Stand on the Rock of Revelation Part 7

Viewpoint on Mormonism, the program that examines the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from a Biblical perspective. Viewpoint on Mormonism is sponsored by Mormonism Research Ministry. Since 1979, Mormonism Research Ministry has been dedicated to equipping the body of Christ with answers regarding the Christian faith in a manner that expresses gentleness and respect. And now, your host for today's Viewpoint on Mormonism. I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry, and with me today is Eric Johnson, my colleague at MRM. We continue looking at an article that was in the October 2020 Ensign Magazine, a publication put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on a monthly basis, basically for its adult members.

It's an article titled, Stand on the Rock of Revelation. It was originally a devotional message that was published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was given by Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge, emeritus member of the Seventy. Mr. Corbridge is a corporate and business law attorney, and this comes from, as I said, a devotional address called Stand Forever that was delivered at Brigham Young University on January 22nd, 2019.

We're looking at some of the methods that Mr. Corbridge thinks are important in order to come to what he believes to be truth. Of course, he is a very faithful Latter-day Saint. He already believes that the Church is true.

He already believes that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. But he's encouraging members to be careful when it comes to issues that might cause doubt in their minds regarding those two very important premises that I have just mentioned to you. All four methods are necessary to know the truth. They all begin the same way, with a question. Questions are important, he says, especially the primary questions. And again, for those who didn't catch yesterday's show, the four primary questions he lists are, is there a God who is our Father? Is Jesus Christ the Son of God the Savior of the world? Was Joseph Smith a prophet?

And is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the kingdom of God? I think, and I mentioned this yesterday, that he undermines this first paragraph with his second paragraph because, even though he says that all four of these methods are necessary to know the truth, he states, ultimately, the things of God are made known by the Spirit of God, which is usually a still, small voice. We would argue, no, it comes through the written word. And as Christians, we would say primarily the New Testament would be that source. If we have anything that we think is a still, small voice, it better concur with what God has already revealed, or you would be in error to assume that what you think you're hearing is really coming from the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say, the apostle Paul taught that we cannot know the things of God except through the Spirit of God, and he's citing 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 9 through 11. We would have no argument with that. But isn't it odd that even though Mr. Corbridge and we at MRM would agree with what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, our outcome of truth is very, very different.

Why is that? And I think that's a fair question. Why do we arrive at different truths when there can really only be one truth in this particular case? He goes on to cite Paul by saying that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Again, we would have no argument. However, we would say it's foolish for a Latter-day Saint to believe something that Joseph Smith or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints taught them and assume that even though it conflicts with what the New Testament reveals, it can't be true. If it conflicts with the New Testament, it cannot be true. Therein lies our problem.

We think that there is a belief bias involved here, but Mr. Corbridge doesn't think so. But he goes on on page 30 to talk about all of the problems that we encounter in life. What does he say in that paragraph, Eric? Of all the problems you encounter in life, one towers above them all and is the least understood. The worst of all human conditions is not poverty, sickness, loneliness, abuse, or war, as awful as those conditions are.

The worst of all human conditions is the most common. It is to die spiritually. It is to be separated from the presence of God. And in this life, his presence is his spirit or power.

Now, I don't think you and I would have a problem with that statement where he says the worst of all human conditions is the most common. It is to die spiritually. It is to be separated from the presence of God. Certainly, we agree with that. But again, how do we not die spiritually?

How do we prevent being separated from the presence of God? Again, Mr. Corbridge's truth would be different from our truth. Now, we could both be wrong, but we can't both be right.

You've got to understand that. We cannot both be right. The worst of all human conditions is to die in your sins, which of course would mean to die spiritually. Jesus said, if you don't believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.

Now, that sounds like a pretty dire warning. Otherwise, why would Jesus say it? So there obviously has to be something you must believe about Jesus in order to keep you from being separated from the presence of God.

In Mormonism, that list is different than our list as New Testament Christians. This is an issue of epistemology. Epistemology is how we know what we know, and how does a Latter-day Saint know that he has a still small voice telling him what the Holy Spirit is really wanting to convey? And I think that's a big issue here, because if you're going to go with your feelings, you're going to go with this quote-unquote inner voice. I see Jeremiah 17, 9, though, saying that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it? Here's the difference between what he's trying to say and what we as Christians would hold. We hold that the Bible has the answers, that we're going to have to do some work, such as studying God's Word.

2 Timothy 2.15 says, We would say that, yes, a person must have the Spirit of God, but the way that you're going to be able to get the Spirit is to be able to hear the Spirit through what God has revealed in His Word. And when you use the word work, we should make this very clear, folks. We're not talking about working for our salvation at all. This is a part of sanctification. There is effort that is involved in our sanctification. This is sometimes lost on Latter-day Saints, because they intermingle what justifies them as well as what sanctifies them. And this is what makes it difficult for a Latter-day Saint to know certain truths that we think the Bible is very clear about. Paul says in Philippians 2.12, to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

It's a process. Being a Christian is not just going to come magically. You're going to have to do some work, and certainly we need the Spirit, but not in the way that I think that this article is trying to make it look. Well, after talking about the problems that we encounter in life, and the worst of all human conditions is being separated from the presence of God, which we would agree, Mr. Corbridge goes on to say, conversely, the best of all human conditions is not wealth, fame, prestige, good health, the honors of men or security. The best of all human conditions is to be endowed with heavenly power. It is to be born again to have the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost, which is the source of knowledge, revelation, strength, clarity, love, joy, peace, hope, confidence, faith, and almost every other good thing. Where I would disagree with Mr. Corbridge on this is that, to me personally, the best of all human conditions is to know that I have a forgiveness of my sins.

That's not really in this list. He doesn't really say that, which makes me wonder, how can a Latter-day Saint, even a Latter-day Saint like Mr. Corbridge, have joy, peace, hope, confidence, if he does not have an assurance of his forgiveness of sins? Therein lies a problem, we feel, for the Latter-day Saint, because if you ask a Latter-day Saint if they have the assurance that all their sins are forgiven, and you've heard us say this many times on this show, when you ask a Latter-day Saint, do you have the confidence that if you were to die right now, that all your sins are forgiven, and that you would get the best that your religion has for you, rarely will you ever hear a Latter-day Saint offer a very quick affirmative to that question. It's usually an answer of doubt. Could be, maybe, I think so, perhaps, or just a flat-out no.

Why? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, their church, the one that they have to ask themselves whether or not it's even true, is preventing them from having the answer to that question. We have to understand, in Mormonism, the goal is that you can become as God, that you will be with your family forever, and so perhaps that's a little bit of what he's trying to say here, as far as being endowed with heavenly power. But what you're saying, Bill, and I agree with completely, is that forgiveness of sins is what the Bible is all about.

And when you are a believer, that you don't have to have any fear, because there is a peace that passes all understanding, as Paul says in Philippians, and 1 John 5.13 in the King James, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. In Mormonism, Jesus is certainly a part of the religion. He's in the Church's name.

We don't deny that. But which Jesus? If you have the Jesus of the Bible, and you're a Latter-day Saint, and you have fear of dying, 1 John 5.13 says that you shouldn't have any fear, because there is this promise of eternal life. And Jesus himself said that he would never leave us nor forsake us. And we should mention that that passage you read out of 1 John 5 reads the same in the Joseph Smith translation. So a Mormon cannot argue that that verse is mistranslated or is not giving us a proper understanding of what John was trying to convey. In this article, the next paragraph says Jesus said, quote, The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, shall teach you all things, citing from John 14.26. He goes on to say, It is the power by which we may know the truth of all things, citing from Moroni 10.5.

And I guess that's what's important. If it, in fact, is the Holy Spirit that is teaching a Latter-day Saint a certain premise, it would have to confirm what has already been written. It will not contradict what we find in Scripture. Now, a Mormon might argue, well, maybe that verse isn't translated correctly, or maybe it hasn't been transmitted correctly. Okay, I'm willing to take on that challenge.

Let's find out. Well, usually what we find out is it is translated correctly, or it has been transmitted correctly. So that argument can't be used in a case like this. The problem I have is that Mr. Corbridge is going to assume by something he says he doesn't have, and that is belief bias. And he's going to assume that the Church is true. He's going to assume that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. But yet, did he test Joseph Smith by the two tests that we find in the Bible?

And we talked about that last week. If he did, I don't think he's came to the right conclusion, because I don't think Joseph Smith meets the biblical requirements of a true prophet. One, by the very fact that he introduces a god completely unknown to both Jews and Christians, shows that he violates Deuteronomy chapter 13. The fact that he predicted things that didn't happen shows that he violates Deuteronomy 18. So he would not be a prophet of God, which of course is point number three in one of his primary questions.

He would fail that test, and therefore should not be embraced as a true prophet. Thank you for listening. If you would like more information regarding Mormonism Research Ministry, we encourage you to visit our website at www.mrm.org, where you can request our free newsletter, Mormonism Researched. We hope you will join us again as we look at another viewpoint on Mormonism.