Today I read 1 Corinthians 8, which I must say confused me. In this chapter Paul teaches that there are Gods many and Lords many, but for us there is only 1 God, Heavenly Father. It makes me wonder how people can read the Bible and not have a correct understanding of the nature of God. How can someone read that statement by Paul and not understand that there are many Gods in the universe? How else can one interpret that? Apparently it can be interpreted in quite a variety of ways.
That is why I am thankful for the Book of Mormon and modern revelation to clarify statements in the Bible that someone might not understand or interpret correctly. God loves us and does not want us to be lost in confusion and so has prepared a way for us to know the truth of all things. We have the Gift of the Holy Ghost for those who are confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. It's sole purpose is to convince Jew and Gentile of the divinity of the Savior. It's also there to help clarify the Bible and those obscure verses that might not make very much sense to us. The Book of Mormon is meant to help make sense of what the Bible teaches us and what the Bible has lost over the years.
We also have the Doctrine and Covenants and modern revelations to let us know even more. Joseph Smith taught us that God is an exalted man and that as man is God once was and as God is man can become. That helps clarify what Paul means and helps us understand how there can be many Gods. It also helps us know that despite there being many Gods, there is only one God for us. Heavenly Father is always our Father. I suppose that people could misinterpret what Paul is saying by stating that he is referring to false gods and idols. However, I think that is a mistake. I think he is stating that we should not make idols to anyone, but in addition, there are many Gods in heaven. And he is referring to those who have attained a celestial glory.
The rest of the chapter Paul talks again about eating meat and not offending our brethren. I have a friend that chose to not eat meat because she did not like the idea of an animal suffering to be her food. While I do not agree with her sentiments, I understand where she is coming from and she never once tried to get other people to see her point of view other than humbly explaining what she thought and what she felt. She never once told anyone that they were out of line for eating meat or that they should refrain from doing so. I have had other friends that also chose not to eat meat and when they would come over to my house for a dinner party I would refrain from having any meat on the table out of respect for them and their desires. I have also had friends that could not process meat, it would cause them to be sick. As Paul says, we will not be exalted by the eating of meat, or the not eating of meat so there is no need to make a mountain out of a mole hill about the eating of meat. Each person must do what is best for their body, just like Heavenly Father says. We should not impose what we think we should refrain from into our bodies. I personally don't drink soda at all because the carbonation hurts my stomach. But I do not condemn other LDS because they choose to drink soda. It is their personal choice and perhaps carbon dioxide does not hurt them the way it does me.
We have talked about this topic quite extensively during the past few weeks so there really is no need to continue on about it. It is just interesting to me that so many people in so many generations have had a problem with it and it is has been a stumbling block for so many. That is very interesting to me. And that is all I will say on it. Until tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment