Thank you to TFP for raising the topic of religion. When I took the survey a couple months ago it was topic I requested, and it’s nice to see TFP respond. Where I live, in the progressive SF Bay Area, there are few places I can speak openly with others about spirituality and faith. Holland’s discussion of the division between the secular…
Thank you to TFP for raising the topic of religion. When I took the survey a couple months ago it was topic I requested, and it’s nice to see TFP respond. Where I live, in the progressive SF Bay Area, there are few places I can speak openly with others about spirituality and faith. Holland’s discussion of the division between the secular and the religious being a (Latin) Christian invention was a new idea to me. I agree with him it is a “fatal conceit” that having a secular space is somehow neutral ground. It feels as though that division has made religion unwelcome in most contexts and not a topic of conversation in polite discourse, especially among the educated class. I also think that division has contributed to the seeming contradiction between science and faith that some readers here have contended with.
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what I find missing in this discourse is the history arc of Judeo-Christianity found in the Book of Mormon. This religious text, aptly subtitled “another testament of Jesus Christ,” is an ancient record of descendants of Abraham through the line of Joesph whom God led out of Jerusalem in 600 BC and brought them to settle somewhere in the American continents. These people had and observed the Law of Moses as recorded in the Old Testament—they brought with them their own record of it—and had a succession of prophets through the centuries that foretold of Jesus Christ. They had an understanding of the ultimate blood sacrifice He would perform that would fulfill the law and redeem believers from sin and all people from death. Following his death and resurrection, He appeared to these ancient people and taught them the sermon on the mount and other teachings, quoting heavily from Isaiah and expounding its meaning. They lived in peace, but interestingly around the same time as Christianity went through a change in the Old World between 200-400AD, these people fell into apostasy and their civilization decayed and fell, according to prophecy. The Book of Mormon foretells of the discovery of the new world and how the “Gentiles” would restore the ancient covenant with God in the “latter-days.” This is one interpretation of “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.”
Through the Book of Mormon lens, I view Jews and Christians not as separate but one covenant people under the umbrella label of Israel. This isn’t exactly a bloodline distinguisher and is universal in that anyone can choose to enter into a covenant relationship with God.
I know others will strongly disagree with me, and that’s okay. I think many people are not familiar with what the Book of Mormon actually is or where it came from, but it adds profound dimension to the stories of both Judaism and Christianity.
Lastly, I appreciate Bari’s question of “is it true?” Personally I believe most religions and ancient traditions have parts that are true and often the truths are what they share. I believe truth is revealed by the Holy Ghost to our minds and our hearts.
Thank you to TFP for raising the topic of religion. When I took the survey a couple months ago it was topic I requested, and it’s nice to see TFP respond. Where I live, in the progressive SF Bay Area, there are few places I can speak openly with others about spirituality and faith. Holland’s discussion of the division between the secular and the religious being a (Latin) Christian invention was a new idea to me. I agree with him it is a “fatal conceit” that having a secular space is somehow neutral ground. It feels as though that division has made religion unwelcome in most contexts and not a topic of conversation in polite discourse, especially among the educated class. I also think that division has contributed to the seeming contradiction between science and faith that some readers here have contended with.
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what I find missing in this discourse is the history arc of Judeo-Christianity found in the Book of Mormon. This religious text, aptly subtitled “another testament of Jesus Christ,” is an ancient record of descendants of Abraham through the line of Joesph whom God led out of Jerusalem in 600 BC and brought them to settle somewhere in the American continents. These people had and observed the Law of Moses as recorded in the Old Testament—they brought with them their own record of it—and had a succession of prophets through the centuries that foretold of Jesus Christ. They had an understanding of the ultimate blood sacrifice He would perform that would fulfill the law and redeem believers from sin and all people from death. Following his death and resurrection, He appeared to these ancient people and taught them the sermon on the mount and other teachings, quoting heavily from Isaiah and expounding its meaning. They lived in peace, but interestingly around the same time as Christianity went through a change in the Old World between 200-400AD, these people fell into apostasy and their civilization decayed and fell, according to prophecy. The Book of Mormon foretells of the discovery of the new world and how the “Gentiles” would restore the ancient covenant with God in the “latter-days.” This is one interpretation of “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.”
Through the Book of Mormon lens, I view Jews and Christians not as separate but one covenant people under the umbrella label of Israel. This isn’t exactly a bloodline distinguisher and is universal in that anyone can choose to enter into a covenant relationship with God.
I know others will strongly disagree with me, and that’s okay. I think many people are not familiar with what the Book of Mormon actually is or where it came from, but it adds profound dimension to the stories of both Judaism and Christianity.
Lastly, I appreciate Bari’s question of “is it true?” Personally I believe most religions and ancient traditions have parts that are true and often the truths are what they share. I believe truth is revealed by the Holy Ghost to our minds and our hearts.