Sword of the Spirit

The Sword of the Spirit is an apologetics (defense of the faith) blog, devoted to answering criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The name of this blog, "Sword of the Spirit," is taken from Eph 6:17. This chapter is Paul's admonition to put on the whole armour of God. The sword of the spirit is the last piece of that armour and is the only offensive weapon in this spiritual armoury. The armour is given by Paul as a means to "stand against the wiles of the devil" and "withstand in the evil day". Paul tells us the meaning of the sword of the spirit: it is the word of God." Because so much criticism is designed to lead us out of the scriptures and into worldview arguments, the purpose of this blog will be to tie as many of these arguments to the scriptures as possible. The hope is that it will strengthen the testimonies of the Latter-day Saints (LDS), to bring back those whose testimonies have been weakened, and to encourage those who are not LDS to seek answers to their questions about our beliefs. This blog is completely my own doing and is no way endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is an amateur posting which will need a lot of revising because I have not been blessed with a gift of writing. In the words of Moroni, "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, ....give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you (my) imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than (I) have been." Thank you for visiting my blog and may God bless those who are pure in heart. (All Bible citations come from the King James version, unless otherwise stated!)



Sunday, May 22, 2011

Why Do Mormons Keep Secrets

Many of the critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accuse us of keeping "secrets" from those outside of our faith.

The truth of the matter is....we do keep secrets!

I know that many of my LDS readers will disagree with me on this point, "it is not secret, it is sacred" they will say. Even though I agree with them that we do hold things sacred, we also don't share those sacred things with just anybody, so therefore they are also secret!

What sort of things do Mormons keep secret? Well....Mormons are known for keeping secret our temple experiences. Jesus’ instructions on the Sermon on the Mount was "give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest the trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." (Matt 7:6) Yet every time our critics "expose" something holy from our temple experience they fulfill Matt 7:6. Paul spoke of these kinds of critics when he taught "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure." (Titus 1:15)

Many of our critics try to make "secrets" look non-scriptural by quoting scriptures like Isaiah 48:16 "I have not spoken in secret from the beginning," or Luke 8:16-17 "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel... but setteth it on a candlestick... For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest." The hope of these critics is to show that the Bible doesn't allow for secrets to be kept and that to do so must be evil!

In Eccl 3:1,7 the preacher tells us "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to keep silence, and a time to speak."

Many critics will continue to argue that neither Christ nor his disciples ever kept secrets! But what do the scriptures teach?

Let us look at some examples from the Scriptures to see if keeping a secret was an evil practice as some critics have claimed. In Mark 8:22-26 we see Jesus healing a blind man, after he was made whole the Lord told him, "Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town." In Mark 5:35-43 we see Jesus healing a girl who was dead, afterwards he gave this instruction to those who were in the room, "and he charged them straitly that no man should know it." (Mark5:43) And in Mark 7:32-36 we see Christ healing a man who was deaf and slow of speech receiving the same command "and he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it" (Mark 7:36). Why would the Lord ask them to keep these miracles a secret? Did Christ have something to hide?

The Critics of the LDS church will tell you that the Mormons are wicked because they try to hide what they do in their temples! Yet the Lord informs us in Psalms 25:14 "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him: and he will shew them his covenant." Yes, the Lord has things which he reveals only to his people.

Look at Matt 13; here Christ has just told a few parables (which seemed to be the way he gave all his public teachings) where he has hidden the meaning of several important doctrines. He gives His reasons for this, "and the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." (Matt 13:10-11)

Again in Matt 13:34-35, "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them; That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." And why is it that Christ choose to speak these truths in parables "He said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all the things are done in parables." (Mark 4:11)

When critics of the church want to try and embarrass the Mormon people they will make light of things that Christ has instructed them to keep secret. But let me ask a question: If Christ revealed a doctrine, truth, or mystery to you and asked you to keep it a secret would you?

Now before you say that Christ would never do this look at a few scriptural examples. Matt 16:15-16 "whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." After this in verse 20 Christ tells them,"Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ." Here Christ reveals a truth that ought to be known to all who want eternal life (John 17:3) and yet Christ charges them not to reveal this truth! We know that at least one of Jesus apostles (Judas) did not listen to Jesus and he did reveal him! (Matt 26:46-49)

So who are these critics more like when they try to reveal these "Mormon temple mysteries?"

Are they more like the apostles whom Jesus charged not to reveal his secret (Matt 16:20), or like Judas, who did reveal to men who Jesus was? (Matt 26:46-49) According to Prov 11:13 "a talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter."

Jesus explained why he kept the secret that he was the Christ, instead of revealing it to the world. In Luke 22:67 the religious rulers asked him very directly "Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe." Is it any different today? The critics scream for more Mormon transparency, yet they are not looking to believe. For this very reason the Lord has asked the LDS saints to keep their temple observances a secret! The question is, will they?

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