CP3S said:
darth_ender said:
I think the Bible is actually very clear that not everything from God is perfect. In specific, what the Bible implies in various places God's greatest creation, that being mankind, is also clearly pointed out to be quite flawed. And if his greatest creations are flawed, why is it so hard to believe that the message given to and received by and interpreted by those flawed creatures is imperfect?
I didn't mean to say everything from God is perfect, I meant that the Bible claims that God's message is perfect.
And it is. But the Bible is not.
That said, picking the good out of the bad, I could take this more specifically into LDS doctrine, but allow me to say in more general terms that the Bible tells us that those who have testimonies of Christ have the "spirit of prophecy." This means that we each have some degree of access to the mind of God. Obviously, we have been commanded to disregard certain laws in our day. But on things that are more vague, I think that the humble seeker can gain some understanding of what is right and what is wrong.
So, the "spirit of prophecy" solves it for the LDS. But what about those countless denominations on every street corner throughout the Bible belt, and much of the US, who can't agree with each other on the Bible's message enough to share a building together? I suppose your answer would be that they haven't seen the truth yet as they are missing an important piece of the puzzle by rejecting The Book of Mormon and other important religious texts.
I meant that was the more general Christian interpretation. You'll find that most Christians agree that most other Christians will be saved, according to their own definitions, regardless of their differing interpretations. Even the more dogmatic Catholic Church acknowledges baptisms performed by most non-Catholic Christians (Mormon baptisms are not, as I'm sure are other groups' such as Jehovah's Witnesses and so forth). My point is that most people believe they are indeed being guided by God from day to day, believe that they do gain an understanding of what in the Bible is applicable to today and what is not. If I were speaking more specifically about Mormon doctrine, I would have brought up our other scriptures, modern day prophets, etc. at this point.
And now, for preemptive purpose:
What about those fundamentalists who feel God wants them to bomb abortion clinics? What about those who believe God commanded them to rape or murder someone? Etc., etc.
None of that is in the Bible, so it has more to do with mental stability and/or justification and less to do with being misguided by ancient Holy book.
Indeed.