I recently finished a rewatch of the Lord of the Rings. As always, I was struck by the drama and courage of Théoden and the Riders of Rohan as they made what seemed like a last stand against the overwhelming might of the armies of Saruman. Instead of surrender or retreat they trusted in the words of Gandalf the White and stood against evil no matter what the cost to them, even if it cost their lives. There is a great lesson for us to learn here about how we should live. Using examples from throughout the scriptures I discuss how we can stand against the reckless hate of the world we live in today.
Tag: The Bible
Scriptural Proof The Earth Is More Than 7,000 Years Old
There are two different but connected errors that seriously plague modern Christianity. The first is the common error throughout segments of Christianity, including among Latter-day Saints, that the Earth was created in a single week. I addressed this error and corrected it last week. The second common error is that the world approximately 6,000 to 7,000 years old. That is what this article is about. The idea that the world is only 6,000 years old, an error that has damaged the faith of tens of thousands, even millions, of people, is based on a couple of fundamental misunderstandings of the scriptures. Both have also been refuted by modern revelation starting with the Prophet Joseph Smith. In order to correct this error and demonstrate what the scriptures truly teach on this subject I will combine a proper understanding of scriptural context with modern revelation to establish what it is about the Age of the Earth that the scriptures do teach so that we Latter-day Saints will not continue to fall into the error that other Christians have.
What Christians Need To Know About Romans 13
The traditional argument says that in Romans 13 Romans 13 the Apostle Paul tells Christians that they should be obedient to their governments which have been appointed by God to be His servants on Earth. But is that what the Paul really taught? In a word? No. Not even close. In this article I delve into what exactly Romans 13 does teach.
First, after looking at the teachings of multiple theologians and the text of the scripture itself, I demonstrate that even assuming Paul is talking about governments he isn’t teaching that we should be obedient to every government or that every government is from God. Rather Paul teaches that Christians should only obey governments as the laws and actions of those governments accord with the commandments of God – which means that Christians are not bound to obey most modern governments.
Next, I attempt a re-interpretation of Paul. After delving into the actual Greek text and the meanings of the words that Paul used, I conclude that Paul isn’t even talking about worldly governments at all. Instead Paul is actually talking about the kind of relationship that Christians should have to the church and its leaders, as well as the role those Church leaders should play in the lives of Christians.
No matter how you look at it, the Apostle Paul did not teach Christians that they should be obedient to governments or that worldly governments are God’s servants. And those that think otherwise have misunderstood the scriptures.
The Best Version of the “Battle Hymn of The Republic”
In many churches in America, you’ll find the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” -a song that glorifies war and nationalism- sung as part of worshipping the Prince of Peace. It is incongruous with the purpose of Christian worship at best and blasphemous at worst. Yet many love it because it is such a stirring and triumphant sounding song. Luckily, there is a better option which both maintains the tune and brings the song’s message more in line with Gospel truths.
The Dismal Fourth of July
This Saturday is the Fourth of July, American Independence Day. It is the first in the life of the Latter-day Liberator and it dawns dismally. Instead of a celebration of revolution and liberty, we find the creeping Fascism of the past few decades has suddenly become a raging torrent as the officers of the State have begun to openly wage war directly upon American citizens and the actions of those in power threaten hundreds of millions of people with absolute poverty, starvation, devastation, and death. But there is hope. By recovering the ideas and truths of the past that gave birth to the original Independence Day we can renew and reestablish our rights as never before for this Independence Day and every one after it.