A CHRISTIAN RELIGION?

Tonight's thoughts deal with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons.

Many Christians do not feel that Mormonism is a Christian religion.  There are two primary reasons for this.  First, they feel that Mormons don't interpret in the Bible the "right way."  And secondly, the Mormons believe in continuing revelation from God which is considered by many to be blasphemous.

I find these mainstream beliefs very interesting!  Starting with the second, Christians believe that after Christ died, the heavens were closed and God quit speaking to his Children.  This belief by the way, is not in the Bible, nor was it taught by the apostles.

Imagine if you will, we on Earth, God's children, telling Him when He can and when He cannot speak to us.  Imagine God in all His omnipotence being told what he can and cannot do by His son's and daughter's!  Imagine a young child telling his/her parents to "be quiet," and "I will tell you when you can speak!"  I struggle with this theological reasoning!

Now to the matter of interpreting the Bible the "right" way:  My intention is not to try and prove anything, but invite thought.  So following is a typical Christian belief contrasted with the Mormon belief, and than a few appropriate questions and comments.

Mainstream Christians believe God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all the same being.  John 10:30 is used as a supporting scripture for this which states, "I and my Father are one."  There are others, but this gives us a good idea.  Mormon's on the other hand, believe they are separate and distinct individuals, but one in purpose.

If the typical Christian belief is true, why does God, a singular being, state, "Let us make man in our image (Genesis 1:29), which is plural?  In Acts 7:55 Stephen looked into heaven and saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God.  Again, plural beings.  And lastly when Jesus was baptized as recorded in Matthew 3:17, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  Clearly two persons here.  And like the aforementioned belief, these are but a few examples.

So you see the dilemma.  We have some scriptures stating God and Christ are the same being, and some scriptures stating they are separate.  Which is it?  Using logic, which do we believe literally and which are not to be believed, or have a different meaning assigned?  And more importantly, who gets to make this choice?

I believe the answer to this (which is the Mormon belief) lies within the great intercessory prayer in the 17th chapter of John.  These verses by the way, also seem to indicate God and Jesus are not the same individual as Christ is praying to God, rather than himself.

In the 21st verse, Christ indicates how the Father and He are one by stating, "That they all may be one (the people); as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us..."

Does this not suggest that Jesus and the Father are separate beings, yet one in purpose?  Accepting this allows the other contradictory verses to all be correct rather than forcing a situation where one has to choose which scriptures to believe and which to ignore!

I would maintain that the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints follows the bible more literally and more completely than any other religion, with the bible itself supporting this.  But like most things theological, the Holy Spirit must be relied upon to discern truth.

As the bible states the being of God two different ways, I don't see how mainstream Christianity can assume the Mormon church is wrong and they are right.  You see, the only thing they  have to go on are guesses as to which scriptures are to be taken literally and which are not.

Since the bible contradicts itself on many points, it makes one wish someone with a pure knowledge could tell us the truth.  Anciently, someone with this ability was known as a prophet.  Hmmm.

THOUGHTS ON THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Let me start right off by stating this post is not to endorse any candidate or discuss my personal beliefs!  My intent is to offer some observations as to the state of our Country right now, and how we came to be in this position.

I have seen news articles that indicate up to 60% of our Country has not been happy with the Republican or Democrat nominee this time around.  That is a phenomenal amount, and bears some reflection.

The Constitution does not mention political parties.  They are just something that evolved rather quickly as our government is "of the people, by the people, for the people" (Gettysburg Address).  It was a simple thing for like minded individuals to get together and form parties.

One of the shortcomings of this however, is there have really been only two viable parties, democrats and republicans, which severely limits the playing field.

The Federalist party started in the 1790's and believed in a strong federal government.  The Democrat-Republican party started in the early 1800's and believed in a smaller federal footprint. 

The Democrat-Republican party became the Democrat party we have today, and believes in a strong federal government, and strong federal control among a host of other beliefs.  The Federalist party died around 1816, and the Republican party we know today started in 1854.  Its core belief is a limited federal government and local control.  Mind you, these two descriptions are horribly simplified for the sake of keeping this writing to a reasonable length!

Scott Conroy of Real Clear Politics wrote in 2013, "For as long as the United States has maintained its two-party system of government, reformers have dreamed of upending the status quo."  He continues, "From Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party of 1912 to Ross Perot's 1992 independent run for the White House, a smattering of real contenders in the last century pieced together personality-driven campaigns that threatened to change everything."

Unfortunately, those candidates fell short, and this has never changed.  It is a catch-22 situation.  Mr. Conroy believes a lot of people like third parties, but don't believe they can win, so end up voting Republican or Democrat.  It may be a simplistic answer, but explains very well their lack of success.

So here is a quick review of where we stand:

1) Democrats:  They will always get a certain number of electorates based on their big government and progressive agendas.  I will not go any further than this as I promised no personal beliefs!

2) Republicans:  The leadership has lost their conservative roots after being given the Senate, House, and a majority of the governorships.  They have completely turned their backs on those who elected them.

3) Because the Republican leadership disenfranchised their own base, Trump, who has never been a conservative or a Republican to my knowledge ran on the Republican ticket and beat all of their best!  I believe this happened because the Republicans, as well as the entire country, is completely fed up with career politicians.  I get that!

In summary:
For the Democrats, their party has been fairly consistent in their pursuit of an ever expanding and larger government.

For the Republicans:  Their party has fallen apart.  I believe there are still a majority of conservatives in the Country, but since the leadership is no longer conservative, there are two questions that must be answered.

1)  If Trump wins, will he govern conservatively?  Only time will tell.  If he does, perhaps the Republican party can be finally fix itself from within and rebuild.

1)  If Trump does not govern conservatively, can a third party realistically become a major player for the conservatives to endorse?

Whatever happens, I believe this will be the most pivotal election in our Nation's history.  I sure hope we get it right!  As my wife said, "Our politics is a reflection of who we are as a people."

OUR LOST CONSTITUTION: SENATOR MIKE LEE

I have just finished reading a book by Senator Mike Lee.  It is called, “Our Lost Constitution,” and was written in 2015.  It is an excellent book, so I would like to give a brief synopsis of just two chapters, as well as recommend the entire book!

The book is about the federal government our founders envisioned and set up.  They pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor for this new system of self government.  What have we done to it since then?  

 

There is a link to this book in the left side bar.

EARTH AGE

When something is not known, and is wished to be known, scientific reason may be applied to ideas or theories to determine what is fact and what is fantasy.  This is referred to as the scientific method.

There are several descriptions of the “scientific method.”  We will use one on physics.ucr.edu as it is laid out simply:

1)  Observe some aspect of the universe.
2)  Invent a tentative description, called a hypothesis, that is consistent with what you have observed.
3)  Use the hypothesis to make predictions.
4)  Test these predictions by experiments or further observations and modify the hypothesis in the light of your results.
5)  Repeat steps 3 and 4 until there are no discrepancies between theory and experiment and/or observation.

Essentially, when all questionable aspects of a theory can be resolved or removed, the theory may then be presented as fact.