The Joseph Smith Bible

I learned something new the other day that I thought was really interesting… something I never knew as a member of the LDS church.  I had always known that Joseph Smith retranslated portions of the Bible, claiming to restore ‘plain and precious’ things that had been removed over the centuries.  What I didn’t know is that he actually retranslated the entire Bible.  This immediately made me wonder why the LDS church doesn’t use the Joseph Smith version of the Bible as their Bible, but instead uses only limited selections from it.  Even more interesting is that the Community of Christ (the new name for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) does use the Joseph Smith version as their Bible.  They call it the Inspired Version of the Bible.

Is Faith in Jesus Essential or Sufficient?

Every once in awhile I check out lds.org just to see what the LDS church is up to. It’s usually pretty telling to see where the focus is at a given time. It is currently running a lot of promotion for a new website they’ve developed dedicated to Jesus. I won’t venture to speak on why they waited until now to launch such a site, but will let that fact speak for itself. What I do want to comment on is one of the featured articles on the site talking about faith in Jesus Christ being essential to our salvation. To the untrained ear, this likely sounds very mainstream Christian. And Latter-day Saints certainly do believe that faith in Jesus Christ is essential to salvation, as do mainstream Christians. But that’s only half the story.

After all you can do…

2 Nephi 25:23 …for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

This may be one of the most well-known passages of LDS scripture, and one that speaks volumes about LDS doctrine and the LDS plan of salvation.  Unfortunately, it is also one of the doctrines that serves to bring overwhelming feelings of condemnation upon Mormons.

Consider this.  When have you ever felt like you have done all that you can do?  As I look at every aspect of my life, I realize that I never reach that place of feeling like I’ve done all that I can do.

Mormonism from a Biblical Perspective

I’ve just added a new feature to the site here at www.LifeAfterJoseph.org. It’s something that’s been on my mind for a long time now, and I finally felt like the time was right to launch it.

Basically, it’s a through-the-Bible study focusing on what the Bible has to say about LDS doctrine and Mormonism. I’ve gotten the first 19 chapters of Genesis up now, with more to come soon. Genesis will likely be one of the books I’ll go into in the most depth, just because it really does set up the foundation of the entire Bible, New Testament included. Leaving it out would be kind of like missing the first 1/2 hour of a movie. It would just leave too many holes in the plot.

Robbed of a Simple Faith

This topic has come up often in my discussions in the last few days for me, so I thought I’d share some thoughts here.

I really feel like part of being LDS, and then leaving, is that you are robbed of the ability to have a simple faith. Let me explain…

My Story

I realized today that, following the new web design, I didn’t get my story of leaving Mormonism back up on the site. Here it is in a nutshell… (as opposed to the really, really long version available in the Books section of this site).

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To understand my life now, you would have to get a glimpse of what my life was like not so very long ago. You see, I was raised a Mormon. I come from a very active Mormon family and, with a few temporary exceptions, I lived it quite consistently throughout my life. In mid-2006, my life would have looked something like this:

I Couldn’t Ignore This…

From a Fox News article (my added comments are in red italics):

FOXNews.com compiled a list of 21 questions representing some widely held beliefs and misconceptions about Mormonism and posed them to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Airbrushing

One of the troubling things I found as I was beginning to find the inconsistencies in LDS church history is something that may seem very minor, indeed.

I have come to often refer to the version of church history taught by the LDS church as having been airbrushed… cleaned up and blemishes removed. I stumbled across a picture of Joseph Smith, the first one on the top left, and discovered that it is the only known photograph ever taken of him. There have been countless artist renderings and drawings of him, but this image is the most factual representation of what he looked like. The image on the top right is a firsthand drawing that is considered to be the second most accurate rendering of him.

Then I began to look at the renderings of Joseph Smith that the church uses today on their marketing material, pamphlets, lesson manuals, etc.

Some examples of that are to the left and right. Granted, this is small potatoes compared to the airbrushing of things as important as the differing versions of the First Vision, the use of a seer stone in a hat to ‘translate’ the Book of Mormon, and Joseph’s many plural marriages… some of those to other mens’ wives. But it was just another piece of the puzzle that showed me that the church is not above the literal airbrushing of the image of their prophet, and suggested to me that they are equally not above airbrushing his history.

Too much evidence?

Noticed something very odd about myself tonight.  No idea if it’s only my own quirky nature or a byproduct of being formerly LDS. 

I’m reading a book right now that basically gives all the factual reasons to believe in the Bible as a reliable source of information and in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  I am blown away by the amount of actual real hands-on evidence there is backing this all up.  Once one actually looks at it with an open mind, it’s almost an airtight case.  And yet there is something strange to me about having actual evidence of it all.

It probably stems from my lifelong upbringing of having beliefs based on faith alone.  For so long, the things I had faith in were not supported by science, reason, or facts.  That’s what made it faith!  Sure, anyone can believe in something that can be proven… but it takes real faith to believe in something that not only couldn’t be proven, but could in many ways be proven wrong.  Real world evidence and faith were not connected in any way for me.  A faith based even partially on factual evidence was thought to be a weak faith, indeed.  One who needed factual evidence to believe was lacking in faith.  I was warned that a faith based even fractionally on science or real world evidence was vulnerable to being shaken apart by new discoveries or scientific theories. 

I’ve had a strange reaction to this book, which so clearly and overwhelming proves (at least to my mind) the existence of Christ, his mission on the earth, and yes, even His resurrection… and not in a feel-good burning-in-the-bosom kind of way, either… but in the court-of-law kind of way.  I find myself feeling like I am not relying enough on faith for my beliefs… almost like I’m starting to be convinced with too much reason and evidences.  I understand I am supposed to have faith, but am very new to the whole idea of faith actually harmonizing with science and facts.  It’s almost like it’s too easy to believe now.  The leap of faith isn’t great enough to really be faith.  Weird, I know.

Rationally, it makes sense that the God who created the universe would be the same God that would allow us to discover things about that universe… things that would testify of Him.  The more we know about the earth, about history, about archeology, and even about the theory of evolution, the more we find out the truth about the world around us and it’s past.  And truth can only lead to one place… the Author of truth.  It’s incredibly freeing to realize that facts and reason can be a part of my faith rather than it’s diametrical opposite.

Man did not invent DNA, God did that.  Man did not bury fossils in the earth, God did that.  Man did not allow ancient civilizations to remain intact for our discovery in modern times, God did that.  Why would God make such things contradictory to His truth?   The simple answer is that He didn’t.  All things testify of Him… even the ones that we have a hard time figuring out.  Sure, our imperfect theories of science and history can sometimes change as we realize we’ve made errors and incorrect assumptions.  But the closer we get to correct science, the closer we get to God. 

Do we still need prophets?

What follows is the study from last Sunday’s "Life After Joseph" group.  I was torn between about three different topics to talk about, but after hearing my Pastor’s teachings that morning, it became apparent which one I should choose.  The question we dealt with was, "Why doesn’t the world need prophets anymore?"  The LDS church is based on modern revelation from God through a modern-day prophet… literally a living, breathing Moses for our day.  Is there some Biblical basis for the need of a modern day prophet?  Why wouldn’t the world need prophets now just as they did in Old Testamant times?  This was hardly an exhaustive study, but pretty quickly lead to some profound insights… at least for me.

First, I had to examine the purpose of Old Testament prophets.  How did God use them anciently, and for what purpose?  They operated very similarly to how the LDS church claims their prophets do.  They were the Lord’s mouthpiece, announcing God’s will to the people and calling them to obedience.  They also represented the people to the Lord.  There are many accounts of Old Testament prophets praying on behalf of the people.  They were, for lack of a better term, the go-between.

Then something changed.  Something big.  Jesus Christ walked the earth, took upon our sins, was crucified, and was resurrected.  This changed the game, so to speak.  As He said in Matthew 5:17, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am come not to destroy, but to fulfill."  Just as the law had been fulfilled in Jesus, the need for prophets was also apparently fulfilled.  Can this be proven or reasoned to be the case?  Let’s find out…

Before Jesus, there were prophets.  Prophets delivered the word of God to the people… they introduced it.   The Old Testament cry of the prophets was to follow God through what the prophets were telling them.
Then Jesus fulfilled the word of God.
After Jesus there were apostles.  Apostles taught the word of God.   The apostles cry was to follow Christ by accepting Him, believing Him, and gaining a personal relationship with Him.  They echoed Jesus’ own urging to "Come Follow Me."

The word of God was…
- Introduced by prophets, prophetically looking forward to Jesus’ life.
- then fulfilled by Jesus’ life.
- then taught by apostles pointing people toward Jesus.

Immediately, this caused an alarm to go off in my head… something seemed very inconsistent. I could clearly picture Jesus in my mind… hands open and beckoning us to "Come Follow Me."  Then came the echoing in my mind of songs so often sang in the LDS church.  I spent over a year as the primary chorister in my ward, teaching children primary songs.  Songs like…

"Follow the prophet, follow the prophet, follow the prophet, don’t go astray,
Follow the prophet, follow the prophet, follow the prophet, he knows the way"

and hymns like…

"We thank thee oh, God for a prophet. To guide us in these latter-days…"

This was not the first time I’d come across something in the LDS church that appeared to be a holdover from Old Testament concepts that seemingly should have been fulfilled through Christ.  As I’m beginning to learn, when I have questions and need answers, there is no greater source than the Bible.  I dove in to see what it had to say about the need for prophets following the life of Jesus.  How exactly are we supposed to know what God wants to tell us in the after-Jesus world?  And does it necessitate a modern-day Moses?

The first scripture I came across was the first major clue. I found it in John 7:39.  John is telling of Jesus’ teachings and adds parenthetically (…for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)  Of course!   This explained very clearly why prophets were necessary prior to the life of Jesus.  Until Jesus took our sins away, it was not possible for the Holy Spirit to indwell a person.  God cannot abide sin.  The people of the Old Testament did not have the constant companionship of the Spirit.  This made it an absolute necessity to have a prophet who could communicate to the people what the Spirit could not.

This scripture, paired with 1 John 4:15, "Whoseover shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God", further solidifies the idea that a change in the way God communicates to us occured in the glorified Christ.  We now have a "direct line", so to speak, with God because we dwell in Him and He in us.  He has given us the Holy Spirit to lead us, fulfilling the need for prophets.

It becomes even more profound when you look at the difference in teaching prior to Jesus’ life, and following it.  In the scriptures written following His life, the apostles are no longer teaching the people to follow the men chosen by God, but to follow Jesus.  Some examples…

Matthew 8:12 Then Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

1 Corinthians 2:12-14 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

James 1: 5-8 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

For me, it has become clear.  Prophets served the purpose of communicating with the people before the Holy Spirit was available to them.  Jesus fulfilled what was necessary to allow the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and communicate with us directly.  We are now called to follow Jesus, and Jesus alone.   Prophets, even those called by God in Old Testament times, are clearly imperfect humans.  They cannot take precedence over having the very source of truth and light dwelling within us and ready to teach us if we but ask Him in faith.   

I am beginning to see a vast difference in where faith is directed in Biblical Christianity compared to where it is directed in Mormonism.  In the LDS world, you must have faith in a prophet of God who reveals God’s will and direction to you.  In Biblical Christianity, you place your faith in God himself, and God alone.  For lack of a better way of putting it, the LDS church has inserted a middleman… a human being claiming to be a prophet of God between God and the people.  A go-between where none is needed any longer.