Description

Original title: Eternal Progression and the Spirit World; "They" have a Divine Nature - and so do you!

In this episode, Brendon and Skyler discuss the forty-eighth lesson in the LDS Come, Follow Me sunday school manual. This week (November 20-26) is titled “Rejoice with Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory” and covers 1 and 2 Peter. 

We invite you to worship with us on any Sunday - either at First Baptist Church of Provo or Christ Presbyterian Church in Magna. We welcome visitors!  

Pastor Brendon's Colossians series can be found here and/or here. 

Note: the grammatical construction referenced is called Granville Sharp's Rule. (More below)

Seminary Manual: here and here 

“Vision of the Redemption of the Dead” (a.k.a. D&C 138); D&C 93;29; 76; 88; 110; 132; 137 

Gospel Principles (and here) 

“The Vision of the Redemption of the Dead” (M. Russell Ballard) 

“The Redemption of the Dead and the Testimony of Jesus” (D. Todd Christofferson) 

“The Price of Priesthood Power” (Russell Nelson) 

"Life Is Eternal" (Ezra Taft Benson)

“Becoming Like Him” (Scott D. Whiting) 

Joseph Smith: here and here; The Lectures on Faith 

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, edited by Joseph Fielding Smith  

The Words of Joseph Smith, edited by Andrew Ehat and Lyndon Cook 

• “If you wish to go where God is, you must be like God, or possess the principles which God possesses. For if we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are going from him and drawing towards the Devil...Search your hearts and see if you are like God. I have searched mine and feel to repent of all my sins...As far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the Devil and lose knowledge. And without knowledge we cannot be saved...Is not God good? Yes; then you be good. If he is faithful, then you be faithful. Add to your faith virtue, to your virtue knowledge, and seek for every good thing....A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence, it needs revelation to assist us and give us knowledge of the things of God.” (pp. 113-114) 
• “It is not wisdom that we should have all knowledge at once presented before us, but that we should have a little. Then we can comprehend it...The principle of knowledge is the principle of salvation. The principle can be comprehended, for anyone that cannot get knowledge to be saved will be damned.The principle of salvation is given to us through the knowledge of Jesus Christ.” (p. 200) 

The New Testament Made Easier by David Ridges 

Doctrinal New Testament Commentary by Bruce R. McConkie 

“The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent” (Jeffrey Holland) 

Brigham Young: JD 1.50-51 ;2.137; 4.285, 287-289, 4.371, 9.269 

Heber C. Kimball: JD 1. 161, JD 3.125; 4.4-5; 4.329; 5.203   

John Taylor: JD 6.163, 17.375; 18.138-39; 22.308-309 

Wilford Woodruff: JD 19.229; 22.333-334, 24.54-55 

Joseph F. Smith: JD 20.28; 21.10  

Gospel Doctrine: Sermons and Writings of Joseph F. Smith 

A Rational Theology by John A. Widtsoe 

Waiting For World’s End: The Diaries of Wilford Woodruff, edited by Susan Staker 

The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson 

Elias: An Epic of the Ages by Orson F. Whitney 

The Essential Orson Pratt 

Gospel Trilogy by Cleon Skousen 

“Treasures in the Heavens” by Hugh Nibley 

“Becoming Like God” (Gospel Topics Essay) 

“The Vision of the Redemption of the Dead (D&C 138)” by Robert L. Millet 

“From Obscurity to Scripture: Joseph F. Smith’s Vision of the Redemption of the Dead” by Mary Jane Woodger 

“The Doctrine of the Firstborn and Only Begotten” by Rodney Turner 

Conflict in the Quorum by Gary Bergera 

The Mormon Jesus by John Turner; who calls Mormonism “temple Christianity”. 

“Wilford Woodruff’s Vision and the Signers of the Declaration of Independence” by Brian Stuy; found in Dimensions of Faith: A Mormon Studies Reader, edited by Stephen C. Taysom 

Like A Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith by Stephen Taysom 

Early Mormonism and the Magic World View by D. Michael Quinn 

Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? by Jerald and Sandra Tanner 

“An Ambivalent Rejection: Baptism for the Dead and the Reorganized Church Experience” by Roger Launius 

“Baptism for the Dead: Comparing RLDS and LDS Perspectives” (Grant Underwood) 

“Reincarnation In Mormonism” (Sunstone; Kirk Watson and Robert Beckstead) 

WHI: here, here and here 

1, 2 Peter and Jude by Thomas Schreiner 

1 Peter: A Commentary by Craig Keener 

Greg Bahnsen: here, and here 

The Temple and the Church’s Mission by G.K. Beale 

Vox Petri by Gene Green; though, also considering Michael Kruger and TCI on 2 Peter. 

James White; Jason Wallace (esp on hermeneutics) 

“Trichotomy: A Beachhead for Gnostic Influences” by Kim Riddlebarger

The King James Only Controversy by James White

• the author points out that 2 Peter 1.1 is one of the clearest examples of what is called Granville Sharp's Rule.
• "Basically, the rule states that when you have two nouns, which are not proper names (such as Cephas, or Paul, or Timothy), which are describing a person, and are connected by the word 'and,' and the first noun has the article ('the') while the second does not, both nouns are referring to the same person. In our texts, this is demonstrated by 'God' and 'Savior' at Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1. God has the article, it is followed by the word and, and Savior does not have the article. Hence, both nouns are being applied to the same person, Jesus Christ." (p.335)
• More on Granville Sharp here.

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen 

Core Christianity; Christless Christianity by Michael Horton (also here and here)

One With Christ by Marcus Peter Johnson 

The Incarnation of God by John Clark and Marcus Peter Johnson 

Crux, Mors, Inferi by Samuel Renihan 

“He Descended to the Dead” by Matthew Emerson 

Battle for the Keys by Justin Bass (and here) 

The Disobedient Spirits and Christian Baptism by Bo Reicke 

Heidelcast on the Descensus