Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

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marc
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

Post by marc »

I love this!!
A story I heard in rabbinic school relates how Abraham's father, Terah, in the land of Ur of the Babylonians, at times put young Abraham in charge of his store. When Terah, who made and sold idols, went into the forest to fetch wood for their manufacture, Abraham was to sell the idols in his father's place. Typically Abraham would dissuade buyers, reproving the adults for esteeming statues as gods. One day, fed up with his duty, Abraham smashed all his father's wares except a large idol that stood on a top shelf. When Terah returned from the forest, he flew into a rage, demanding an explanation. Abraham responded, "The big one did it!" implying that these were no gods at all, or they could have saved themselves. After that, Abraham became unpopular in Ur and the people sought his life. A sequel to this story appears in the book of Abraham, which commences with, "I, Abraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence" (Abraham 1:1).

As Hugh Nibley has often pointed out, the essence of this sort of idol worship is not that people really believed the idols to be gods, but that their manufacture, promotion, and sale provided them with a living. It formed a socioeconomic system that afforded urban dwellers a means of sustenance. One problem with this system lay in its false economic base and the instability it bred—it fed on itself.
More: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=33831#p488374" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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ajax
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

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ajax wrote:From the Intro:
Ironically, appearances of true worship persist in every stage of apostasy. A symptom of all phases of alienation is the stress that people lay on outward observance. Since false gods are the order of the day, people must scrupulously nurture the exterior of true worship, or all is lost. When people reach this point, they confuse righteousness with actively congregating and religiously performing ecclesiastical duties. In such worship, institutional convention soon becomes the enemy of spontaneity, resulting in dead, stereotypical devotion.

The writings of Isaiah, pertinent to our day, commence with his indictment of those who actively attend religious meetings, who multiply sacrifices at the temple. Because the outward form of worship remained strong in Jerusalem, Laman and Lemuel, in the hour of Judah's exile, asserted, "We know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments" (1 Nephi 17:22). Laban was an elder of the church (1 Nephi 4:22, 26), but his heart lusted after riches (1 Nephi 3:25). In actuality, the people of Jerusalem had "changed their gods" (Jeremiah 2:11). Their land was desolated because they were committing abominations, whoring after their idols (Ezekiel 6:9).

In biblical history, each experience of idol worship precedes a divine judgment, such as cataclysm, plague, famine, war, destitution, and desolation. In the last days, therefore, when all biblical types repeat themselves, we may expect "the great day of the Lord" (D&C 43:17-22)—a period of judgment upon all nations of the earth—to commence when these ancient forms of idolatry reappear among the Lord's people. There exists no biblical type or precedent of the Lord bringing on a universal judgment until his own people wallow in apostasy. Their righteousness can stay such a judgment from the earth, but their wickedness constitutes its catalyst when the balance tips in favor of wickedness. Hence the scripture, "upon my house shall it begin" (D&C 112:25).
Excellent quotes ajax. You know my friend, I recently picked up the 1840 version of the BoM put out by Penguin Classics. In the intro, Professor Laurie F Maffly-Kipp stated:
Those readers hoping to learn about the religion of contemporary Mormons may be surprised at or puzzled by its contents: Here you will find no mention of the practices or beliefs that many people associate with Mormonism. The Book of Mormon does not dictate lifestyle traits or health codes, nor does it educate readers about priesthood hierarchy, ordinances for the dead, esoteric rites, or eternal marriages.
Yeah, no kidding Laurie. Go to an LDS meeting house and all you hear about is lifestyle traits, health codes, priesthood hierarchy, ordinances for the dead, esoteric rites, and eternal marriages. I wonder why the BoM doesn't mention all this stuff?

A third of the time is devoted to reading the words of past Presiding High Priests. Only every 4 yrs is devoted to having a third of the time devoted to the BoM, using the same lesson material from previous runs.

False Gods indeed.

deep water
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

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Ajax; If you live with the presence of the HG, and have met your Christ, then enjoy all those needful things as possible. If not, then ask what do I lack Lord.
How much of your heart can be satans and still make it into Gods kingdom?

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gazing out a window
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

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I'm loving this article so far. Just got my copy of "the last days" in the mail. this article reminds me of McConkies 1970 BYU speech seven deadly heresies. But this article hits our culture right between the eyes. from Gileadi's article I can see I have grown over the last 10 years but still have some things I can improve.

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marc
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

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Gileadi and Nibley are two of my favorite authors. They don't mince words or pull punches. I like that.

braingrunt
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

Post by braingrunt »

Finally just finished. I wen't through 1-9 pretty quick, but the last three I waited on. To sum up my whole experience:

Most of what he said rang true, some of it more painfully than others, according to my own weakness.
Some of it I haven't figured out how to properly apply. For example, the relative finery and decorations of the tabernacle, (of which God dictated many of the details, including pictures, sweet smells, etc), stops me from being convinced our temples are improperly fine, or our meetinghouses. Many posts ago I expressed similar confusion about art, and its proper place.

In these areas, once again I ask you all for any thoughts about the right balance.

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marc
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

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I believe that what the Lord specified for the Tabernacle in the wilderness and also for the temple at Solomon were specific and also symbolic and not random. As for the decorations and adornments of our churches and temples, I don't see the same patterns and/or symbols. But I cannot with any kind of authority declare that certain paintings and plants and such are not the result of direct revelation.

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gazing out a window
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

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D&C 59:18 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/search?l ... +the+heart" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In his idolatry chapter I like how he referenced Spencer W Kimball's old talk. my fresh reading of Kimball's talk was able to put things into perspective for me.

"I use the word idolatry intentionally. As I study ancient scripture, I am more and more convinced that there is significance in the fact that the commandment “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” is the first of the Ten Commandments."

God dwells in everlasting burnings. He has great glory. He has eternal life, D&C 11:7 "he that hath eternal life is rich," and never lets the good things around him get him out of focus. You will never find Him focusing hard on trying to get to the next level of a video game while His children need attention. For me, since I'm so easily wayward in this life of pleasure and pain, I need to keep my life simple so I can focus on Him.

4Joshua8
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

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marc wrote: November 21st, 2014, 11:15 pm
This essay serves as a testimony to modern Israel—the Latter-day Saints—that we are beginning to resemble God’s ancient covenant people in ways that conflict with our high ideals. Some parallels between the two peoples provide a yardstick by which we can judge ourselves. Unfortunately, these parallels paint a dismal picture of where we are headed and what is in store...
Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel

Very well written.
Bump. I recommend this reading to anyone who wants to prepare for the oncoming storm.

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Luke
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

Post by Luke »

I was reading this essay the other day. It’s a good one

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marc
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

Post by marc »

It has come to my attention that the article is no longer linked from the OP. BYU website used to have so many of Nibley's articles and more available to read freely. I reblogged Gileadi's essay two years ago on my blog, which you can freely read here, which I linked from the Wayback site:

https://latterdaylamanite.com/2019/11/2 ... rn-israel/

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Pazooka
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Re: Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel, Gileadi

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That was a good read. I especially enjoyed this paragraph from #11:
To assure themselves that their religion is well founded, the elitist-Pharisaic faction makes frequent mention of a key prophet or forebear on whom they base their authority. So far have they departed from the prophet’s message, however, that if some came among them who taught as he did, they would seek to kill them as did their forefathers (Matthew 23:30-34; Luke 11:47-49). Were their acclaimed prophet to confront them, he would be the first to assert that neither God’s love nor word abides in them (John 5:38, 42, 45). Thus, the most righteous among them—one like their acclaimed prophet—they call a deceiver and make a scapegoat (Matthew 27:63; John 11:50). At that point, the Lord removes the kingdom from them, giving it to a people who will bring forth its fruit (Matthew 21:43).
Many have wondered what would happen to Joseph Smith if he were to make an appearance within the Church today.

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