**This is in no way exhaustive and is meant for discussion purposes**
What is scripture? This question came up while I was reading weird stories from the Old Testament a few weeks back and I started to wonder. I pondered and studied the question privately and then started asking around. You’ve heard the quip, “Ask two Jews, get three opinions?” In this scenario the quip goes, “Ask two Mormons, get 4 guesses, a heated argument at the Mormon Hub, 17 logical fallacies, 5 links to FAIR articles, 59 competing statements from General Authorities, one odd reference to Blake Ostler and an inevitable appeal to faith.”
Most Mormons quickly agree that the Standard Works, which include the Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants, are The Scriptures. That’s a satisfactory answer. I should have quit at this point. Not ask one question more. I asked anyway.
Why? Why are these the Scriptures?
The most obvious answer is that these books have been canonized. They comprise our canon which suggests they are the standard by which doctrine is measured. How are they canonized? It’s a fairly straightforward process. D&C 28:13 reads, “For all things must be done in order, and by common consent in the church, by the prayer of faith.” From that short scripture Mormons have established a pattern of canonization and change. Typically the First Presidency presents something to the Twelve, the Twelve then concur, and then they present it to the body of the Church for a sustaining vote. Additions and subtractions have been made to our scriptures throughout the Church’s short history and in my opinion the process has worked well. Everything is copacetic right?
Not really. It’s at this point that I ran into a technical difficulty. The Bible was never canonized by the Church.
The Bible never went through the process. Aren’t all scriptures supposed to be canonized according to the established pattern? “Not necessarily” said the respondents. It’s interesting to me how quickly Mormons will at first appeal to scripture, tradition and precedent but then just as quickly retreat into gray areas. Apparently the Bible didn’t need to be canonized because it was already canonized and accepted by most Christian churches. Mind you, these are apostate churches. For me the issue of apostate churches isn’t really an issue. In fact it’s a moot point. I never seriously considered the idea that Joseph would have rejected the very foundation of Christianity and force canonization? I’ll tell you what surprises me though; it’s that at some point a diligent General Authority didn’t raise the issue of canonization with an official Church committee and then ask a subcommittee to review the findings of the first committee and then prepare a report to be sent up to other committees until it reached the Brethren for some more deliberation and review. We absolutely adore councils and committees. We love the process and bureaucracy. Lets be honest, we are a people who will make a 16 yr old boy with a speech impediment say the sacrament prayer 19 times in a row until he gets it right or runs out of the chapel in tears. We love the letter of the law. That’s cool if that’s how we want to play it.
What about our leaders? Are their words considered scripture? D&C 68:4 reads:
“And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.”
This verse doesn’t need contextualization; it means what it says. What if a leader speaks according to the dictates of the Holy Ghost but my Holy Ghost barometer indicates that he is full of shizz? Who is right? Impossible to answer. When something as subjective as the Spirit is the determining factor it’s a crap shoot.
Then we have numerous quotes from General Authorities that are similar in nature to this official press release from the Church:
“Not every statement made by a Church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine. A single statement made by a single leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well-considered, opinion, but is not meant to be officially binding for the whole Church. With divine inspiration, the First Presidency (the prophet and his two counselors) and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (the second-highest governing body of the Church) counsel together to establish doctrine that is consistently proclaimed in official Church publications. This doctrine resides in the four “standard works” of scripture (theHoly Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price), official declarations and proclamations, and the Articles of Faith.”
This tosses out every statement made by a leader unless it satisfies a bunch of subjective criteria. There is no way a leader’s words are scripture unless they have gone through the process.
Which leads me to my next question, why have we as a people given these specific texts the authority to declare our doctrine? Some parts of the scriptures are inspiring while others range from bizarre to boring to insanely violent. Why canonize the bad parts? Let’s pare things down. I’d happily dump some of the Bible if we could exchange those parts for something like Stephen Robinson’s Believing Christ. It doesn’t match my personal atonement theory but it’s better than the Book of Revelations. Besides, I think the members would like it. I could easily give up a few sections of the D&C for a few songs from Bob Marley. There are a few poems I would swap for parts of Deuteronomy. I’m convinced there are other books, blogs, songs, and movies that represent our doctrine better than parts of our scriptures. Why don’t we canonize Harry Potter?
It is my opinion that anything added to or subtracted from the scriptures from this day forward should be subject to common consent. It is my opinion that scriptures have a certain authority and moral influence over us because we bestow it. Finally, scriptures contain our doctrine as interpreted by the Brethren. I wish I could avoid that one. Tradition and precedent are attached to and mixed in with the Brethren somehow. After that I guess it’s a free for all. I stopped at this point. To go any further would have meant defining “doctrine” and I didn’t have the heart.
I love Bob Marley. He constantly inspires me and encourages me to become better. He is scripture to me. He always has been. It has been some time now since I abandoned the notion that the standard works are the only scriptures. My personal scriptural canon contains works so varied I could not make a list. Frankly, anything that teaches or reinforces the following imperatives are scripture to me.
Love God
Love Neighbor
Love Myself
I also think of much of Marley’s music as scripture. I remember some of the best companionships and successes I’ve had on my mission were when we were in agreement about the need to keep Bob Marley in our regular musical rotation (and the latest EFY albums out of it).
Off the top of my head, I would also recommend Guster (music) and Wilfred Owen (poetry) as similar sources of scripture.
Andrew, I’m glad to see others appreciate the depth and beauty of noncanonical scripture. I was reading the Grand Inquisitor last night and thought to myself, this is as good or better than many chapters in the Standard Works.
I just started reading Dostoyevsky recently. I’m about halfway through Crime and Punishment. The Grand Inquisitor is next on my list!
Also, it seems as though the Book of Mormon wasn’t canonized either. I didn’t want to have to deal with that in my post so I dropped the issue.
so well-written and entertaining. Thank you.
Now I need to look up Bob Marley. I’m in a much older generation. *wink*
LDSDPER
The underlying story of this concert and these two songs in particular are extremely important to the Jamaican people as well as myself. I hope you take time to Google the One Love Peace Concert.
Jah Live
This is perhaps among the sorriest, most pathetic, intellectually, psychologically, and spiritually facile
dreck I’ve run across in quite a long time.
An enemy hath done this…
YES!!! “Ask two Jews, get three opinions?” In this scenario the quip goes, “Ask two Mormons, get 4 guesses, a heated argument at the Mormon Hub, 17 logical fallacies, 5 links to FAIR articles, 59 competing statements from General Authorities, one odd reference to Blake Ostler and an inevitable appeal to faith.”
I’d be happy to address any specific issues you may have.
Cornerstone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-PGEc8_Q5c
JST Matthew 21:
47 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
48 And they said among themselves, Shall this man think that he alone can spoil this great kingdom? And they were angry with him.
49 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they learned that the multitude took him for a prophet.
50 And now his disciples came to him, and Jesus said unto them, Marvel ye at the words of the parable which I spake unto them?
51 Verily, I say unto you, I am the stone, and those wicked ones reject me.
52 I am the head of the corner. These Jews shall fall upon me, and shall be broken.
53 And the kingdom of God shall be taken from them, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof; (meaning the Gentiles.)
54 Wherefore, on whomsoever this stone shall fall, it shall grind him to powder.
55 And when the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, he will destroy those miserable, wicked men, and will let again his vineyard unto other husbandmen, even in the last days, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
56 And then understood they the parable which he spake unto them, that the Gentiles should be destroyed also, when the Lord should descend out of heaven to reign in his vineyard, which is the earth and the inhabitants thereof.
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/jst/jst-matt/21?lang=eng
The stone that the builder refuse
Will always be the head cornerstone-a; sing it brother
The stone that the builder refuse
Will always be the head cornerstone.
You’re a builder, baby;
Here I am, a stone.
Don’t you pick and refuse me,
‘Cause the things people refuse
Are the things they should choose.
Do you ‘ear me? Hear what I say!
Stone that the builder refuse
Will always be the head cornerstone-a; tell me why
The stone that the builder refuse, yeah! –
Will always be the head cornerstone.
You’re a builder, baby;
Wo, here I am, a stone!
Don’t you pick and refuse me,
‘Cause the tings people refuse
Are the things they should use;
The things people refuse
Are the things they should use.
Do you ‘ear me? Hear what I say!
Stone dat them builder refuse
Will always be the head cornerstone-a;
The stone that dem builder refuse
Will always be the head cornerstone.
Stone dat them builder refuse
Will always be the head cornerstone-a;
The stone that dem builder refuse
Will always be the head cornerstone.
More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmania.com/corner_stone_lyrics_bob_marley_and_the_wailers.html
All about Bob Marley+And+The+Wailers: http://www.musictory.com/music/Bob+Marley+And+The+Wailers
WE SHOULD TOTALLY CANONIZE HARRY POTTER!!!
I mean, great post, with a lot of other great points….
Does it count that we canonized the Articles of faith that state we believe the Bible and the Book of Mormon to be the word of God?
I like the post. Non canonical scripture is groovy.
Jeremy,
Very clever. I didn’t think of an indirect canonization. That works for me.
Bless.
Don’t forget to celebrate Bob’s birthday on the 6th.
Jah Live!