What would you do if you heard of someone taking their son up into the mountains and tying him to a pile of rocks to sacrifice him to God? That probably wouldn’t fly over too well, yet Christians, Muslims, and Jews all revere Abraham as a prophet.
What about a man that killed a high-ranking official and then stole valuable records from him and fled into the wilderness, claiming that God told him to do all of these things? That’s Nephi’s story in the Book of Mormon.
How about a more recent one? A man who claimed authority from God to translate additional scripture, build temples, and practice poligamy. That’s part of Joseph Smith’s story.
These are a few examples. Kaimi over at By Common Consent wrote more examples from the Old Testament as well.
So why is it that some people believe in Abraham, but not the New Testament and Jesus, yet others believe in the Bible, but reject the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith? I believe it comes down to what people want to believe, along with what they are willing to allow the Spirit to teach them.
I believe strongly in the power of the Holy Spirit to tell you the truth of all things. Although specifically referring to the Apocropha, Doctrine and Covenants, Section 91 gives a good example of using the Spirit to decipher and determine which scriptures to follow. Below is part of the section:
4 Therefore, whoso readeth it, let him aunderstand, for the Spirit manifesteth truth;
5 And whoso is enlightened by the aSpirit shall obtain benefit therefrom;6 And whoso receiveth not by the Spirit, cannot be benefited….
Grace for Grace 
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June 29, 2008 at 3:59 am
Jay and Susan
I enjoyed your thoughts. I have to agree that feeling the spirit can be highly objective. I have found that if the scripture admonishes me to do good and come closer to God then it is relevant in my life. I also agree with the statment you made that we don’t need to know it all or understand it all. One of the purposes of we as mortals here on this earth is to develop faith, and practice obedience without being told every move to make, and without being in the presence of God. If we can press forward with faith not knowing all or even understanding all then our faith will grow. Thanks again for the thoughts, and I too am grateful for ancient scriptures as well as modern day scriptures.
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June 30, 2008 at 8:30 am
Eric Zacharias
Ama,
I studied your thoughts carefully, also going to the site you mentioned in your article.
The dilemma that you mention is a false dilemma. You seem to be buying into the proposition that God has delivered contradictory messages to us in Scripture. My response to Kaimi’s claims are best represented by “Factorus” who wrote:
>>
Without the Old Testament there would be no foundation for the New Testament. The same God speaks in both. The same God is testified of in both. Christ himself expounded on the Old Testament from the time of Moses up to the day he walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, but only after calling them “fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”<<
(And of course, Kaimi’s points grossly misrepresents Scripture–and frankly are blasphemous, whether you are a Christian or Mormon.)
I have found that those who like to tout “progressive revelation” (like pentecostals and mormons) have to wrestle with the question of revelation in a very serious way. Why? Because the long-standing revelation of Scripture (“objective revelation”) is pitted with the revelations received following that canon (“subjective revelation”).
Can both be held as God-given and authoritive? No. The best example of this can be seen in the Old Testament, where one Prophet’s message was contradicted by other prophets in town. Jeremiah would not allow their message of “Peace, peace!” stand alongside his message of doom for Jerusalem.
Ironically, when subjective revelation is found to be in question, adherents will often seek to tear down the authority of God’s holy Word as given us in the Old and New Testament. What is ironic is that such a position ends up in unbelief in God, as delivered in Scripture. What starts out as a “conservative” position becomes starkly “liberal” in every way.
Faithful biblical interpretation begins with a faithful regard Scripture: it is inspired of God, it is of the one author (though delivered through many writers), it is unified and inerrant, it speaks of Jesus Christ (Christocentric) and finds fulfillment in Christ for our salvation. And, if anything is not understood, it must be received by faith, trusting that God is faithful to his word.
When the Bible is no longer the foundation of our faith, we build on the foundation of our own understanding.
When we build on Christ, we have a sure foundation (a rock); when we build on anything else, we build on sand.
The one will stand–to God’s glory; the other will tragically fall.
Yours in Christ,
Eric Zacharias
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June 30, 2008 at 3:58 pm
CS
Eric, I love to read your postings. You must be very knowlegeable about the scriptures, but you spend too much time trying to prove things wrong instead of just approching the subject and giving thoughts on it.
I think Ama is trying to get us to understand why God would command something that seems to us now as contradicting other commandments He has given. As Ama states, if someone where to take his son and attempt to offer him as a sacrifice to God, we would all think he is crazy and I am sure he would end up behinds some sort of bars.
My feeling is that God is above these things. He will see a purpose in things that might take generations or into eternities for us to understand His motives. As we look at Abraham, I am humbles by His obedience to God that he would be willing to do such a thing. I am amazed that Isaac would alow him to do it once he became aware what was going on.
For us, this is a great example of the obedience that God wants in His children. At the same time as giving us an example, I am sure God was testing Abraham to prove to himself (Abraham) what a great man a leader he was.
The polygamy thing?? I trust that God knows what He is doing in the case of Old Testament prophets as well as Joseph Smith and others. I am sure to some extent it is also a test of obedience to something that is again not understood by us very well.
Thanks for the postings Ama. I enjoy reading your thoughts. You have a great insight into spiritual things. Keep it up.
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June 30, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Dan
Good post.
It’s not too uncommon to get a gospel doctrine class or Elders Quorum meeting where there is disagreement on this or that. Is one side of the argument divinely inspired or are they both wrong? That’s not for me to say.
For myself, I try to do what I believe is right. I think that when I’m diligently striving to live the gospel I feel more in tune, and more confident about what the Lord wants me to do.
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July 1, 2008 at 2:05 am
ama49
#1, #2, and #3
Thanks for your great comments! All of your comments (including comment #4) had the element of faith involved. #2 I really like that you pointed out that having faith in Jesus Christ is where we should stay focused. And as stated in comment #3, if we have faith and trust in Jesus Christ (which all of these prophets did), then we will be built on a sure foundation and no matter what is asked of us, we will grow from the experience.
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July 22, 2008 at 9:40 pm
jack
ama
How can you promote that one needs to trust their feelings? Our feelings and experiences must be tested against the Bible, which is the word of God. Too often, we try to do it the other way around.
Eric,
Thanks for your knowledge and for writing what God has you write. You are definitely Spirit-filled, and it is clear that God is using you as an apologist for the truth. I’ll probably be asked not join in on the fun, anymore. We’ll have to wait and see.
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July 22, 2008 at 10:55 pm
ama49
#6, Jack
You are right and thank you for bringing the point that trusting our feelings needs to be tested against God’s word.
I am not saying we need to trust our personal feelings, rather the feelings and promptings God gives us through the Holy Spirit as written in the Bible and other scripture (which you may or may not believe). We are all familiar with the fruits of the Spirit and how the Spirit communicates to us. If not, we need to learn how to recognize the Spirit.
When we read all scriptures and prophecies, it will be through the power of the Holy Ghost that will testify to us of it’s truthfulness.
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September 10, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Jessica
The answer to the situation with Abraham is really simple and that is what I love about the scriptures. Man tends to make things more complicated then what they really are. In the scriptures when Abraham was asked of God to Offer Isaac as a sacrifice he was testing Abraham’s willingness to obey no matter what the cost. Isaac was his only son. Some see Isaac as a “picture” of the Savior to come. Then God provides a ram in the bushes for the sacrifice. Abraham never did kill his son Isaac. The clincher is this…that God had not written the Old Testament Law yet (The Mosaic Law). Abraham never did commit sin 1. Because he didn’t kill his son and 2. The Mosaic Law wasn’t written yet. According to scripture with out the Law sin is dead Romans 7:8. In answer to your question about Polygamy, God never approved of Polygamy in the Scriptures even before the Law. Keeping in mind that Abraham is a Man that was born with a sin nature meaning he isn’t perfect as no man after the fall of Adam is Perfect. Just because Abraham was a prophet doesn’t make him free of error. This is why we must compare scripture with scripture. Adam says in Genesis 2:24, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife (singular): and they shall be one flesh.” this was said before the fall of man (before man sinned) Adam & Eve were perfect. God himself did not create wives for Adam but a single wife. Creation by God is the picture of what we should follow according to this standard of belief. It also may be noteworthy to mention that the 1st Polygamist in the bible was a murderer (Genesis 4:19-24) If man were to go by feelings there would be no absolutes because one man may “feel” something different than another. That is why God gave the law to man in the old Testament and later the scriptures. Scripture says in Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above ALL things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” It is my belief that we cannot trust our feelings we must have faith in the scriptures that Christ has given us. Thanks for sharing your beliefs so openly and giving others the opportunity to share theirs. My personal LDS friends are the same way. They are very open to sharing & discussing their personal beliefs.
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