Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

There were several aspects that Paul was criticized for, one of which was “that he traveled at times with a sister missionary in his group.” We have to remember that anciently, women didn’t enjoy an autonomous identity, meaning that they weren’t usually considered an authority on anything. We also can remember that there were several reasons that women were considered “unclean” as well, so going through different cultures with their varying views of women’s place in society would have drawn criticism from much of the ancient world.  In addition to traveling with sister missionaries, Paul points out that many apostles and missionaries, including “the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas” traveled to preach the gospel with their wives. In this instance, the “brethren of the Lord” is a reference to Jesus’ half-brothers who were raised with him in the household of Mary and Joseph. Don’t get me wrong, I think that there are certain boundaries that are appropriate in these types of situat...

Reading Paul’s letter to Corinthians in response to an earlier letter that he received is like reading the transcript to phone call made in another country about important business but you have no idea what the business is, and it’s 2,000 years old. It’s very difficult to understand, but with help I can kind of make out what’s going on here. The article from  gospeldoctrince.com  explains, “Again, Paul is responding to criticism received from the Corinthians in a previous communication. It would seem that Paul was criticized for the manner in which he traveled and performed missionary work (v. 5-6), for the manner in which he dined with investigators and members, (v. 7-14), and some even questioned his authority (v. 1-3).” Paul poses some interesting questions, “Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?” I feel like this is one of those times when one has to ask, “do you believe that I’m called of God or not?” I don’t know if that’s specific...

Even though I can deduce that in chapter 8 Paul is answering a question asked to him specifically about eating the meat form pagan sacrificial animals, I can’t for the life of me figure out what his position on the subject is. Paul introduces the subject, “now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we have knowledge.” And then for several verses he talks about being “puffed up” in our knowledge, or “if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing.” This is true and excellent commentary on the human condition, but I don’t really understand why he’s bringing it up here. Maybe Paul is letting them know that anyone who has ruled on this topic yet has been incorrect, or perhaps there had been some individuals who had given advice but done so to feed their ego instead of being thoughtful about the topic at hand. I tried to think about what ego driven advice about this subject would look like, and what I came up with is something like “I would never be seen asso...

To finish out chapter 7, the confusion still remains strong as it seems that Paul is doubling down on the whole “it’s better to be single and celibate than married.” This is tough to reconcile with what we know to be true about the gospel. The article on gospeldoctrine.com  says, “reading this chapter gives the impression that Paul supported the celibate life; that marriage is inferior to the unmarried state.” It seems that in his epistle, Paul is contesting that those who are single can focus on the work of the Lord, whereas those who are married “careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife,” and conversely how the woman may please her husband. But we know that marriage is ordained of God, so what’s going on? The answer comes from the Joseph Smith Translation which specifies that Paul says, “I speak unto you who are called unto the ministry.” This changes the context of these verses from the church population in general specifically to missionaries. ...

There is one aspect of inter-faith marriage that Paul addresses that was pretty unique to the situation in ancient Corinth, and that was marriages between devout Jews and Christians. Because Christ lived and taught among the Jews first before the gospel went to the gentiles, there was a majority of Christian converts who came from Judaism. This would mean that Jewish couples who were married and only one spouse converted to Christianity would suddenly find themselves in inter-faith relationships. Anciently the Jews had a very strict policy of marrying within their own religion, which led to a distain for gentiles and an off-limits attitude about marriage with them. However, now that converts are learning to abandon the notion of “Jew” and “Gentile” and instead consider themselves all Christians, the topic of marriage within previously forbidden groups needs to be addressed. In verse 14, Paul asks at the end, “else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.” I had absolutel...

One thing that I really like about Paul in chapter 7 is that he is very clear in distinguishing which counsel he is giving from his own personal opinion and which counsel is coming from God. Paul states that the next bit is only his opinion but I find the counsel wise and prudent. Apparently in ancient Corinth, as now, there was a great deal of Christians who married non-Christians and it was causing some problems in the Church. There are some unique circumstances that don’t usually apply to us, but maybe they do actually. The first situation that Paul addresses is simply when one spouse “believeth not,” but wants to remain in the marriage. Significantly Paul counsels both men and women, and his advice is the same to both groups, don’t leave.  I was married to a non-member for a long time and this is one of those things that I had to come to an understanding of on my own. I had to think and pray about it and I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t leave my husband if he didn’t ...

Paul gives some pretty good marriage advice, but he also accepts that there will be times when spouses must be apart from each other sometimes, and gives an example of when that might be appropriate in verse 5. But it’s important to read the JST for context, which says, “Depart ye not one from the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer.” It seems like this is referring to missionary service, or for callings within the church that require greater time apart, like bishops, even though they don’t necessarily leave their homes overnight, there is a lot of time away from the family required. Paul kind of puts himself out there a little bit when talking about being away from your wife in missionary service, saying, “for I would that all men were even as I myself.” I talked to a friend about this statement a while ago and he said that he believes Paul was stating that he is celibate because his wife was not with him at this point. I t...

The topic of the role that sex is to play in the lives of church members has so far included fornication, homosexuality, and some adultery, and it appears that sexual questions were a large part of the letter that Paul had received from the Corinthians to which he was responding. Apparently one of the statements made in the incoming letter was “it is good for a man not to touch a woman.” The IM explains, “While sexual immorality was common in ancient Corinth, some people there held the opposite belief- that it was ‘good for a man not to touch a woman,’ and therefore one should refrain from all sexual relations, even in marriage.” It would make sense in a society that made up it’s rules according to how the leader was feeling at the time to have a litany of movements that swung from one extreme to the other. In the constant quest for self-improvement or even just glimpses of happiness, it would make sense that people would be looking all over from “let’s have sex with everyone” to “l...

After listing a bunch of “off-limits” activities, Paul’s next statement is kind of a problem. In the KJV, verse 12 says, “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.” The word “expedient” is cross-referenced with the definition “beneficial, advantageous.” To me, this statement would say, “everything is fine to do, but it’s not always going to help you out.” This is significantly different than “do not do these things because they will ruin your life.” This could cause some serious confusion for those reading this and trying to make sense out of everything.  It’s important, therefore, to realize that verse 12 has a JST that says, “All these things are not lawful unto me, and all these things are not expedient. All things are not lawful for me, therefore I will not be brought under the power of any.” The IM says, “In 1 Corinthians 6:12 and  10:23 , Paul seemed to address a false idea in Corinthian society that ‘all things are lawful,’ or that everything i...

There is some sort of silver lining here because while Paul is basically saying, “if you are defrauded, it’s not the worst thing in the world,” he also reminds us that “the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” The most important thing is to be righteous, anything that detracts from that should be avoided. But those who are unrighteous enough to take advantage of others will not “inherit the kingdom of God,” and so there is a sort of eternal perspective in that. It’s interesting because my grandpa once lent his jet skis to a group of people in his ward who wanted to borrow them, but while they had them they broke two of them. My grandpa’s response was to quietly get them fixed and continue to lend them out when people asked. I was shocked that he didn’t require the people who broke them to pay to get them fixed, but my mom said that that’s just who my grandpa was. I mean, not everyone is in that situation to take the financial hit like that, but it makes me think some t...