July 6, 2004
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I have been reading my scriptures at the pool lately. Today I was a little more focused in what I was reading in light of recent xanga hype. I discovered the sources for a lot of things I believe. Looking back, those sources were always there, but I cared more about the doctrine than the source. Now I am glad I am interested in getting to the root of the belief.
One of the things I did was read the entire chapter of a passage that interested me instead of just the passage. Like Acts chapter 17. Though I've read it before, it was really only verses 28 and 29 that I really payed attention to. Reading the rest gave me a lot of insight.
In this chapter Paul is condeming the false idol gods of Athens, saying that God is not made out of gold or silver or any craft of man. He is like us, or rather we like Him, for "we are the offspring of God." What an amazing thing to know about the nature of God and of man.
I've almost memorized Philippians 2:5-6 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." But it wasn't until reading the whole chapter that I gained a better understanding of what this really means. In this part, Paul is instructing the Philippian saints, teaching them to be of one mind even as Christ. To paraphrase he said: And let us remember this Christ, who humbled himself, was obedient, and was exalted, being once "in the fashion as a man" and then "equal with God." Whose example are we to follow?
Philippians 3 had some other insightful additions, including the notion of a resurrection to a perfect state of being (verses 11-12).
In Galations 4 I learned that as children of God we may be "heir[s] of God through Christ," a notion better understood in the first chapter of Hebrews. "God . . . spake . . . by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;" (note that last s). Christ is an heir of all things.
We learn in Romans 8 that "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ," which means that if we live up to our royal and divine inheritance we are joint-heirs of all things. What a future for the faithful!
Other scriptures I found noteworthy on the subject include Genesis 3:22, Ephesians 4:13, 1 John 3:2 (a really good one), Revelation 3:21, John 10:31-42, 2 Corinthians 3:18, and John 1:2.
Comments (8)
you are freaking awesome dude
You forgot Prov. 26:11! My favorite is actually Rom. 6:23.
kimmielovesjorge got me thinking. what is he talking about? is it true? what is your opinion (on his comment on my site and on the "mormonisim= christianity debate"
Pretty boy doesn't add much besides looks and smiles. The VP in the end doesn't matter much.
9,000 visitors since March 29, 2003 . . . wow
I have counted ten different accounts of the first vision. the messages are changed by the mentioning of: his age (any where from under 14 to 16), his location (a grove, a forest), the people who visited him (angels, God and Jesus, only Jesus, unidentified bright objects) and the message ranging from "thy sins are forgivin" to the methodist church being wrong.
I alson noticed in my study of freemasonry that the penaltys of revealing the secrets of the lodge are very similar to the penalty for revealing the secrets of the temple...
http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/tagm/tagm31.html has a chart that shows the similarities and differences in the various versions of the first vision.
To quote http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/tagm/tagm25.html
Charges that the LDS temple ceremony is "basically Masonic" are long-standing and difficult to refute, since few persons are intimately familiar with both ceremonies or have the qualifications (including freedom from obligations of confidentiality) to publish an objective comparison. The following statement by an LDS scholar who has been a Mason for fifty years is pertinent:
"No Mason—or anyone else—acquainted with the rituals of the Order can honestly claim there is the slightest resemblance of those ordinances or procedures [of the LDS endowment ceremony] to anything presented in a Symbolic Lodge of Free Masonry." (Mervin B. Hogan, "The Historicity of the Alleged Masonic Influence on Mormonism," pp. 17, 30-31 [Jan. 15, 1984]).
And now in my own words.
To say that Joseph Smith was not influenced by masonry is like saying Moses wasn't influenced by the Egyptions or early Christians weren't influenced by the Romans. He most certainly used many of the same symbols, some to represent similar things, and others to represent new things the masons did not believe in.
I believe that some masonic ceremonies were the degenerated remains of ancient, divine ceremonies. Joseph Smith I'm sure was intrigued by those rituals, and was afterward inspired of God as to what the real ceremony of the Church should be.
Keep in mind that the Temple ordinances in question here were promised to the Saints before Joseph was involved in masonry.
If you actually become familiar with the Temple Endownment, you will find that it has more similarities to ancient Egyption ceremonies than Masonic ceremonies. The idea of a journey type experience passing sentinels to represent the jouney from mortal life to eternal life is a universal theme found in many ceremonies of religions all over the world, including ancient judeo-christian practices.
Masonry was a fraternal organization, not a religious organization. The fact that Joseph Smith was a mason is not bad, and it does not mean the he worshiped anything other than God because masonic ceremonies don't include worship.
ahh!! you're spirit and your testimony is SO wonderful!! keep it up! the anti's can think what they want, dont let them bring you down and i'm sure they won't! yay for mormons!
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