Sunday, November 29, 2015

Questions

Jared Eastley recently asked a number of questions that deserve answers:

Hey, I need you guys to help me out!  

1.  I can't find where in the Book of Mormon it says that the fullness of the gospel will be restored in the last days, which will result in a great latter day church led by apostles, prophets, seers, and revelators; who will spread the gospel across the globe with tens of thousands of missionaries, which will result in the great latter day Zion.  I'm looking and looking but I just can't find it!  Where in the Book of Mormon does it talk about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

2.  I can't find in the Book of Mormon where it talks about the great latter day temple work which is being done, where all these dead people are being redeemed and saved because of our temple work.  

3.  I can't find anywhere in the scriptures where it talks about how we all need to get to the temple to be sealed together as families, in order to receive salvation and exaltation.  Where is that in the doctrine of Christ?

4.  I can't find anywhere in the scriptures where it says we need to follow the prophet; about how the prophets and apostles will not and cannot lead us astray.

5.  I can't find anywhere in the scriptures where it says we need to sustain church leaders as prophets, seers, and revelators in order to be accounted worthy of the saving ordinances or membership in the Lord's church.

6.  I can't find anywhere in the scriptures where it says we must may tithing to the church in order to receive ordinances from the church or to be accounted a member in good standing within the church.  I might be wrong, but I don't think we are supposed to charge money for ordinances.

7.  I can't find anywhere in the scriptures where it says that general authorities and apostles should be payed for their service in the church; not to mention the six figure stipends LDS GAs receive today.

8.  I can't find it anywhere in the scriptures where it says that tithing money should be used to pay GA salaries, or to fund extensive building projects, or be used as investment capital, instead of being used to care for the poor.

9.  I can't find it anywhere in the scriptures where it says that priests, teachers, and church leaders should be made popular, or should be accounted as more righteous or inspired than the average church members.

10.  I can't find it anywhere in the scriptures where it says that most people will be saved in the Celestial Kingdom because of our temple work for the dead; or that chances are, you will be exalted, etc...

11.  I can't find it anywhere in the scriptures where it says that church leaders are authorized to disregard, reinterpret, edit, or delete scriptures at their whims; like when the Lectures on Faith where deleted from the D&C in 1921 after the General Assembly of the church had unanimously approved it as scripture and as the doctrine of the church back in 1835.

12.  I can't find it anywhere in the scriptures where it says that church leaders are authorized to change the ordinances; like what has been done with baptism, the sacrament, and the temple rites and ordinances.

13. I also can't find anywhere in the scriptures where it talks about priesthood keys being required to perform ordinances, or to preside in a church, or to tell church members what to think, say, or do.  Or that priesthood keys can or should be used to control, dominate, compel, or intimidate people into conformity with church rule.

14.  I can't find it anywhere in the scriptures where it says that church leaders should demand  they be sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators, and as the only ones holding all priesthood keys, in order for church members to receive ordinances or good standing in the church.

15.  And maybe I'm just going blind, but I still can't find it anywhere in the scriptures where it says that any church, or church leader, or group of church leaders, is in any way immune from the possibility of apostasy, or making very serious mistakes, or of leading the people astray. I just can't find any such guarantee.  

16. I also can't find it anywhere in the Book of Mormon where it says the Gentiles being warned do not include members of any church, even the church that claims to be the true church.  On the contrary, those who belong to "the holy church of God" are rebuked for having polluted the holy church of God. (Mormon 8:38)

17.  And finally, I just can't find it anywhere in the scriptures where it says that all we need to do to be saved is to identify the true church, get all the ordinances it offers, then just do and think as you are told until you die, in order to receive salvation or exaltation.  Easy!  Why didn't anyone think of that in the Grand Counsel in Heaven?  Just do as your told and you'll be saved!  Brilliant!

Seriously folks!  Where does it say all this stuff?   Am I going blind?

2 comments:

  1. Will,
    The past few years I have come to recognize that falsehoods, manipulations, deceits, deceptions, untruths, half-truths, connivances, distortions, misrepresentations, obfuscations, misstatements are all just plain LIES. Where in the scriptures does it say that the Lord's church will have any part in such unsavory behavior?
    James Russell Uhl

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    Replies
    1. James,

      Just the slightest example: We are all familiar with the "vain repetitions" we have heard in LDS Church prayers and testimonies. (My own children say them.) These phrases and "offerings" have NOTHING to do with prayer or communing with God. They are the ANTITHESIS of communion and worship. Yet, for many, they comprise the sum and substance of our worshipful expressions and spiritual life. They are spiritually "dead." God -- when He talks with man -- does not engage in such folly. And men -- when they approach God in fact and not fiction -- do not use such words in such ways. The lies begin at the pulpit -- in the words and traditions of men who know not God. When you begin to be honest with yourself, you see EVERYTHING in a whole new light.

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