Tuesday, September 9, 2014

A Faith-promoting Message

Here is a very important, faith-promoting message for all Latter-day Saints.  In fact, it could be the most important message you, as a Mormon, will ever read.

The Eighth Article of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly...."  Stop and ask yourself, "What if the Bible IS translated correctedly?"  Consider this:  The original languages of the Bible are Hebrew and Greek.  These are not dead languages.  Over 13 million people in the world speak Greek.  Just under 10 million speak Hebrew.  They are well-known languages.  We can know exactly what the Bible says.

The next question becomes:  How reliable are the original language documents we have today?  Consider this:  The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947 contain the entire Hebrew Old Testament (with the exception of the Book of Esther (which does not contain the name of God).  Carbon dating has placed these as far back as over 400 B.C., about the time the last book, Malachi, was completed.  A complete Old Testament from the time it was written!

We also have over 5,600 Greek manuscripts of New Testament in existence today.  Some of the fragments date back to 130 A.D. -- less than 40 years after it's completion!  These documents predate the Roman Catholic church, most of the early church Fathers and all of the heresies of the dark ages.  Among these manuscripts there is a 99.5% agreement among the texts, and the variations are mainly in spelling, capitalization and so forth.  None of the variations affect doctrine.

We can examine these languages and find out easily what the original words actual mean.  And when they are translated into English, we find English language Bibles today say the same things, differing mainly in style and expression.  If the Eighth Article of Faith asks the question, "Is the Bible translated correctly?"  We can answer with a very firm, "Yes!"

What about the Book of Mormon?  Can we check the original to see if it is translated correctly?  No.  Unfortunately, Joseph Smith said the Golden Plates from which he said he translated the Book of Mormon were taken back by an angel, and we do not have them today to examine.
But can we take Joseph Smith's word for it that he translated the Book of Mormon correctly?  For that answer, we must turn to the Book of Abraham.  Since 1966 we have had the papyri of that work available to examine.  But in Joseph's time, around the time of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, no one in North America could read Egyptian hieroglyphics.

But now all Egyptian scholars (except a few who are Mormons) can easily see that Joseph did not translate even one hieroglyphics correctly.  He wasn't even close.  It was a different story altogether.  Now, if Joseph Smith cannot be trusted as a "translator" of the Book of Abraham, how can he be trusted as a translator of the Book of Mormon?  We must also ask how can his prophecies in the Doctrine and Covenants or the Book of Moses be trusted?  Should we simply take his word for it?  2 Nephi 28: 31 echoes the Bible (Ps. 118: 8 KJV) when we are told not to trust in man.  That includes the man Joseph Smith!

When all is said and done, although the other "Standard Works" are in doubt, the Holy Bible is complete, inerrant and truly can be trusted.  And it's the only work that can.
So, what does the Bible say about one of the most important doctrines of the LDS church?  We are referring to the Melchizedek priesthood.  What does the inerrant Bible say about who holds this priesthood?  We find the answer in the book of Hebrews, chapter seven.  This chapter is very clear in explaining the reason that Jesus is our great High Priest.

In the Old Testment it was clear that those from the tribe of Levi could only be priests...so the question became, how could Jesus be our High Priest when he cam from the tribe of Judah?  The answer is that Jesus has a higher priesthood than the Aaronic priesthood (from the tribe of Levi).  His priesthood is after the order of (or "in the manner of") Melchizedek.  But the question remains:  Who holds this priesthood today?  The answer is in Hebrews 7: 24.
This verse tells us that Jesus holds this priesthood, and it has never been passed to anyone else.  The Greek word the writer of Hebrews used is "aparabatos."  This word has only one meaning:  nontransferrable!  In other words, as long as Jesus is alive, no one else can have this priesthood transferred to him.  And the next verse, v. 25, tells us that Jesus indeed lives forever.  No one else but Jesus will ever hold the priesthood, because he will never die, which would pass the priesthood to another.

What does this mean?  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continually tells us that nothing can take place in their church without the priesthood.  No teaching, no baptisms, no administration, not anything!  But if the Melchezek priesthood cannot be transferred from Jesus to another person, that means that no man in the LDS church holds the priesthood.  There is no authority in the Mormon church, as they understand it!!

So now you are asking yourself, "How can this be a 'Faith-promoting Message?'"  Simply this:  And we make this in the form of an appeal.  Do not put your trust in a non-existant priesthood!  Do not put your trust in a man (whether he claims to be a prophet of God or not)!  Do not put you trust in any writings other than the Holy Bible!  Put you trust in the central figure of the Bible, the one who really holds the priesthood -- Jesus Christ!  And put your faith in Him alone!

The Bible says that Jesus is the creator of all things (Colossians 1: 16-17).  "All" means only one thing -- ALL!  Everthing!  The only way this could be is that if Jesus were out of what is called space-time (which he also created).  This makes him eternal.  Existing in eternity-past.  Co-existant in eternity-past with the other persons in the Godhead, the Father and the Holy Spirit.  This means there can only be one God, but in three Persons.  An impossible concept to get your mind around, but perfectly acceptable by faith.

So, how do we put our trust in Christ alone?  Titus 3: 5 has the answer, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration (not the washing of baptism, but regeneration -- new birth), and renewing of the Holy Ghost."  You can't come to Jesus with your works of righteousness.  Your righteousness is like garbage in His sight (Isaiah 64: 6).  Come to Jesus with nothing but your desire for him to save you by grace alone, through faith alone!  He will promote your faith...making this indeed a faith-promoting message!!

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