My search for truth is based on a simple observation. The world exists and so do we. Is there a God that created us or not? If so then what demonstrates the nature of this being or beings? Who is authorized to speak for God? Can we identify actual eternal unchangeable truth? Can we communicate directly with God, and if so how do we do so? How do we find out the truth about these things?
Joseph Smith was 14 years old in 1820. He tells his experience of seeking to know his standing before God and how he could know which of the many churches was the right one. What resulted is known to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as the "First Vision". We learn many profound truths from his experience. Link to Joseph Smiths narrative of his vision.
He would have recounted the experience dozens if not hundreds of times verbally to others after it happened. Some religionists persecuted him for telling it and for not writing it down until some 12 years later. From these critics, many false narratives developed regarding his life.
Several variations of the experience have been written focusing on different aspects of what took place. The experience he describes cannot logically be ignored even though his critics will try and say that it didn't happen. They have a burden of proof that cannot be met. While their attempts have persisted for almost 200 years, Joseph's message and testimony of God has filled much of the earth. One of the angels that he said visited him prophesied that his name would be held for good and for evil throughout the world.
He did not go into the grove of trees seeking to create a story or looking for a vision. He did not make a published record of his account until more than a decade after it happened. This wasn't the day and age of instantaneous communication nor was there a reason to make a written account of the event at the time it happened. The time did arrive however and it was necessary to share the message with others in the way God wanted it to be published.
Joseph Smith was 14 years old in 1820. He tells his experience of seeking to know his standing before God and how he could know which of the many churches was the right one. What resulted is known to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as the "First Vision". We learn many profound truths from his experience. Link to Joseph Smiths narrative of his vision.
He would have recounted the experience dozens if not hundreds of times verbally to others after it happened. Some religionists persecuted him for telling it and for not writing it down until some 12 years later. From these critics, many false narratives developed regarding his life.
Several variations of the experience have been written focusing on different aspects of what took place. The experience he describes cannot logically be ignored even though his critics will try and say that it didn't happen. They have a burden of proof that cannot be met. While their attempts have persisted for almost 200 years, Joseph's message and testimony of God has filled much of the earth. One of the angels that he said visited him prophesied that his name would be held for good and for evil throughout the world.
He did not go into the grove of trees seeking to create a story or looking for a vision. He did not make a published record of his account until more than a decade after it happened. This wasn't the day and age of instantaneous communication nor was there a reason to make a written account of the event at the time it happened. The time did arrive however and it was necessary to share the message with others in the way God wanted it to be published.
I found answers in the church's teachings that make sense of the questions about the purpose of life and our eternal destiny as individuals and families. These teachings open our minds to the concept of an eternal glorious family of God to which we belong. God has once again called prophets to lead his church?
Since he first declared to have conversed with God and other heavenly messengers he has essentially been on trial. Even though he has been dead for about 150 years. His testimony has not been stopped through the efforts of his critics.
Even though they craft dubious narratives, conjecturing about historical events, the critics have a burden of proof that they cannot meet. The use of fallacious allegations is rampant in their narratives to incite spurious charges and conjecture. They cannot disprove Josephs testimony nor that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, a divine record, translated by revelation.
He has been called many negative things in the biased narratives designed to discourage people from investigating his message. That message started at the age of 14 and his life ended 30 years later because he would not deny what he had experienced.
His message was to instill in people a desire to be disciples of Jesus Christ and to proclaim his eternal gospel in preparation for his second coming. His testimony of Jesus Christ and God the Father stand as a witness to his message and calling as a prophet.
Without the testimony of Joseph Smith, we would not have a prophetic witness of God's involvement with modern society. Bible scholars and philosophers have dominated Christianity with debates and declarations that God is silent and they are somehow his voice.
Since he first declared to have conversed with God and other heavenly messengers he has essentially been on trial. Even though he has been dead for about 150 years. His testimony has not been stopped through the efforts of his critics.
Even though they craft dubious narratives, conjecturing about historical events, the critics have a burden of proof that they cannot meet. The use of fallacious allegations is rampant in their narratives to incite spurious charges and conjecture. They cannot disprove Josephs testimony nor that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, a divine record, translated by revelation.
He has been called many negative things in the biased narratives designed to discourage people from investigating his message. That message started at the age of 14 and his life ended 30 years later because he would not deny what he had experienced.
His message was to instill in people a desire to be disciples of Jesus Christ and to proclaim his eternal gospel in preparation for his second coming. His testimony of Jesus Christ and God the Father stand as a witness to his message and calling as a prophet.
Without the testimony of Joseph Smith, we would not have a prophetic witness of God's involvement with modern society. Bible scholars and philosophers have dominated Christianity with debates and declarations that God is silent and they are somehow his voice.
I am somewhat grateful for those that are antagonistic against the church and Joseph Smith. Studying their allegations and comparing them to the truth has demonstrated symptomatic bias and misinformative narratives that are full of fallacies, conjecture, and opinions. They are crafted and presented as history and facts when they are not.
From Joseph Smith's "first Vision" we learn that God is an actual person and has a glorified physical body. We are quite literally created in the image of God. We look like him. What was later understood and revealed makes perfect sense as well. Whose image is the woman in the likeness of?
We now understand that God did not invent the two genders of male and female in the Garden of Eden. If so it would be nothing more than a random experiment, a spontaneous change in the actions of an eternal being. Men are in the image and likeness of our Heavenly Father and women are in the image of our Heavenly Mother.
Modern and ancient Bible scholars and philosopher-theologians teach that God is genderless being and not a parent at all and creation of souls is a random process. They also teach that we are not created in God's image because the being they teach as being God it has no image at all as an incorporeal triune deity.
God is not a single parent, but the eternal union of glorious individuals living in perfect harmony that love each other. From that love springs endless and eternal creation of human souls and the means to lead them to eternal life and exaltation.
The Godhead that we are familiar with in the Bible consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They are three separate and distinct individuals. All things are done under the direction of the Father. He delegated many aspects of the creation of this world and worlds without end to the Son as a premortal being. His redemptive role from his life on this earth transcends time and covers worlds without end.
We can call each member of the Godhead with the title of God or refer to them together as God, as they are united in one purpose to bring salvation to all of us. They each speak for themselves and for each other at times as their unity is perfect. The traditional concept of God is that of an incorporeal and genderless entity known as the Trinity. A being which had never created a soul until 6000 years ago in the Garden of Eden.
Our Eternal Father is the father of our spirit. He is an eternal being of the male gender. Fatherhood and manhood are features of godhood. His fatherhood is not independent of womanhood and motherhood, both genders are eternal. God is the supreme head of the human family. He is not a solitary being or the only one of his kind, nor is he a single parent. Men are created in his image and women in the image of our eternal mother.
Womanhood is eternal. It was not a random observation by God in the Garden that it was not good for the man to be alone and that something new had to be done about it. For this purpose, Mormons believe marriage is ordained by God, to unite a man and woman as an eternal companionship, with the potential to become endowed with powers of eternal increase. Such was the promise to Abraham.
As the Most High God, our Father in Heaven is all knowing, and all powerful. He is a possessor of all powers that exist that produce a righteous existence. In other words, he is not a mystical possessor of powers that philosophers think he would possess in order to be God. He governs in an infinite kingdom but not alone. He knows and comprehends all things.
God is the creator of endless worlds, souls, and salvation. The spirits of these souls are us, the spirit children of our eternal Father. As such we are eternal beings, the intelligence of each one of us is co-eternal and uncreated. As such our individual worth is incalculable.
The Methodology for Saving Souls.
Through the prophet Joseph Smith we learn that salvation and more importantly exaltation is an eternal ongoing process. We also learn that people that live on the earth without full opportunities to know the truth will have such opportunities.
What is the eternal Christianity of Mormonism? We lived with God before we born on the earth to our mortal parents. We are part of his eternal family. He chose his most righteous and also firstborn son in our pre-mortal family to be a Redeemer and Savior to us. He was known as Jehovah and was born as the Son of God on the earth and the only begotten of the Father in the flesh. He became Jesus the Christ. As a member of the Godhead, Jesus was always the plan for mankind’s salvation. He would be a voluntary sacrifice for sin.
God is the creator of endless worlds, souls, and salvation. The spirits of these souls are us, the spirit children of our eternal Father. As such we are eternal beings, the intelligence of each one of us is co-eternal and uncreated. As such our individual worth is incalculable.
The Methodology for Saving Souls.
Through the prophet Joseph Smith we learn that salvation and more importantly exaltation is an eternal ongoing process. We also learn that people that live on the earth without full opportunities to know the truth will have such opportunities.
What is the eternal Christianity of Mormonism? We lived with God before we born on the earth to our mortal parents. We are part of his eternal family. He chose his most righteous and also firstborn son in our pre-mortal family to be a Redeemer and Savior to us. He was known as Jehovah and was born as the Son of God on the earth and the only begotten of the Father in the flesh. He became Jesus the Christ. As a member of the Godhead, Jesus was always the plan for mankind’s salvation. He would be a voluntary sacrifice for sin.
This plan is based on eternal laws of agency, justice, mercy and the perfect love of God. The creation of earth and mortality was and is a necessary step for the eternal growth and happiness of his children.
Mortality would be introduced by a choice, not by force. The Eden setting was designed for this purpose. “The man has become as one of us” was the declaration by the Gods after the fall. Adam and Eve became this world's first Christians. It was a forward step not backward.
How does one know the truth? God can and does reveal the truth and answers the prayers of those willing to study and ask. Of this, I have personal experience. To say otherwise would be to say that he leaves knowledge of eternal things to chance. Only one church with divine authority existed when the Savior was on the earth. Men changed it. It has been restored to the earth with the fullness of God’s authority.
The Book of Mormon is another testament of the Savior. Its pages contain doctrine that confirms the truth of the Bible and gives clarity to it. If one wants to know the truth then they must read it and study it. Divine messengers have visited the earth to restore authority and ordinances and covenants that are eternal in nature and assure us of God’s interest in our well being.
Mortality would be introduced by a choice, not by force. The Eden setting was designed for this purpose. “The man has become as one of us” was the declaration by the Gods after the fall. Adam and Eve became this world's first Christians. It was a forward step not backward.
How does one know the truth? God can and does reveal the truth and answers the prayers of those willing to study and ask. Of this, I have personal experience. To say otherwise would be to say that he leaves knowledge of eternal things to chance. Only one church with divine authority existed when the Savior was on the earth. Men changed it. It has been restored to the earth with the fullness of God’s authority.
The Book of Mormon is another testament of the Savior. Its pages contain doctrine that confirms the truth of the Bible and gives clarity to it. If one wants to know the truth then they must read it and study it. Divine messengers have visited the earth to restore authority and ordinances and covenants that are eternal in nature and assure us of God’s interest in our well being.
The Holy Ghost will testify with confirming power that these things are true and that living prophets guide the church. We can all have a direct channel of communication with God. I have felt it, observed the effects and know that it is real and true. Happiness, understanding of life’s purpose and eternal perspective have been the result.
The struggles and challenges of life are more confidently met when we understand why we are here and that Jesus Christ is involved in our lives. It is an eternal plan, not a temporary plan that brought us to this mortal experience and its requisite personal growth through faith and obedience. It will bless us now and continue into eternity to bless our eternal souls if we will embrace it.
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