I'll tell you how bad it was getting for Lds general authorities and the Mormon Church.
One of 1010rd's complaints about Christians is eisegesis... the process of interpreting a text or portion of text in such a way that the process introduces one's own presuppositions, agendas, or biases into and onto the text. This is commonly referred to as reading into the text... (Eisegesis...
Yet what did we find the Mormon Church owned book publishing Deseret do in 1979?...when it was putting out Vol. 5 of Joseph Fielding Smith's Answers to Gospel Questions...
Well, you see Joseph Fielding Smith as the 10th Mormon "prophet" couldn't see how they could be so absolute in making marriage such a requirement for exaltation...'cause the evidence from the New Testament was that the apostle Paul was single...
So along came Joseph Fielding Smith's eisegesis' sleight of hand!
Question #39 in Vol. 5 of that series: Was the Apostle Paul Married?
Excerpt from Smith's eisegesis:
"It is my understanding that in Paul's day all ministers had to be married, however, I think the evidence is strong enough that Paul was married, based upon his own statement in 1 Corinthians 11:11: 'Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.'"
"The expression 'in the Lord,' would certainly infer celestial marriage. That being true Paul would have to be a married man." (pp. 151-152)
(Wow! You can always "tell" a "prophet" when they use some 'revelational' 'seer' language like 'would have to be'!!!!)
Of course, Joseph Fielding Smith had to read into the text here. Why? Because of Mormon D&C 131 biases...
He closed out his "response" with: "It would be inconsistent for Paul to teach others they had to be married and that marriage was essential for exaltation and then not to be married himself. Paul was worthy of exaltation, therefore, Paul was without any question a married man."
See, StormPrepper...even your Lds "prophets" were so much addicted to "ya gotta be married to be exalted" nonsense that they even put a ring on the apostle Paul's finger!
All in spite of Paul's clear expostion in 1 Corinthians 7:
7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. 8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. 9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
So how is 1 Corinthians 7 "inconsistent" with Paul's other teachings -- as Smith claimed?
Mormon "prophets" were woefully Biblically ignorant...and full of eisegesis!
This is a double post. Also, I didn’t know you were a woman. I always thought another poster was a woman because of his use of colors and artistic flourish. Plus his sarcasm always seemed very feminine to me.
It’s the exact opposite with you. I always thought you were a man of about 65-75 years of age. It’s amazing how much the written word can confound.