Mormon DNA » Revelation

How do you know what the words in the Bible mean?

Joshua Steimle — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:46:40 +0000

A friend of mine on Facebook put out the question: What is your interpretation of Hebrews 6:4?

Here is Hebrews 6:4-6

4 For it is impossible for those who were once ^aenlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

5 And have ^atasted the good word of God, and the powers of the ^bworld to come,

6 If they shall ^afall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they ^bcrucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open ^cshame.

There are multiple ways to interpret this scripture because there is a lot of ambiguity. What does “enlightened” mean? What does it mean to taste of the heavenly gift and be made a partaker of the Holy Ghost? What does it mean to taste the good word of God, or the powers of the world to come? What does it mean that those who fall away cannot be renewed? What does it mean to fall away? What does it mean to crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame?

Each of these parts of this relatively brief scripture could be interpreted in a number of ways, but which interpretation is true?

Let us begin by making an assumption, which you are free to disagree with if you choose, and it is that there is only one correct interpretation of this scripture. If you accept this as fact, then how can one know the true interpretation? I would put forth the argument that there are only two ways to know what the true interpretation is:

1. God tells you.

2. An authorized servant of God tells you, and the Holy Ghost confirms it to you.

The problem with #1 is this–it only works for you. That is, you can’t go around telling others what the scripture means, at least not with any authority. If everyone had authority to tell everyone else whatever “God told them” then we’d have chaos. In fact, we do have chaos. As the joke goes, ask three Methodists [insert any other Christian religion here] what a scripture means and you’ll get at least four opinions. In order for there to be a widely accepted interpretation of scripture, it must come from an authorized servant of God. Who are authorized servants of God? Prophets and apostles, such as Moses or Peter. If you accept this as being logical, then the only questions are which churches claim to have the same authority that was given to Moses and Peter, and how do you figure out which of them is true church, with authority to speak in the name of God?

But that last question is for another post, not this one. My question to you is can you logically deny anything I’ve stated here? Other than I described, how else could you know for sure what the words in Hebrews 6:4-6 mean?

How can you know what is true?

Joshua Steimle — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:12:27 +0000

Mormons claim to know that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the LDS Church is the only church upon the earth with God’s authority through revelation, or direct communication with God. Anti-Mormons claim that Mormons are ignorant or have been misled by the devil. But how can one know? Who is to say who has been deceived? Anti-Mormons would say that if it conflicts with the Bible then it can’t be true, but who’s to say what many of the Bible passages really mean? There’s an old joke that if you get three Methodists together to discuss a particular scripture you’ll end up with at least five interpretations. It might be a joke, but if you attend a church you’ll know that there is plenty of debate within your own religion as to how certain scriptures should be interpreted. So is it any wonder that the Mormon interpretation of the Bible should differ from your own, and if so, how can you tell who is correct?

In order to correctly interpret one passage in the Bible one can find other related verses in the Bible and by so doing get a better idea of the truth. But even by this means all conflicts cannot be resolved. If people could easily interpret the Bible then there would be no argument about whether baptism needs to be by immersion or not, whether we are saved by faith, works, or a combination thereof, and there would indeed not be hundreds of Christian churches, there would only be one. The whole reason we have so many Christian churches is because of disagreements when it comes to interpreting the Bible.

Without something in addition to the Bible to act as a guide, there is no way to know for sure how to correctly interpret the words in it. But while the Book of Mormon and other LDS scriptures have been given to aid in correctly interpreting the Bible, they are not foolproof, since the Book of Mormon is also subject to men’s interpretations.

Ultimately, there is no 100% reliable method of knowing the truth other than to receive it from the source of all truth, which is God. This is logical and reasonable and I defy anyone to prove through logic that the pure truth can come from any other source.

Once we know that God is the only way to know the truth, the question becomes “How?” Thankfully the answer is just as brief, and it is “Ask.” How does one ask? The same way you’d ask a friend about something. You talk to them.

“But how will I know that it’s God talking to me and not the devil or just my mind making things up?”

Well, that does get a bit tougher, and if I had a foolproof answer I’d be more than happy to give it to you. While there are detailed lessons on the matter, my personal formula for recognizing whether something is true is the following:

1. Does it make sense? Not that this is 100% accurate, but I don’t believe we should entirely remove the intelligence God has given us from the equation.

2. What evidence can I consider? Again, turning it over to the scientific method is not the perfect way, but it can help.

3. Am I prepared? That is, do I have an open mind regarding the matter, am I sincere, humble, and teachable, or am I hoping the answer I get is in line with what I already want to believe? Is God going to give me an answer if I haven’t already decided to do his will, whatever that may be? Am I tricking myself into thinking I’m prepare or am I really prepared.

4. In praying about the matter, do I receive a feeling of peace and assurance or do I feel conflicted, hesitant, and confused?

5. Do things fall into place? I’ve found that most of the answers I get to prayer don’t come as I’m on my knees, rather they come in the days, weeks, months, and years afterwards as things happen which, in retrospect, are clearly answers to my questions.

For me, this is the reliable way to get the truth directly from God. But if you’ve got something to add I’d love to hear it.

Why Mormons are obsessed with revelation.

Joshua Steimle — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:15:46 +0000

If you’ve ever argued with a Mormon over their church’s doctrines then you’ve probably come up against the Mormon concept of “modern-day revelation.” The word revelation simply means that something has been revealed, although when used in the context of the gospel it refers to having something been revealed to man by God. Mormons believe that God revealed his word or gave revelations to ancient prophets like Moses, Ezekiel, and Christ’s apostles, and that’s where the Bible came from. They also believe that God gave revelations to other people on the American continents and that this resulted in the Book of Mormon. In addition, Mormons believe there are prophets today, and that Joseph Smith was the first of these in modern times.

But aside from prophets receiving revelations, Mormons believe individuals, whether members of the LDS Church or not, can receive communication directly from God, although they believe in strict limits as to what that revelation can contain. For example, they believe that there is only one Prophet with a capital “P” upon the earth, that this Prophet is the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that nobody else can receive revelation for the entire LDS Church. They believe people can receive revelation for those whom they have responsibility for. For example, a Mormon bishop (in charge of a local congregation) can receive revelation regarding his “ward” (Mormon term for a congregation), a Stake president (in charge of several wards and bishops) can receive revelation for his stake, fathers can receive revelation for their families, and individuals can receive revelation for themselves.

This communication with God is central to Mormon beliefs, and everything they believe in is based on revelation. They believe the Book of Mormon was translated through revelation. They believe Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet through revelation. They believe that their church today is guided by revelation. They believe that people join the church because they receive a personal revelation that the church is true. If you take away revelation, then there would be no Mormon church, and that’s why the principle of revelation is so important to Mormons.