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)

THE PLACE TO BE

 

“It is not difficult to envision that there will be false prophets and false teachers in the last days. But what of the promise that there will be false Christs?

“There are, of course, those deluded souls who announce, from time to time, that they are Christ or God or the Holy Ghost….or whatever Satan or the workings of a deranged mind places in their thoughts. But in a larger and more realistic sense, false Christs are false systems of religion that use his name and profess to present His teachings to the world.” (Bruce R.  McConkie, “The Promised Messiah” p 324)

Elder McConkie went on to say that the contention of different religions in Joseph Smith’s day meant that each group of religionists was saying: “Lo, here is Christ; we have his system of salvation; ours is the true church, we know the way; come join with us” (JS-H 5).

So strong was Joseph’s confusion that it led him to the source of all truth for guidance. We all know the result of that query – that there is only one Christ and one true system of salvation.

Today there are an estimated 4,000 to 10,000 distinct religions in the world. There are four major religions with over 77% of the world’s population adhering to one of them. They are: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddism.

I was raised as a Christian so I knew of Christ’s salvation but all I knew of it was that we were saved from sin so we don’t go to hell. At 16 years of age I wondered what comes after salvation, what are we saved for? Why are we here and what is there to come?

When I found the Church and was baptized at 18 years of age, I was amazed at the vista of information that the Plan of Salvation offered. For the first year of my membership I believed that all the Church members were perfect. With all that marvelous truth at their fingertips, how could you not be? Fifty years later, I understand and know better….

Despite the richness of the Gospel, I have seen some members of the Church be seduced by false Christs in the form of other religions and turn to them in preference to the Church that possesses all truth.  I am still trying to understand the attraction.

Elder McConkie explains the splendour we are in as members of the true body of Christ: “The great restoration of all things has begun, and like the light of the rising sun, it shall spread over all the earth until the darkness of Babylon shall be no more, and the Son of Man shall come to be seen and admired by those who wait for Him.”  (“The Promised Messiah”, p 325)

“This Church, the great institutional body of Christ, is a marvelous work and a wonder not only because of what it does for the faithful but also because of what the faithful do for it. Your lives are at the very heart of that marvel. You are evidence of the wonder of it all.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Miracles of the Restoration” October 1994 General Conference)

When the Saviour proclaimed himself to be ‘the bread of life’, many of his disciples, lacking in understanding, “walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life…..thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (John 6:68)

To whom indeed???....

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: And The Truth Shall Make You Free by Greg Olsen)