What Do We Really Know?

Another little bit of blasphemy, brought to you by Mo'Boy

I was reading one of my old posts, about the Trinity, and I saw a couple of comments there that I'd either missed or forgotten about.  They were postings by a couple of other Christians trying to convince me that I was all wrong.  On of them tried to show, using the scriptures of the Bible, that the Mormon concept of the Godhead is all wrong, and that the Mainstream Christian concept of the Trinity is all right.

You say Tomato...

For me it comes down to the question:  What do we REALLY know about God?  We have the words written in books that tell us all about God, and how he has, and will interact with us humans.

The challenge comes with the realization that these books are hard to understand at best, and that so many people understand the same words in so many different ways.  We pour over the words, and we study them, and we look at them in the context of our own experiences.  We also try and learn the historical contexts surrounding when they were written.  And we come up with lots of different conclusions. And that's assuming that we're even using the same translation, or even the same edition of the same translation.

But it's the Word of God!

Sure, but what did God mean when he said it?  And was it really God that said that phrase, or was that something of more historical note?  And how many mouths, ears, and hands did it pass through on its way from God to me?

The only thing I can KNOW is what I can personally experience, and, religiously speaking, that means that the only things I KNOW is what speaks from God's spirit to mine.  What it tells me is that (except for a few of my own missteps), the path of belief that I'm on is working.

I'm starting to feel that God values our faith and our search as much as he values our salvation.  Look at it this way.  IF God is omnipotent, and can do anything he wants to, he could appear today, announce his presence, and clearly state to everyone in the whole world which religion is the right one and which path we should all be walking.  Seriously, if he wanted to, he could get a press conference together and just say it. 

There are a lot of reasons why he probably doesn't do that.  For one, I'm not sure that everyone would believe Him if He did.

But a big reason is (in my own imagination) that it's important for us to seek Him and find Him on our own.  The ones that truly search for the truth will eventually find it.  And they'll be able to handle it when they find it.





Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Mark's Other Blog Posts: Moroccan Lamb Tagine 

Heavenly Father

I was reading in Psalms the other night, and came across this in number 127, starting in verse 3:

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."

I've read this one before, and even heard it quoted from the pulpit.  Usually, I've heard it in reference to earthly fatherhood.  It's all about a man looking back on his posterity and finding "joy and rejoicing".  It's a cool feeling.  I've been there.

That night, however, I got to thinking about it from God's perspective.  And suddenly, I thought about this also-famous verse in the Book of Moses:

"For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

We are his children, and we are his heritage.  We are also his work and his glory.  It's a cool feeling.




Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Proposition 8: The Fallout

There has been a lot of fuss on the 'net, and in the bloggosphere about the Church's efforts in the defeat of California's Proposition 8, a proposal to allow same-gender marriages.  The Church is really taking a lot of heat in the popular press and culture.  The documentary movie: "8: The Mormon Proposition" is the focal point of a lot of the buzz.  The most recent bit is the legal actions against the Church, including some relatively nominal fines for supposedly not reporting the money trail correctly.

A lot of people not in the Church seem to be wondering why so much effort and fuss and money was put into the defeat of the proposition.  Why does it hurt us if some others want to marry how they will?  Just because Mormons disagree with them, does that give them the right to tell people how to live their lives? 

Really, I think the Church Leaders have a lot in common with those promoting the agenda for gay marriage.  I think they're feeling the exact same thing.  They don't want someone else telling them how to live, either.  And that's what they're afraid of.

In a recent talk to a group of young LDS members, Elder Russell M Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve said,
"If civil law were altered to recognize so-called 'same-gender' marriage, you as believers in God and as keepers of His commandments would be regarded as exceptions to the rule," Elder Nelson said. "Your conscientious convictions would be regarded as discriminatory. For example, if you were a Christian schoolteacher, you could be charged with bigotry for upholding the Lord's law of chastity. In truth, dear brothers and sisters, if you lose marriage, you also lose freedom of religion."

A while ago, here in MoBoy, I wrote about my view of the "slippery slope".  It seems that I'm thinking in a similar vein to Elder Nelson.

What I'm afraid of at this point, is that Proposition 8 and all of the fallout may well be growing beyond the "Live and Let Live" point.  We'll just have to see.


Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Mark's Other Blog Posts: A Dutch Oven Father's Day Feast, Making LDS Music: Affliction and Comfort,