Ask a Mormon! (Part Two)

[DeepShadow]

I'm resisting anything that has Joseph making the word choice... (unless I learn something new).

My amended version allows for these differences to come from his scribes and the printer. It allows for the possibility that Joseph's word choice was perfect.

Note that since we don't have a definitive word on the matter, it's equally incorrect to say that the word choice absolutely could not have been Joseph's. The bottom line in my original post was that the influence of some 1800's American could be found in the grammar and word choice, and that this influence does not mean they wrote the whole thing.

 

[Comprehend]

Anyway, I'll post what Rex tells me tommorrow as an FYI (I am not claiming that they are official but they are writing the footnotes and summaries, so it should count for something). Sorry that you feel slighted, wasn't my intention.

No call today. I'll wait until Wednesday and call him back if I haven't heard anything...

 

[Lux et Umbra]

I have a few questions and I hope it hasn't already been covered...I have yet to read all 29 pages here.

I was wondering the LDS view of women...such as Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and other women of the Bible as well as women in general.
I've never read the Book of Mormon so I'm not sure what is said (I do have a good idea about the Bible though).
Are women lower than men, equals? Are women forbidden from certian things within LDS? Are there general roles? Basically what's the general atmosphere of women in the Church?

Thanks!

 

[Comprehend]

I have a few questions and I hope it hasn't already been covered...I have yet to read all 29 pages here.

I was wondering the LDS view of women...such as Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and other women of the Bible as well as women in general.
I've never read the Book of Mormon so I'm not sure what is said (I do have a good idea about the Bible though).
Are women lower than men, equals? Are women forbidden from certian things within LDS? Are there general roles? Basically what's the general atmosphere of women in the Church?

Thanks!

hi Lux,

I think the LDS women on the site can give a much better answer and they will all answer you I am sure.

My response would be first that women are indeed equal with the men in the church but we each have different roles. Men serve through the Priesthood, women serve through the Relief Society.

Our church gave a "Proclamation" on the Family in 1995 that you can read here, this is an pertinant part to give you an idea of how important families are to LDS:

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

I am not aware of any specific doctrine of the church about the women of the bible in general. I think they are all generally viewed just like the men, some did good, some not so good but we understand that everyone has faults. We do not worship any of the Mary's but I think it would be safe to say that they are all respected for the good they did.

Anyway, that is this man's view. I am sure the others will be along in a few hours to give you theirs.

 

[Lux et Umbra]

Thanks, Comprehend
From the Proclamation it does look like men and women are both equally vauled.

 

[Arabis]

I was wondering the LDS view of women...such as Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and other women of the Bible as well as women in general.

Both of those women are highly regarded in our church, as well as others, Ruth, Esther, Mary and Martha....all of these women followed Christ and I admire and respect each of them.

Are women lower than men, equals? Are women forbidden from certian things within LDS? Are there general roles? Basically what's the general atmosphere of women in the Church?

Like Comprehend said, we as women feel that we are equal in our church. Personally I like my role as a woman in the church and I wouldn't want to have the same responsibilities as the men. I serve in the church using my skills as a woman.

We do have general roles, nuturing and teaching our children is the most important and I think is viewed as the most important by LDS women. As is said in the Proclamation.

We also serve in positions in the church in the Relief Society, where we are able to take care of and serve other women and their families. There is also an organization called the Young Women, where women teach girls ages 12-18(for the boys, it's Young men and is taught by other LDS men) about the gospel and how to use it in our lives.

The women in our church are highly regarded, especially by the men. I think that they treat us equally and respect our roles as women. Hope that answers some of your questions.

 

[Bishka]

From my personal experience, I hardly feel devalued or 'below' men. In fact, I feel very equal to them, even though I don't hold the preisthood. (I'll write more later, but I'm late to class!)

 

[cardero]

Joseph Smith prepared fourteen Articles of Faith. Where can I discover a listing of these Articles of Faith?

 

[cardero]

Like different translations of the Bible has the Book Of Mormon ever been changed?

 

[Katzpur]

Joseph Smith prepared fourteen Articles of Faith. Where can I discover a listing of these Articles of Faith?

The Articles of Faith can be found on the Church's official website. They are:

1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

 

[cardero]

Katzpur writes:The Articles of Faith can be found on the Church's official website.

Thanks for the infromation. I checked this out in Wikipedia but they only gave a reference towards the Pearl Of Great Price but not a listing of the Articles. Also am I mistaken or are there only thirteen Article Of Faith?

 

[Katzpur]

Like different translations of the Bible has the Book Of Mormon ever been changed?

Our critics would certainly like you to think so. Noted professional anti-Mormons Gerald and Sandra Tanner have graciously pointed out between 3000 and 4000 such "changes" between the original 1830 edition and the current version.

They're right. Of course what they fail to mention is that these changes are almost without exception changes in punctuation, typographical errors, and the modification of awkward grammar for the purposes of clarity. In translating the text of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith relied on scribes whose frequent misspellings were common in the early 1800s, since spelling and grammar were not yet standardized. For instance, the words "ware sorraful" in 1 Nephi 7:20 were changed to "were sorrowful." Those are two of the 3000 + changes the Tanners counted. Our critics have also accused the Church of engaging in some sort of an elaborate cover-up of the changes in an attempt to minimize their seriousness. That is absolute nonsense, as anybody can purchse a reprint of the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon at LDS bookstores, and the changes have been freely discussed by LDS scholars.

From www.jefflindsay.com: The driving force for virtually all changes has been to (1) ensure that the printed text is faithful to the original manuscript and (2) to ensure that the text is accessible and readable. Alleged departures from the original text generally turn out to be simple clarifications or reworkings of awkward grammar rather than doctrinal changes.

The many changes that critics are so indignant over are corrections of the very kind one would expect in putting a hand-written document into type with crude technology and under difficult circumstances - and in a time with many varying spelling practices. Many of the changes are due to the fact that the Book of Mormon was dictated to scribes without punctuation and without division between verses and chapter - just as one might expect from a fairly direct translation of an ancient Hebraic or Semitic text, written without punctuation. The lack of punctuation in the original required much work after dictation to put it in a presentable form - but that work was not done to cover up mistakes in the original and did not involve changing stories, doctrine, or anything else of substance. Numerous minor errors were printed in the original 1830 edition because of errors in preparing handwritten printer's manuscripts from the original manuscript, and because of additional printing errors. Again, many of the changes in the Book of Mormon over the years have been necessary to make the text correspond more perfectly with the original manuscript. It's simply untrue to say that the Church has departed from the original or that there were gross blunders in the original manuscript that needed to be fixed because they showed the Book to be a fraud.

In fact, many of the changes, including the need to add punctuation and chapter breaks, reflect the Semitic origins of the Book of Mormon. In several cases, sentences that showed classic Hebraic constructions and phrases made very poor English, and these needed modification to ensure readability. Many of the changes made involved deleting redundant "and it came to pass" phrases, a phrase which has also been deleted many times in the King James Version and other English translations of the Old Testament. Numerous deletions of "and it came to pass" in English translations of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon are not because of any cover up on the part of the translators, but because that commonly used Semitic phrase becomes overly awkward in English.

 

[Katzpur]

Thanls for the infromation. I checked this out in Wikipedia but they only gave a reference towards the Pearl Of Great Price but not a listing of the Articles. Also am I mistaken or are there only thirteen Article Of Faith?

You're correct. There are thirteen.

 

[robtex]

how does mormonism feel about mixed marriages. MIxed as in a baptist and a mormon or a (fill in the blank ) and a mormon? Can they marry in the chruch if the idea is premitted?

I read from a mormon online a year ago where he felt God put people in his path when he was spreading the good word. He was making a statment of predestination. The statement being that God put people in his path, either at the bus stop or on the corner who were ready to recieve the good word or who God felt needed to hear it. Do you guys feel that God puts people in your path who need to recieve the good word?

 

[jonny]

how does mormonism feel about mixed marriages. MIxed as in a baptist and a mormon or a (fill in the blank ) and a mormon? Can they marry in the chruch if the idea is premitted?

Mixed marriages are not really encouraged or recommended in the church. The biggest reason for this is that you cannot marry someone in the temple who is not a worthy member of the LDS church. You can marry someone of a different faith in an LDS chapel, but the goal for most Latter-day Saints is to marry in the temple. This is because we believe that temple marriages will endure for eternity if both partners remain faithful to the covenants made in the temple. Marriages in chapels are only "for time."

I read from a mormon online a year ago where he felt God put people in his path when he was spreading the good word. He was making a statment of predestination. The statement being that God put people in his path, either at the bus stop or on the corner who were ready to recieve the good word or who God felt needed to hear it. Do you guys feel that God puts people in your path who need to recieve the good word?

I would probably put it this way - When i was a missionary, we prayed that the Lord would lead us to the people who were in need of help or seeking the Gospel. If I was doing what is right and worthy of the guidance of the spirit, I believed that I would be guided to those who were seeking the Gospel.

So, I don't think that the Lord can make people do anything (i.e. "put them in my path"), but if we are following the Spirit he can guide us and help us make the right choices to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. Does that make sense?

 

[Katzpur]

how does mormonism feel about mixed marriages. MIxed as in a baptist and a mormon or a (fill in the blank ) and a mormon? Can they marry in the chruch if the idea is premitted?

There are temple marriages and civil marriages. A civil marriage is considered to be any marriage not performed in one of our temples (even if it is performed in a church). A temple marriage is one that we believe God has "sealed for time and all eternity." We believe these marriages to endure beyond the grave. In order to be married in the temple, both the man and the woman must be worthy members of our Church, so a Baptist and a Mormon, for instance, could not marry in the temple. It is the goal of all truly devout LDS young people to marry in the temple. Those who marry outside of the faith or even who marry within the faith but not in a temple ceremony are not ostracized in any way. Their marriages are considered to be legally binding, but are not believed to be eternal in nature.

I read from a mormon online a year ago where he felt God put people in his path when he was spreading the good word. He was making a statment of predestination. The statement being that God put people in his path, either at the bus stop or on the corner who were ready to recieve the good word or who God felt needed to hear it. Do you guys feel that God puts people in your path who need to recieve the good word?

The Mormon who told you this was expressing his own opinion. It's an opinion that is shared by some and rejected by others. We as Latter-day Saints firmly denounce the doctrine of pre-destination as false. While it may be entirely plausible that God will occasionally lead an LDS missionary to someone who had been searching and praying to find the restored gospel of Jesus Chris, I believe that most Latter-day Saints would agree with me that He does not interfere to such an extent as eas explained to you.

 

[Katzpur]

I just love it when two Latter-day Saints are typing their responses to a question at exactly the same time and, without knowing that there is someone else responding, say almost exactly the same thing.

 

[jonny]

I just love it when two Latter-day Saints are typing their responses to a question at exactly the same time and, without knowing that there is someone else responding, say almost exactly the same thing.

Funny how that works, isn't it.

 

[robtex]

So, I don't think that the Lord can make people do anything (i.e. "put them in my path"), but if we are following the Spirit he can guide us and help us make the right choices to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. Does that make sense?

yea that makes sense. That was one of those purely subjective opened ended questions. just curious that's all.

 

[robtex]

The Mormon who told you this was expressing his own opinion.

yes just his own opinion. I was wondering yall's take on it from a personal perspective.