Is this appropriate? Reading material

[RileyG]

I read somewhere that it was most likely an unfinished novel that some unknown person had written, and later abandoned. Ne'er-do-well Smith found it and decided to see if he could make a buck by building it up into a pseudo-religion and get rich off his followers.

He was never really the guiding force behind Mormonism anyway.....that was Brigham Young.



I read some Sufi poetry way back when I was in college, about the tail-end of the Paleolithic Age.....but I don't remember much about it. That was long, long ago.

It’s essentially fan fiction from what I’ve read.

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

I glanced through the Book of Mormon years ago. I gave up when every second paragraph started with "And it came to pass ...."

I think it's a work of fiction from beginning to end, with as much credibility as the Golden Plates that Smith was supposed to have found, a man with a criminal history and serial adulterer.

Controversies Surrounding Joseph Smith’s Polygamy

I just wrapped up an amazing interview with Dr. Turner. It was certainly an engaging discussion, even touching on unexpected controversies like the gold plates. In this episode, I’ll have a specifi…

wheatandtares.org

Joseph Smith and the criminal justice system - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I wouldn't waste my time with Mormonism. They might have a great choir but so did the Red Army.

I've got an English translation of the Koran but haven't gotten around to reading it. I think there might be some wisdom to be gained from the Sufi's as they are the mystical equivalent within Islam. I believe the Enneagram derived from Sufi mysticism for example.

Man I Loooove the Sufis.

Just the pinnacle of Monotheistic mysticism.

Of course they had 2000 years of thought to build on.

 

[RileyG]

Man I Loooove the Sufis.

Just the pinnacle of Monotheistic mysticism.

Of course they had 2000 years of thought to build on.

2000 years?

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

2000 years?

Well Let’s count it:

Ezekial and Elijah from the foundation of Jewish mysticism and they go back to about 800 BC.

The Sufi movement got started about 1100 AD or so.

Along the way Christian mystical thought got involved but Western Christianity never real cared much for mystical thougly andc the Eastern Orthodox Church just sort of stopped at the Trinity.

The Zoroastrians mystical tradition goes back further but it’s not Abrahamic so I don’t included it.

Anyway 800 BC to 1100 AD is about 2000 years.

 

[RileyG]

Well Let’s count it:

Ezekial and Elijah from the foundation of Jewish mysticism and they go back to about 800 BC.

The Sufi movement got started about 1100 AD or so.

Along the way Christian mystical thought got involved but Western Christianity never real cared much for mystical thougly andc the Eastern Orthodox Church just sort of stopped at the Trinity.

The Zoroastrians mystical tradition goes back further but it’s not Abrahamic so I don’t included it.

Anyway 800 BC to 1100 AD is about 2000 years.

Ah. Thanks for the explanation. I was a bit confused!

 

[fide]

Ahh, yes,

but In the words of Ibn Al Arabi:

"Do not attach yourself to any particular creed exclusively, so that you disbelieve in all the rest; otherwise you will lose much good, nay, you will fail to recognize the real truth of the matter. God, the omnipresent and omnipotent, cannot be confined in one creed"

Ahh, he was speaking similarly many years prior:

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?"
Gen 3:2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;
Gen 3:3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
Gen 3:4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die.
Gen 3:5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Gen 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.
Gen 3:7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

Jesus says what many do not care to hear, or believe. But it remains True.

Mt 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
Mt 7:14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Jesus said to His chosen disciples:

Mt 13:13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
Mt 13:14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: 'You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive.
Mt 13:15 For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.'
Mt 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.

How strange and sad it is, that many - many - hide themselves from Truth lest they be healed.