Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Study of the LDS Church - 6.13 Emotions as Evidence

There is nothing I can add to this article, so I'm going to point you directly to it (although I will add questions at the bottom):


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Since many LDS missionaries will ask you to pray about the Book of Mormon to know whether it is from God before making any judgments about it (by using Moroni 10:4 as justification of this request), you can point them to the following scriptures of the LDS church itself:
Doctrine & Covenants 9:8: But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.
Notice that this tells them to study it out in their mind first and then ask if it is right. So therefore, if it doesn't settle in your mind, it seems that you are under no obligation to ask if it is right.
It seems that their famed 2nd prophet Brigham Young challenged the LDS church to test the LDS works against the Bible and see how it held up ("Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter-day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test." Journal of Disclosures, vol. 16, p. 46, Brigham Young, 1873). So let's take President Young's advice and do that now:
Point them over to Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
It seems that we truly cannot trust the feelings within us. That therefore cannot be a good way to choose a faith. This is confirmed in Proverbs 14:12 with "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
The Apostle Paul praised the Bereans in the book of Acts for not simply taking the teachings at word, but comparing them to the scriptures that they already had. There were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. --Acts 17:11.
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Questions:
  1. Have you ever prayed about the Koran, the Jehovah’s Witness Bible or Avesta? Should you pray about robbing a bank and giving the money to the poor?
    The obvious answer is, there is no need to pray about anything that is not Biblical and is outside of God’s will, including all of those. Because these things are unbiblical, if God would answer that prayer, it would always be in accord with His written word. But to ask God in prayer something he has already spoken about can be testing God, which is also forbidden.
  2. Which Book of Mormon would you like me to pray about: The 1830 edition or today's edition that has changed more than 4000 times from the original documented words of Joseph Smith?
  3. Where did you get the idea to pray about the Book of Mormon (The answer will be Moroni 10:4-5 if they have not already told you this)? So the idea to pray about the Book of Mormon came from the Book of Mormon itself, right? Suppose the Book of Mormon is not true, just for the sake of argument. Who then would be behind its creation (Satan?)? If Satan were the one to tell you how to determine if the book is true, he would then give you the answer, right? That's why it is dangerous to pray about whether it is true. To pray for an answer about it is to ignore what God has already said (in Galatians 1:6-8), which is to dishonor Him. You must then rely on the authority of the Bible itself to prove all things. (cited source).

Study of the LDS Church - 7.1 What LDS Members are Taught about the Bible

2 comments:

Bill Cash said...

Kaye,

I have to say I am really impressed with the work you have done here. When I first read of your intention to post this, for lack of a better term, research project I expected a couple pages.

You on the other hand have written a book, one that I think is worthy of publishing. The information very readable and presented in a most organized fashion.

There is a Christian publishing house advertising on XM radio. I hear there ad a couple times a day but never bother to copy down the information. If your interested let me know and I’ll make a point of writing it down and sending it on to you.

Great Job!

Bill

Kaye said...

I certainly appreciate your praise for the study. However, it is not for publishing. Mainly because it would be more plagiarism than original. You can see that most of the information came from a multitude of sources. I simply have sought out those sources and put them all together in one study. It did take much time to search out the information, but the research is not mine to claim.

I do, again, appreciate your accolades and am glad that I have presented them subject matter in a manner that is readable and easy to study. That was my intention.

Thanks for hanging in here with me. Your support is greatly appreciated.