Click here for the reading schedule for 2023 to see today’s reading, with links to the text and video of the reading.
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Very recently, the LDS “Seminary” curriculum published an article titled, “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” (the published date was April 21, 2023). [LDS “Seminary” is not for producing preachers, like how we usually use the term “seminary” today, but rather is their curriculum that most LDS high schoolers go through.] Point #10 stuck out to me:
“It is important to remember that historical details do not carry the saving power of covenants, ordinances, and doctrine. To be distracted by less significant details at the expense of missing the unfolding miracle of the Restoration is like spending time analyzing a gift box and ignoring the wonder of the gift itself.“
There are multiple problems with this statement, including that it seems to be trying to play both sides. Let me explain. Critics of Mormonism frequently bring up problems with the historicity of Mormonism, both ancient and modern, from nothing in the BOM having any historical evidence of having occurred (see my rebuttal of the many articles at the “Evidence Central” website), as well as the more modern historical claims such as JS having the First Vision in 1820 (see JS’s claims of the “First Vision” were far from unique and GTE: First Vision Accounts). To make matters worse (for LDSs), many LDS leaders are on record as saying that if JS lied about the FV, then he’s a false prophet and the BOM is a fraud. So, on the one hand we have the historicity and accuracy of the BOM and of JS’s many claims being of utmost importance, but then on the other hand, they want to dismiss any problems related to the authenticity of those claims as being unimportant.
In a way, what the curriculum says is true — the historic details themselves “do not carry the saving power of covenants, ordinances, and doctrine”. However, if the events are not historical, then the “covenants, ordinances, and doctrine” are built on lies, and have no real foundation. This quote shows how “on their heels” they are! This is a tacit acknowledgment that the historicity of early Mormonism can’t be defended.
The person or people who wrote that may still believe the claimed occurrences did actually occur, and/or may still believe in the BOM and in JS as a true prophet, but they can’t defend it, or else they would present that defense instead of this wishy-washy “believe it even if we can’t show it” garbage.
I’m not sure what is the best term for this Mormon equivalent of “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”, but “gaslighting” comes to mind. Contrast this to the Bible that is solidly grounded in historical fact so that Paul could say in 1 Cor. 15, “if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” He also goes on to say that this would also mean that Christians were “false witnesses of God”, if they claimed that God did something (i.e., resurrect Christ) that God did not actually do!
This certainly should apply even more to all the many claims of Mormonism — if JS claimed that God did something (appeared to JS in the FV, gave JS revelation for the LDS Scriptures, revelation of the JST, etc.) and God did not actually do those things, then JS is a false witness of God! And by claiming to be a prophet but be false, he then is shown to be a false prophet of God, which is a scary place to be in. (See Tests of a true and a false prophet and the links contained therein for more about that.)
The more I study the Bible, the more astonished I am to find how perfectly so many things come together. For instance, this chapter should be one of the ones that Mormons know best, because it is their only Biblical (attempted) support of the view of baptism for the dead and all that goes with it. Yet the CES writer(s) seem completely ignorant of it, in basically saying, “It doesn’t matter if it’s historically true or not,” when God says it DOES matter. Very much.
TOYBOM: The One Year Book of Mormon 