By Mogget
Just before Easter, J. Stapley made this comment in response to an invitation issued to readers of New Cool Thang to participate in an Easter brainstorming session on the work of Christ:
…I think that Joseph Smith was clear in the last months of his life that the Atonement was for God as well as Man. This is supported by the Book of Mormon – “that he might succor his people.” “The Spirit knoweth all things, nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh.”
From this, I’d say that JS knew, as did the author of the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, that the Christ-event affected Christ himself.
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By Mogget
I see from a Salt Lake Tribune article found here, written by Peggy Fletcher Stack, that the RS has caught the attention of some folks in Iraq. Joan Betros, director of women’s and children’s family television programming for Iraqi Media Network, introduced the RS idea to an Iraqi colleage who reacted enthusiastically. The upshot is a nonprofit, nonreligious organization called FUTURE, that is, Families United Toward Universal Respect.
Two things struck me when reading the article. The first is the casual reference to the problems of corruption and the idea that volunteer efforts work against that particular challenge in developing nations. As Betros said, “They could see that through volunteerism, there is no corruption.”
Second, the Iraqi women associated with the idea visited Southern Virginia University, SLC, and Denver. In the description of these visits, which included traditional RS topics, Visiting Teaching, FHE, Welfare Square, and some time spent learning about city government in Denver, the most interesting comment is the last:
Nuha N.S. Ahmad Al-Algha, president of the Nintu Society, particularly liked the Humanitarian Center but was also drawn to the church’s vast genealogical holdings. “If you know your roots, you know your life. We are starting to lose family ties in Iraq. Everyone is running for himself.”
I hope that the RS model takes hold, but I also see that this once again demonstrates the appeal of genealogy. How many doors have been opened by just that one aspect our way of life?
By John C.
First, I must apologize for the long delay between the first and second installments of this series. I got busy and lazy simultaneously (a rather easy thing to accomplish, really) and I was stalling for time as my thoughts coalesced. Here’s hoping what we got was distilled rather than excreted.
In the first installment, we surveyed the information that we have regarding the nature of Satan’s plan. There are two points on which all theories regarding the plan of the Adversary must agree as they are repeated within the Heavenly Council pericope. Satan wished to moved against agency and that he wanted something that is variously called, power, glory, and honor that our Father in Heaven had and that he did not. The degree to which agency would be destroyed was debated in the ensuing discussion. It was a good discussion and you should check it out. I just want to add that I do think that theories involving the removal of consequences for acts (the removal of punishment or law) are actually attacks on agency itself (as, if we cannot distinguish between two choices, we cannot consciously choose).
So, agency gives us the option of choosing. But who or what do we choose? That’s the question, isn’t it.
Why Free Agency is a crock
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By Mogget
Justification is one of the most prominent of Paul’s ten great metaphors and it’s also probably the best-known one as well. In this light, I think that I’ll try to move past an assumed understanding of justification by touching on three topics:
1) The pre-Pauline roots of justification
2) Baptism and justification
3) Works of the law and justification
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By Mogget
One of the questions I get asked when talking about the effects of the Christ-event has to do with whether this avenue of approach is fruitful outside of the Paulines. The fact is, the entire NT pretty uniformly teaches Jesus in terms of what he did/does/will do. This time we’ll take a couple of examples from Mark.
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By Mogget
Since that shadowy character HP has lately taken to investigating the even darker figure of Satan in the dim reaches of LDS protology, David J and J. Watkins want to talk about the “third part” thing. And since I’m writing my dissy on Revelation and since I had way too much Mt. Dew after dinner, I’m going to oblige.
First off, the easiest way to handle the whole thing is to rely strictly on DC 29:36-37 and be done with it:
And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the devil—for behold the devil was before Adam. for he rebelled against me saying “Give me thine honor, which is my power, and also a third part of the hosts of heaven he turned against me because of their agency, and they were thrust down and became the devil and his angels;
Anytime Revelation gets called in on anything but its own terms, you will be lucky if you are only tormented by demonic cavalry from the abyss for five months. So if you click “read more,” you asked for it…
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By Mogget
In one of those interesting threads over at New Cool Thang, the Head Thang posed a question to the rest of the Wild Thangs:
Ok, our scriptures clearly say that because Jesus Christ was resurrected we all will be resurrected, too. I honestly have no idea why that is the case. If God can cause us to get new bodies then why did Jesus specifically have to be resurrected to make that possible? If Christ never came couldn’t God have resurrected us all anyway? If so, then what’s the connection? If not, then what is the law that would prevent God from doing so?
The first thing that should be said is that the NT is not unanimous in reporting that Jesus was the first person resurrected.
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By John C.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent a bit of time lately thinking about one of the big imponderables in Mormon theology: the acts of the Adversary in the Garden. If we believe that the plan was laid out in the grand, heavenly council, then the Adversary had to have known that he was playing into God’s plan. Why would he do this, especially if the motivation that we always ascribe to him is to frustrate God’s plan? Let’s look at what we know.
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