The Importance of Blogging

Date December 28, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

The latest issue of Reformation21 is out, and it looks like another excellent edition.  Dedicated to the life and work of David Wells, this issue should not be missed.

Carl Trueman includes a fascinating article, “The Theatre of the Absurd.”  In it, he talks about the problems and absurdity of blogging.  This article is simply must reading for bloggers.  Here is an excerpt:

There is, however, more to it [my blogging] than the fact that I still have the mind of a seventeen year old schoolboy trapped inside an older but clearly no wiser body. It is that the whole blog phenomenon is inherently ridiculous; that the more serious it tries to be, the more absurd and pompous it becomes; and that I believe that if you can’t beat the inevitable blogological deconstruction, you might as well join it, and that with relish. As the old Buddhist proverb says, 'When faced with the inevitable, one must merely accept the inevitable.'

Should we stop blogging?  No.  But I do like the option Trueman suggests at the end:

…face this theatre of the absurd head-on; join in with the other nobodies pretending to be somebodies; laugh at your own ridiculous complicity in this nonsense; expose the systemic contradictions for all they are worth; mock the blogworld for all of its inane self-importance; and in so doing try in some small way to subvert the system from the inside. It may not ultimately work; but you’ll have fun in the process.

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Book Review: God's Blogs by Lanny Donoho

Date December 28, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

If God were a blogger, what would He blog? Lanny Donoho has some ideas, and has put them into his book- God’s Blogs. The book contains some 42 blogs from God written in a personal, and usually comical, manner. The key to the book is the “Nondisclaimer” at the beginning: “This book is supposed to be an enjoyable look at the principles God put in the Bible… and they’re done with a twist. For some people it is easier to grasp the grace and truth of God if they feel like His word is personal to them… from Him”

 

At best, God’s Blogs is a creative and insightful look at what God might say in a blog. At worst, it’s often too creative and goes beyond “the principles God put in the Bible.” That might be to take the book too seriously, though, since its tone is rather light-hearted.

 

Still, the God in God’s Blogs sounds more like the contemporary therapeutic God than the God of the Bible. For all of the accounts of God being holy and angry in the Bible, one might expect such attributes to be portrayed to some extent in the blogs. However, only a playful, almost carefree, God is found. In this way, though creatively thoughtful with fun colors and illustrations, God’s Blogs fails to capture many of “the principles God put in the Bible.”

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Book Review: Whatever Happened to Truth?

Date December 27, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

Comprised of four essays from the plenary sessions at the 2004 ETS convention, Whatever Happened to Truth? addresses truth from biblical, cultural, philosophical, and hermeneutical perspectives. Editor Andreas Köstenberger notes in the introduction that each contributor writes from “an evangelical, inerrantist perspective and in the conviction that there is truth, and that truth can be known, in God’s written word, the Bible, and in God’s incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (10)

 

Köstenberger begins the anthology with his essay “’What is Truth?’ Pilate’s Question in Its Johannine and Larger Biblical Context.” He gives a defense of the historicity of the Johannine account, and then examines the role of the characters involved in the trial (the Jewish leaders, Pilate, and Jesus). While being a well-written and intriguing essay, it felt out of place. The study and conclusions reached have more to do with the historical issues related to John 18:38 than they do with ‘truth’ as such.

 

The second essay, “What is Truth? Truth and Contemporary Culture,” was written by Albert Mohler. Mohler suggests that postmodernism supplies six challenges for Christians. I found the most interesting to be ‘the dominion of therapy.’ According to Mohler, “The critical epistemological questioned is shifted from ‘What is true?’ to ‘What makes me feel good?’” (61) As usual, Mohler provides insightful points regarding culture and challenges Christians to stand firm in light of them.

 

J.P. Moreland contributes the third essay, “Truth, Contemporary Philosophy, and the Postmodern Turn.” His paper caused the most reaction due to his claim that “postmodernism is an immoral and cowardly viewpoint.” (76) After defending the correspondence view of truth, he maintains that postmodernism (especially in its Christian manifestations) is confused on at least five points, primarily epistemological. Though a bit sensational, Moreland does a superb job of showing where postmodernism has gone wrong in regards to truth.

 

The final essay is “Lost in Interpretation? Truth, Scripture, and Hermeneutics,” authored by Kevin Vanhoozer. Vanhoozer makes many points, including: textual meaning cannot be reduced to propositions, inerrancy is not really a hermeneutic, and hermeneutics should be theodramatic. While he makes several good points, Vanhoozer’s contribution is mostly a rambling mesh of independent points having no direct relation to one another. He covers so many different areas that each of the summaries of his essay at the beginning and back of the book are at least twice as long as the other summaries.

 

Each author offers a unique contribution to the question, Whatever Happened to Truth? While some are stronger than others, it is a valuable book in that it engages truth on several fronts from diverse perspectives. 

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Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men

Date December 24, 2005 Posted by Amy Hall

I was very moved by this World War I story the first time I read about it in a letter on display at London's Imperial War Museum.  Even 2000 years after Christ's coming, the echoes each Christmas of the joy and peace He brought with Him are powerful.

 

“I remember the
silence, the eerie sound of silence,” [the former soldier] was quoted
as saying in the Observer newspaper last year, describing the day-long
Christmas Truce of 1914, which began spontaneously when German soldiers
sang carols in the trenches, and British soldiers responded in English.

 

“All I'd heard for
two months in the trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of
bullets in flight, machinegun fire and distant German voices. But there
was a dead silence that morning across the land as far as you could see.

 

Troops in the
trenches swapped cigarettes, uniform buttons and addresses and even
played football in one of the most extraordinary episodes of the war.

 

“We shouted 'Merry
Christmas' even though nobody felt merry. The silence ended early in
the afternoon and the killing started again.”

 

The echoes were
strong enough to stop the pain and misery for a day, but the time will
come when He will return, and the carols will last forever.

 

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men

 

In despair I bowed my head

“There is no peace on earth,” I said

“For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men”

 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep

“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men”

 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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What is "Official" Mormon Doctrine? (Part 3)

Date December 23, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

When seeking to understand Mormon doctrine, knowing the written Scriptures of the LDS church is not enough.  Mormons have no concept of a closed canon (in fact, they tend to ridicule such an idea).  There are other ways in which Latter-day Saint teachings are established.

The Second Level: Official Statements from Presidency

The ninth Article of Faith states, “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.”  For Mormons, God continues to reveal himself and his ways to them.  Fundamentally, this revelation comes through the living prophet and president of the church.  Thus, official statements by LDS prophets as well as official statements by the First Presidency are authoritative for Mormons.  They should also be consulted when examining Mormon beliefs.

The Third Level: Material from the Presidency and General Conference Statements

Materials that are produced by the First Presidency of the LDS church itself with the intent of teaching church members what they believe should also be considered as accurate and helpful sources of church doctrine.  One very important book in this regard is Gospel Principles.

Additionally, statements by general authorities during the church's general conferences carry a lot of weight.  Since all church members are supposed to watch these general conferences, and since these conferences provide a platform for LDS church leaders to address members, what these authorities say is often important in the beliefs of Latter-day Saints.

The Fourth Level: Other Statements from General Authorities

Once we get down to the fourth level, the authoritativeness can be relatively low.  Nevertheless, the general authorities tend to be highly regarded by church members.  With this in mind, what they say and write outside of general conferences can also be influential.

The Fifth Level: Other Writings

Some models do not include a fifth level.  Nevertheless, I believe that such a level exists in the lives of many Mormons.  While these writings may have no “official” authority within the church, some Mormons may see them as authoritative in some sense.  As an example, we have already seen that many Latter-day Saints have looked to McConkie's Mormon Doctrine for a summary of their beliefs.  Others draw heavily from contemporary Mormon scholars and apologists.  We cannot assume that all Mormons believe what is written at this level, but we can recognize that Mormons often will turn to others in having their beliefs explained and defended.

The Solution

This “hierarchy of authority” provides a strategy for understanding, examining, and critiquing Mormon doctrine.  It also allows us to keep various LDS material in perspective.  With these levels in mind, I hope that we can accurately discuss, debate, and refute the claims of the LDS church while pointing Mormons to the true Jesus Christ.

(I have based my hierarchy on James R. White, Is the Mormon My Brother? Discerning the Differences Between Mormonism and Christianity, 23-42.  To see this kind of model implemented, see Cky Carrigan's PhD dissertation, “An Assessment and Critique of the Distinctive Christology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).”)

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What is "Official" Mormon Doctrine? (Part 3)

Date December 23, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

When seeking to understand Mormon doctrine, knowing the written Scriptures of the LDS church is not enough.  Mormons have no concept of a closed canon (in fact, they tend to ridicule such an idea).  There are other ways in which Latter-day Saint teachings are established.

The Second Level: Official Statements from Presidency

The ninth Article of Faith states, “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.”  For Mormons, God continues to reveal himself and his ways to them.  Fundamentally, this revelation comes through the living prophet and president of the church.  Thus, official statements by LDS prophets as well as official statements by the First Presidency are authoritative for Mormons.  They should also be consulted when examining Mormon beliefs.

The Third Level: Material from the Presidency and General Conference Statements

Materials that are produced by the First Presidency of the LDS church itself with the intent of teaching church members what they believe should also be considered as accurate and helpful sources of church doctrine.  One very important book in this regard is Gospel Principles.

Additionally, statements by general authorities during the church's general conferences carry a lot of weight.  Since all church members are supposed to watch these general conferences, and since these conferences provide a platform for LDS church leaders to address members, what these authorities say is often important in the beliefs of Latter-day Saints.

The Fourth Level: Other Statements from General Authorities

Once we get down to the fourth level, the authoritativeness can be relatively low.  Nevertheless, the general authorities tend to be highly regarded by church members.  With this in mind, what they say and write outside of general conferences can also be influential.

The Fifth Level: Other Writings

Some models do not include a fifth level.  Nevertheless, I believe that such a level exists in the lives of many Mormons.  While these writings may have no “official” authority within the church, some Mormons may see them as authoritative in some sense.  As an example, we have already seen that many Latter-day Saints have looked to McConkie's Mormon Doctrine for a summary of their beliefs.  Others draw heavily from contemporary Mormon scholars and apologists.  We cannot assume that all Mormons believe what is written at this level, but we can recognize that Mormons often will turn to others in having their beliefs explained and defended.

The Solution

This “hierarchy of authority” provides a strategy for understanding, examining, and critiquing Mormon doctrine.  It also allows us to keep various LDS material in perspective.  With these levels in mind, I hope that we can accurately discuss, debate, and refute the claims of the LDS church while pointing Mormons to the true Jesus Christ.

(I have based my hierarchy on James R. White, Is the Mormon My Brother? Discerning the Differences Between Mormonism and Christianity, 23-42.  To see this kind of model implemented, see Cky Carrigan's PhD dissertation, “An Assessment and Critique of the Distinctive Christology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).”)

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What is "Official" Mormon Doctrine? (Part 2)

Date December 22, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

Let's take this “hierarchy of authority” from the top down.  In Mormon doctrine, the first level is the most authoritative whereas the bottom level is the least authoritative.

The First Level: Written Scriptures

Mormonism was summarized by Joseph Smith in the Articles of Faith.  The eighth Article of Faith states, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.”  Therefore, we see that the Bible is Scripture as well as the Book of Mormon.  The LDS church also includes the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price as written Scripture.  Here is a little more about them:

  • The Bible: Most of us should already be familiar with the Bible.  Mormons believe that the King James Version of the Old and New Testaments is Scripture (though they believe it to be corrupted and incomplete—note the clause in the 8th article: “as far as it is translated [or transmitted] correctly”).
  • The Book of Mormon: “The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fulness of the everlasting gospel” (Introduction to the Book of Mormon).
  • The Doctrine and Covenants: “The Doctrine and Covenants is a collection of divine revelations and inspired declarations given for the establishment and regulation of the kingdom of God on the earth in the last days. Although most of the sections are directed to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the messages, warnings, and exhortations are for the benefit of all mankind, and contain an invitation to all people everywhere to hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking to them for their temporal well-being and their everlasting salvation” (Explanatory Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants).
  • The Pearl of Great Price: “The Pearl of Great Price is a selection of choice materials touching many significant aspects of the faith and doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These items were produced by the Prophet Joseph Smith and were published in the Church periodicals of his day” (Introductory Note to the Pearl of Great Price).

Together, these combine together as the official written Scripture for the LDS church.  As such, they are the top level of Latter-day Saint authority.  They are foundational to Mormon doctrine, so an individual seeking to understand Mormonism should begin here (at the same time, remember that most distinctive Mormon teaching comes from the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price).

We will look at the remaining levels of authority in my final post.

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What is "Official" Mormon Doctrine? (Part 1)

Date December 21, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

What do Mormons believe?  Many individuals (both within and outside the LDS church) have attempted to answer this question.  Nevertheless, given the nature of continuing revelation in Mormonism as well as the relative authority of various LDS materials, one must begin by grappling with the issue of “official” beliefs.  What does the LDS church officially believe and teach?

The Problem

Robert Millet is a professor at Brigham Young University who has recently written a book to share with evangelicals and others what Latter-day Saints believe about Jesus Christ.  Yet even in this work, A Different Jesus? The Christ of the Latter-day Saints, Millet states,

While I owe a deep debt of gratitude to faculty colleagues, ministers and theologians of other faiths, and students who have challenged me to clarify my thinking, I alone am responsible for the conclusions drawn from the evidence cited.  This book is a private endeavor and is this without imprimatur or authorization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Brigham Young University (xii-xiii).

So, Millet admits that the LDS church neither authorizes this book nor does it necessarily summarize official Mormon doctrine.

With this in mind, where can we turn to understand LDS beliefs?  Many have found Bruce R. McConkie's Mormon Doctrine helpful.  However, one Mormon scholar points out the potential limitations of this work as well:

For two generations, many Latter-day Saints have relied for matters of doctrinal clarification upon an encyclopedic tome called Mormon Doctrine (first printing 1958) as the definitive statement on the subject, because of its authoritative title, tone, and authorship by a prominent apostle, Bruce R. McConkie.  But it never received official sanction, and it expresses what an increasing number of Mormons see as an overly rigid fundamentalism (Terryl L. Givens, The Latter-day Saint Experience in America, 94).

Again, we ask to the question: where can we turn?  Where can we look to find the teachings of Mormonism?  And how can we seek to correctly understand Mormon doctrine so that we can accurately and effectively respond to the claims of Latter-day Saints?  Simply put, we need a way to measure the authoritativeness of LDS sources.  Since different LDS material  has various levels of authority, we need to keep these distinctions in mind while studying Mormonism.

We will begin examining this “hierarchy of authority” in my next post.

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President Hinckley on Joseph Smith

Date December 20, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

The December 2005 issue of the LDS church magazine, Ensign, includes an article on Joseph Smith by President Gordon B. Hinckley, “Joseph Smith Jr.—Prophet of God, Mighty Servant.”  This first presidency message is well worth reading.  It gives us insight into the way members of the LDS church understand and admire their first prophet and founder.  Here is Hinckley's conclusion:

When I was a boy 12 years of age, my father took me to a meeting of the priesthood of the stake in which we lived. I sat on the back row while he, as president of the stake, sat on the stand. At the opening of that meeting, the first of its kind I had ever attended, 300 or 400 men stood. They were from varied backgrounds and many vocations, but each had in his heart the same conviction, out of which together they sang these great words:

Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!
Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer.
Blessed to open the last dispensation,
Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.
(“Praise to the Man,” Hymns, no. 27)

Something happened within me as I heard those men of faith sing. There came into my boyish heart a knowledge, placed there by the Holy Spirit, that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of the Almighty. In the many years that have since passed, years in which I have read much of his words and works, that knowledge has grown stronger and ever more certain. Mine has been the privilege of bearing witness on continents north and south, east and west, that he was and is a prophet of God, a mighty servant and testifier of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Great is his glory and endless his priesthood.
Ever and ever the keys he will hold.
Faithful and true, he will enter his kingdom,
Crowned in the midst of the prophets of old.
(Hymns, no. 27)

That testimony I reaffirm now, in the name of Him of whom Joseph Smith was a witness and of whom I also am a witness, even the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Meet John Divito

Date December 20, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

Today I am posting my personal testimony.  I was originally asked to write it out when I became a research associate with Mormonism Research Ministry (MRM).  After it was completed, my testimony was included in the Fourth Quarter 2002 issue of Mormonism Researched.  I am posting it here with the permission of MRM.

 

Since my birth, I had been raised in the atmosphere of the Mormon faith.  My parents were dedicated to the Mormon Church, and I was in church every Sunday. I was also involved in many of the other activities the church offered. When I turned eight years old, I was baptized at the youngest age the church allowed. After I was baptized, I continued as a member of the church for a long time. I received the Aaronic priesthood at 12, had a temple recommend, and was baptized for the dead when I went to the temple. I also looked forward to the time when I could serve my two-year mission. But as I grew older, things began to change…

 

I had come to the age where I could work. The church had begun to change in my eyes, and I did not really have problems with neglecting it by working on Sundays. When it came down to it, I had grown unhappy with the Mormon Church. I came to the point where I was more of an agnostic.  I never really denied God’s existence — I just didn’t care. I had my own life to live. So I worked through the rest of high school.

 

Then I turned eighteen, and I had a decision to make. Of course, this is the time when I was supposed to go on my two-year mission. I had been raised to go on a mission at this time, and I had even wanted to go through most of my youth. But I didn't care much about religious matters anymore. I wanted to go to college so that I could get a good education and live a decent life. Therefore, I began attending college. After all, I thought it was going to determine how much money I was going to make.   While attending college, something amazing happened. I met a woman named Jennifer. I certainly was not looking for anyone. But through a mutual friend, we had begun talking on the Internet.  Now at first I just thought of her as a friend.  But as we continued to talk, I started to really like her.  After about three months, we decided to meet. And after meeting, we began to date. I was on cloud nine. There was only one problem — she was a Christian. Not that I really minded; I didn’t necessarily think that there wasn’t a God. I just hadn’t cared for so long.  She was very active in a campus ministry, and I began attending some ministry activities to spend more time with her.  In time, I decided to prove to her that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the true church.  After all, if she was going to be devoted in her beliefs, it should be with the true church.  I realized that in order to accomplish this, I would need to study and understand the materials out there written against Mormonism. Then I could refute their arguments and demonstrate to her how Mormonism was true.

 

This wound up leading to a huge problem. The things I was reading could not easily be disproved.  In a matter of fact, they could not be disproved — they were telling the truth.  The evidence they gave was well documented and easily verifiable. I started to understand more about the history of Joseph Smith and of The Book of Mormon.  There were also doctrinal problems that made the theology of the church illogical and irrational.  I began having a crisis of faith. Was everything I had ever been taught through the Mormon Church wrong? After my research, I found out what I had believed was wrong.  For me, learning the truth about Joseph Smith and the dubiousness of The Book of Mormon were the two primary reasons that caused me to leave the church.

 

As more time passed, the minister from the campus ministry began to make some sense.  I decided to go with the group to a mission trip in Mexico over spring break. When we finally got down there, I took some time to talk to the associate minister.  We spent a long time talking about spiritual things. I realized that I was a sinner — that I had disobeyed God by trying to run my own life and do things my own way.  I also knew Mormonism did not have the answer, and I knew that I could never be good enough to make things right with God (even by keeping the ordinances of the church and the law of the gospel).  Worst of all, I knew that I deserved God's punishment for my sins.  So I confessed this to the associate minister and he told me that Jesus Christ died on the cross to take all of this punishment upon Him. Jesus also rose from the dead three days later and He has been alive ever since.  The associate minister continued by saying that if I came to faith in Christ and what He had done for me, my sins would be forgiven and God would judge me based on Jesus' perfection and righteousness instead of my sinfulness.  This was the key.  Nothing I could do would help or make me better off.  It was not about me anyway.  It is about God, whose creation rebelled against Him, and about what He did to restore His relationship with this creation. I realized that what He did through Jesus Christ was glorious, and I wanted nothing more than to trust in Him. As a result, I told the associate minister that I wanted to become a Christian. He celebrated with me, and we told God together of my decision by prayer.  He then recommended I should get baptized.  Later in the week the entire campus ministry went down with me to a lake where he baptized me. This was the best decision I ever made.

 

I realized that my separation from God no longer existed. Through Christ, the barrier my sin had made was removed. And as a result, I was in a wonderful relationship with my Creator. I now had purpose in my life. I existed to serve God and to glorify Him. Learning the Bible and about Christianity had totally changed my life. I began to see a real need for Christians to be better trained biblically and to be able to discern truth from error. I gained a passion to use my talents and gifts to serve God in this matter. Because of this, I began gaining education for this purpose at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I also continue to have a heart for the LDS people, and a desire to show them the truth. Hopefully, with my involvement with Mormonism Research Ministry, I will be able to help others in the pursuit of this truth. And I will never forget that for the rest of my life, I will live first and foremost to serve the Lord and to do His will.

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