Blogger of Jared

I am giving a talk in Sacrament meeting on Sunday.  I thought I might spit out a post as part of the preparation.  The talk is to be based on Elder Hollands talk in General Conference called ‘My Words Never Cease’

 There are people out there who are saying that Mormons are not Christians.  This is not terribly original or new.  It might surprise you to know that I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand of course Mormons are Christians.  Good grief.  We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is the savior, that salvation can come only through his atonement.  To simply say that Mormons are not Christians is either being ignorant or deceitful.

 On the other hand, from a classical, traditional, Christian point of view Mormons are radiacally unorthodox.  Whether it is our tritheistic view of the Godhead, preexistance, additional scripture, rejection of original sin dogma, modern prophets, three degrees of glory, and on, and on.  We are unique and revolutionary at every turn.  And from the classic and traditional viewpoint, I imagine we force them to question just how unorthodox must a Christian religion be before it should be considered non-Christian.  And so to acknowledge our differences is an important thing.  It is largely our differences that make us ‘true’ in my opinion.

In the previous conference Elder Holland claimed there were two primary reasons why people question how Christian we are, and at that time he addressed the first reason, which is our scripturally based view of the Godhead.  In the most recent talk he addressed the second reason, that of an open canon of scripture.

The idea of additional scripture rubs many Christians the wrong way.  This is largely out of their love for the Bible.  It seems that they feel that if someone embraces additional scripture that they must be turning their back on the Bible.  In doing so, these individuals shut the door on any current or future divine expression.  Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints feel that they have access to such additional divine expression in the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.  In addition to this, Mormons believe in a living, current prophet, and in personal revelation.

 Elder Holland reviews the common argument against additional scripture or revelation, and gives the common answer to this argument.  The argument involves quoting Revelation 22:18, and suggesting that this means that there will never be any more scripture.

The answer involves pointing out that most biblical scholars agree that several New Testament books were written after Revelation, including Jude, the epistles of John, and the Gospel of John.  He also rightly points out that the New Testament as we currently have it did not exist at the time that John wrote his revelation.  It is therefore quite reasonable that this warning only applies to the actual Book of Revelation and is not an absolute pronouncement that there will never be any more scripture.

Elder Holland goes to some length to point out that every prophet added to the words of the previous prophet.  He asks that if the words of Moses were sufficient, then why have the words of Isaiah or any subsequent prophet.   He then asks that if those who only had acces to Mark, should be offended by the subsequent accounts of Matthew, Luke and John?  Following this line of reasoning, Mormons rejoice at the additional scriptures that we have access to.

 People should not misunderstand us in accepting these scriptures.  We love and revere the Bible, and we view it as an area of common ground with our Christian friends.  In fact it has been stated that one of the purposes of the Book of Mormon is to establish the truth of the Bible.

There is another point in Elder Hollands talk that I think is key.  He quotes N. T. Wright as saying:

The risen Jesus, at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, does not say, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth is given to the books you are all going to write,’ but [rather] ‘All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me.  In other words, “Scripture itself points . . . away from itself and to the fact that final and true authority belongs to God himself

The scriptures are really evidence of the ultimate source of knowledge, God himself.  We believe in a living God who is engaged in our lives.   Elder Holland then closes with his testimony that I will quote here:

I testify that the heavens are open. I testify that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God, that the Book of Mormon is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. I testify that Thomas S. Monson is God’s prophet, a modern apostle with the keys of the kingdom in his hands, a man upon whom I personally have seen the mantle fall. I testify that the presence of such authorized, prophetic voices and ongoing canonized revelations have been at the heart of the Christian message whenever the authorized ministry of Christ has been on the earth. I testify that such a ministry is on the earth again, and it is found in this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.