by Qcmbr 18 Replies latest watchtower bible
Even ignoring the Book of Mormon's provenance, its rather instersting just how the text of the book has been changed in the short time from its creation to its wide distribution:Book of Mormon Editions (1830-1981)
To those not Mormons this well illustrates the matter of textual corruption for the NT. The same type of editing, grammatical amendments, and harmonizations were done, but in the case of the NT over more than 3-400 years.
read the book 'Misquoting Jesus' a couple of years ago changed my whole life's thinking. Have not read 'When Jesus became God'
PP....I should recommend the book American Apocrypha which gives several fascinating literary analyses of the composition and literary history of the Book of Mormon. :)
Hey Leolaia, thanks, I hope Qcmber considers the point being made about the NT are also true of his holy book.
When Jesus Became God is particularly good
I have a copy of When Jesus Became God.
A couple of things to keep in mind about how Rubenstein approaches the subject is that he is a sociologist, not a theologian. His interest is in conflict resolution and he specialises in religious conflict. Since he is a Jew, he doesn't really have a dog in the trinitarian fight since that is a Christian debate. So his approach to the issue of how the trinitarian dogma came to be is more focussed on the process and the struggles which took place during the fourth century rather than the rightness or wrongness of the doctrine itself. It makes for fascinating reading from an outside perspective.
Forscher
I personally do not judge or hold that belief in the Trinity is required for salvation, for the Bible teaches that only faith in Jesus and his shed blood for our sins brings salvation. However, I do believe that the Trinity, as defined by the Church, is the best, most accurate definition we have to explain the nature of God as put forth in the Bible.
Ditto.
Misquoting Jesus is a good book, but I think it lacks in a few areas. Since his own personal expierance was tied into American Evangelical Christianity the book focuses on topics that mainly effect the Bibles relationship with that particuliar area of faith. The King James Bible is mentioned alot, but others translations that have made some of the changes he puts forth are not credited. All considered I enjoyed the book and think it can be helpful.
The early Church Fathers fought against non-Trinitarian concepts that were continuously being promoted as alternatives to traditional teaching.
The apostolic writings of the Bible if read naturally are dead against the concept of Trinity time and again they talk about a son that is subject to the Father rather than being his equal. The early church clearly did not believe in the trinitarian doctrine it had no such tradition.
Not that those who formulated this doctrine had evil motives they were trying to resolve the idea that an inferior (to the father) son was to be worshipped as a God, an absolute no no in monotheism. But if he is the God just as the Father is the God then there is no problem.
The solution is that the Father Himself greatly elevated Jesus's status to that of a God without of course making him his absolute equal. So the early Christians thought of Jesus as a God (but not the God) not surprising since he received all power and authority over man and angel.
