June 6, 2020

God knows the future; he knew Joseph's name 1000's of years before he was born (2 Nephi 3)

In 2 Nephi 3, Lehi shares with his son Joseph a fascinating revelation that Joseph of Egypt1 saw the Nephite day over a thousand years in the future as well as Joseph Smith’s day over 2000 years farther into the future. This example is often shared with me from my friends when we get farther along with the conversation about the openness of God. It is an excellent example to push us to think about God’s knowledge of the future and how He could know Joseph Smith’s name if His children made free choices from Joseph of Egypt’s day (1700 BC) to 1830 New England times.

May 31, 2020

Has God known the hour and day of the day of the second coming from all eternity (Matthew 24:36)?

In LDS culture, Matthew 24:36 is quoted as witnessing that God knows the exact moment of His second coming. Without the surrounding verses, it is powerful in its statement of God’s knowledge of the future. Jesus says, ‘But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.’ Two analogies wrap verse 36 about nature and seasons that strongly implies a relational view of the timing of the second coming instead of a stopwatch or Japanese train arrival view.

May 21, 2020

Gone are the days

This post may get a little political in my attempt to share President M. Russell Ballard’s 2016 fireside with the church educational system teachers. I think the Church’s struggle with history are a result of early conflicts with the establishment press and government. It has a comparable narrative with our current political climate and the difficulty of understanding facts an how those facts are interpreted. I appreciated President Ballard’s acknowledgment early in his message on our attempts at church history in the past.

May 16, 2020

Was Nephi's truth pragmatic (1 Nephi 4:10-18)?

Nephi’s Story: In 1 Nephi 4:10, Nephi starts his truth reasoning about what he should do with Laban after finding him passed out drunk as he planned to obtain the brass plates that he was commanded to retrieve. And it came to pass that I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man.

May 9, 2020

An evening with Elder Bednar (Seminaries and Institutes Employee Fireside)

Each year the Seminary and Institute teachers of the Church Education System for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hosts a night with a general authority. I remember attending these when I was trying to get hired as a seminary teacher. BYU-I faculty are invited to participate in a remote stream of these firesides. My wife and I attended with a few friends that also teach at BYU-I at the beginning of the year.

May 2, 2020

Does God live in Greek time? (Experiencing time as growth)

Does God live in Greek time? (Experiencing time as growth). Relational theology focuses on man’s relationship with God. However, in pondering a relationship with God, time is the first concept that throws Christians into a mental tailspin. We can pull out of this death spiral. However, to untangle God and time, we have to understand Eastern and Western (Greek) views of time. I am of the firm opinion that Western perceptions of time do not constrain God.

April 26, 2020

Examples of wisdom and knowledge in practice and message

This post focuses on President Eyring’s talk titled, ‘He Goes before Us. However, the broader conversation is around how western culture has mixed up wisdom and knowledge to the point that we rarely differentiate the two words. As seen from the image above for this post, our writing guides even recommend them as synonyms. I want to take a journey through a few ideas before I tackle President Eyring’s quotes from his message about knowledge and time.

April 18, 2020

Does God have wisdom?

Does God have wisdom? We discuss many other attributes of God which have a direct similarity in man but are more excellent with God. For example, Mortals understand limited ways to love but understand that God is better at love. Some humans can maintain massive amounts of information in their brains, but God can store an infinite amount. Humans have built technology that allows us to be in many places at once, but God can extend His reach to all locations.

April 10, 2020

The physicalness of God

N.T. Wright is the C.S. Lewis of our day, according to Robert Millet and with that comparison, he has such clout that religious scholars respect his word and Time magazine publishes his articles. Last December, he wrote a short essay titled, ‘The New Testament Doesn’t Say What Most People Think It Does About Heaven’. He calls out Plato, of whom Aristotle was a student, for creating the conventional Christian view of humanity dying and leaving this world to go up to heaven.

April 5, 2020

The exponential growth of temples in the latter days

During the Sunday morning session of the general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I heard Elder David A. Bednar talk about the growth of temples during the lifetime of President Russel M. Nelson. It gave me an idea to plot an exponential growth that would bring joy to the LDS faithful. I am amazed at exponential growth and its implications.1 For those that are R programmers, you can get the code here.

April 4, 2020

For a wise purpose in Him (1 Nephi 9:5)

Latter-day scripture has a curious phrase about wisdom that pops up quite often. It is the use of the words, ‘for a wise purpose’ about God working with a prophet on a current decision that affects the future. In 1 Nephi 9:5, Nephi is the first to introduce us to the phrase when he says, ’the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not.

March 28, 2020

God, Wisdom, and the Chess Metaphor

Let me start this post with a big caveat. Metaphors are useful for conveying ideas about specific points of reality and inadequate for conveying the entire complexity of our lived experience. The chess metaphor falls short in explaining the plan of salvation that God has for His kingdom. Still, it can be an excellent metaphor for understanding the relationship between God’s wisdom, power, knowledge and our agency. I want to frame parts of the chess game before we read the following quotes.