tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post7133720244633823579..comments2024-03-28T21:32:26.550+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: We cannot escape from incredible beliefs, twist and turn as we mayBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-5755861513698647202015-04-21T06:41:02.087+01:002015-04-21T06:41:02.087+01:00@W - Once we have made a choice of Christian denom...@W - Once we have made a choice of Christian denomination, then naturally we can judge all the others to be (more or less) deceptive from that perspective. But the initial choice of which denomination is true (or the true-est), which are Good and which are deceptive, must be made primarily (although not wholly) by the discernment of a warm and open heart - by trying to discover what feels Good after investigation, reflection, prayer and seeking divine revelation (and also, conversely, what feels relatively less Good - more partial, more distorted, less motivated by Love). It was on such a basis that I personally came to recognise the CJCLDS as essentially Good, and Mormonism as the most Loving, and Truest, of Christian denominations. Naturally, any human is capable of error; but there is no deeper nor more valid way of making a primary decision than the one which I have been-through and which has led to this conclusion. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-24493231176505998622015-04-20T18:25:51.123+01:002015-04-20T18:25:51.123+01:00No doubt!
Is it a mistake, though, to say that r...No doubt! <br /><br />Is it a mistake, though, to say that requirements for individual Christians and requirements for leaders and thinkers are vastly different? The majority of individual Christians are mostly unable to read scripture for themselves, even in translation, with any sort of real comprehension. Certainly not the KJV. They need the stories re-told to them. That is a good thing, because re-telling the Gospel is the great commission, after all, and all Christians should be communicating it to one another and to the world.<br /><br />For Christian leaders and thinkers, the requirements are substantially greater. Paul was a fool for Christ, but one educated at the feet of Gamaliel. If most individual Mormons read neither the Bible nor the Book of Mormon in what I would consider a serious way, that's no different from any Christian movement in history. But does the movement, through its leadership, draw from the well of historical Christian truth?Joelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-19751310146227424022015-04-20T05:37:38.753+01:002015-04-20T05:37:38.753+01:00@Joel- I think you are getting carried away with y...@Joel- I think you are getting carried away with your personal enthusiasms perhaps! While desirable in a cultural and scholarly way, that surely cannot be regarded as any serious kind of requirement from a Christian - now or ever.Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-91144098743268904232015-04-20T00:06:02.015+01:002015-04-20T00:06:02.015+01:00As long as Mormons are learning Hebrew, Greek, and...As long as Mormons are learning Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, opening themselves up to the documents of the Church across its history, and are also deriving real spiritual insight from the Book of Mormon, I have no complaints. The world needs more inspiring narratives of holy men, not fewer.Joelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-72070804293739337982015-04-19T06:31:51.691+01:002015-04-19T06:31:51.691+01:00@Joel - As I said, incredibilities on both sides. ...@Joel - As I said, incredibilities on both sides. But there seems to be quite a mass of BoM scholarship nowadays which studies the BoM from a linguistic perspective and has quite different (and, I find, plausible) explanations for some of these features. <br /><br />I think maybe you don't have much detailed knowledge about what is claimed concerning the translation of the BoM. The process of translation of the BoM was done by an uneducated young farm boy (not scholars of genius as well as divine inspiration working at the height of the development of the English language - as with the King James Bible), and it is a translation - not a matter of taking dictation - so naturally the person doing the translating has a significant influence on it (as always with translation). <br /><br />There is not enough evidence to overwhelm or convince anyone of the validity of the BoM; but if you go into detail there are some *very* striking and surprising aspects of both style and content, which certainly make it 'incredible' that the book was produced under the circumstances it actually was produced. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-21935411324120376882015-04-19T02:05:45.447+01:002015-04-19T02:05:45.447+01:00One of the things that has historically sustained ...One of the things that has historically sustained Christianity has been an interest in its ancient languages. (No surprise that I am the one to say this.) At least from the Greek, I can generally can see why the King James Bible -- which despite known faults is perhaps still the best English language translation ever made -- translates a phrase the way it does. The first thing I notice about the Book of Mormon is that every verse starts with "And it came to pass" or "Yea," or "Behold." Go to Project Gutenberg and use ctrl-F to see this. "And it came to pass" is used about 7 times more frequently (adjusted for length) than it is in the KJV. "Yea, I" is used about 5 times more frequently, "Behold" about 3 times more frequently. And those were the first 3 phrases that I thought to look at. This strikes me as a verbal composition by someone trying to sound King Jame-sy. You can hear old-style preachers doing the same sort of thing.<br /><br />This is not evil. I'm not trying to tear down the BoM as a spiritual work. But I don't see how Mormons can sustain any interest in Hebrew or Greek if it immediately makes them see a lack of depth in the BoM. And if Mormons don't have an interest in Hebrew, Greek (or Latin), they aren't going to have access to the well from which other Christian movements are able to pull out periodic renewal.<br /><br />It is probably a benefit, in this unspiritual age, for Mormons to be at arms-length from other Christian movements. They are protected from many poisonous trees. But Mormonism still awaits a real come-to-Jesus moment as regards its acceptance of the ancient religion and the Apostolic Fathers. I can say much the same about the Jehovah's Witness movement.Joelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-80485572087282940712015-04-18T18:23:33.838+01:002015-04-18T18:23:33.838+01:00@Ted - If you are doing well where you are, then y...@Ted - If you are doing well where you are, then you should not change denomination. That would apply to nearly everyone. <br /><br />@dl - I'm glad to respond empathically to Augustine - who was clearly a man to be reckoned with - but I just don't seem to be able to do so, despite serious efforts in that direction. <br /><br />@David - yes, there is a lot of the 'wicked enchantment' about the mainstream modern mass media/ bureaucratic existence. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-19507013422564581122015-04-18T13:27:48.257+01:002015-04-18T13:27:48.257+01:00I'm now working my way through the Confessions...I'm now working my way through the Confessions of St. Augustine. It's great and I highly recommend it. He says he read in Circero that you should always seek the truth, and that was the best advice he ever got. He went through a process of investigating and rejecting Manicheanism and astrology. He found Neoplatonism partially true, but incomplete. Neoplatonism had a big effect on early Christians, and you have mentioned the problematic aspects of that here. <br /><br />I just got to the part where he describes his "enlightenment". I don't really understand it. I have never had any He goes from being partially convinced to being absolutely sure. It was a long and painful process for him, covering many years. People these days are used to being instructed in things simply in short periods of time. Most things can be explained simply and quickly, as they are in classrooms every day. <br /><br />These are things that can't be explained simply and quickly, and require some kind of commitment. <br /><br />I think a lot of this is personal. Your sense of how things are will make sense to you, and will be true for you. It won't make sense to others, or be true for others. I don't buy Joseph Smith's version, but I think he had some kind of relevation that made sense to him, and was helpful to a lot of other people. I think that replacing divine things with concrete explanations is always hazardous though. Traditional Christian theology is too abstract, and Mormonism is too concrete. I don't understand the explanations of the Trinity, and I'm very smart. <br /><br />I could tell you what I experience, but it would probably seem strange to you. But it's personal, so that doesn't really matter. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-84998080290652525032015-04-18T12:30:08.364+01:002015-04-18T12:30:08.364+01:00And yet the skeptics still 'believe' or at...And yet the skeptics still 'believe' or at least have a profound need for magical thinking and incredible beliefs; they are just relegated to the stage of Marvel Superhero movies or Novels and literature. As a former skeptic and very good at keeping things of a magical, supernatural or spiritual nature 'walled off' from the rest of life, I often wonder at my close - minded insistence on seeing the world as flat, despite the evidence to the contrary, from so many sources. Why people en-mass simultaneously believe in the supernatural, magical and incredible but then deny it in public discourse is quite remarkable. I wonder if the mass media thought police machine collapsed there would be a natural resurgence in open and honest perspectives about the incredible, spontaneous animism, etc?! Perhaps in time we will see...In my experience, cutting myself off from media was like waking from a wicked magical spell and being able to think about things with a fresh sense of potential and reclaim/reconnect with a sense of the magical/incredible possibilities of life, and I feel all the better for it.Davidnoreply@blogger.com