The Mormon Doctrine of Deity. The Roberts-Van Der Donckt Discussion Rating :
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Mormon and Catholic debate the nature of God.
By Kendal B. Hunter
Latter-day Saints do not have a strong apologetics tradition. Basically, we say "Read the Book of Mormon, pray over what you have read, and then be honest with the answer you receive." (Book of Mormon, p. 529-530; Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 61-62) And this is how it should be. Truth should be so easy that a child should understand it; and when you bring in lawyers and doctors and philosophers and whatnot to "help" and "clarify," you are in trouble.
This debate between Elder B. H. Roberts (the presidency of the Quorum of Seventy Apostles, i.e. a general world leader) with the Rev. Van der Donckt is therefore unusual, and this singularity is what makes this book fascinating reading.
Chapter One is a straightforward elaboration of what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes about God the Eternal Father, his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. Chapter two contains a reply from the Rev. Van der Donckt to Elder Robert's teachings. The rejoinder not only constitutes a Catholic reply, but also serves as a response embracing the quote-unquote "traditional Christianity," inasmuch as both Protestants and Catholics (generally) subscribe to the same creeds-Nicean and Athanasian.
Chapter Three is Elder Robert's rejoinder to the Rev. Van der Donckt reply, and it is in this rejoinder you see the strength of the Church of Jesus Christ's position. For example, the creeds hold that God is unchanging, but Elder Robert's points out that Christ is God, and the Reverend's position is that God is unchanging. But Christ started out as spirit, was then born (incarnated), then was crucified, and then resurrected. So he gained, lost, and regains this body, and isn't that a change? (P.95)
Boing!
The rest of the books contains statements from church presidents Joseph Smith, Joseph F. Smith, Brigham Young and LDS apostle Orson Pratt, plus a chapter comparing religious traditions vis-à-vis Jesus Christ.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said, "By proving contraries, truth is manifest." (History of the Church 6:428) This debate proves that, and this book would be useful for review and pondering for Saints and the curious anywhere.
The type is readable, being a facsimile edition of the original book. They did a good copy of the text, and kept the same pagination so you can compare with earlier editions. But I wish they had found a better picture of Elder Roberts for the cover-I know there are better ones out there.
.
BIAS: my philosophy professor Dr. David Paulsen, who also worked on the BYU Studies edition of "The Way, The Truth, The Life", writes the introductory essay. He provides helpful information about Elder Roberts and the nature of the debate
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.A FAMOUS DEFENSE OF THE LDS CONCEPT OF GOD
By Steven H. Propp
Brigham Henry Roberts (1857-1933) was a Mormon leader, historian, and politician who published A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 6 Volume Set plus Index (Box Set, as well as other books (such as Outlines of ecclesiastical history: A text book (Classics in Mormon literature)). He was denied a seat as a member of United States Congress because of his practice of plural marriage.
Here are some quotations from the book (originally published in 1903):
"Some of the sectarian ministers are saying that we 'Mormons' are ashamed of the doctrine announced by President Brigham Young to the effect that Adam will thus be the God of this world. No, friends, it is not that we are ashamed of that doctrine... (we have) surprise, astonishment, that any one at all ... (should) call it in question at all." (Pg. 42-43)
"(T)here can be no other conclusion formed upon the passage that says God created man in his own image and likeness than that man, in a general way, in form and feature and intellectual and moral qualities was like God." (Pg. 78)
"Instead of being one person, as the theologians teach, they are distinct in their personality; and there is a plurality of Gods, for the Father and Son are two individuals... In other words, the oneness of the Godhead is a moral and spiritual union, not a physical one." (Pg. 212)
"(T)he weakest child of God which now exists upon the earth will possess more dominion, more property, more subjects, and more power and glory than is possessed by Jesus Christ or by his Father; while at the same time Jesus Christ and his Father, will have their dominion, kingdoms, and subjects increased in proportion." (Pg. 257)
"Whether Adam is the personage that we should consider our heavenly Father, or not, is considerable of a mystery to a good many. I do not care for one moment how that is; it is of no matter whether we are to consider him our God..." (Pg. 263)
Product Description
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.
Product Details
- Published on: 2010-04-06
- Original language:English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.90" h x9.84" w x.74" l,1.65 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 306 pages
No comments :
Post a Comment