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by Anonymous on September 21st, 2005
I am a Catholic and I can't understand: Why is it so appalling that Mormons ask their investigators to pray about the Book of Mormon?
by camsprouse on July 17th, 2010
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MORMONS: What is the dictionary definition and etymology of scriptorian?
by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on October 15th, 2010
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TRUE OR FALSE: The last few years (or decades) of the LdS Church's General Conference addresses can be summed up as, "Pay, Pray and Obey"
by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on February 16th, 2011
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are Mormon wives allowed to work?my boyfriends mom doesnt and shes mormon i was wondering if shes allowed to in case me and him get serious.
by angiepereida on May 22nd, 2010
| 2 people like this
MORMONS: Why are there so much anecdotal Three Nephites sightings but only a few for John The Beloved?
by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on January 16th, 2011
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Indeed, see John Pacella's answer for a perfect example of the hubris mentioned in the last sentence here.
by Anonymous on September 26th, 2005
Do you believe God's Word, the Bible, to be True? I do. I also believe the Bible to be in direct contradiction with some things the BoM states. So how can I believe the BoM to be true if it is direct contradiction with God's Word? Why would I need to pray to God about the BoM being true if it is already contradicing the Bible... God's Word? This is where all kinds of false teachings come from... following their own teachings rather than basing them on God's Word.
by John Pacella on August 28th, 2007
AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!
by Psalms nintyONEtwo on August 28th, 2007
The Book of Mormon is more consistent with the Bible than the Bible is with itself. I very much doubt, John, that you have nearly enough clue about what the Book of Mormon actually has to say on any subject to judge whether it is consistent with the Bible or not.
In any event, John, you have very well proven my point, yet again. You've decided to trust your own wisdom over God's. This is the true source of false teachings: Men who trust their own wisdom, and that of other men, rather than trusting the true source of all truth, which is God himself.
by Anonymous on August 28th, 2007
Bob: I would like to understand how you know you have recieved revelation from God?
by John Pacella on August 28th, 2007
Bob. The Bible says (Jesus says it) "God is Spirit...", so how can the Mormon god, if he is the same as the God of the Bible, have a physical body? That is contradicting the Bible, and, any work that contradicts Biblical doctrine is not of Christ. Sorry to say.
by singwell-is off researching a lot on June 8th, 2008
The unfortunate thing about the scriptures is that every person—being an individual—can understand the same passage differently. This leads to a tremendous number of contradictory interpretations of the same passage, a perfect example of this is Ezekiel 33:11 (http://tinyurl.com/3w3ocq): some organizations use this to teach that there is no consciousness between physical death and resurrection, but we—and I’m guessing that “we” includes you; please correct me if I’m wrong—understand it to be speaking of the “second death,” i.e. sin. This happens all over the Bible (and could happen in the Book of Mormon, just as easily), which is why Latter-day Saints recognize the need for living prophecy.
It has been my experience that the above problem happens for one simple reason: context. When taken in the context of the Gospel as a whole, the Bible is *very* easy to understand. Unfortunately, without that context, it becomes *very* difficult to get everything 100% correct. This is why I find it particularly sad when someone takes a verse from one page and a sentence from another and a paragraph from a third—then uses those three somewhat randomly selected passages to prove some erroneous point—when the true teaching is easily understood by simply reading the verses *surrounding* the passages in question. John 4:24 is a particularly poignant example of this, since the surrounding verses are helpful, but ultimately you don’t even have to go there: just finish the sentence and you’ve got it:
“God is a Spirit…” (is the part that people cite; now continue:) “…and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (http://tinyurl.com/6quqvd).
This is like when Jesus tells the Father that He wants His disciples to “be one, as we are” (John 17, http://tinyurl.com/5wmp79), which many people have interpreted to mean that the Father and Son are the same person, even though Christ is *obviously* not suggesting that His disciples be the same person. Similarly, Christ taught that just as “God is a Spirit,” “they that worship him must worship him in spirit….” He’s not suggesting that we leave our bodies in order to “worship him in spirit”; He’s talking about communion, spirit to Spirit. If we participate in that spiritual communion while still in our bodies, why is it so hard to understand that God does the same?
In short, yes, “God is a Spirit.” And guess what… so are you. So am I. So is singwell. So is John Pacella. So is everyone else that has ever walked this earth. As a bumper sticker I noticed, last night (and other stickers on the car made it perfectly clear that the owner was *not* a Latter-day Saint) so summarily stated: “We are spiritual beings having physical experiences.” And you know what? So is Father.
HTH!
by the Otter on June 8th, 2008
not God is A Spirit. God is Spirit. The Greek does not say "a" spirit. He is spirit. That is what He is made of. Your interpretation is flawed.
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by singwell-is off researching a lot on June 8th, 2008
You may unsubscribe all you like, but the “a” doesn’t change anything. I *am* spirit, too; I just *have* a body. The body’s not who I *am*; if it were, I’d cease to be me as soon as I died, then start being me again once I’m resurrected.
by the Otter on June 8th, 2008
But Otter, the language of this verse does not suggest a physical body. "God is Spirit".
by John Pacella on June 8th, 2008
John, you’re right that the language of that verse doesn’t suggest a physical body, but neither does it deny it. That’s because this verse isn’t dealing with bodies at all; it’s talking about our means for communion with God: the spirit. The whole point of this paragraph is that physical location has nothing to do with our ability to worship Father.
Let’s break down the conversation, starting from the part where the Samaritan woman tries to tell Jesus what Jews believe, instead of just asking Him:
v.19-20: the woman says, “You’re a prophet, so you must be a Jew. What are you doing here? You believe we’re wrong to worship in the mountain, that worship has to be done in Jerusalem.”
v.21-3: Jesus replies, “Hogwash. The time is coming when no one’s going to be worshipping the Father in the mountain *nor* Jerusalem.… My disciples and I worship Him in *spirit*!
v.24: “How else *could* we reasonably worship Him?”
Come to think of it, the Savior is teaching the Samaritan woman the same truth Alma taught the Zoramites: “[D]o ye suppose that ye cannot worship God save it be in your synagogues only?” (Alma 32:9-10, http://tinyurl.com/66cnlx.) Interestingly enough—I honestly wasn’t expecting this, but it *completely* validates the comparison—this sermon eventually comes back to the exact same crux: “[W]orship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth…” (Alma 34:38, http://tinyurl.com/5trmhw).
This is what I was talking about in my earlier post, John: It’s all about the context. Once I understood the context, it brought to mind another scripture, which surprised the heck out of me by coming back to *the exact same words* to confirm and enhance my understanding!
HTH!
by the Otter on June 9th, 2008
Thanks for your comments, but it still doesn't change the fact that "God is Spirit". :-)
by John Pacella on June 9th, 2008
…and therein lies arguably our most important difference in viewpoint. :-)
by the Otter on June 9th, 2008