Deuteronomy Makes Sense!

Why are there so many rules in religion?

Are all the rules of my religion “Eternal Laws” based on the doctrine of God?  Are they Principles based on that Doctrine? Are they temporary applications of doctrine given for a specific purpose? 

I am a member of the LDS or “Mormon” church.  I was born in the faith.  I believe it, I try to live it, and I frequently ponder upon my faith, my religion, and why I believe what I believe. 

Which led me to a realization – The book "Doctrine and Covenants" is modern day Deuteronomy. 

Doctrine and Covenants is a book of Scripture recognized by the Mormon faith.  It details many revelations from God given to Joseph Smith and a few other early prophets of the Church.

While the majority of the book says how to organize the church – it also lays out rules.  Here are a few of the most well known:

No drinking Alcohol, using Tobacco, or ingesting “Hot Drinks” later defined as “Coffee and Tea.” 
(Besides all the rules in Doctrine and Covenants the church today has many more rules such as “don’t date until age 16” etc...)

Deuteronomy also has rules.  (613 if I counted correctly) 

Don’t eat Pigs. Don’t wear clothes with 2 kinds of fabric. Don’t shave.  Kill anyone who worships a different God. Etc..

These (to me) sound silly or just plain wrong.  I mean really - What’s wrong with eating bacon or wearing a poly/cotton blend?  I also can't ever imagine murdering a man because of his belief.

I eat pork all the time including last night for dinner.  I don’t insult those who avoid pork, but I don’t see it as a sin. 

BUT – I have never had a drop of alcohol or coffee.  If I ever do I expect to be in some trouble with my church and with my God and I will need to repent.   

DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE? 

How can I shrug off and ignore Old Testament Scripture that seems silly to me (Even though it’s the word of God) yet be so vehemently sure that I must live my church's diet rules?  Doesn’t that seem hypocritical??? 

I believe my faith.  I follow it.  But I don’t follow blindly.  I obey it while questioning, pondering, searching, reading, debating, etc…

That is when I came to 2 realizations:

Point #1.  Not every APPLICATION or RULE  is eternal in nature.  The doctrine is eternal.  The way in which it is enforced or taught to the people is not.

For instance.  I believe God had a reason for all the rules set forth in the Old Testament.  They may have been to teach the people obedience, or to set them apart from the unbelievers.  Maybe the "unclean animals" had diseases that were more difficult to kill.  Maybe some laws weren't even based on an eternal principle, but they just made life easier. 
Like the reason to not drink coffee and tea - might be because of caffeine, or maybe because God just wants the people of his church to stand out and be different in some way. I could give lots of possible explanations - but I'd probably be wrong.

Here's a current example:  ALCOHOL

I believe no one should drink alcohol, and in our day God has commanded us not to drink it. (D&C 89:7)
I also believe Jesus drank wine.  I know some people will insist it was grape juice.  While that's possible - I think it's unlikely.  I think He and his disciples drank alcohol.  
He also told Joseph Smith that alcohol was okay as long as the members of the church made it themselves, and that one day Christ would drink wine with Joseph Smith and Moroni and many more people. (D&C 27:3-5)
So how is that not contradictory???

How can it be a sin now but it wasn't before?  Does that mean that alcohol is not inherently evil?  I'm a psychiatrist, I have treated hundred's of people for alcohol intoxication.  I've helped them through rehab after DUI's and I've seen their families torn apart by alcoholism - so I can certainly make a scientific and social argument as to why alcohol should never be ingested.  But that's the reasoning of a man.  
Using that same "reason" I could read you multiple studies showing that a glass of wine per week is beneficial to one's health.  I could probably justify and excuse myself right into a drunken stupor.

No matter how much science or reason I come up with - It won't change the words written in section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants.  I can say I believe the book to be scripture, or I can ignore it and drink anyway.  But I either believe it or I don't.  That's it.

Point #2.  I don't know which rules are eternal and which might be temporary.

I can't say what is eternal law and what isn't.  Some laws from Deuteronomy still apply today while others don't.  Some rules were direct revelation from God while others may have just made sense and helped things run smoother.  I don't know which are which.

I have many friends in the church who ask:
1. Why couldn't blacks hold the priesthood until the 1970's?
2. Why was plural marriage ever allowed?  Why isn't it now?
3. Why can't women hold the priesthood, or have certain leadership positions in the church?
4. Why did the missionary age change?

I have homosexual Mormon friends who believe that the church's stance against gay marriage is temporary, and one day it will be changed and they can marry whom they want.

My answer:  I don't know.  I am not a prophet, and I don't pretend to know God's thoughts.  I attempt to learn what He has said and follow that until He gives different instructions.

My point is: Deuteronomy finally makes sense - It's the 3000 year old version of The Doctrine and Covenants.

(Caveat - as with all posts - there is a chance I'm completely wrong)

Similarities: Hindu and Mormon Scripture

I read the Bhagavad Gita some time ago, and wrote my impressions and favorite passages in a Previous Post.

 This last month I've been thinking about all the similarities between the Hindu Religion and the LDS (Mormon) religion. 

So I went back and found 10 themes or lessons in the Bhagavad Gita that have very similar messages in the Mormon canon of scripture.  With my limited understanding of Hindu, I have attempted to show the similarities I found:

1. How is Deity received when he appears amongst his followers, looking like them?

Gita 9:11 - “The foolish do not respect me in this human form, failing to know My supremely excellent form, that of the highest Lord of all creation.”

Krishna is the Lord of all creation, and is not respected when in human form.

John 1:10 -  “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”

Isaiah 53:3 – “He was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Christ created the world, and when he came in human form, he was rejected.

2. Man wants to see Deity, and asks to - but man cannot see Him with natural eyes.

Gita 11:4 - “O Lord, if You hold that it is possible for me to behold it, then, O Lord of Yoga, show me Your imperishable form.”

Ether 3:10 – “Lord, show thyself unto me.”

Gita 11:8 - “But you cannot view Me with these eyes of yours.  I am bestowing supernatural sight upon you – behold My divine Yoga.”

D&C 84:21,22 – “without the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; for without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.”

3. When Deity is seen, he is brighter than any light we have seen or can imagine.

Gita 11:12 - “Were the radiance of a thousand suns to blaze forth at one go in the sky, it might approximate the magnificence of this exalted being.”

Sanjaya describes the radiance and glory of Lord Krishna

JSH 1:16-17 – “I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun…When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description.

Joseph Smith describes the Radiance and Glory of God and Jesus Christ

4.  Deity can forgive man of all sins.

 

Gita 18:66 - “I shall release you from all sins, have no more fear.”

D&C 76:41 – “He came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness.”

5. Deity on occasion asks man to do very difficult things - like kill.

Gita 1:35 - “These I would not wish to kill though they have risen to kill us.”

Arjuna is commanded to kill his brethren, and he asks if they can be spared, if he can be saved the task of killing them.  Krishna explains why he must kill them.

1 Nephi 4:10 – “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. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him.”

Nephi is commanded to kill a fellow citizen of Jerusalem, Laban, and makes much the same request as Arjuna, until the Spirit of the Lord tells him why Nephi must kill Laban.

6. Deity is eternal, and Man is also eternal.

 

Gita 2:12 - “There was never a time when either I, or you, or these rulers of men did not exist.  Nor will there ever be a future when all of us will cease to exist.”

Krishna explains that Diety and man have always existed, and always will.

D&C 93:29 – “Man was also in the beginning with God.”

The Lord explains to Joseph Smith that Man was with God from the very beginning.

Abraham 3:22 – “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones”

The Lord shows Abraham the souls of men before they came to earth.

7. Diet, exercise, and moderation are important.

Gita 6:17 - “He who is moderate in food and play, disciplined in his actions, and controlled in sleep or keeping awake achieves a yoga which destroys all pain.”

Krishna teaches moderation in food, play, and sleep in order to destroy pain.

D&C 89 – All men who avoid Strong Drink, Tobacco, and Hot Drinks and also use grains, fruits and meats jusdiciously “shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.”

 The Lord teaches Joseph Smith a law of health, and moderation in all things in order to gain indefatigable strength.

8. Very few people attempt to and will ever reach perfection.

Gita 7:3 - “Out of thousands of men, hardly one attempts to reach perfection."

Matthew 7:14 – “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 

9. Deity asks us to remember him at all times.

Gita 8:7 - “Remember me at all times”

3 Nephi 18:7 – “If ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.”

10. Man is what he believes.

Gita 17:3 – “Man is composed of his faith – as his faith is, so is he formed”

Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”