Book of Mormon - Ether 8:24 "....Awake to a sense of your awful situation...." : January 2011

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Religion in Rome

The following is taken from Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician, by Anthony Everitt:

"Religion was not so much a set of personal beliefs as precisely laid-down ways of living in harmony with the expectations of the gods. In fact, by the end of the Republic educated men believed less in the literal truth of the apparatus of religous doctrine than in a vaguer notion of the validity of tradition." (p. 55.)

How controlling are traditions.

They blind us to any view other than the one we've inherited and keep us from examining what, exactly, the source of the tradition was or what it was originally intended to accomplish.

Posted by Denver Snuffer at 7:41 PM

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Sacrifice of Isaac

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2010

Sacrifice of Isaac
There were ancient Jewish traditions which held that Abraham actually killed Isaac on the mount and the Lord brought Isaac back to life. The reference in Hebrews 11: 17-19 seems to be based upon this earlier tradition; in contrast to the Genesis account (Gen. 22: 9-13.)

If Abraham actually slew Isaac, and Isaac was raised from the dead, the trial of Abraham and the test of Isaac is more analogous to Christ's sacrifice than we imagine.

Hugh Nibley writes about these earlier traditions in Abraham in Egypt, pp. 329-344, 372-375.

We imagine the difficulties of the ancients to be less than they were. Their faith was established through trial, sacrifice, obedience and consecration. Not to the will of man or men, but to the will of God. When men attempt to displace obedience to God into submission to the will of men, then it is not merely an error, it is idolatry. It is an abomination.

More often than not, obedience to God causes conflict with your fellow man. It did not get these ancient Saints applause, position, praise or notice.

Posted by Denver Snuffer

Why this blog?

"And for the support of this Declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually affirm our oath and pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor!"

"We are concerned that the greatest nation on earth is being transformed. We are loosing our god-given freedoms and rights. This blog will try and post news items daily that may educate you so you can prepare yourself and your families, educate your friends and voice your opposition in a peaceful way. And hopefully help man the lifeboats as the ship sinks for those who still slumber."

"The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men." PLATO

QUOTES:

Benjamin Franklin -

"Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion."

Thomas Jefferson -

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks...will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."

Benjamin Franklin-

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Benjamin Franklin -

"I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."