The Gospel According to Jeffrey

I just came across another Answerbag post that I’m pretty pleased with. The question was as follows: Mormons: This statement from Joseph Smith has always puzzled me, "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge…" ( History of the Church , 5:588) What does it mean? Here’s my response: First of all, let’s put this in a little more context: As far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the devil and lose knowledge, and without knowledge we cannot be saved…. A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God (HC 5:588). So let’s establish first what President Smith is not saying. I think we need to recognize that he is certainly not talking about salvation from physical death—which i

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve started wandering back to Answerbag again. In so doing, I have once again gotten sucked into some interesting Gospel discussions. I thought I’d share my response to a particular question, posed by a friend of mine that’s somewhat antagonistic toward the Church of Jesus Christ. His question: Matt 5:48: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Heb 10:14: “by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Doesn’t that mean that Heavenly Father sees us as perfect despite our flaws & sins? My response was as follows: Not at all. Each of these passages must be looked at in context. Matthew 5:48 is the last verse of the paragraph begun in v.43 , which is itself the last paragraph of the entire chapter. Throughout this section, the Lord is comparing the Mosaic priests and their teachings to the Christian disciples and His own, greater teachings. Thus we find v.13 referring to Christ’s d

As time has gone on, I’ve come to realize that my spiritual ramblings really need a place of their own. I’ll be sharing some things in here that really don’t need to be shared with the world at large, so if you’re reading this, you’re obviously among the few I’ve invited—and that actually care. For that, I thank you. So without any further ado, here’s The Gospel According to Jeffrey.

It has always interested me—and not necessarily in a good way—that so many critics of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints complain that the Church is a “brainwashing cult” or whatever. The irony of this becomes particularly apparent when one realizes that many of the most outspoken critics have done no firsthand (or even secondhand) research whatsoever, they just attended some “Mormonism” class that their own church put on and assume everything said in that class—like everything their preacher has ever said—is the Gospel truth. Now, don’t get me wrong; I fully recognize that there are some misinformed members of the Church of Jesus Christ that fall into this same category: that of assuming that everything a leader says, regardless of what it is, is scripture on the same level as the canonical works. This is obviously not the case, as several Church leaders—even Apostles—have been officially rebuked for certain *ahem* inaccurate statements made along the way. I have person

I’m gonna get the book a bit, in this episode of The Empty Soda Can. Hopefully if you’re totally irreligious, you’ll still be able to follow this; if not, just let me know and I’ll try to explain. I was out mowing the lawn, this morning—ah, the beauties of setting one’s own schedule!—and I got to thinking about the Parable of the Ten Virgins. This Christian parable is found in the Biblical Book of Matthew: specifically, chapter 25, verses 1-13 . In short, there are ten virgins that know the bridegroom is on his way to a wedding they’re supposed to be attending. Since ancient Jewish weddings were often delayed due to dowry negotiations, etc., the virgins don’t know when he’ll get there. When the bridegroom finally shows up, it’s the middle of the night and five of the virgins—the “foolish” ones—have some oil in their lamps, but not enough. They beg the other five—the “wise” ones—to share some oil with them, but the wise ones don’t have enough for both of them. The foolish virgins spen