Mormon Theology no. 46 - "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism"

The prophet Nephi prophesied of our day, he having seen it in vision.  He prophesied, "And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God" (2 Nephi 28:8).  The Mormon Eagle will examine the correctness of Nephi's prophecy as seen today in the national press.

"After the Image of His Own God . . ."
In the Tuesday 13 September 2011 issue of USA Today, "religion statistics expert George Barna . . . laments, 'People say, 'I believe in God.  I believe the Bible is a good book.  And then I believe whatever I want.''"*

We read the words of Nadine Epstein, an editor and publisher.  Concerning the Jewish magazine Moment, she states, "The September edition of Moment asks, 'Can their be Judaism without God?'  And most say yes.  It's incredibly exciting.  We live in an era where you pick and choose the part of the religion that makes sense to you.  And you can connect through culture and history in a meaningful way without necessarily religiously practicing."*

Lastly, Rusty Steil of Denver, Colorado remarks, "I don't find much comfort in imagining there's an all-powerful God who would allow people starving and all the natural and man-made disasters."*

These opinions of Mr. Steil, Ms. Epstein, and observation by Mr. Barna, although sincere, are wrong, and will garner the hot displeasure of Jehovah.  Speaking of the inhabitants of Earth, He saith, "They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall" (D&C 1:16).

"One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism"
We at The Mormon Eagle will address the above three quotations, expose the falsities of religious secularism, and throw open the door to let in some light.  We will address both concerns of George Barna and Nadine Epstein at once.  They both make remarks saying Americans think they can believe in God (or not believe in Him), do what they want, and all will turn out right in the end.  This is a fallacy of the most hellish hue.  Nephi warns, "And others will he [the devil] pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell" (2 Nephi 28:21).

There are certain facts, which cannot be wished away, when it comes to religious matters.  We will list those that counter the quotations found herein, which quotations were pulled from USA Today:

1.  God exists as a Personal Being, with a body of flesh and bone.  God loves all His children, no matter the race, political persuasion, sexual orientation, nationality, or creed (or lack thereof).  Heavenly Father loves His children, and wants them to choose for themselves how to act, whether those actions are to help an old lady across the street or to murder and kill one another.  He holds all accountable to Himself for their actions (or lack thereof), yet He will not intervene in the actions of His children, no matter how evil or good they may be.  He has said, "And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon" (Abraham 3:25-26).  He wants us to become Gods as He is a God.

2.  The Bible is true, not just a good book.  In it (as well as in the Book of Mormon) we find the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Messiah the Jews have long since hoped for, even the Redeemer of the world.  In the Bible and Book of Mormon, we learn what we must do to gain salvation and exaltation with Christ and God.  The Bible and Book of Mormon are evidences that God has a concrete organization to His kingdom, and that one must join it (through ordinances) or one cannot be saved; that Kingdom is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

3.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's Church, restored as prophesied in Acts: "And he [God] shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:20-21).  To restore means to bring back something in its original state.  Why would Peter say the Church of Christ need be brought back unless the Lord took it away?  Indeed the Lord did take away His Church, but has restored it through His servant Joseph Smith the Prophet.

The above three verities the world must accept or they cannot be saved in the Celestial Kingdom of God; they must accept the above or they cannot be united as families for eternity.  This I know, through careful study and prayer, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

*Quoted in "More Americans customize religion to fit their personal needs", USA Today, 2A

Proof of God

For those who want physical proof that God exists, I will give it them.

Above is a picture of firemen inside the Provo Tabernacle, which burned down on 17 December 2010.  They are holding a painting by Harry Anderson titled "The Second Comiing".  The only thing remaining is Jesus Christ.  This picture hung in the Tabernacle for 14 hours straight whilst the Tabernacle burned, the roof collapsed (taking with it the balcony section), and the building continued to burn.  It is a statistical impossibility that anything would remain intact after 14 hours in flames, except God protect it, as He did this image of His Son.

Evidence . . . or Lack Thereof

I have often read of people saying that God doesn't exist because our five senses (touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight) cannot identify Him.  This is not evidence that there is no God.  It is actually evidence that God DOES exist.  Let me explain through historical fact and other means.

I.  VIEWING THE CELL

According to the timeline on http://nobelprize.org/educational/physics/microscopes/timeline/index.html:

"1675 – Anton van Leeuwenhoek uses a simple microscope with only one lens to look at blood, insects and many other objects. He was first to describe cells and bacteria, seen through his very small microscopes with, for his time, extremely good lenses."

Now, is this to say that cells did not exist up to this point in time?  No, but rather that man did not comprehend them, or even know of their existence until 1675, because they could not yet be comprehended.  This also means that just because something abstract can't be seen and understood until aided by another thing, doesn't mean it doesn't yet or beforehand exist.  So it is with God.  One man may say, "I have never seen God or experienced Him with my five senses, therefore, he doesn't exist."  Or one may say, "I cannot at this point in time see, hear, taste smell, or touch God, therefore, He doesn't exist."  God exists, regardless of how many people have not yet experienced Him; they haven't looked hard enough.

II.  THE TRAVELERS AND HAMBURGER

A man living in Tonga who has never experienced a hamburger cannot say hamburgers do not exist, for if two travelers come from the United States to Tonga and say they have experienced hamburgers, and thoroughly explains the experience, the Tongan cannot refute it, especially because there are more witnesses than one.  Therefore, God exists, just like the hamburger, because there is more than one witness.

III.  THE LAW OF WITNESSES

Deuteronomy 17:6 reads, "At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death, but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death."  In ancient Israel, it required more than one witness to condemn a man to death, so as to verify to the people the man's evil deeds, and justice served.  If the witnesses were false, the man was set free.  So it is with God and proof of Him.  Alma states,

"ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets?  The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator (Alma 30:44)." 

Alma lists eight things proving the existence of God.  Doctrine and Covenants 88:45-47 states,  
"The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of God.  Unto what shall I liken these kingdoms, that ye may understand?  Behold, all these are kingdoms, and any man who hath seen any or the least of these hath seen God moving in his majesty and power." 

The order of planet Earth, the tides moving with the phases of the moon, the artistic beauty of a sunrise and sunset, and the soothing sound of waves upon the seashore give proof of God, because all things are in order.  Chaos cannot create chaos.  But God, who is a God of order, can turn chaotic matter into order, as in the creation of the earth.  It is explained by the Prophet Joseph Smith in these words:   

"The word create . . . does not mean to create out of nothing; it means to organize; the same as a man would organize materials and build a ship. Hence we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos –chaotic matter (HC 6:308-311)." 

Only God can turn chaos into order and be as beautiful as this earth.

In conclusion, Elder Joseph F. Merrill of the Council of the Twelve Apostles said, "He who makes no effort to learn of the existence of Deity will, in this life, likely not learn there is a Deity. But his ignorance does not warrant him in declaring there is no God (The Truth-Seeker and Mormonism, Deseret Book Co., pp. 76–77)."  If I have not sufficiently proven, through many instances, the existence of God, the reader must search for God, as Elder Merrill said, or they will never find Him.  One cannot say something does not exist until there is substantial proof that it does not exist, and this from witnesses.  

I myself know God exists.  I use the term "know" the same way one "knows" the Sun shines because I have experienced God.  The Sun still shines regardless if people say it does not; that fact is a reality.  God still exists regardless if people say He does not; that fact is a reality.  In the Name of Jesus Christ His Son, Amen!