No Coincidences

Tag: law of moses

  • Lectures on Faith – Lecture 2: The Object of Faith

    Lectures on Faith – Lecture 2: The Object of Faith

    A main theme throughout the Lectures on Faith is God’s perfect attributes.  Logically, for us to be able to have any faith in God He must be perfect.  We must know that we can trust God and, in turn, His Son, Jesus Christ. 

    The major theme I took away from Lecture 2 specifically is how we have attained faith throughout history.  Lecture 2 presents the profound idea that our faith in God is always dependent, or comes initially, from the faith of another.  Consider this, if no one in your life ever mentioned any sort of higher being, any sort of God, any sort of creator, would you come up with the thought on your own?  You think about God because He is someone we have been taught about since Adam.

    Even if your parents aren’t the ones who teach you about God, you learn about God from someone.  I would venture to say that in the world today every single person on the face of it has heard of the concept of a supreme being.  Why is this?  Where does our innate belief/consideration of God come from?

    Lecture 2 points out that there was an unbroken chain of testimony that started from Adam and was handed down through Abraham.  If you read Genesis carefully and do the math you will see that ancient prophets handed the knowledge of God down for generations.  It continues today.

    Adam knew God in the Garden of Eden.  When he left the Garden Adam still knew God.  We know Adam’s sons knew God.  Abel provided sacrifices to God.  Cain spoke to God even after murdering his brother.  This shows us that God spoke to men even after the fall and continued to speak to them as they continued to fall into transgression.  There is something significant here that I’d never considered.  Abel first got his knowledge of God from his father, Adam, as did Cain.  After they were told about God by Adam, then they had to develop their own faith in God.  They had to learn, trust, and depend on Him, or not. 

    The important thing to remember from this: we all start our faith by leaning on the faith of another.  We possess dependent faith.  This leads to another profound truth: God possesses independent faith.  God’s faith is not reliant on any outside source.  As discussed in lecture one, God’s faith is perfect.

    I’ve been studying the lectures alongside a video series that I will link at the bottom.  There were many amazing thoughts and ideas presented in that video, related to this second Lecture on Faith.

    Faith is faith until it happens, then it is knowledge. Since God has perfect faith, He doesn’t need to wait for something to happen for Him to know it.  He knows it is going to happen.  His faith is perfect therefore His knowledge is perfect.  It’s simple when you think about it in these terms, but it’s so critical.  It’s why we can have perfect faith in Him, BECAUSE we know His faith is perfect.

    IMPORTANT:  God is not still progressing.  This is important for us to understand.  God is not still learning.  If He was, we couldn’t have perfect faith in Him.

    God is Perfect - Ottawa Church of Christ

    This leads to a question: isn’t life boring for God if He has mastered everything?

    In the video they gave an awesome analogy.  Imagine you’re an accountant.  You master every aspect of accounting there is.  You have a perfect knowledge and ability in accounting.  Would you get bored with accounting?  Probably.  So, what would you then do?  You would teach others how to also master accounting.  God is the master accountant.  He has attained all knowledge on life, faith, eternity, creation – so what does He do?  He teaches us.  What a thought!  We are being tutored by the God of the universe.  That’s what makes this life so important.  When we consider that we are learning and being personally groomed by God Himself, what power it adds to our existence here!

    This leads to another important thought.  What was Christ’s ultimate message while here?  I think it would be service.  Love through service.  Give through service.  Charity.  Without charity you are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2, Moroni 7:44)  Why did Christ teach this ever-important principle?  Because His Father, our Father, God is the ultimate server.  He is doing everything He does to teach us.  We truly are “His work and His glory” (Moses 1:39).

    I want to conclude with two last realizations: 

    1. The scriptures help develop our faith by teaching us of God.  This is important.
    2. Faith comes by hearing the word of God through the testimony of the servants of God, that testimony is always attended by the spirit.

    You aren’t told to have a testimony.  You’re not made to know Jesus is the Christ.  These are things you must come to a knowledge of through the spirit.  Think about it.  Christ, in His whole ministry, never told anyone He was the Son of God.  He always let them come to that conclusion on their own.  One example is Peter who He told, “blessed art thou for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17).   Another example is Christ to the woman at the well (John 4).  Christ didn’t go telling people who He was.  It had to be revealed by the spirit.  This is why signs come by faith, and not the other way around (D&C 63:7-12).

    Our hearts must be open for us to receive the testimony of Jesus Christ.  2 Nephi 33:1 “When a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it UNTO the hearts of the children of men.”  Not INTO but UNTO.  It’s then on the heart of the individual to accept or reject the testimony.  The system is in place.  The system has been in place for God’s children to develop faith in Him from the beginning.  Once the testimony is carried to the heart It’s then on the agency of the individual to receive or reject that testimony. 

    God has perfect faith.  We are here to develop our faith so that we can be like Him.  He is the great accountant, and we are his protégés.  It is His hope, His glory that we can become like Him.  As we develop our faith here it will benefit us for the rest of eternity.  I know I say it a lot, but, what a thought.

    Video 3 (Lecture on Faith 2):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-o59d9ioGA&list=PLc5yYrpPFm2umksQf3jgULxoV4YIXTd2h&index=3

    Lecture on Faith 2: http://lecturesonfaith.com/2/

  • Pride of the Gentiles

    Pride of the Gentiles

    I write this as a complement to my testimony of the Book of Mormon as the Word of God.

    For the purposes of what I’m writing I will focus on the Old Testament.  I would gladly speak on the New Testament, but for simplicity I will focus on the Old.

    Let’s look historically at the creation of the Bible.  The text of the Old Testament was preserved and handed down by the hands of the Jews.  It was protected by the Jews.  If not for the Jews, there would be no Old Testament today.

    By definition, a gentile is a person who is not Jewish.  The Gentiles received the Bible from the Jews.  Most of us are gentiles.  If you come from Europe, have Catholic, Protestant, or pretty much any other Christian ties in your ancestry, you are most likely considered a gentile.  Again, none of us would have the Bible today if it weren’t for the Jews.

    It’s those same Gentiles who today say, A Bible, a Bible, we have a Bible! (2 Nephi 29:3).  But how do you have the Bible?  You have it from the Israelites, from the Jews.  You didn’t do anything to gain it.

    When Christ was crucified and resurrected the Jews of old who believed in Christ had a difficult time moving past their traditions.  If you read about Paul and his missionary efforts, you will see that a major portion of his time was spent fighting Judaizers.  Judaizers were “Christians in the primitive church who taught it was necessary to adopt Jewish customs and practices, especially those found in the Law of Moses.”

    From History of the Christian Church, 1, 338 regarding Judaizers:

    “These men were Christians in name, but narrow-minded and narrow-hearted Jews in fact.  They were scrupulous, pedantic, slavish formalists, ritualists, and traditionalists of the malignant type.  Circumcision of the flesh was to them more important than circumcision of the heart, or at all events an indispensable condition of salvation.  Such men could, of course, not understand and appreciate Paul, but hated and feared him as a dangerous radical and rebel.  Envy and jealousy mixed with their religious prejudice.  They got alarmed at the rapid progress of the gospel among the unclean Gentiles who threatened to soil the purity of the church…”

    For just a couple of examples of Paul’s contention with Judaizers see Acts 15:23-29, Galatians chapters 3 and 4, Acts 21: 20-25.  That last example in Acts 21 would be roughly the year AD 58.  At this point, 25 years after Christ’s death, there were still thousands of Jewish Christians following the Law of Moses.

    I give this historical background to make a comparison to the Christian gentiles of today. 

    Christians who cannot accept any scripture outside of the Bible are the Jews of old.  Holding firm to their traditions, fighting to preserve what they’ve always known, refusing to see the greater blessing of the Gospel right before them.

    The Gentiles of today say, “I have a Bible.”  By what source have you gotten your Bible?

    2 Nephi 29 4-5:

    4 But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles?

    5 O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people.

    The Jews couldn’t accept further revelation – that Jesus was the Christ and in Him the law was fulfilled.  Gentiles today  – who have only been shown the mercy of God by being adopted into Christ’s fold – do the same thing.  They have a Bible, they need no “other” Bible.

    What does this speak of?  It speaks of pride.  This attitude says – “God has given us all He’s going to give us and now it’s up to ME, MAN to interpret what God is saying.”  This pride removes God from the equation.  You think God has disowned us?  You think He’s given us all He can or will give us?  WHY?!?!?  God loves His children.  Has He abandoned us?

    The hard-hearted, prideful, and stubborn attitude of holding onto traditions has kept people from Christ since the start of mankind and it continues today.  Let go of pride and accept that God still speaks to man.  Pride makes us interpret the Bible how it suits us.  Let go of pride and let God guide us.

    The denial of modern revelation is the removal of God.  It is the denial of either God’s love for us or His power in redeeming His children.  How can people who can only accept the Bible not see that?  They’ve removed a living God for God’s word.  The Bible is God’s word to us, but what good is it if you don’t understand it?  What good is it if you kick against the pricks?  Let the spirit work within you and accept all truth God will give you.  He will enlighten your mind and expand your spirit, but you must let Him, and stop removing Him by saying you have the Bible and that’s all you need.

    The great apostle Paul spent his entire missionary career fighting against the Judaizers.

    Today modern-day missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spend so much time fighting modern day Judaizers, traditionalists.  We must Bible bash, meanwhile we have a far greater message: GOD STILL LIVES, GOD STILL SPEAKS, REVELATION IS ALIVE.  He has provided a new Book of Promise – the Book of Mormon – to help and guide us. Not to replace the Bible but to supplement it.  READ IT.  And see for yourself if it speaks to your spirit. See for yourself if God still loves His children. See for yourself if Jesus is the Christ and if HE IS STILL redeeming his people.  Set aside your pride!

    2 Nephi 29: 6-9

    6 Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?

    7 Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?

    8 Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.

    9 And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.

    How accurate are those words written nearly 2600 years ago?  Inspired writing.  It is my testimony that the Book of Mormon can only bring a person closer to the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.  I wish we could all remove our pride and stop being like the Judaizers of the primitive Church.  Accept that Christ is as interested in us today as He was when He walked the earth 2000 years ago.  Read His word.  Hear His word.  Feel his word.  Accept his words. All of them.

    Jesus Teaching in the Western Hemisphere (Jesus Christ Visits the Americas)