September 3, 2020

What is relational agency?

I have spent quite a bit of time discussing time and the future in this blog. In fact, many of my conversations with my friends have touched on the topic of time as well. Recently, I was at a small backyard gathering where a friend of mine blurted out, “J’s entire premise is messed up so the logic doesn’t make sense.” He was referencing the concepts of God living within time. However, god living in time is not the premise. It is the result of the driving premise upon which openness theology is based. That God’s entire desire is to be in loving relationships with each of use. His desire to love and let us love is the premise. In this post, I lay out the driving premise of most moved mover in the context of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint’s most cherished teaching - agnecy.

August 30, 2020

Is God without beginning of days or end of years (Alma 13:7-9)?

Alma 13:7-9 includes multiple statements about God’s existence concerning beginnings and ends. The verses include references to his foreknowledge and Priesthood’s reality. In my previous post, I discussed Kathleen Flakes response to understanding no beginnings and no ends. This post looks at all of the verses with this reference and LDS commentary around this phrase.

August 23, 2020

Does no beginning really imply timelessness (response to Kathleen Flake)?

In 2017 Kathleen Flake gave the Annual Neal A. Maxwell Lecture. The entire presentation is engaging and worth your time. I expect to share a few snippets from her presentation in future posts about Joseph Smith and Priesthood insights. This post focuses on a short answer she gave at the end of the discussion about timelessness. I want to imagine what she says is unimaginable. One eternal round means timelessness? The short clip below shows a gentleman asking a question about ‘one eternal round’ and how Kathleen would deal with beginnings and ends.

August 15, 2020

Constancy amid Change (President Nelson on Truth)

In 1993 then Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared a moving General Conference address titled Constancy amid Change. As I have discussed my ideas about Truth’s ability to progress from D&C 93:30 (post 1, post 2), I think some of my friends hear that nothing is constant. President Nelson’s talk helps me clarify a few points on Truth’s progression. In his 1993 address, he shares a conversation with Ruth and John, where they asked, ’What can we trust?

August 7, 2020

If God is not timeless, then what is the eternal 'now'?

Many Christians have adopted the Boethian view of a timeless God and then read all scripture to confirm that belief. Many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have unwittingly adopted this timeless philosophy when they read scripture. Joseph Smith has a quote about God’s eternal ’now’ that seems to be a prime example of reading with Boethian glasses. This post pulls together references to many other posts to provide my most detailed explanation of latter-day scriptures’ view on God and time to provide a time-based view of the eternal ’now'.

August 2, 2020

Is God Omniscient?

Omniscience is not used in the Bible or Latter-day scripture. This leaves humanity guessing as to whether God agrees with the word He has never used in His revelations. All Christian religions have taken the concept into their vocabulary; However, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has done little to dogmatize the definition of omniscience. Let’s look at the history of omniscience and how various Christian denominations define it.

July 22, 2020

Remixing the jealous God verses

I admit that my views on jealousy may be more visually impeeding than others that read verses with the phrase, ‘jealous God’. When I hear the word ‘jealous’, I instantly see an abusive boyfriend in a wife-beater representing nothing of quality about love. Clearly, the term does not have to mean this when referencing God; But, I decided to remix the scripture verses that reference a jealous God with the definitions of jealous and zeal.

July 19, 2020

Is God jealous?

The Old Testament has multiple verses that tell us that God is a jealous God. The Book of Mormon and the New Testament have just a couple of verses that reference the jealous God. Oxford’s definition from a Google search of Jealous helps us see that Zealous is just as viable of a translation when reading scripture. It also helps us see that ‘Jealous’ is most often used to understand that there is an intense emotion attached to a being’s relationship to their possessions or relationships.

July 12, 2020

Does openness theology teach Korihor's philosophy that 'no man can know of anything which is to come' (Alma 30:13)?

Korihor was one of three named teachers of religions against Christ in the Book of Mormon. He was the only one specifically called an Anti-Christ in Alma 30:6 and 12. His primary argument against Christ was that we could not know the future. His was hyper-focused presentism that was equally cynical of historical tradition as well. His argument against Christ sits on the concept that any knowledge future was impossible. Those that proposed such a knowledge were ‘frenzied’.

July 5, 2020

God gave us the power to get anything we desire (Alma 29:4-5)?

Alma 29:4-5 provides a few stunning statements about agency and God’s response to our agency. I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.

June 28, 2020

Is there time in the Celestial Kingdom (Abraham Figure 1)?

Joseph Smith’s translation of Fascimile 2 provides a few detailed insights into this question. In the facsimile, there are added numbers which the Book of Abraham labels as Fig. 1 through Fig. 21. Last week, the missionaries visited and brought up Fascimile 2 and asked what I thought about the statement, ‘Figures 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 will be given in the own due time of the Lord’?

June 20, 2020

Does God need me for His plan to work?

Does God need me for His plan to work? Years ago, one of my leaders often said, ‘God doesn’t need us’ when discussing our relevance in God’s plan. I think I understood what he was trying to say, but the phrase didn’t sit well with me. If he was trying to say that God can bring about the Plan of Salvation with or without me, then I agree. However, if he was saying that God’s work moves without His people, I don’t agree.