In December 2020, I had a pointed post on how a religion teacher at BYU was teaching a false truth that God doesn’t change in a relationship with us. It related to his interpretation of the Bible Dictionary’s definition of prayer. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other In that post, I said

What would you do if I dropped all the parts to a contraption made in the early 1800s called a ‘spinning mule’ and asked you to restore it? What if there were no remaining pictures? What if nobody existed that had ever seen one? What if all you knew was that you could use it to cloth people of the early 1800s? How would you know that you had restored it?

Roger Olson is a leading Armenian theologian who teaches at Baylor University. He is articulate, and his blog at patheos helps understand the critical differences between Calvinism and Arminianism. As a Latter-day Saint, I have found quite a bit of benefit in understanding these two historical views on Christianity to understand from whom we claimed our truth (See Brigham Young). In 2011, he and Michael Horton (a devout Calvinist) conversed about their key doctrinal differences. In the short video below, we can hear the differences on their views of sin. In listening to their differences, I hope we can understand our Latter-day Saint views on sin with more clarity.

The Chosen TV series is framing many attributes of God in such a fantastic way. I especially enjoy Season 1 Episode 6 for how it depicts Christ’s interactions with those around him. The scene starts with Jesus sharing the parable of the importuning widow found in Luke 18 then it builds to the moment where two different characters make a petition of Jesus. The contrast of these three examples of petitioning God provides excellent insight into how we should petition Him.

After last week’s post, I realized how many prayer posts I have had in the previous two years. This post includes a poem I wrote about prayer with a summary of those previous posts. Except for the Tyler Griffin post last week, these prayer posts came about as I talked with my brother and His wife as we dealt with his terminal illness. He was a great mentor and friend, and we would often spend 2-4 hours talking gospel topics whenever I visited. We had differing views on God’s omniscience, which made for some energetic conversations over the last year. It was in those conversations that I derived many of these prayer posts for mostmovedmover.com.

The Bible Dictionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides a definition of prayer that has a unique phrasing. It says, ‘Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other.’ This sentence uses the phrase ‘brought into correspondence with each other’ and leads to two possible interpretations.

In the October 1992 General Conference, then Elder Russel M. Nelson shared a message titled, Where is wisdom? that touched on pandemics and social liberties. His 1992 message with his #GiveThanks YouTube message helps us understand President Nelson’s views on pandemics, civil liberties, masks, and Wisdom.

Some Latter-day Saints (and many others) believe that the future is entirely predictable if one just knew the current state right now. This concept is called causal determinism and, if too intently followed, creates ideas like fixed-future omniscience, predestination, and antagonism towards free-will or Agency. Of course, many events can be predicted in a causal chain, which allows science to progress and humans to reason about the future. However, fanatical focus on causal determinism would argue that when the first living cell formed on earth that my lunch order on Wednesday was determined for my October 23, 2020 order.

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.

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?

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.

This post focuses on President Eyring’s talk titled, ‘He Goes before Us. However, the broader conversation is around how western culture has mixed up wisdom and knowledge to the point that we rarely differentiate the two words. As seen from the image above for this post, our writing guides even recommend them as synonyms. I want to take a journey through a few ideas before I tackle President Eyring’s quotes from his message about knowledge and time.

In 1 Corinthians 1:19-27 Paul tells us that foolish and wise are the same things, just different positions on the scale of wisdom. We would put wisdom as the great attribute at the top of the range and foolishness as the worst form of wisdom at the bottom of the scale. In verse 25 Paul states this fact clearly; Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; In my ‘What is wisdom?

What is wisdom? The prophet Jacob in the Book of Mormon provides one of the most succinct injunctions in scripture when he says, ‘O be wise; what can I say more?’ (Jacob 6:12). To Jacob’s question after the injunction, I would ask many of the following questions, Can you describe wisdom? Is wisdom that much different than knowledge? Does wisdom require an existence with randomness or uncertainty? Can one exemplify wisdom in a world without unknowns?

Any of my friends that have been willing to engage me on the concept of a contingent future and openness theology often find the idea persuasive enough to ponder its impacts on scripture. Eventually, they ask a question about the many prophetic statements found in scripture. Their questions fall along the lines of the following, “What about …” the prophecy of the civil war starting in North Carolina by Joseph Smith?

“The great Jehovah contemplated the whole of the events connected with the earth, pertaining to the plan of salvation, before it rolled into existence, or ever ’the morning stars sang together’ for joy; the past, the present, and the future were and are, with Him, one eternal ’now;’ (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 220; History of the Church, 4:597)1. My wife has been reading Forgiving Ourselves: Getting Back Up When We Let Ourselves Down by Wendy Ulrich and shared with me a significant section of her book with an insightful way to understand ’eternal now ‘ where she says,2

In Romans 3:3, we encounter a bold statement from Paul about God. He says, ‘For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?’ Paul’s question forces all readers of the bible to ask, ‘What is the faith of God?’ A quick search on the internet will leave a searcher wanting concerning any explanation about the ‘faith of God’ because any description of the attributes of God leaves out faith.

True and Living (D&C 1:30) In Doctrine and Covenants 1:30 the Lord says through Joseph Smith And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually

A few months ago, my sister-in-law and I were discussing the implications of healing blessings and what it means when the blessing is not answered as pronounced. We have been struggling with the health of one of our family members for the last few years. The last 9-months have been especially grueling. So the discussion was not some esoteric theological pondering but a deep desire to understanding how prayer works so that we can be satisfied with the path we are on.

Under a timeless model of God, many LDS quote Doctrine and Covenants 93:24 as a statement of truth never changing as it is ‘knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.’ There are 24 conference references to this verse alone. Many of the references to this verse emphasize truths as never-ending facts that are timeless1. Below are two examples from general conference that highlight how verse 24 is referenced.

More than once in the last year, I have encountered a space-time explanation from friends when we are discussing the topic of God and timelessness. In almost every instance, there is a phrase, something like, “Time is just another dimension. God can just step outside of it. Like in the book Flatland.” Often, they leverage time as a human construct that does not relate to God because one of our leaders talks about timelessness1 and Einstein taught us about space-time.

In our Come Follow Me New Testament Reading for the last week of October, there is a section on Philemon 1:17-21. In these verses, Paul offers to cover Onesimus’ debts that might be owed to Philemon. In one section of this Come Follow Me topic, there are a series of questions that are asked to prod a conversation. You can see the questions in the screenshot below. I was visiting relatives while on a work trip, and one of their children was guiding the conversation.

In Doctrine and Covenants 93:30-32 we read, All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence. Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation.

In June 1883 The Chautauquan magazine asked, “If a tree were to fall on an island where there were no human beings, would there be any sound?” 1 This is one of those philosophical questions that can create a lively conversation if asked among the correct group. Today, I have a similar question, “If nobody understands the truth, is it still a truth?” I know that I may have already made half of the eight people that read this blog stop reading because they don’t want to have this lively conversation.

Based on a recommendation from a colleague, I read A Mathematician’s Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form. I know the title doesn’t line up with openness theology, scripture, or the teachings of my church. But hear me out - the guts of the book line up well with mostmovedmover.com. In this post, I am going to tweak his quotes to put a religious spin on them.

Having previously finished a book on timelessness (see my previous post) and a book about perceiving truth through metaphor and physicality (see my ‘Oh say, What is truth?’ post), I have been pondering the words that are used by God in scripture. In Doctrine and Covenants 93:24 the Lord says, ‘And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;’ which is often quoted with Jacob 4:13.

In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus shares the parable of the importuning Widow and Unjust Judge (also called the parable of the persistent widow). In this parable, we learn that persistent prayers receive answers. The parable proposes that prayers can be answered through faithful wearying. The widow petitions the king, and the king ignores her. Finally, the king relents. Not out of compassion but because of her wearying. It looks like the rationale or justness of the request, the king’s character or the woman’s character is not justified or explained.

In Revelation 10:6 we read, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: This verse coined the phrase ’that there should be time no longer’ and the context of Revelation 10:6 is around the second coming and the establishment of Zion.

James E. Faust shared a devotional at BYU in 1993 titled, The Voice of the Spirit. Mormon messages used this talk to create the following message. Elder Faust shares an impactful quote about light (or truth) being part of our very essence. Signaling that truth is much more than facts. You will not be able to travel through life on borrowed light. The light of life must be part of your very being.

If you Google ‘LDS views on time’ the first article that comes up is an article in LDS living by C. Robert Line titled ‘How Does God’s Time Work? How Can He Listen to All Our Prayers at Once? Robert initially wrote the article in September 2015. Robert repeats quite a few quotes out of context that we have discussed previously. See the following posts as a more detailed and alternate view of how he is referencing a few quotes and scripture.

According to John Sanders, the concept of truth has multiple meanings. There are three main theories of truth in Western thought. The correspondence theory: This theory holds that truth is that which corresponds to a state of affairs or fact of reality. The coherence theory: a statement is true if it fits (coheres) with a set of other statements accepted as true. The pragmatic theory: an idea is true if it is fruitful and workable in relation to our experience.

In Doctrine and Covenants 130:7 we read; But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord. This verse is often quoted as a statement of God’s timelessness by Latter-Day Saints1. However, few remember the question and answer in verses 4 & 5 of this same section.

Our challenge: As we listen to oft-quoted phrases, many people take them as facts without finding a source. Once we find a source and validate the quote, then we get the chance to discern the signal from the noise. We could start to recognize the signal with the following questions; What does the quote mean in context? What words in the quote are taken as givens or facts that may not be as clear cut?

The Parable of the Rich Fool In Luke 12:16-21 we read the parable of the rich fool. Before Jesus shares the parable he responds to a petition about worldly wealth with; Watch and beware of all types of greed, because a person’s life is more than the quantity of his possessions. -Luke 12:15 Wayment Translation1- He then shares the parable where the foolish rich man measures his life of possessions and thinks that it defines his soul.

Introduction In John 8:31-32 Jesus makes a bold statement about how we can be free. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. To which the group of believers responded, ‘How sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?`. Jesus then states a central point of John 8 & 9 in verse 34.

Background: Recently President Nelson invited the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to use the full name of our church in our daily referencing of the church. A few of my friends have taken this pronouncement in different ways. Most have started the journey of changing our historical habits of calling ourselves Mormons. A few have recoiled at President Nelson’s invitation as an attack on statements of our previous prophets.

Background I think many of us are good at applying our daily reading to our lives. This application is essential and has eternal impacts on our lives and our relationship with Deity. We also need to pull scripture together to find a comprehensive meaning. We need to spend the struggle and time to see the big picture - not just the maps and storyline big picture, but the attributes of God big picture.

As Latter-Day Saints, we see God as a relational God. In fact, this strong view of loving familial relationships can create misunderstandings by other groups that believe in Christ. Often those that want to attack The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will drop the question, “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”. The question is inflammatory. The underlying concept is that we believe in a pre-mortal existence where we all lived as children of our Heavenly Father.

Background About three years ago my friend Nathan Richardson shared a paper with me by Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr. titled Historical Contingencies and Biblical Predictions that had some insightful ideas about prophets and prophecies. Dr Pratt, like most Protestant Christians, shares ideas within a historical perspective of the Bible. As Latter-Day Saint Christians, we believe in a living reality of prophets and prophecies. So his thoughts resonated with my views on the Bible as well as my opinions of living prophets and prophecy.

President Wilford Woodruff shared this story in his journal. He was the third president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. On the 23rd of November my wife, Phoebe, was attacked with a severe headache, which terminated in brain fever. She grew more and more distressed daily as we continued our journey. It was a terrible ordeal for a woman to travel in a wagon over rough roads, afflicted as she was.