“Since the last written passages in the bible are from John’s hand, warning that no editing or redacting occur, i consider both the Jehovah’s Witless AND the mormons to be doggerel aberrations and cults.”
are you a biblical scholar? i believe there may be some question regarding the order of the books in the Bible. i don’t believe that mormons have edited or redacted anything in the Bible. however, they do believe in modern day prophetic revelation, as they claim is the case with their Book of Mormon.
are you a biblical scholar? i believe there may be some question regarding the order of the books in the Bible. i don’t believe that mormons have edited or redacted anything in the Bible. however, they do believe in modern day prophetic revelation, as they claim is the case with their Book of Mormon.
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I am not a “Bible Scholar”, but, I am not in total ignorance either. While there may be some question to the exact time a small minority of the Biblical books were written there is no doubt as to when they were compiled into a bible. In my seven decades on this earth I have tried to learn much. Much of what I have learned is in The Holy Bible and about The Holy Bible. I am dismayed that people say they believe in a book in which they really have little understanding of. Were I a Bible Scholar I would still be studying. The words of life are contained in it. I know this not because someone told me they were there but because I have found those words and applied them in my life. My life which is filled with wonder and awe that The Son of God would come to earth, be human, suffer the frailties of man, suffer the evil of mankind and yet love mankind enough that He would take upon Himself the sins of mankind including mine and willingly be punished for them.
How foolish would it be to hear this and try to believe it without testing it, without investigating it to the best of my ability. How silly it would be to say I was a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ The Lord and not be a better person than I was. How silly it would be to continue to sin helter skelter depending on the Grace of God with no thought of what I do. How can I, a nobody belittle the Koran or other religions if I don’t know what it is that I believe. I don’t believe in fairy tales, I believe in truth. If you don’t know the truth then it is easy to believe in fairy tales. Knowing the truth sets me free from the frailties of the world, of the frailties and evil of mankind.
You speak of Mormons believing in prophetic revelation. How can you be a Christian and not believe in Prophetic revelation? In the book of James we are told that if you don’t know the answer to a question to ask God and He will tell us. If you don’t believe in prophetic revelation then you are bound by the philosophy of man instead of the truth of God. Ministers of the world mix their philosophy with a scripture here and there and gather a following because the followers are too lazy to study for themselves.
Someone earlier in this thread said they didn’t believe in the Nicaea Creed. If you really studied how this came into being, if you understood the Roman History from the time of Constantine you would question that creed.
When I was 15 years old my father as part of punishment for something stupid I did made me read the Holy Bible from Genesis to Revelations. He did me a wonderful favor. Reading the Bible will teach you more about God and His Son Jesus Christ than all the sermons in the world. It will light a fire under you to have a desire to know truth. I am burning still with that fire, I hope it never goes out.
I can truthfully say that I know that Jesus Christ walked on the earth, was dead as a door nail but is alive again and walked and talked with those who knew him in Mortality. I know Him and follow as best I can with the hope that I will be better tomorrow than I am today until I become like Him.
At the last day when I stand before God and my life is reviewed and I am found wanting, Jesus will say “he is Mine, his shortcoming have already been punished, I took those punishments willingly for his sake”. I will belong to Jesus for ever and ever and He will forever have my love and devotion.
What do I think of the Mormons? My wife is one. A better Christian I never met on this earth. Because of their fruits I have a hard time calling them a cult. I am perhaps not ready yet to weigh in on their prophets but I can weigh in on their Christianity.
I’ve never considered myself ‘a scholar’, although i have done the side-by-side reading of:
KJV, NIV, RSV, TEV, Living, Messianic Jewish Ta’anach.
As some would call him, “John the Revelator”’s last passages do warn of editing, redacting, and adding to Scripture, a crime that has been committed ever since the words were first published, by scribe or press, and do include the mormons, as well.