Today I had the opportunity to spend most of a day with the elders while they went to their various appointments, and even got to join them while they went tracting a bit. Our first stop was at the home of a member who had recently moved into one of the wards here in Monument. The member (we'll call her Sally) and her mother (we'll call her Betty) were in attendance. Betty is a devout Catholic, but she is investigating the LDS church. Betty has the utmost respect for us Mormons, and she agrees with many of our beliefs. However, Betty has been raised Catholic, and has practiced Catholicism all of her life. Because she has been raised with these beliefs her entire life, she has some troubles with some ideologies that we teach, even though we have many of the same beliefs as Catholics.
One thing that Betty was having trouble with was the idea of three degrees of Heaven. We eventually were able to explain this idea sufficiently for Betty, but one question that she still had kinda struck me. Her question was, "If all of this is already in the Bible, why have I never been taught this before?"
Why have I never been taught this before. It's such a simple question. My first reaction was to explain about how the Bible has been translated by men without the help of divine power. Men are prone to mistakes, prone to corruption, and always will be. That's just how our race is, and that cannot be changed. The Bible was translated from original transcripts to Greek, then to Latin for the Catholic church. Along the way the monks who were translating each page lost pieces and mistranslated other pieces. Over the course of the time, clergymen selected specific passages to base their teachings off of, relating all questions and answers back to those passages. Additionally, most people who were taught from the Bible could not understand the Bible because it was written in Latin, and most people during the time (1300s-ish and on) could not read Latin. They were forced to completely rely on what their priests and clergymen were teaching, and many priests left out information that they decided that they didn't want the general population to know. The Catholic church realized that they could better control the thoughts of the people if they left the Bible in a language that the commoners could not understand. And now that you've been bored with this little history lesson, let me get back to my point.
I just find it incredibly interesting how all the questions we could ever want to any question can be found in the complete collection of God's words, but because man has decided to take his own path and to achieve his own goals, many of us will never know the fullness of the gospel in this life. This also makes me incredibly sad. The gospel is so incredible. God's words can provide comfort and guidance to even the most downtrodden and outcast people. If I was able to, I would teach every person the gospel. I feel like if only people could hear the goodness that is in the gospel they would be so much happier.
It was also fascinating to see how hard it is for someone to accept new ideas. Betty has been taught by the Catholic church her entire life. She went to Catholic school and attends church most, if not all, Sundays. While she eventually was able to understand our teachings, it took a considerable amount of proof from the scriptures to convince her that what we were teaching was true. It's hard for me to understand why someone would not want to accept these ideas right off the bat, but that's because I have a firm, unshakable testimony in the truthfulness of the gospel. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that all the teachings in the Bible are true to the extent that they have been translated correctly, and that the Book of Mormon is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. Because of this testimony, I can't quite understand why someone wouldn't want to completely accept what is being taught to them. It's just so true! Ah!! Anyway, I just hope that those who are exposed to the gospel will realize that it is true, and that they will want to learn more. I basically cannot wait to get out on my mission (if you haven't guessed that already).
Ciao!
P.S.- These historical "facts" are factual as far as my mind can remember them, and I apologize for any mistakes that have been made.
Think of the game "telephone". It's hard enough to preserve the exact meaning of a phrase through the years and the translations.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Bible can be difficult (particularly the New Testament) because much of it was written for a specific audience. Paul wrote to specific groups that needed specific corrections, and the general public today doesn't have the same context said group does. I think of what Nephi said of Isaiah's words being plain...they aren't to me, but imagine if we understood the cultural and historical context.