Three Messages

Like many of the Saints, I find that the temple has a variety of messages. Some are gender-related. For example, there’s the exterior stone structure. The high granite walls rise for seven floors. Their smooth surface is unbroken except by a single door through which both men and women pass, presenting alike their recommends and then entering the House of God.

Contrast in the Elijah Narrative

While studying the Elijah narrative in school last semester, and now once again for Sunday School, I was impressed with the literary flavor the book displays. There are many literary devices and tools by which an author may express him or herself. Some of these devices are given various names. Some use causation as a way of moving a story forward (“Because you have sinned against Yahweh, then…”), others use comparison (“consider the lillies of the field”), etc. etc.

Political Economy and the BOM

On July 13, over at By Common Consent Taryn Nelson-Seawright posted about the nature of economic and political liberalism and leftism amongst Mormons. The post and the related 127 comments can be found here.

I am not going to comment directly on the post, though I agree with much of its sentiment and the author’s frustrations. The comment stream seemed to focus on whether the Book of Mormon supports socialism or not. This is my concern.

The Book of Mormon does not support socialism. It also does not support capitalism. I say this because the civilizations discussed in the Book of Mormon are primitive societies where the modern/contemporary theories of socialism and/or capitalism would be completely foreign.

The Sound of Sheer Silence

The traditional reading of 1 Kings 19 makes it the story of Elijah’s trip to Mt. Horeb to renew his commission as a prophet. There are, however, significant indications that rather than renewing his commitment, Elijah goes to resign it. Interestingly enough, the GD lesson manual also takes the later approach, at least insofar as it admits that Elijah is “discouraged” and in need of comfort (p. 137).

The Gospel According to the OT: God’s Memory

The gentleman from the high council rested his right arm on the podium and leaned forward into the microphone. Looking into the congregation, he lowered his voice and took us into his confidence. “The Old Testament,” he said, “concerns itself with carnal commandments intended to cleanse the body, with outward performances and all that sort of thing.”

Fortunately, there’s a lot more to the OT than the polemics of Heb 9:10, or there would be no reason to spend a year studying it in GD. For example, there’s a bit of Good News called the Shema, a passage that takes its name from the Hebrew imperative of the verb “to hear:”

Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and will all your soul, and with all your might.

Then there’s another nice morsel of Good News, this time from Lev 19:18b, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In fact, Rabbi Yeshua ben Yosef seems to have been particularly fond of precisely these passages. And as commandments go, they don’t sound all that carnal to me.

It will not surprise you to learn that I have another piece of Good News, this time drawn from a narrative context in the Elijah cycle.

“I don’t think that word means what you think it means”: What is the sealing power, anyway?

The sealing power is an oft-discussed concept in LDS theology. It is used to describe the motivation of phenomena as diverse as divine intervention in weather patterns and the joining together of eternal families. As a result, definitions of the sealing power tend toward the vague side. Luckily, the Book of Mormon provides some insight into “sealing” and related terminology that allow us to write a potentially more helpful definition. As a result, the sealing power can be defined as the power to act in God’s name in such a way that one’s acts and edicts are treated as His on earth and in heaven.

Obadiah: Man Between a Rock and Elijah

Poor guy. His name means “servant of the Lord” and now he’s about to find out just what that service requires.

Modern Elijah

Well, we’ve had a long and fun day discussing this topic on our back channel group email. But I guess it’s time to cut bait or fish. We may yet be reduced to contemplating FHL’s timely question, “Where am I going and why am I in this hand basket?” but at least we’ve had a good time with it. The errors are, of course, all mine.

Elijah and Ancient Ascension Traditions

In light of the church’s place in its Gospel Doctrine curriculum (1 – 2 Kings), I thought I’d share some of my findings/musings on ancient ascension traditions, given the attention the church gives to Elijah.

From a literary perspective, ascension motifs have been with us mostly since Greek and Roman times, with a few scattered tales of ascension from ancient Mesopotamia. Each of these different tales are unified by a singular thrust — removal. For the Romans, the removal of the emperor from the realm of humankind was the central piece of cultic life and living. Likewise, Jesus’ ascension in the New Testament is also viewed as a removal from this life and re-location, as it were, in a place not accessible to the common individual (Mark 16:19; Luke 9:51; Acts 1:2, 9, 11, 22; 1 Tim. 3:16).

More Strong Language

Whenever I hear the subject of the sealing authority come up, it’s Biblical origin is intertwined with Elijah’s promise to Ahab of drought in 1 Ki 17:1

As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.

This is certainly an attention-getter, but not, I think, the heart of the matter.

(Public service announcement to our unmarried gentlemen readers: Ahab’s problems seem to stem from his marriage to Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon (16:31). Ethbaal may mean “with Baal” or perhaps “under Baal’s protection.” Always check your prospective father-in-law’s name. If it’s a theophoric compound of Baal, perhaps you should continue your search.)