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DarkJedi wrote:
I’ve come to a partial understanding that commandments are probably only those things which if violated constitute a sin.
In some ways, I can see that isn’t always true to me. For example, Eve broke a commandment to partake of the fruit, but it wasn’t necessarily a sin, but a transgression of which God knew and even approved of. But it was a rule for a purpose. Many things in church can be in that category. A rule for a purpose and for a specific time and place, and we are to decide how to react as part of our test.
ydeve wrote:There have been times where I’ve felt distinct promptings to do something, and ignoring the prompting would be deliberately putting distance between me and God, one of the definitions of a sin.
I like the view of things where you see something can put distance between us and God. Some things, even if we don’t think the situation itself is a big deal (like drinking tea or a missionary sleeping in) may become something that puts distance between us and god. Or they may not. Finding that out is part of our testimony and faith in what we believe.
For some people, drinking Coke was something that was not as faithful as committing to following leaders and abstaining from it just in case it was a more strict commandment to them, or an offering of their heart of greater devotion. Their heart may have determined whether they were drawing closer to god with devotion or breaking a commitment to themselves with a self-imposed commandment, and God may have accepted their offering. For others who don’t care about coke…it isn’t really a commandment worth any thought and no impact to their spirituality.
At some point, the organization puts out handbooks to try to give guidance on the gray areas, to try to keep order. But many of the mission rules are about building character and discipline in the misisonaries, regardless of the activity itself (swimming, sleeping, pday rules, etc etc etc). They become commandments for a purpose, and there can be blessings for obeying…sometimes, just the blessing of obeying something you decide to commit to.
I was speaking about this topic with my RM son the other day and he brought up a good point. He said in determining if something is a commandment we could consider the author. Some things were pretty clearly given by God, the 10 commandments for instance. The D&C idea of everything from the prophet when speaking by the Holy Ghost is scripture/commandment is fraught with uncertainty because we can’t always tell when he is and when he isn’t speaking by the Holy Ghost, and clearly they have been wrong in the past (he referenced the priesthood ban). Also, the idea of following the prophet even if he is wrong doesn’t sit well with some (including him and me) and we talked about the BY quote about blindly following. Then he brought up the manuals and how they change – they’re clearly policy, some of which may be inspired but others just made by men. He specifically talked about changes over time to the missionary handbook – he has seen mine and it is vastly different than his. He questioned whether commandments really would change that much over a relatively short period of time – but it would be perfectly reasonable to believe policies change more quickly. It was a good conversation – looking at who wrote the commandment/rule/policy can give a clue as to which it is.
DarkJedi wrote:… looking at who wrote the commandment/rule/policy can give a clue as to which it is.
Didn’t man write all of them? I don’t mean humans with ulterior motives, I refer to humans doing their best to channel the divine.
For instance, did Moses even exist? Did the Exodus happen? If not what does that imply about the story of the 10 commandments?
Not trying to stir the pot but… stirring the pot I guess.
nibbler wrote:DarkJedi wrote:… looking at who wrote the commandment/rule/policy can give a clue as to which it is.
Didn’t man write all of them? I don’t mean humans with ulterior motives, I refer to humans doing their best to channel the divine.
For instance, did Moses even exist? Did the Exodus happen? If not what does that imply about the story of the 10 commandments?
Not trying to stir the pot but… stirring the pot I guess.
Of course, all of it was written by men, even the story of Moses and the Ten. If taken literally, the story says God wrote the 15 commandments on the tablets himself (recall that History of the World Part 1 contains the untold story of what happened to the other 5). I agree that for the most part the humans didn’t have ulterior motives, we all see through a glass darkly – and we tend to embellish sometimes (some more than others). The Ten were not a Jewish invention, like most of our theology they borrowed them from others. However, they are accepted as doctrine by Judaism and Christianity (and Islam?) and it’s easy to accept the story that at least they were inspired. It’s far less easy to accept that the Full Nelson was inspired. This is an example of what I think my son was getting at.
So many rules are just based on past experiences. They get called commandments .. And we don’t always hear about the back story. Nice video, AP. 🙂 I think the church lately seems to present a lot of suggestions and guidelines, letting people decide if they are “commandments” or not…and it seems vague. Like…if I was more spiritual, they would be commandments to me…but you can choose what you want to take for them. It almost seems like the door is left open to have things be not so hard-lined commandments these days. Like For the Strength of Youth. To some, commandments. To some, inspired guidance by prophets.
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