From: jwindley%asylum.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Jay Windley)
Subject: Re: LDS response to John Meulhausen (part 1 of 2)
Date: 16 Apr 92 23:14:06 MDT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept

press2@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barry.o.olson) writes:
>> 
>>  B'. Mormons claim that the Bible is the word of God as far as it is 
>>      translated correctly.
>
>So who determines when it is translated correctly? Joseph S. jr?

The individual Christian, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  See Moroni
10:3-5 in the Book of Mormon.

>His translations are not accepted as official, only annotations.

They aren't translations, according to how biblical scholars use the
word.  There is no source text from which Smith translated -- he
simply wrote as God inspired him, as he read the text.

So though they're erroneously called translations, they are really
annotations, as Barry notes.  Portions of the Joseph Smith Translation
appear in the LDS edition of KJV, so that in a sense might make them
canon.  And of course the Reorganized LDS Church publishes their
"Inspired Version," but I assume their standards for canon are
different than the Utah church.

>I'm waiting for a good rationalization of why JS jr's translations
>of the portions he worked on are Not canon. :-)

Why?

>>  A'. Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is the creator of the world and
>>      that he is the God of the Old Testament.
>
>What happened to the 2nd testament(nt)?

Nobody took it anywhere.

What Jason is saying, of course, is that we believe YHWH, or Jehovah,
is actually Jesus Christ as he was before his mortality, still
separate from God.

>Jesus is also Lucifer's brother(LDS).

So are you and I, according to LDS doctrine.  Lucifer, or Satan, was
with us all before the creation of the earth.  But he rebelled against
God and sought God's glory for himself, and as such was cast out.

Your point?  Or was that it, and you're just going for "shock" value?

>JS jr has helped blur
>what Christianity is and means,

Oh, I think it was pretty blurred before Joseph Smith came along.  You
had your Catholics, your Lutherans (gee, are they Catholic, or are
they Protestant?), your Episcopalians (Catholic, except the king can
get a divorce), your Greek Orthodox (Catholic on the other side of the
fence), your Baptists (the Methodists are wrong!), your Methodists
(the Baptists are wrong!), the Presbyterians (you're all wrong!), and
so forth.

The state of religion in Smith's time was truly uproarious compared to
these denominations today.  Most of the above-named religions get
along quite nicely together these days.

Of course, one man's blur is another man's restoration.  Mormons make
no bones about being different that tradition Christians in some
respects.  For some reason, the orthodoxy really gets upset.

>I do wish the LDS would identify themselves as Josephites.

Well, I'd rather keep calling myself a Christian, since I believe that
Jesus Christ, not Joseph Smith, is my Savior.

Of course, Barry really means to say "I do wish LDS would fall into
the trap I've set for them."  Come on, Barry.
--------------------------------+---------------------------------------
Jay Windley                     | jwindley@asylum.utah.edu
Department of Computer Science  +---------------------------------------
Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City   | "I have detailed files."  -- T2