A CLEAR VIEW

 

My greatest point of gratitude as a member of the Church is my access to the true doctrine and in turn, the ultimate truth. I don’t know of any other Church that has the amount of scripture that we do. I am surprised though that not everyone in the Church takes advantage of this.

We have The Book of Mormon, The Bible, Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price to correlate between to get a clear view of the doctrine of Christ and in turn the mysteries of His kingdom.

I love the Bible because it speaks to my Israelite roots. Having been raised in Croatia, I relate to the pastoral way of life. I know what harvests are and what seasonal festivals are and what shepherds are. And I understand many spiritual truths that were taught by the Saviour using the metaphors that related to the agrarian way of life.

My favourite book of scripture is the Old Testament. I love history and historically and spiritually speaking, it covers amazing events and people. Most importantly, it is the root of the covenant that we as the House of Israel live by. It is the place I go to meet father Abraham for an example of righteousness and devotion to Jehovah.

The New Testament is to me the most spiritually charged book of scripture because it is about Christ and His mortal life and His supreme sacrifice.

I understand the importance of the Book of Mormon as the second witness of Jesus Christ and I understand why the members of the Church read this book the most. It is so much easier to understand than the challenging texts of the Bible. I love the way it clarifies a lot of Christ’s doctrine.

I say the Bible texts are challenging because as Joseph said, “certain errors had crept into the Bible through ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests” (Joseph Smith Teachings, p 327). Joseph understood this so well that he invested himself into correcting, under inspiration, a lot of incorrect translations contained therein. There is a scripture, in my opinion, that is primarily the reason he saw fit to do this.

In 2 Timothy 3:16 we read: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Joseph corrected this scripture to read: “And all scripture given by inspiration of God……” (JST 2 Timothy 3:16a). A huge difference in just one simple word such as ‘is’.  Such a subtle correction but it completely alters the meaning and proves Joseph’s theory. I revel in studying the Bible and finding new gems such as this.

And this might blow your socks off. Joseph also said that the book of Revelation is ‘one of the plainest books God ever caused to be written’ (in “History of the Church”, 5:342). There is only one explanation for this belief which comes from Bruce R. McConkie:

“…only those enlightened by the power of the Holy Ghost gain the full meaning and intent of the written word, for scripture is both given and understood by the same holy power, the power that comes from the Lord through his Spirit.” (“Mortal Messiah 2”, 267-8). This is the ultimate way of being taught.

The second is the prophets. If we truly believe that Joseph Smith was the prophet of this dispensation, we will retreat to his translation of the Bible more often for greater understanding. And Doctrine and Covenants testifies that he was…..

The Saviour would have us know and understand His doctrine of salvation. His word is not an important word, His word is the ONLY word….

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Master Blueprint by Mindi Oaten)

A CLEAR VIEW

 

Over the years as I have studied the scriptures, I have become extremely grateful for the spiritual gift of translation that was given to Joseph, the Prophet of the Restoration. As much as I love the Old Testament and the Bible in its entirety, I am more than grateful for the brilliance of the Book of Mormon because of its singular process of translation.

This is something Joseph said that I have come to have a testimony of: “Certain errors had crept into the Bible through ‘ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests” (Joseph Smith Teachings, p 327). For this reason, I have been very invested in Joseph’s translation of the Bible passages that have given me a much clearer view.

Sometimes it is just a word that has been corrected that has made so much difference to my understanding. Consider these few:

-        Speaking of Jezebel, wife of King Ahab, who introduced the worst form of idol worship and caused the downfall of the northern kingdom of Israel, Revelation 2:22 says: I will cast her into a bed….the JST corrects that to read, I will cast her into a HELL.

-        In 2 Timothy 3:16 we read: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable….” Joseph’s translation takes just one word out and totally alters the meaning. The JST reads: “And all scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable”.

Here are a couple of examples with much weightier matters:

-        “God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). JST: For unto such hath God promised his spirit. And they who worship him, must worship in spirit and in truth.

-        This is my favourite and one which has almost evolved into a doctrinal theory in the Church. It actually enrages me. In Mark 14:33 we read that the Saviour was sore amazed at the suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. This has caused some prolific writers in the Church to elaborate on how the Saviour knew cognitively what He must do but not experientially. The theory is that He had no idea how bad it was going to be. I would like to challenge this belief.

In JST Mark 14:36, we read: “And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane, which was a garden, and THE DISCIPLES began to be sore amazed….” Yes, He admitted He wished the cup to be removed because it was so bad but He never said He was caught unawares (D&C 19:18-19).

This is why I discredit this theory of Him not knowing. When did we start to believe that a God didn’t know something??? When the pre-mortal Christ introduced himself to Abraham He said: “I am Jehovah and I know the end from the beginning….” (Abraham 2:8). A god who creates worlds without number cannot possibly be lacking in something. It’s unfathomable to me.

I also believe that Jesus was apprised of the exact torture of the Atonement during his 40 days of fasting at the onset of His ministry. Scripturally, “number 40 represents a period of trial, testing, probation, or mourning” (Gaskill, “The Lost Language of Symbolism”, 137). Think about that.

The Saviour was a God before His mortal life. He was not someone who got caught up in the enthusiasm of the Plan of Salvation so He volunteered! Saying that He didn’t understand something until He experienced it is like bringing Him down to humanity’s level. This is just an earthly view that excludes godly capability. His godly knowledge in pre-mortal life makes His voluntary suffering and death even more worthy or our gratitude, adoration and worship. I bow before such a God….the lover of my soul…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: In Him Is All Wisdom and Knowledge by Greg Collins)