Talk part 3 - restored knowledge

I appreciated Elder Oaks' examples of lost knowledge because they related to my interests, but his examples of restored knowledge relate to one of my strongest feelings.

In common with the rest of Christianity, we believe in a Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. However, we testify that these three members of the Godhead are three separate and distinct beings. We also testify that God the Father is not just a spirit but is a glorified person with a tangible body, as is his resurrected Son, Jesus Christ.

We can point to things that demonstrate that in the Bible, but many sects have lost that knowledge.

In contrast, many Christians reject the idea of a tangible, personal God and a Godhead of three separate beings. They believe that God is a spirit and that the Godhead is only one God. In our view, these concepts are evidence of the falling away we call the Great Apostasy.

We maintain that the concepts identified by such nonscriptural terms as “the incomprehensible mystery of God” and “the mystery of the Holy Trinity” are attributable to the ideas of Greek philosophy. These philosophical concepts transformed Christianity in the first few centuries following the deaths of the Apostles. For example, philosophers then maintained that physical matter was evil and that God was a spirit without feelings or passions. Persons of this persuasion, including learned men who became influential converts to Christianity, had a hard time accepting the simple teachings of early Christianity: an Only Begotten Son who said he was in the express image of his Father in Heaven and who taught his followers to be one as he and his Father were one, and a Messiah who died on a cross and later appeared to his followers as a resurrected being with flesh and bones.

There's that arrogance again. It is easy to understand - when you have a body, as you age or get injured you see the weaknesses, and as you get ill or dehydrated or various other things, you see that mortal bodies are gross and frail, but they are also beautiful. They work together in ingenious ways to function properly and they hint of the design of immortal bodies.

Through the first vision, that knowledge is dramatically reinforced. Through the Doctrine and Covenants it is explained better, and we know and can understand and have something to look forward to.

Elder Oaks then focuses on the distinctions between the members of the Godhead, and how they correspond to the different degrees of glory to get to the next point.

The theology of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is comprehensive, universal, merciful, and true. Following the necessary experience of mortal life, all sons and daughters of God will ultimately be resurrected and go to a kingdom of glory. The righteous—regardless of current religious denomination or belief—will ultimately go to a kingdom of glory more wonderful than any of us can comprehend. Even the wicked, or almost all of them, will ultimately go to a marvelous—though lesser—kingdom of glory. All of that will occur because of God’s love for his children and because of the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, “who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands” (D&C 76:43).

This feels very normal to us. I opened with an example that I likened to our Heavenly Father's love for us, and while there may have been special feelings and deeper witnesses during that, there shouldn't have been any surprise, really, because we know that. Not everyone does.

Whether that was through arrogance or fear or some other path, the much of worldly religion - despite knowing many good things - had lost enough of that understanding so that they could believe that their creator would be fine with casting millions of his children aside.

We know better than that, but do we?

One of my biggest pet peeves with Mormons is when they talk about "the world", but it is "The World" bolded, italicized, underlined in all caps, like it's Voldemort. If you do this - even if you are being really sincere and it is meaningful to you - I will roll my eyes. I will be thinking, "you mean the world that is full of our brothers and sisters that we love and that Heavenly Father loves, and whom we are supposed to be serving and caring about, whether they join the church or not? That world? That contempt for earth and flesh is part of what corrupted the early church.

I promise you that there should not be a writing off of the inhabitants of the world, and there does not need to be fear.

I will pick up there next time.