I agree Felix.
SD, I think that the BoM was envisioned and marketed as the "rest of the story" that the bible either left out or had been removed from the bible. The "fulness" of the gospel is in reference and contrast to the bible being incomplete. Thus the bible and the BoM together are all you will ever need. It certainly has some appeal.
However, remember the Dunkers!
Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography, quoting from the Anabaptist Dunkers wrote:“When we were first drawn together as a society,” says he, “it had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far as to see that some doctrines, which we once esteemed truths, were errors; and that others, which we had esteemed errors, were real truths. From time to time He has been pleased to afford us farther light, and our principles have been improving, and our errors diminishing. Now we are not sure that we are arrived at the end of this progression, and at the perfection of spiritual or theological knowledge;”
If we sell the BoM as the fulness then what happens when we receive further light? Should we reject it because it is not found in the Bible or BoM? There are some Christian religions that reject anything not found in the Bible. Should that be our course?
Given these two realities of the church evolving further than what was envisioned in the BoM AND that it was considered the fulness of the gospel that some creative thinking was in order.
SilentDawning wrote: ↑18 Aug 2021, 02:07
On reviewing this, I can't see the BoM containing the fulness of the gospel without some reliance on word play or mental gymnastics.
Yes, I believe some creative interpretation was used to try to correlate the two seemingly contradictory ideas (not unlike what we humans do in many other circumstances).
"It is not so much the pain and suffering of life which crushes the individual as it is its meaninglessness and hopelessness." C. A. Elwood
“It is not the function of religion to answer all the questions about God’s moral government of the universe, but to give one courage, through faith, to go on in the face of questions he never finds the answer to in his present status.” TPC: Harold B. Lee 223
"I struggle now with establishing my faith that God may always be there, but may not always need to intervene" Heber13