Matthew the Elf

Click here to see Kirsten's nephew, Matthew, dance for your Christmas pleasure.

Another picture of David's newborn grandson

From God's Mouth to a Prophet's Lips

John MacArthur, one of Kirsten's and my favorite preachers, preached a sermon that was broadcast on his radio show on Monday, December 3rd and prompts this post by David.

MacArthur talks about the importance of words as it relates to the inspiration of scripture. In a nutshell, he is saying that God speaks words, not concepts, to the prophets and apostles.

Mormonism and the manner of revelation
Mormonism promotes the notion that revelation is, in effect, a translation effort. That is, God has something to say and the prophet receives that truth and translates it and uses his own words (admittedly human and feeble) to proclaim them to the people.

This reasoning is used to explain why Joseph Smith made revisions (even significant doctrinal changes) to his revelations.

To represent the Mormon position, I refer to a source that is often used by Mormon apologists. It is a master's thesis by Melvin J. Petersen titled "A Study of the Nature of and the Significance of the Changes in the Revelations as Found in a Comparison of the Book of Commandments and Subsequent Editions of the Doctrine and Covenants"

Here are two important quotes from Petersen's thesis:

"The great challenge of this study is to determine whether the revelations as given to the prophet Joseph Smith were dictated by the voice of inspiration word for word and would therefore not be subject to any revision or change, or whether the concepts were revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith leaving him responsible to put them down in writing according to his ability, thus leaving him free to change, revise, subtract or add as the need may be in order to best portray the truth which God had revealed to him."

"It should be noted that those who criticize changes in Latter-day Saint revelations base their views upon a fixed concept of how revelation comes. To them revelation must be dictated from God to man in such a manner that there should be no corrections, revisions, additions or omissions; all revelation is absolute, in the sense that once received the final word has been said; revelation is not the language of man but the language of God; hence man speaks the words God puts into his mouth. The words of God therefore are given to each prophet who in turn records them for the people to whom they were directed."

MacArthur's sermon shows how this "fixed concept of how revelation comes" is the correct Biblical view.

Mormonism's view of revelation is not Biblical
Let's set aside the question of the significance of the revisions that Joseph Smith made to the revelations originally published in the Book of Commandments and later re-published in the Doctrine of Covenants. Let's focus strictly on what the Bible says about revelation of scripture.

Here are the highlights from John MacArthur's sermon. Click here to listen to the entire broadcast. The emphases are mine.

Exodus 4:12
God says to Moses: "Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Jeremiah 1:4-94
The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
6 "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."
7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.
9 Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth."

Jeremiah 5:1414
Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says:
"Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.

John MacArthur: "God spoke and they spoke. And they spoke what He told them to speak."

John 17:8
Jesus says: "For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them."

John MacArthur concludes:
"So when you are talking about the Bible, you are not talking about some general ideas from God. You're talking about that every word of God is pure. Not just floating ideas."

Bottom line: Mormonism says that, by definition, revelation is imperfect because humans must translate God's truth (concepts) into a language that man understands. However, MacArthur successfully points out that God is truth and revelation is true and comes from God using words that the prophets are commanded to repeat to the world.

David is a new grandfather

Paul is David's son. Paul's wife, Casandra, delivered a beautiful 7 pound, 13 ounce boy on December 6th. His name is Erik Michael Nielsen. He is 19 inches long. He was delivered by C-section. The bad news is Sandy won't be doing sit-ups for a while. The good news is Erik is so pretty since he didn't have to squeeze through the birth canal. Just like your aunt Jamie ...
Congratulations to Paul and Sandy.

The House that David Built

For last week's teacher gift (a present for Kirsten each Tuesday when she teaches her community college course), I made her a gingerbread house. It didn't turn out as well as I wanted. But Kirsten loved it. That is why I love her. She is always so grateful. I love her.

Dr. K., I love you

On Tuesdays, Kirsten teaches a beginning psychology class at a local community college. I will go up and help her get ready for class and usually give her a surprise. One week, I gave her a little Skittles treat. Whoo hoo.