Who are the Trinity?

I just finished teaching an Intro to Philosophy class with the University of Phoenix and the section on metaphysics spent a lot of time on the idea of proving God’s existence. What struck me was that all of the European philosophy about God and spirit was based on the concepts outlined in the Nicene Creed.

In the King Follett lectures Joseph Smith makes the comment that you need to start right! If you don’t start right you can never expect to find the truth. The main argument dealt with at Nicaea was the nature of God…which is a pretty good starting point. After many months of argument most of those attending agreed to the concept that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are the “Trinity” which is this mystical mixture of spirit and material that isn’t affected by passion. It is large enough to cover the whole earth and small enough to dwell in your heart. Part of the dignitaries left the convention and went back to the Eastern church where they proposed that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were separate beings, laying the groundwork for the Orthodox Greek and Russian churches.

For over 1,000 years most Europeans were taught the ideas agreed to at Nicaea, therefore all the philosophers who were trying to prove the existence of God were trying to prove the existence of the Trinity. Joseph Smith at age 14 gained a greater insight into the nature of God than all those scholars in AD 325. He saw God and Jesus as two separate, physical beings. Now by having the truth to start from, the restoration of the gospel could begin. The first Article of Faith is an answer to the false beliefs perpetrated since the council of Nicaea, “We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost” Articles of Faith 1:1

Entropy

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that isolated systems must go in the direction of greater disorder. But an individual component of the system may become more ordered if a separate component or components increase even more in disorder.

Mortal living tends toward sin. The entire world is steadily becoming worse in this respect. It would be hopeless, except for the Savior who has taken all “sin entropy” on himself. An infinite amount of it. This permits us ~ an infinite number of us ~ to increase in order and goodness and glory, but only if we rely on His payment.

Thermodynamics is a tough subject to get your head around. So is the gospel’s idea of atonement, but luckily we have some great teachers.

Mormon Women

I love being a woman in the LDS church. I feel totally liberated and understood.

Some sections of society look upon LDS women with pity – they want to come and free us from our “brain-washed bondage.” Not only do I not need any intervention from “those who know better”, I don’t want it.

This is a church that celebrates women. It follows the example of Christ in loving, respecting and honoring women. Jesus first appeared to Mary, after His resurrection; his last instructions on the cross were for the well-being of his mother; He taught women as much as He taught men. His gospel is good news to EVERYONE – men, women and children, from all over the world, and His church plays no favorites. Women are just as much welcome to His love and salvation as men are, and that is one reason why I feel liberated as an LDS woman.

Another reason is that I am allowed and expected to be a woman; to do things that women enjoy doing. Deep down in the hearts of most women, they want to be home, with their children, nurturing and teaching them how to be contributing members of society. Financial obligations and social pressures make this very difficult for the majority of women in the world–but living an ole’ fashioned family life is something that LDS women are encouraged to do. Does this make us slaves in the kitchen? No. It just allows us to become unfettered by the social chains that demand that we “contribute” to society (all the while letting other people raise our children without any investment in their well-being). I’ve worked in an office. I’ve taught school. I’ve planned conferences and made travel arrangements and handled logistics and gone to fancy dinners (that I had to plan) and it does not even compare to being a mother. There is nothing as rewarding as loving and caring for a baby (or two) every day. Sure, I don’t sleep as much as I’d like, and I just got peed on while in the process of writing this blog. My shirt is often covered with baby-fluids, and my life has revolved around a 3-hour schedule for the last year, but I am so happy. I don’t dread anything in my day–no presentations, no ornery co-workers, no long boring meetings, no disrespectful teenagers and no tech malfunctions that put everything on hold. I find so much satisfaction in watching my son learn to walk and talk (and growl, thanks to his Dad), pick up food and feed himself, notice things around him and get excited about his toys. It can’t be explained, but it is wonderful. Trust me.

Not all LDS women stay home with kids, of course, and that is fine too. Many women work and enjoy it, and they are in total compliance with the church as well. Liberating, isn’t it? We can choose what we want to do, but we are encouraged to do what we have been pre-programmed to enjoy. Families are strong, marriages are strong, people are happy–all doing exactly what God put us here to do.

Those who demand that women have a career may think that the only way to have equal respect is to have identical roles. This approach is like putting a thick and juicy steak and a flaky, delicious fresh peach pie in a blender so that one flavor will not dominate over the other – A well-cooked steak is just as satisfying as a well-prepared pie! (From the perspective of one who would prefer a pie to a steak). Grinding up steak and pie together would ruin the meal — the texture would be lost, the flavor combinations, the distinct tastes. These attributes make them unique, but they do not make one superior over the other. Likewise, putting men and women in a societal blender would not only not work, it would ruin the balance that we need.

Liberating.

Blind Obedience

Some people worry about our strong adherence to the directions from our prophet. One of our biggest mottoes is “Follow the Prophet.” We Mormons are known for our strict abstinence from coffee, alcohol, smoking, and premarital sex, and all these rules came through these prophets. I’m glad people worry about us because they worry with good reason. There are many examples of leaders in the world abusing their power and garnering support with slogans, while repressing genuine education.

So, are we being blindly obedient? We could just as easily bring up blind disobedience. The term “blind” here indicates that a decision is made with little or no knowledge on the subject, especially in the context of doing something just because we were told to do it. We Mormons don’t believe in this. We are taught to heed the words of the prophets, but to do this with our eyes wide open. Not all obedience is blind.

We know the reasons that a prophet’s words have greater weight than some Joe off the street. They communicate with God and become His voice on the earth. This whole idea is the crux of the Old Testament and the reason we read it. We listen to and follow the prophet because he knows about the plagues of locusts; because we want to be on the safe side of the Red Sea; because they know what we can do to be truly, honestly happy.

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Nearly every member of the Church can tell you a story of how obeying the prophet’s direction to pay tithing, or attend the temple, or to fast and pray for a specific purpose has resulted in real, tangible blessings. These Mormons have had personal experiences to urge them into further obedience — it is not blind.

Should a false or misleading message ever be preached from the prophet’s pulpit there are safeguards against it. Every member is encouraged to seek personal answers from God himself to confirm or deny in their own hearts the truth of a prophet’s words. These Mormons are obedient, but they know why.

What Do Mormons Believe? – The Restoration

What is it that makes us different? Why do Mormon missionaries knock on the doors of Christians if they preach the gospel of Christ? It is more than a desire to gather sheep into our flavor of worship.

Since the Garden of Eden the Lord has given us instructions on what we ought to spend our time doing in life. His pattern is to choose a mortal man, call him a prophet, and dispense the information through him. He needs two things: access to truth and authority (priesthood) to preach it. It’s simple and efficient. At least, it is when the people listen to him.

Invariably, the backlash against the prophet leads to a revolt against him and against God. When the prophet is killed, the dispensing of gospel truth is thwarted and the people are left in the dark. We Mormons call this “apostasy.” Fortunately, the Lord has always followed apostasy with a new prophet and a new dispensation, beginning with Adam, then Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Elijah, etc.

Case in point: John the Baptist was called as a prophet to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry. He and Jesus taught the gospel truth, restored the priesthood power, and organized the Church of Jesus Christ. Jesus called Peter and the other apostles to lead the flock after His departure.

Up to this point you probably feel comfortable. Here comes the primary theological difference between Mormons and most other Christians:

John the Baptist was beheaded, Christ was crucified, and the apostles were rejected and murdered. They who held the authority of the Lord were eliminated and the world became apostate again. This time it lasted for over a millennium, allowing a smattering of false teachings from non-prophet church leaders to creep in.

Reformers such as Martin Luther, John Wycliffe, Roger Williams, and others saw problems in the religions of their days; they did their best to correct them, but lacked the capacity (and the authority) to fully revert to Christ’s original church. They could not authoritatively speak for God, since he had not spoken to them or given them permission, and many of these reformers recognized that fact.

This dark apostasy came to its end when a young man of 14 years prayed in seclusion in a grove of trees in 1820. Joseph Smith was looking for the true church. Not a nice church, or a charismatic church, or a ceremonial church, but the church that God himself directed. As he searched the Bible he read,

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5

He felt that if anyone lacked wisdom he did, for what to do he did not know. And unless he could gain more wisdom he would never know. In a grove of trees near his country farmhouse, he knelt and prayed. In his words:

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me…Joseph Smith's first vision

“When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

“My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right…—and which I should join.” Joseph Smith-History 1:16-18

Joseph received an answer from the lips of the Savior himself: That his Church was in apostasy. There were no prophets on the earth and there hadn’t been for over a thousand years.

However, even in these demoralizing words was a message of hope: the apostasy was now broken, and Joseph was receiving direct communication from God. Over the course of Joseph’s life, he was visited by the Lord, and also by other angelic messengers, many more times. He was chosen to be a prophet and through these visitations the priesthood authority was restored. The church was reorganized upon the foundation of apostles and prophets.

Now, we carry this amazing message of hope to all nations of the earth. We are honest in our desire for others to know that the Lord’s work is restored. His successor, Thomas Monson, is the living prophet today. We know it, and we want you to know it too.

How? It’s simple. Pray.

God knows whether this is all true, and I daresay he has an opinion on the matter. Ask him yourself. I have, and so have millions of now-Mormons. You may not receive as glorious a visitation as Joseph did, but he will answer you. Often it comes as a feeling from the Holy Ghost, or an idea you hadn’t thought of. Maybe in a word from a neighbor. Ask and ye shall receive. If you won’t ask, you don’t receive.