Claud,
You are somewhat new to mormon threads here (I say that,
not having seen your name before), so I’d like to give you
at tip...
You wrote, “Let’s examine that grammatically.”
This of course, would be good advice for anyone who actually
was interested in hermeneutics, in Biblical interpretation,
in knowing what the Bible actually says and then means -
and at times, narrowing down what the Bible cannot mean.
In this context however (talking with adherents of mormonism),
you might as well talk about Barney the Dinosaur and his take
on the Bible.
They have no need for grammer
They have no need for sentence structure
They have no need for verb tense or meaning
... or historical context
... or any context
... or historical usage of Greek or Hebrew words
... or systematic theology
... or ANYTHING!
There is only one thing they need.
The mormon church leadership to tell them what to believe.
Once the leadership has spoken, facts no longer matter - unless
you can twist facts to seem to support what the leadership
has said. The hive’s job is to believe and defend.
The mormon understanding of “Bible Study” is to find similar
words in English, regardless of the items above and then
assume they always mean the same thing. Simply “see and say”.
You will not find serious Bible scholarship in the mormon
world. It is unneeded and unwanted. If someone dares speak
or publish facts that go against the leadership, they are
evicted. Not unlike any totalitarian regime. You might as well
speak out in North Korea. In the mormon church, you do not
run the same risk of being killed, just evicted from the
hive.
(ColorCountry, do you want to add anything to this here??)
They do this through a wide variety of published material
which is accessible online through the “Mormon See and Say”
database, which you can see is being quoted non-stop.
Your post was entirely correct though. My point is that to
a mormon, once they have the great subjective experience,
they will insist Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that
the “latter day revelation” is supreme... without need for
troublesome “Bible study” or showing yourself “approved
as a workman”.
Welcome to the threads.
best
ampu
Well, drop the word "Mormon" from that sentence and in that respect I agree with them! LOL
I'm Catholic. I don't believe in proof-texting Christianity out of thin air, and I do believe that there *has* to be an authority in interpretation over what an individual can get out of it personally.
If what you said is the case then, well, it's the authority of the Catholic Church against that of the Church of Latter-Day Saints.
You did a mighty fine job of describing Mormonism and the mind set of total adherance to the “Morg,” as in the Borg of Star Trek (as we in the post-Mormon world call it).
There can be no dissension, no questioning - it is a hive where only the Queen (prophet/president) issues “opinions.” Once those opinions are issued they are doctrine (of course only until the next “prophet” deems them void because of “new revelation.”)
Go against any of these things and you are asked to leave. Politely at first - then forcefully, including a court of ‘love’ proceeding where you are forced out.
I can show you post after post, where Mormons on FreeRepublic told me I wasn’t one of them. Mostly for stating that the Bible and Church fathers were correct and their interpretation wasn’t. It mattered not one bit that I had been baptized a “member” at age eight and remained active in the Church until I was in my late 20’s - my membership was contigent upon upholiding the “Prophets” past and present and all that they said and did.
My point is that to a mormon, once they have the great subjective experience,
they will insist Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that
the “latter day revelation” is supreme... without need for
troublesome “Bible study” or showing yourself “approved
as a workman”.
+++++++++++++++++++++++====
Why do you miss lead with un-truths. Bible study is, like study of the Book of Mormon, is a corner stone of what most of us do. We study both.