As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we teach a gospel of love. We teach that Heavenly Father loves all His children, and desires that they return to His presence. Indeed, we teach the doctrine of Christ:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
We teach that God’s involvement in the affairs of mankind is because of His love for each of us. The entire plan of salvation is based on this love, that Heavenly Father’s full-time desire is that we, as His children, might become like Him and have eternal joy (Moses 1:39). We also teach that we must likewise love others (John 15:12).
These are supernal principles that are imperative for our eternal growth and learning, and for us to become more like our Father in heaven. For God is love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16). However, as with most principles, these virtues can be taken to extremes outside the bounds the Lord has set, and which can lead to unwise compromises of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Our passions, even in gospel principles, must be bridled (Alma 38:12). God’s love is one of these principles. Read more…
General, Scripture Discussion
Part One here. Part Zero here.
This section became longer than I expected. So, I’m breaking it in half. Instead of discussing arrangement this time, I will bridge the gap between invention and arrangement by discussing what sources could and should be used when creating your talk.
So, now you have a topic for your talk. Now, you need to fill up 10 – 20 minutes. The standard practice is to find appropriate scriptures, General Authority quotes, and a few personal (or otherwise) anecdotes. As far as it goes, that’s not a bad place to start.
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General, Sacrament meeting, Scripture Discussion
An old friend of mine is now a youth pastor. On his blog, he requested some help with a Greek translation issue in the New Testament. He read in a book (Eugene Peterson’s Eat This Book) that “daily” could be translated “fresh” - as in, “give us this day some fresh bread.” He wondered about that, and asked if anyone knew anything else about that translation.
This is actually quite a contentious issue. You’d think that “give us this day our daily bread” is a rather straight forward phrase, but it’s not and it’s likely that any understanding we have may be wrong. I’m going to post my original comment here (with some changes) and then add some additional comments to (hopefully) initiate some discussion:
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Any, Fun, Scripture Discussion, Sunday School
Daily Bread, Greek, Ivan Wolfe, Translation
As I promised before I wish to expand my view that the Trinity is compatible with Mormon theology by examining a Mormon theologian who, I feel, adopted a position quite in line with the Trinity. Now please note that I am not saying that the Trinity is necessarily entailed by Mormon theology. Clearly there are many Mormon thinkers who adopt positions incompatible with the Trinity proper. Nor am I saying that Mormon theology is compatible with what I’ll call mainstream ‘orthodoxy’ in Christianity. Clearly our view of an embodied Father and our rejection of creation ex nihilo is incompatible. Rather what I’m arguing is that the tradition focus on the Trinity by both sides as the point of contention is a misplaced one.
I think that ultimately the place with the largest ramifications is our rejection of creation ex nihilo.
Anyway I wish to turn to a brief discussion of some theological positions of Orson Pratt so as to highlight the possible Trinitarian reading of Mormon theology.
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Scripture Discussion
Yeah, yeah. Everyone wants the Battlestar Galactica post. But that’s important stuff, so I have to make sure the post is perfect. I’ll start off my guest posting stint with something not as heady: The scriptures. 
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Scripture Discussion
The long lines at Pope John Paul II’s viewing made me think of an interesting question connected with our concept of God as a physical being in the form of a man.
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Scripture Discussion
I had said I was going to give one of my favorite scriptures each week and comment on it. Sadly sickness, other commitments, and an abundance of pre-existing posts when I had one ready, all kept me from keeping up. In a few cases someone actually used the exact scripture I had prepared in their own post. But things have quieted down a little. So here, once again, is my regular column on my favorite scripture. This week’s selection is Alma 34:17-27.
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Scripture Discussion
The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us. A man may receive the Holy Ghost, and it may descend upon him and not tarry with him. (D&C 130:22-23)
This scriptural passage is probably very familiar to most of us. It is the only scriptural source that clearly teaches that the Holy Ghost is a personage. It also purports to give a reason why a member of the Godhead does not have a body of flesh and bones, in the sentence I emphasized above — so the the Holy Ghost can “dwell in us”. The problem is that the source of this teaching is not only not from a prophet, but actually contradicts the prophetic teaching that the rest of the scriptural passage is based on.
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Scripture Discussion
One of my pet peeves is when we talk about exaltation as though it were merely a reward or merely a location. We speak about “getting into the celestial kingdom” or use “reward” analogies like Stephen Robinson’s parable of the bicycle. I do not doubt that the celestial kingdom is a location and that receiving it is a reward (or is it a gift? cf. D&C 14:7), and these analogies have value. The problem I have with them is when we imagine that these analogies comprehensively explain how salvation works (also known as the “Now I understand how it works!” reaction). These analogies are missing something very important that is articulated in the scriptures.
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Scripture Discussion
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