The Gospel According to Jeffrey

Many years ago, I was discussing doubt with a member of my stake . The member in question has a doctorate in Church history from Brigham Young University  (a university owned and operated by  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ) , and she told me a bit about her experience as a grad student in that area of study. As part of her studies, she read publications that were critical of the Savior’s Church. (I do not believe this was a requirement for her degree, but was relevant to her thesis.) At times, the things she read gave her pause and she took them to her doctoral advisor. These meetings always began and ended with a prayer, and they usually appeased her concerns. However, there was also one question that preceded every meeting: “Before you read anything else, do you study the scriptures of the Restoration for at least 30 minutes per day?” If that question were answered in the negative, the meeting never began. She was instructed to return home, study...

For the last few months, I’ve been having a very slow conversation on YouTube regarding the veracity of the Book of Abraham . (Longtime readers may remember I’ve dealt briefly with that topic  here , as well.) Recently, one of the participants in that conversation, Kevin Lunt , shared a lengthy post in which he shared the following: I remember when I was in the church hearing my teachers and church leaders say over and over “don’t believe it because we say so. Discover for yourself if these things are true.” Yet they then follow that by telling you to beware of anyone and anything that contradicts with the church and go on to explain why all other churches and beliefs are wrong and corrupt. All the while they are shoveling mormon literature into you. So it’s like they’re saying “Of course you should investigate other religions. They are all wicked and corrupt so I don’t know why you’d waste your time. But by all means, discover it for yourself.” Honestly I can't fathom how many ...

“…and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God…” As I pointed out in my last post (seven months ago! Wow! How did that happen?!), education was obviously very important to Nephi. Given the fact that we are reading scripture, though, it should come as no surprise that his education includes more than just secular learning. What may surprise us, though, is how fully this integrates into the dichotomy expressed in 1 Nephi 1:1. For those that have read the Book of Mormon before, the subtle hint that Nephi has “seen many afflictions” is a subtle use of understatement. While he indubitably lived much of his life in happiness, the scriptures rarely teach us of mundanities, preferring instead to focus on the major events of the prophets’ lives. Thus, we read of many trials through which he passed, the “ refiner’s fire ”of his mortali...

“Nephi taketh his brethren and returneth to the land of Jerusalem after the record of the Jews. The account of their sufferings.” I think this passage speaks a lot to the character of Nephi. Grant Hardy points out that Nephi, while not merely “a biased, self-aggrandizing character,” nonetheless “offers a didactic, one-side narrative that severely truncates events and flattens characters” (Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon , 44). I think this comes through quite clearly, in this passage. The events here summarized begin in 1 Nephi 3, when Lehi instructs his sons—on behalf of the Lord—to “go unto the house of Laban, and seek the records, and bring them down hither into the wilderness” ( 1 Nephi 3:4 ). While Nephi is certainly portrayed as the more obedient party, he never mentions “taking” his brethren with him; they simply “took [their] journey in the wilderness, with [their] tents, to go up to the land of Jerusalem” ( 1 Nephi 3:9 ). (Incidentally, the fa...

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...