Vapors of pollution

[Anonymous]

Mormon 8: 29-31

Quote:

Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign lands; And there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places. Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth

Pollution isn’t usually taken to have its modern meaning in these verses, but hmm…

[Anonymous]

Isn’t it strange that when we read scripture we turn on our “it must mean something else” switch? I wonder if that is a vestigial defense mechanism from childhood when it was first obvious to us the scriptures often either a) didn’t make sense, b) didn’t present a moral view, c) didn’t describe the current religion, or d) were threatening to our comfort. I get the idea from Ray’s story he may have coped with the dissonance in a different way as a youngster.

[Anonymous]

You can take almost anytime in the last 2000 years and find things that would fulfill that scripture. It sounds so specific but it really is vague. There have always been wars and earthquakes. None of these are new occurrences. As far as pollution it could mean pollution of the environment, pollution of the church, pollution of spiritual things, pollution of common sense. When you try to apply specifics to scriptures like this you will always be disappointed when what you think should happen does not.

[Anonymous]

I share Cadence’s view. But to take it a step further, I say that’s exactly what makes scripture valuable — what turns writing into “scripture” (religious source material) — we are not seeing facts in the text, we are seeing “truths” in our soul. Scriptures are like metaphysical mirrors.

SamBee sees the flaw of physical, chemical, toxic pollution, and is perhaps spurred to care about it and act to make the world better.

Someone else might see moral pollution, and is motivated to personal discipline, or to go around and uplift their neighbors.

Someone else might see it as factual (mental) pollution, and seek clarity of thought, and clarity for society.

I could go on and on. I see abstract “scripture” as often superior to text that spells out too much detail, or is too context-specific (time, culture, etc.)

[Anonymous]

I also agree with Sam – and Cadence – for the exact same reason Brian shared.

I actually love the whole concept of “likening these things unto ourselves” – even as I cringe quite often at a personal level when I read some of the ways other people do so.

[Anonymous]

Brian Johnston wrote:

I see abstract “scripture” as often superior to text that spells out too much detail, or is too context-specific (time, culture, etc.)

Brian, this is interesting the way you put that. I agree, and then I also think that we accept church doctrine as that which is canonized in the standard works, and not much else.

In that regard, there is little doctrine that spells out detail. It is abstract to provide meaning to us.

Whenever I get into specific definitions of what really the doctrine is saying – it works best when I interpret it internally to something that is meaningful to my life…not relying on the church leaders to spell it out for me.

I would not have thought of things that way a couple years ago…I would have thought it was the same yesterday, today, and always…exactly as we are taught it on Sunday.

[Anonymous]

One of my many takes on scripture is if we assume that God inspires the writer in it’s prose. Than it’s possible God was intelligent enough to know that it would be relevant in more than one time, place, and people. Look at Revelation,Isiah, or the account of Nephi’s vision.

The mixture of symbolism, spiritualism, and words can be quite complex when you actually ponder them. It can seem sometimes like wishful thinking to some or finding things not really there. However if you were God and made everything unique, and knew that everyone would see things in a different light, you really wouldn’t give everyone thier own specific set of scripture, religion, dogma, etc. You would want the message to be kind of a universal hand book complex enough so that through study, thought and prayer it would give a soul spacific message as well as for the masses.

In addition what better way for us to learn than to make us think? What better way to make us ponder and judge our actions. Even the contradictions in Religion makes try to find balances and really think rather than just follow programmed instructions.

Just my perspective.

[Anonymous]

Given the unprecedented pollution of recent history (i.e. since the late 18th century, and more so since the 1930s), it would be unsurprising if there was NO mention of it in the Word of God*. Leaving aside the issue of global warming, which is controversial, there is definite evidence for air pollution causing acid rain, and breathing problems.

* I’m talking here as if it is so, but not everyone would agree.

[Author]

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