Bird Furious

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Yep there are certianly portions of scripture that are poetry, worship, or praise that need to be taken as such. In those cases, the context is clear (See Judges 4-6 i think? The historical documentation of Debrah's battle along with the poetic retelling. Poetry is clear as poetry and is explicitly stated as such). Genesis is presented as historical documentation rather than poetry. I belive chapter 1 is what happened and chapter 2 is how it happened. No contracidition there!

I would accept KJV as a legitimate translation. Any translation made by people who are qualified (fluent in ancient Greek and Hebrew, and intend to communicate the message on the manuscripts accuratley) I would accept. English ain't Hebrew, so multiple tranlsations are used because English has changed since the time of the KJV. I also activley use ESV, NLT, HPB, and NASB, as I only speak English. 

Once again, this is an authority thing. I choose to use my translation, and you choose to use Smith's translation. I trust the Church as a whole to keep one another accountable, along with the staggering amount of self-consistent copies of John from multiple centuries. (Also I never heard he translated John. Are his translation methods documented? Did he ever get his translation cross-referenced or  checked by other individuals? How does his translation hold up to the original Greek manuscripts? Also I'd want his translation if that's on the internet too.) 

For Deuteronomy, it is mainly Deuteronomy 6. Specifically, I look at 6:4 along with its context.

Yes! At the moment you are saved, you are forgiven of all sins: past, present, and future (See: Most of Paul's epistles). But this does not mean you go and do whatever you want (See: Also most of Paul's epistles). Repentence is a choice to actively work to turn away from sin and things God has decreed are bad and unjust. You will slip up, and you will need to reorient yourself. When you trusted in Jesus to fix you, He already knew about all future slip-ups and actively forgave you. You were already made clean, and nothing can take that from you ever. It is a heart change first, and the behavior reflects that. Not the other way around.

hmm. well, I disagree with most of that, but that's ok. JST is kind of a misnomer, it's less a translation, and more a "these things got lost from the Bible in the hundreds of years before the church was restored". It is basically a correction of the KJV, just adding in things that were forgotten/removed. this can probably explain it better than I can. it is online, and can be found if reading the Bible on churchofjesuschrist.org and you click on the footnote. As an example, in John 1, the first word (in) has a footnote which takes you to a JST.

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It is basically a correction of the KJV, just adding in things that were forgotten/removed.

This is the main reason why I stated earlier that you can’t be an LDS member and a Christian at the same time. Fundamental beliefs differ between the two religions because of what one considers as scripture.

I think that this conversation does just, at its core, revolves around the question of who do you trust more: Joseph Smith, or the early church and apostles? I do firmly take the latter, and that results in our worldviews differing by large amounts. If we aren’t gonna agree on the basis of theology, I think that we both gave each other a lot to think about and read (I will be reading the BoM, and contrasting it with the Old and New Testaments over the summer) and I had a heck of a lot of fun talking with you!

I’ll probably have more questions, and if you have more ping me somewhere (this applies to everyone, not just Platypus)!

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I think that this conversation does just, at its core, revolves around the question of who do you trust more: Joseph Smith, or the early church and apostles?

to clarify, I don't think these are in contradiction, but I do see how people think they are. 1) I the translation wasn't him saying that they were wrong, it was God saying that certain parts of the scripture had been lost and 2) i would still say what we teach aligns with the early church/apostles, it just has more to it. just little nit-picks  

(Long time Baptist here, here to disagree slightly because I do believe differently from the LDS org, love theology and discussions, and love talking about stories in general. Skip this post if you don’t wanna read it, but this is a forewarning just in case.)

I do think that it is human nature to feel off about getting something you didn’t earn, mainly because that’s how the world works. You work for something, you ‘deserve’ it. But Christianity teaches that we can’t be good enough ever. We have chosen to start out as crap, and as a result we die, worn out, ragged, and broken. 
 

However, that’s what I think makes Christianity amazing and so countercultural. We literally can’t work enough to be right with God. Nothing we do can give us enough worth to deserve heaven. It literally takes a miracle to set us right with God, and that’s what He provides with Jesus. 

So while I do think the Mario Movie does a good moment with an “earned” Deus Ex Machina (similar to Thor or any episode of Solo Leveling), and that it is good to have those stories encourage us, especially Christians, to work for what God decrees is good, I disagree that it is a good analogy for how God views his followers. He had to drag us, kicking and screaming, until we saw that He was the only solution to the problems in the world. We don’t deserve His help or His solutions, He offers them to us freely because He loves us, wants us to find His peace, and follow His purpose. At the very least, when I acknowledge that God needs to be the center of my life and I let Him be that, I do better mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 
 

TLDR: I disagree that working for the Christian God’s goals makes him reward us with His presence. He gives it to us as a gift if we only will take it and let Him lead us. I do agree that the Mario movie’s climax is a fantastic ending to a good story. (Sorry for text wall, I just love this topic. If you wanna continue this just DM me or post something in my status page. I storming love having these conversations)

I will add a slight disclaimer and say that I only made the rudimentary connections. I only simplified it because I didn’t want to add a bunch of clarifying parentheses to my post. I agree with you on a lot of that, actually. 

That is fair! Twas not offended by that analogy, just love any chance I get to see people’s perspectives on Christianity and compare and contrast with what I know the Bible teaches. Anyway migrating to my profile saw you put something there. 

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the only game I've ever really enjoyed

have you played Mario Kart Wii?

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have you played Mario Kart Wii?

OH YES SCUDDIT I LOVE THAT ONE I CREAM MY BROTHERS EVERY TIME—

Idk, it takes up different space in my head, ig  

8 is good too 

but Wii? Ah, Wii…

mmmm the good ol' wii