– Taken straight from the first page in Bruce A. Ware’s book, God’s Greater Glory: The Exalted God of Scripture and the Christian Faith(Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2004):

Whether we behold, and believe, and adore, and trust, and honor, and love the true and living God, or whether we belittle, and distort, and minimize, and diminish God as we conceive him in order to magnify and enlarge and overextend the significance of “us” — this, at bottom, is what is at stake. In a culture saturated with the esteem of the “self” and marred by the decline of Deity, we stand in need of beholding God for who he is. We need desperately to be humbled and amazed at the infinite splendor of his unrivaled Greatness and the unspeakable wealth of his lavish Goodness. We must marvel at his blinding Glory and fall astonished at his benevolent Grace. If we are to escape the culf of self and find, instead, the true meaning of life and the path of true satisfaction, if we are to give God the glory rightly and exclusively owed to him–that is, if we are to know what truly promotes both our good and his glory–we must behold God for who he is.

Now in these quotes, Vern is putting forth an orthodox LDS view of God and also some of his personal angle on soteriology.  Am I correct on this?  And one of these quotes presents the view by Magaret Toscano on God.  I am highly interested in any link that shares Margaret’s view in her words. (more…)

This morning, I desire to showcase some of Swanson’s thoughts on Mary & Heavenly Father, Jesus & Marriage, and polygamy as acceptable.  I appreciate J. Stapley’s links yesterday.  I am just wondering if there is any public and official LDS Church critique on these particular topics defended by Vern.  I tend to think Swanson squarely sits within LDS orthodoxy.  I will list here almost a dozen quotes. (more…)

This topic just won’t go away.

I am a little behind the times, but I hope to catch up on the conversation.  Back in December I was asking people in Idaho Falls if they thought Jesus was married, but Mark Butler did not not tell me about this controversial book rocking the foundations of artistic, literary circles. (more…)

Dynasty of the Holy Grail:  Mormonism’s Sacred Bloodline (Springville: Cedar Fort, Inc., 2006) by Vern Grosvenor Swanson

The newly publicized convert to Rome weighs in on Mitt Romney.

Beckwith’s conversion is one of the reasons why our church family is using the Geneva Bible this summer.

Get Out of that Pit (Nashville:  Integrity Publishers, 2007) by Beth Moore

On Isaiah 30, Beth writes, “Israel didn’t need Egypt.  She needed God.  At his best, man can make a mighty fine man, but he’s a useless god.  Contrary to the serpent’s suggestion in the Garden, people simply can’t be divine.  The higher the expectation we have for them, the further they’re going to fall.  (And somehow, when it’s all over we feel disgraced.  Embarrassed.  Sometimes we don’t even know why.) 

People can help us but they can’t heal us.  People can lift us but they can’t carry us.  On occasion people can pull us out of a pit, but they cannot keep us out.  Nor can they set our feet upon a rock.  When we come out of a pit, if our idea of stability is standing on another human’s shoulders, his clay feet will inevitably crumble and we’ll take a tumble.  The job’s too big for him.

Since pit-dwelling is primarily a state of mind, effective deliverance also takes the ability to read people’s minds, because what we say often doesn’t match where we are.  Only God can hang with us through the length and depth of our need.  And the length and depth of our baloney.  Maybe I’m just talking about myself, but whether or not I realized it, I usually found a way to frame my pit to make me look like a victim.  Not only is God omniscient, His Word is “sharper than any double-edged sword” cutting our baloney so thin He can see straight through it.  He knows when we’re kidding others.  He knows when we’re kidding ourselves.  Knowing all we are, all we feel, and all we hide, God overflows with love and willingness to deliver us.  Even after Israel sought the help of the Egyptians, inviting the chastisement of God, Isaiah 30 testified, “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; / he rises to show you compassion” (v. 18). (95-96).

Rather than blogging baloney, we “can opt for God.”

Check out page 17 of Time magazine (May 28, 2007)

“co-belligerent”

DEFINITION \ko-beh-lij-er-int\ n:  Unlikely bedfellows joined for political purposes

CONTEXT  Parliamentarian William Wilberforce employed the term in 19th century England to describe his abolitionist allies.  The Allies became co-belligerents with former enemies in the later stages of WW II.

USAGE  It’s a hit with Evangelicals.  Megachurch pastor Rick Warren claims he’s a co-belligerent with feminists on issues like pornography.  And it’s an emerging descriptor for the wary but genuine approval that Christian conservatives have given to Mitt Romney, below, despite their differences with Mormons.

It is the first time that I have ever visited this blog.

I highly respect one of the contributors.  Robert Gonzales is a godly Christian brother and friend.