aid.

Before you start going on and on about LDS’s humanitarian efforts, don’t bother! Since LDS refuses to release their financial records, no one knows for sure, but the best guess is that they give 2% of their total income to aid. That’s sickening. ((I’ve removed the moderated comment from the video page.))

This was my reply message back to them:

The LDS Church has given over $1.1158 billion dollars in humanitarian aid in 167 countries worldwide since 1985. You can see the breakdown per year here:
http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,4606-1-2329-1,00.html

If you want to get more specific, you can see the 2008 Welfare Services Fact Sheet here:
http://www.providentliving.org/welfare/pdf/WelfareFactSheet.pdf

$282.2 million in cash donations
$833.6 million in material assistance

That includes:

  • 61,308 tons of Food
  • 12,829 tons of Medical supplies
  • 84,681 tons of Clothing
  • 5,965 tons of Educational supplies
  • 8.6 million of Hygiene, newborn, and school kits
  • 1,100,059 days of labor donated to welfare facilities

What is sick about that? ((Direct message to JAMaddict YouTube user, also known as Jim and Pam Addict.))

I might have also mentioned that anciently only the very finest materials were used to construct the House of the Lord, including gold, silver, iron, copper, timber, and stone (see this description of Solomon’s temple), and the Lord has revealed that they are to be built to the same standards today.  It is God’s House, not ours, and He will have it built the way He reveals to His prophets.

If we had spent the humanitarian aid money we have since 1985 instead on temple construction, we could easily have over 100-200+ more temples throughout the world than we have now, essentially doubling the number we have taken 179 years to build, and providing the blessings of temple worship to many more of our members ((Estimate based on Suva Fiji Temple cost, approx. $5 million U.S. dollars (http://www.fletcherconstruction.co.nz/project.php?project_id=66&archived=yes), and Brisbane Australian Temple cost, $11.5 million (http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&sourceId=4d3619f1707cd010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=7cecc8fe9c88d010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD ) )).  But our goal is not to just build temples, but to do what the Lord has commanded, “to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all” ((The Prophet Joseph Smith, Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, page 732)).