"Scripture"

[sjdean]

I've been away from here for a while as I think about some new things. I'll probably never join the church, but Im still as interested as punch and I have an answer to one of the questions I was considering.

I was thinking a while back, that even if it's true that the rules have been changed on what can't be drunk and eaten, and that the WoW has been changed as scripture, I was struggling with the concept of this change.

I was questionning just why, there is no official "scripture", hard written information in things like the D&C as there were in Joseph Smiths time. You must admit, the wording of that document is different to how things are practiced now.

It became a bit of a bugbear for me. How can I possibly consider something which reads one way and says another. I made blog posts discrediting it and finally got around to asking it in another forum.

I found a few quotes which seemed to support my position, but I re-read the one from the LDS website which reads:

"When holy men of God write or speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, their words "shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation""

When I first read that, I took it to mean that only scripture is of the holy ghost, so anything else is rubbish, and as the D&C hasn't been updated, anything which the church demands now is false compared to that document.

Then I re-read it.

"When holy men of God write or speak".

Talk about a moment of clarity.

Makes sense now. A holy man can speak and that can be scripture. It doesn't need to be written down to be scripture.

That really was like a huge piece of the puzzle for me. Many other things click into place.

Cya

Simon

[Guest tomk]

Remember - we need not take anyone's word for it.

The Lord requires, even commands us to ask for a witness of these things for ourselves, if we have doubts. But we must ask in faith, with a determination to follow the counsel that is given. We cannot ask just to "KNOW" and then never act upon it. That turns to our condemnation.

In all things - make it between God and yourself. He Himself will provide the witness to your mind and heart that something is true.

[bytebear]

Not all scripture or revelation is for all people at all times. The Law of Moses is not followed today. We don't sacrifice animals, nor do we require new converts to be circumsized. Things change. Even little things change. Smoking and coffee were not social norns in the NT, so there is no discussion on their use.

Even revelatinos we hear during General Conference may only apply to a specific group in the church, or for a particular time. We must use the Holy Ghost to descern how specific revelations apply to us personally, and not get hung up on what, for example Joseph Smith said to Oliver Cowdry. Yes, we can see the example and apply it to us, but that revelation was still just for him and just for that time.

[deseretgov]

Whatever the current living prophet tell us is what God wants us to do. Even if the modern prophet comes out as says something completly opposite of what the previous prophet said we nee dto foolw what the living prophet says. Because the living prophet tells us what God wants us to do right now.

You can see this in the example above about the Law of Moses. So the real question is why would God require things of one group fo people and other things of another group of people.