Examining "Gospel Principles" Part 1: Our Premortal Life with God...

This is the first post of what I anticipate will be many, each examining the teachings of the Mormon church explained in their book Gospel Principles, a manual that is used to teach the members of their church their doctrines and beliefs. I was introduced to this book and given a copy a few weeks ago when I attended the Mormon church in town. I guess I'll try and be as systematic as possible - working through unit by unit and chapter by chapter - in an attempt to lay out the differences, hopefully generating some discussion and interaction along the way.

Here goes!

Chapter 1 - "Our Heavenly Father"

This chapter begins with the logical reasoning that as a result of all that can be observed through the physical universe (plants, animals, mountains, rivers, clouds, rain, snow, stars etc.) it provides us with sufficient evidence of a creator, whom the Bible identifies as God. There is no disagreement here (obviously!) but the book only references the book of Mormon when there are significant passages from the Bible that demonstrate this point.

For example, Romans 1:20,

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (New International Version, NIV)." [The NIV is the translation I use the most, but can switch to KJV if preferred!]

Or Psalm 19:1,

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands (NIV)."

It seems to me that often the Book of Mormon is quoted significantly more than the Bible, even though Mormons would claim that both are revelation from God. Maybe I'm being a little sensitive or jumping to a conclusion too quickly, yet my experience suggests that although the Bible and Book of Mormon are considered equal, the latter receives most of the attention.

The first major difference in teaching comes on the second page of chapter 1:

"Because we are made in his image [God], we know that God has a body that looks like ours. His eternal spirit is housed in a tangible body of flesh and bones. God's body, however, is perfected and glorified, with a glory beyond all description."

This is not a teaching that is found in the Bible. Jesus specifically stated, in John 4:24 - "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

"But," one might add, "what about all those places in the Bible where it talks about God having eye, ears, a face etc. etc. This teaches that God does have a body." This is a good question to ask, but this line of thinking is clearly used today as it has been in the past and it is fraught with some problems...

First we have a contradiction on our hands, for if what Jesus said is true (which we would of course not dispute!) then we have to reconcile all those instances where the Bible speaks of God in human terms. What we need to understand is that these are metaphorical terms, or anthropomorphic terms, that God has used in His Word to describe himself to us in a way that we can understand. If we were to take literally all of the descriptions that we read of God in the Old and New Testaments, we would have to conclude that God is a lion, a lamb, an eagle, a fire, a rock, a hen, a fountain, the sun, a shield, a shadow, and a temple. While God is described using these different terms to communicate something of his attributes to us, he certainly is not all of these things physically.

Moreover, to apply these principles of Biblical interpretation even further, as one individual points out, we would also have to think of Jesus as a door, a shepherd, a vine, a loaf of bread, and so on.

We must take the utmost care to ensure that our beliefs and teachings line up with the Bible and if they do not, we must disregard them...

A final note for this chapter is an alarming one - a statement that I actually just noticed but missed the first couple of times through.

Quoting once again from Gospel Principles, "All good things come from God. Everything that he does is to help his children become like him - a god."

To be honest, I barely even know where to begin with this...a teaching such as this is diametrically opposed to anything laid out in the Bible. God alone is God and there is no other like him. I don't understand why such language would even be used, language that exalts man in such a way. God created us for His glory, that we might glorify and magnify Him in all that we do (Isaiah 43:5-7), He did not create us so that we would be glorified in the sense that we would be a god like He is.

That's all for this chapter and probably best that I refrain from adding more at this point! Awaiting feeback...

..Sean

Mormon Missionaries...

Just finished meeting with another two Mormon missionaries but only for an hour which isn't a very long period of time...it's difficult to meet with different people because the same conversations end up happening over and over again but we made what little headway we could.

There are some recurring problems that continually resurface the more that I talk with Mormons, especially the missionaries. Their goal seems to be to invite an individual to read the book of Mormon and pray about whether or not it is true, often referring to Moroni 10:3-5, yet there is no merit to this model of investigating the truth. To me it seems like a catch-22: if you accept that the Book of Mormon might be true, and read the Book of Mormon, and pray about the truth of it with sincerity and in faith, then God will reveal that it is true. What I hear is that if you accept that the Book of Mormon is true then the Book of Mormon is true...

Moreover, compare this method of investigating the truth with the example found in Acts 17:10-12. When the apostle Paul went to these individuals, the Bereans, to teach them the message of the gospel, they received with eagerness what Paul spoke, but they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true and were described as those of noble character. There is not even a mention of prayer, but a careful examination of the revelation God has already given, to see if what Paul taught was in line with Scripture. Since God has already revealed Himself to us in His Word, should we not also examine every other teaching alongside of it - including the Book of Mormon? Are we not to examine what God has already revealed to us to determine whether or not Joseph Smith really is a prophet from God?

The whole concept of simply praying to determine whether or not something is true is entirely subjective - for if I say to a Mormon that I have prayed about whether or not the Book of Mormon is true, yet God has revealed to me it is not - where does that leave everyone? There must be something more substantial to plant our feet on.

Starting at the Beginning...

Several months ago I was getting out of my car on my street when I noticed two men walking towards me. As they were dressed in a certain manner the recognition that they were Mormon missionaries was immediate and I stalled long enough to make sure there would be opportunity to talk with them. It had been a while since I had encountered any and I always make an effort to engage individuals from different religious backgrounds whenever the opportunity presents itself.

We exchanged pleasantries for a few moments and wasn't long before we had set up a time to meet together. They knew I was on the pastoral staff of an evangelical church in the city where I live and agreed to come by my office so we could talk further.

We met a couple of times, each for over 2 hours, and discussed a myriad of different topics ranging from the credibility of Joseph Smith as a prophet, the different Scriptures that Mormons have in addition to the Bible, the office of High Priest that Jesus eternally holds, etc. etc.

Not long after we met together, these two missionaries were scheduled to return to their respective homes and so any chance for further contact was lost. As a result, my desire was to try and find Mormons close to where I live for the purpose of extended conversation - but also to get to know some on a more personal level.

After some brief internet searching I stumbled across one man's blog chronicling his life in the Mormon Church that was closest to my home. I followed along for a few months and eventually decided to contact him via email, which he was very gracious to respond to. Since then we've had some correspondence back and forth, and after many attempts, this Sunday I was able to attend his church where I met him in person (it's hard to find free Sundays to go to other churches when you work in one yourself!).

During my time there though, I was able to sit in on one of their Sunday school classes where the basic doctrines of their church were being taught. This raised many, many questions for me as much, if not all, did not seem to line up with the teaching from the Bible. I took away with me a copy of their Gospel Principles and I will continue to read through their basic doctrines and lay these teachings alongside the Bible to see how they measure up, while no doubt incorporating other topics along the way.

My hope is that as many as are interested would follow along - both Mormon and Christian alike - and each would feel free to comment, disagree, ask questions, or raise points that I had previously not considered. My goal is not to offend, only to get at the truth as honestly and respectfully as possible, while at the same time contending for the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we all claim to so dearly love...

Soli Deo Gloria.