Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

11:3 - Continuing with the analogy of the Church being a woman, Paul admits that instead of becoming the pure bride of Christ, “I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” When we think about the gospel, we obviously don’t know everything and because of that, it is sometimes tempting to feel like the gospel is complicated. I’ve felt this way before, especially when it comes to the concept of the atonement, forgiveness, priesthood, etc. But really, if we stop and think about it, the principles and ordinances of the gospel are incredibly simple. First, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe what he says, second repentance, we change our lives to be obedient to his commandments as best we can. Third, baptism by immersion, being dunked under the water by one who has proper authority, fourth laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, we sit in a chair while someone with aut...

11:1-2 - After responding to personal attacks about his physical appearance, Paul acknowledges that he is not perfect and hopes the Corinthian saints “could bear with me a little in my folly.” None of us are perfect and having to defend yourself against attacks on your physical appearance is pretty brutal, especially considering Paul’s teachings were spiritual in nature, not physical. Verse 2 was pretty difficult for me to understand because after asking the people to “bear with me,” he says, “for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” There are a lot of words in here that threw me, the first being “jealous.” We know that when God uses the word “jealous” such as “I am a jealous God,” it means that he is heavily invested in the welfare of the people. So maybe Paul is saying here, “please don’t judge me too harshly because despite my imperfections, I am very invested in your success.” The ...

10:14-18 - We’ve learned to not compare ourselves with other, and I think that there are two ways that people can use this in their lives. Those who compare themselves to others and feel unworthy and those who compare themselves to others and feel superior. When someone hears that they shouldn’t compare themselves to others, it’s really difficult to overcome that because they’ve been doing it for so long. But those who feel unworthy compared to others might have an easier time transitioning out of that mindset than those who feel superior. I guess if we think about it, ultimately the reason why people do either one of those things is because they don’t believe that they personally are worth anything of value. If someone can look at the projection someone puts on in public and think, “I’m not good enough,” then the solution is for them to learn self-worth and who they really are to God. If someone can look at another person’s projection and think “I’m better than them,” they are using a...

10:11-12 - The people who criticized Paul for being physically weak, but spiritually strong in the letters that he writes, Paul assures them that just as strong as he is in letters “when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.” I think he’s saying that the spiritual strength that he shows in his letters, he will also show when he gets there in person, even if he is physically weak. He makes another interesting argument to his critics of his weak physical appearance and that is “compared to what?” He doesn’t say that specifically but he uses words like “commend” and “measuring” to describe the way that these people are making their assessments. I hadn’t considered it from this standpoint, that when I say or think something like, “wow, he’s stupid” or “she’s ugly,” it all comes down to “compared to who?” Jesus doesn’t think that he’s stupid or that she’s ugly because ultimately, there has to be a smart or pretty person that sets the intelligence or beauty standar...

10:7 - I’m not sure if Paul is bringing up “outward appearance” because he wants to demonstrate the difference the spiritual war in which we are engaged or if he’s responding to specific comments from some Corinthians about his physical appearance. If it is the first one, I would understand this to mean that we can’t always figure out by looking at someone their spiritual status. I’m not a cookie cutter Molly Mormon type, I don’t wear makeup, I have tattoos, etc, but I’m still a member of the Church. And it’s interesting seeing the difference between people in Church in Utah vs. outside of Utah. And I guess that has a lot to do with the lack of genetic diversity in the Utah population. I mean, there was a huge immigrant population in the 1850-1880’s but then no one else really moved here to diversify the gene pool. But that’s not the point, the point is that just because someone doesn’t look like the stereotypical “saint” doesn’t mean that they aren’t and surely doesn’t mean that they ...

10:2-6 - I think that Paul is going back to talking about the hard issues in the letter so that he can focus on positivity while he is there with the Corinthians in person. Interestingly, after just discussing the "meekness and gentleness of Christ" me starts addressing the "war" being waged. Paul is quick to explain that "we do not war after the flesh." This could have been problematic because Jews were initially expecting a militant Messiah, and the Romans are very sensitive to anything that might appear as an uprising against them, so Paul's language here must be careful. He says that their weapons of war "are not carnal," but spiritual. This sounds a little bit off to us because we usually associate "war" with physical violence and destruction. So what does it mean to have a "spiritual war"? The research I did reminded me that the "war in heaven" was spiritual and in fact, still on going. The goal of this...

10:1 - I listened to 2 Corinthians 10 on my way to work this morning and I couldn’t for the life of me follow what Paul was talking about, and I usually retain audio pretty well. So I just figured this would be another “let’s just push through this and get it over with,” kind of chapter, but the more I research chapter 10, the more interesting it becomes, so I just might be able to convince myself to learn something here. Paul “beseech(es) you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ,” to listen and obey. Most of the worldly leaders try to convince people to do things or believe certain ways by using more stick than carrot. They project a persona of strength in the worldly way, such as physical strength, being critical of one’s opponents, speaking loudly and interrupting others. I think about this as a presidential debate, what would Jesus sound like as a candidate? I doubt that he would point out the weaknesses in his opponents, he might even speak to their strong points, in fact I kn...

9:11-12 - There are two purposes to charitable giving, Paul notes, first it “supplieth the want of the saints,” so those who are in need are better cared for. This can be part of the “sometimes God answers prayers through other people,” concept. It would be possible for God to magically create food in someone’s cupboard, and he does that sometimes, making food last longer than it should, but most times he decides to work through other people so that all can be blessed, not just the recipient but also the giver. Paul says the second reason “is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God.” I’m not exactly sure what this means, but part of the reason that I had thought that cheerful giving was important was because it is the opposite of coveting your own property. If you recognize all that you have as a gift from God, then you don’t hold on to it like it defines who you are as a person. The material possessions could come and/or go just as easily depending on the mind and will of God....

9:8 - Expounding on the law of the harvest, and that God is in charge of it, Paul reminds the people that “God is able to make all grace abound toward you.” Like we talked about yesterday, most success and opportunities that we have in this life are due to gifts from God. You can be the richest person in the world and still not be happy or a good person, or you can be just barely scraping by and be ok emotionally, usually not, but it’s possible. It’s hard to reconcile this concept, though, with the devastating poverty that plagues most of the world where billions of people still don’t even have fresh drinking water. If God can give gifts of money and opportunity, then surely, he could give the gift of a well or something. But then again, the Church’s humanitarian branch does a lot to provide wells and food and farming education, etc. So I guess when we think about that, we can say that God does provide fresh water but he does it through the Church. I guess it’s also important to reme...

9:6- - In explaining the importance of charitable giving, Paul uses an analogy of the harvest, which can be easily understood. He says “he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” This can be a difficult concept to understand because when it comes to giving “sparingly” or “bountifully” the real determining factor is how we define these terms. Is it talking specifically about a certain dollar amount? Is it talking about a percentage? What is the criteria for giving “bountifully” vs. “sparingly”? If we think back to Jesus’ mention of the widow who cast in her two mites, she was praised, whereas the wealthy people who gave an amount that was so much more but they were condemned. From this we can deduce that the amount of money is not the determining factor. Our answer comes in verse 7 when Paul notes that our attitude when giving is so very important. In the example of the widow’s mite, the attitude was that of grati...

9:1-4 - After praising Titus and his efforts with the Corinthian saints, Paul comes back to the topic of generosity and how it works within the gospel. He's asking the Corinthians to donate money and goods so that Paul can take them to the Christian saints in Judea. There's some interesting psychology employed by Paul here, which is where he says that he "boasts" about the generosity of the Corinthians to the Macedonians to encourage them to give generously. This back and forth that he does between both groups is meant to encourage them to donate more and more as part of the welfare program, "lest our boasting of you should be in vain." The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com says, "By way of review, Macedonia and Achaia are provinces of the Greek peninsula-Macedonia to the north and Achaia to the south. Paul is writing from Macedonia to the Corinthians in Achaia. Interestingly, he boats to the Achaians about the welfare contributions of...