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I’ve only started enjoying the Book of Mormon since I’ve stopped worrying about horses, and cureloms (whatever they are), and where it is set… none of these are that important… it’s what the book gives to me… In my case, regarding the Book of Mormon, I have had some very profound experiences with it. Other than a few odd things within the BoM, I don’t know of a single shred of physical evidence to back it up. And yet, it has great spiritual import to me.
As someone said about it on here, It’s like a cute kitten you find in an alley, you don’t care where it came from, you just might take it home, look after the thing and appreciate its beauty.
SamBee wrote:As someone said about it on here, It’s like a cute kitten you find in an alley, you don’t care where it came from, you just might take it home, look after the thing and appreciate its beauty.
But I hate cats…😯 Hamster then? Python? I’m in a strange place regarding the BOM because of this. It has always been down the pecking order of the standard works for me personally. Even as a missionary, I incessantly read the New Testament and D&C. I remember with some investigators we read D&C more than the BOM. The teachings of Christ and the history of the church always seemed paramount. Now I have doubts about the authenticity of the BOM, for me, there isn’t a lot that I feel the book can give to me at the moment.
kristmace wrote:Now I have doubts about the authenticity of the BOM, for me, there isn’t a lot that I feel the book can give to me at the moment.
I feel this about all scripture at the moment. I haven’t read the scriptures just to read them for a while, only if preparing a lesson. I just find that if I have some time to read something I can either reread the scriptures which I’ve read many times over (except the OT which I find little value in relative to its’ size) or I can read something else such as The God Who Weeps. I find the latter to be more edifying and helpful with my faith journey at this point in my life. After all, reading the scriptures played a part in getting me where I am today. :p
Fwiw, I appreciate scriptures deeply as a record of how past people viewed God and their responsibilities to each other, even as I don’t take them as literal or factually accurate in many (perhaps most) cases. I see an interesting evolution of theology in them, but I love theological abstraction, so your mileage may vary. 🙂 As I’ve said before, I love this forum because a u-turn is never criticised. Having spent a week taking a complete break from all questions of ‘intellectual issues’ and ‘history’ I’ve had the emotional head-space to reflect on the ‘big picture’ of the meaning of life that came from the collected works of Joseph Smith.
Today, the Book of Mormon/Moses/Abraham/D&C sources are not deal breakers. Even if they are not historically accurate, the messages they deliver still paint a wonderful picture of the ‘why’ and ‘so what’ of life.
I think u-turns are okay if you’re honest enough to call them such. I still have problems with the BoA although I have a soft spot for some of its cosmological weirdness.
Regarding the OT, it is full of hidden gems. Anyone read Ecclesiastes recently? It is so beautiful and contains so much wisdom. The boring stuff, remember, is there mainly for Jews. It is Highly important to them
The BoM is more than the sum of its parts. It may quote large chunks of the Bible or ramble about war, but it also has passages and insights that go far beyond a chronicle, a forgery or an average novel. That’s what makes it “true” for me.
Having let go of my previous perception of Joseph Smith since my FC, I’m now assembling a different view of him. Having had several experiences where I’ve felt inspired to write what I can only consider personal revelation I have a soft spot for the idea that Joseph didn’t literally translate the plates with fancy glasses while looking at them. A stone in a hat seemed fantastical the first time I heard of it (thanks South Park) but the idea of him receiving the whole book through inspiration doesn’t bother me. If anything i identify more with it. As to the necessity of the stone… That’s beyond me for the moment.
I see this form of inspiration/revelation as more consistent with Joseph’s other “translations” too.
I guess whether it’s a rock in a hat or magic breastplate glasses the process is still weird. And either way it would be the power of God doing the work. So why is one better than the other?
Of course this relies on a personal testimony that the BoM stories are real… I guess I’ve just decided they’re “real enough”. Sort of a “the names and places may have been changed but the stories are real” thing you see in a disclaimer before some TV shows.
I think I struggle more with the BoM because almost all the main characters fit a TBM mold. It doesn’t speak to me like the New Testament, PGP, Lao Tzu, Confucius, and even Plato do. There’s a whole obedience is more important than knowledge idea that doesn’t appeal to me in the BoM. A bright spot for me is Mormon/Moroni. Especially where Mormon writes Moroni about the light of Christ. But that’s just a few verses…
There’s another thread on here titled “some things that are true aren’t that useful”. For me the BoM tends to be that way.
Part of my personal crisis with faith was learning some of the gotchas on an blog about the godmakers. Some of the issues bothered me, but the way the anti’s presented them was so polemic, skewed and extreme that they just weren’t trustworthy. (Big clue: never once would they recognize anything good about the church). Growing up in the Church, I knew first hand that Mormons are generally descent, hard working, conscientious, selfless, honest people. While I didn’t have first hand knowledge of JS and the golden plates, that story was no more outrageous than Moses and his stone tablets. Sure, JS, BY and others made mistakes, but they were human, and didn’t do anything worse that OT & BofM prophets, did. I knew I couldn’t prove Church claims one way or the other. So I was left with my own personal experience: what had being a Mormon mean for me. The older I get the more I realize all the pain and suffering I have avoided by following it’s teachings. Without it, I am sure I would be divorced and living a miserable debauched life. Instead, I don’t smoke, drink participate in unbridled sex, so don’t have those related diseases and dis-eases. I have a masters degree, excellent health, jog 3 times a week and work out in the gym 2-3 times a week. Understanding the difference between the “pure gospel” and the” cultural gospel” helps cut through the bull crap, so I can better better apply gospel principles into everyday life. I enjoy the opportunity of service the Church provides. Because of it, I am a better husband, neighbor, employee, brother, etc. than I otherwise would be.
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Shelving the apparent historical inconsistencies, etc. is an easy trade-off for what I get in return . I just am not interested in throwing away the baby with the bath water.
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