JOEL -
"GOD, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom
also he made the worlds;
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the
word of his power,
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high;" (Hebrews 1:
1-3)
This scripture was certainly true at the time Paul
said it. When Christ came He gave the people living at
that time the doctrine and Gospel they needed to get
His church going. They had Him there in person so
there was no need for prophets at that time. Of course
this scripture does not say that we should never again
have prophets. It only says that God once spoke
through prophets and now(the time of Paul) He spoke
through Jesus.
In these latter-days we don't have Jesus here in
person so we again need to rely on prophets to make
His will known to us.
"Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth
his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7)
STEVEN - If the "Adam-God" 'doctrine' was indeed a non-prophetic statement by Brigham Young and never was to be understood as a divine revelation, why did he claim that God told him of this 'doctrine' (see The Deseret News, June 18, 1853)?
JOEL - I am sorry. I can't seem to find my copy of the June 18 1853 Deseret News. I must have recycled it or something :-)
The Adam-God issue is very complex and confusing.
While in some references it appears that Brigham Young
believed that Adam was God the Father, in other
references he says something that completely
contradicts it.
President Young once stated that "Adam is Michael, the
Archangel, the Ancient of Days;" (Journal of
Discourses, Vol.1, p.50 - p.51,) which means that Adam
is not Elohim, or God the Father.
President Young also explained that Adam helped to
make the earth. If he only helped then that means that
he was subordinate to someone who was superior.
Young also states,
"It is true that the earth was organized by three
distinct characters, namely, Elohim, Jehovah, and
Michael."
Here he places Adam, or Michael, third in the list,
and hence the least important of the three mentioned.
He also said:
"We are all the children of Adam and Eve, and they are
the offspring of Him who dwells in the heavens, the
Highest Intelligence that dwells anywhere that we have
any knowledge of." (Journal of Discourses, Vol.13,
p.312)
Why would he call Adam an offspring of Him if he
thought that Adam was God the Father(Him)?
The apostle Joseph F. Smith had this to say about the theory:
"President Young no doubt expressed his personal opinion or views upon the subject. What he said was not given as revelation or commandment from the Lord. The doctrine was never submitted to the councils of the Priesthood nor to the Church for approval or ratification, and was never formally or otherwise accepted by the Church. It is therefore in no sense binding upon the Church." (Letter to A. Saxey, January 7, 1897, LDS Archives).
We will have to wait till the next life and ask Brigham to better explain what he meant. In the meantime we cannot call it church doctrine for the reasons stated above. The subject really has no bearing on our eternal life anyway.
STEVEN - How can one be murdered "by a garb of secrecy" (Helaman 9:6)?
JOEL - "Now, immediately when the judge had been murdered - he being stabbed by his brother by a garb of secrecy, and he fled, and the servants ran and told the people, raising the cry of murder among them;" (Helaman 9:6)
"Garb of secrecy" is simply a metaphor to mean that the act of murder was clothed in secrecy. It was done in secret so no one would know who did it.
STEVEN - Don't Hebrews 12:28 and John 14:16/16:13 seem to indicate that no total apostasy would occur?
JOEL - "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:" (Hebrews 12:28)
"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;" (John 14:16)
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." (John 16:13)
God's kingdom can not be moved but people can move
themselves away from His Kingdom. The "other
Comforter" and the "Spirit of Truth" are other terms
for the Holy Ghost, who can inspire people to know and
understand God's will and doctrine. But He will not
abide with sinful people.
Jude said:
"How that they told you there should be mockers in the
last time, who should walk after their own ungodly
lusts.
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having
not the Spirit" . (Jude 1:18-19)
After the Apostles died the people fell into sinful ways and began to pervert the gospel of Christ thus losing the spirit they once had leading them into a total apostasy, which was predicted. (See Matt 24:24, Acts 20:29, Gal 1:6, 2 Thes 2:3, 2 Tim. 4: 3-4)
STEVEN - Isn't Alma 56:56 an impossiblity?
JOEL - "But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war." (Alma 56:56)
Helaman was only talking about the two thousand young
men who fought with him(See verse 55). The other
warriors of Antipus and the Nephites who also fought
may have suffered some losses.
If you read the whole story it sounds like the
Nephites and Helaman and his two thousand warriors,
greatly outnumbered the Lamanites; took them by
surprise; and had them completely surrounded. Perhaps
the Lamanites were so afraid that many of them decided
not to even try to fight much.
STEVEN - Finally, doesn't Isaiah 31:3 and 2 Cor. 3:17 support the concept of an immaterial God who is not anthropormorphic?
JOEL - "Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together." (Isaiah 31:3)
We believe Jesus Christ to be the God(Jehovah) of the Old Testament. At the time of the Isaiah scripture Jesus did not yet have a body, so here He is correctly associated with having just a spirit.
"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Cor. 3:17)
The entire chapter of 2 Cor. 3 is talking about the "Spirit of the Lord" . This verse is just associating the spirit talked about with God (See verses 6 and 8). God is a Spirit and His spiritual influence is widespread but He also happens to have a body as well.
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