The Tenth Article of Faith

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.  

I'm sure this one will sound weirdest, but there is a way in which any kind of religious faith sounds weird: God, atonement, angels...

Faith has its evidence, of course, the feelings and confirmations and the things you can note. 

An important aspect for me is when I can see how things work and make sense and are supportive and generous.

Therefore, what has become more clear to me is that this period of a thousand years before final judgment and like Paradise is going to be a necessary period for healing.

I know we are not the only church that believes in a Millennium, but that there are different beliefs on it.

One thing a lot of members of my church tend to focus on is that there will be temple work done, getting everything caught up that we have not had time to get done before.

I believe that, but I am so much more aware now of the suffering and unfairness and the need to make things right.

My two oldest brothers both died shortly after they were born (they were not twins; that was two separate births and deaths). We believe that my mother will get a chance to raise them. That is wonderful, and seems fairly easy.

Whether my father will be in on that, based on some of the choices he has made, is a bit more open to question.

Even more uncertain is thinking about a friend who died when her daughter was very young. That child is now grown. Of course they will still want time together, but it wouldn't be sharing the same experiences.

I don't know how all of that will work out, but I believe that it will work and in a way that is good for everyone.

That is something I believe and something that brings me joy.

Even though I feel pretty assured in my beliefs (acknowledging a lot of unknowns), I do periodically ask myself if I would be okay with being wrong. If there is nothing after, would I still want to live this way? I would. If there is something different after, would I still be okay with my choices now? I believe I would.  

I don't really know who reads this or what state of belief you have, but I do have one suggestion.

If you don't believe in God and are angry about people who do, or if you have been in the church but then fallen out... if there is something where you might be at odds with the divine, I suggest leaving some room that if things turn out to be fine... that with all of the suffering and sinning against, that there is healing and redemption... that you could be happy with that instead of still resenting it.

That is partially inspired by reading about a movie called The Rapture where someone chooses eternal purgatory rather than letting go of her anger, but also those dwarfs in The Last Battle, refusing to be taken in so denying all of their senses just to stay mad. 

At least be willing to get over it if you turn out to have been wrong.

That's an important life skill, even just here and now. 

It's huge for politics. 

The Ninth Article of Faith

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.  

Also a nice side-benefit of going through old Ensign issues, I see news updates and either remember when that changed or realize that I did not know something had changed.

When I was younger, Relief Society (for women) was on Tuesdays, Primary (for children) was on Wednesdays, and Sunday School (everyone but in different age groups), Priesthood (for men) and Sacrament Meeting (for everyone together) were on Sunday, but not consecutively. I am assuming there were youth group meetings on some night (maybe Thursday), but I don't remember.

That's multiple trips back and forth in a week. It may matter less if you all live close to the church, but that was certainly not true in some areas. In addition, when fewer women were working, there was less interference with that schedule. That was changing in the 80s.

They changed to a block meeting where it was three hours consecutively: Sacrament Meeting, Sunday school (still divided by age) and then the third hour had Primary, Relief Society, Priesthood, and Youth. I remember people making fun of how long Mormons spent in church on Sundays, but at the time it was easier to get all of the church meetings into a single three-hour block.

A few years ago it was changed to two hours. That was just adjusted again. Instead of alternating weeks on what had been the second and third hours, we now have everything each week, but compressed to half hours.

That may not sound that great and important, but there are always questions of how to make things work. People get busier and more stressed, so you want to help with that. If the answer is eliminating something, that can have other issues.

No one wants to go back to three hours; I know that. If we had never changed, how would that have worked out? There were people who skipped hours on the three-hour block, but there were people who skipped weeks with the alternating schedule.

A lot of the changes that get made are trying to get people to rely on the Spirit more, helping to meet individual and local needs at that level rather than having to be told everything from the top. That would be very helpful and valuable, but is also remarkably hard to get people to do. Sometimes there are people who think they already know everything, so they don't see the need to change. Often there are people who worry that they are not good enough to get inspiration. 

Ultimately the kingdom is full of people, and they are imperfect. The attempts to help them and work with them may seem confusing or weird or ineffective, but there is a room for a lot of beauty. 

And I firmly believe in the availability of divine help throughout all of the levels. 

The Eight Article of Faith

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.

Reading through all of the standard works this year has been helpful for this, but so is going through old issues of the Ensign. 

Currently I am reading through 1982, and there is a series, "How the Bible came to be."

Sometimes I will remember old articles, but this came out when I was ten and I am pretty sure I didn't read it. I am somewhat familiar with some stages from the Reformation onward, but there are a lot of things I did not know here, even if parts of it are familiar. 

So that's what the Septuagint is! 

For an Ensign article that made a huge impression on me at the time, see "The Bible -- Only 4263 Languages to Go" by Joe Stringham, from the January 1990 Ensign: 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1990/01/the-bible-only-4263-languages-to-go?lang=eng

It is about translating into different languages. One example it gives is Isaiah 52:15.

In the King James Version it is translated as "So shall He sprinkle many nations." That would probably sound like a reference to the sprinkling in various sacrifices so relating to sanctification and purification, though I imagine for religions that baptize by sprinkling, it could also represent bringing these nations into the fold.

However, in other translations it translates as scattering (which is a thing that happened), astonishing or causing to recoil (also plausible), and grammatically it can also switch the subject and object.

It could make one feel hopeless about ever getting anything out of the scriptures, except that it happens all the time anyway. Sometimes it can mean different things.

There is another phrase that repeats in Isaiah, "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." (Isaiah 9:12, 21 and 10:4)

The first few times I read it, I thought of the hand as a punishing one, because of the anger. More recently I have read it as that even with the anger, it is still stretched out as a welcome, and plea for return.

Even though the book does not change, we do change and there is room for all manner of experience in it. 

That is one of the things that I keep seeing more, and taking more hope from. 

As imperfect as we all are, and flawed and with so much to learn, there is room for that.

There is room for us. 

One issue that came up for some translators and compilers was how much was figurative and how much was literal. 

I think that's a reasonable question, and that there is not always an easy answer, but I think that might also be the wrong question.

It seems completely possible to me that there could be times when the original author was writing something to the best of their understanding, but their understanding was limited if not actually wrong.

Sometimes this could be personal flaws, like maybe Paul was a chauvinist, but it was something that is society supported and there were nonetheless things that he did understand well, making his writings still valuable.

Actually, I will tell you one place where I thought it.

In Exodus, the King James Version refers to the Lord hardening Pharoah's heart. The Joseph Smith Translation says that Pharoah hardened his heart, meaning that the Lord was not causing Pharoah to keep breaking his promise, plague after plague.

There are definitely people who believe in predestination and that there isn't really free will, meaning you can only be saved if God lets you. While that phrasing doesn't disrupt the narrative flow, you could argue that there is doctrinal significance.

There can also be things that would be impossible to understand. For example, I have seen it suggested that the scorpions referenced in Revelation could be tanks, like the tail coming over the head could look like the barrel of the gun coming out of the turret. Maybe. From someone writing in Biblical times, looking at today would be very hard to describe. 

Then, there might just be things we don't know enough to understand. 

I firmly believe the story of the creation fits in here. Even if we could comprehend it, it's certainly not something we have responsibility for doing, or the ability to do. Therefore, I think it's weird to focus on being a Young Earther rather than studying and working on increasing in humility and charity.

We all have our hangups.

There's a lot in there, and a lot that can be found. 

I have only started getting more out of the Chronicles on my last two times through.

I am starting to really hate the poetry. I have always found the Psalms cloying, Job too long, and I am starting to be really irritated with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. 

In the past I have considered skipping The Song of Solomon, but then I don't because I feel guilty.

It can be a struggle, but I find value in the struggle. 

And some of those issues are all the more reason that the 9th article is so important.