Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Slavery, Homosexuality, and the Authority of the Bible

I've been thinking about the status of the Bible in Mormon culture. Really, my thoughts apply to all scripture, but the Bible focalizes the issue in key ways. What is the value of the Bible for Latter-day Saints? What are we supposed to take from this strange document? I take it that we are not biblicists (fortunately!), deriving our beliefs from the Bible, but then where do we turn? The biblicist/inerrantist/Protestant position roots its interpretations in the Bible, arguing that the correct interpretation of the Bible is the source of authority. The hermeneutics of this position are highly problematic. The Bible never tells us anything without first passing through our own interpretive frameworks. Its world is wildly different from our own. For instance, the Bible condones slavery but rejects homosexuality. If we accept the biblicist position, how can we reject the Bible's position on slavery as a moral evil and yet accept the Bible's view on homosexuality? On what basis do we interpret one as morally binding, and the other as relative?

Inasmuch as we appeal to scripture in our justifications for any anti-homosexual arguments, we must deal with this hermeneutical problem. However, it doesn't seem to have quite the same force for us as it does for those who base their arguments solely on the authority of the Bible. For Latter-day Saints, this issue is actually resolved quite easily. We simply point to our modern revelatory tradition to mediate the interpretation of ancient scripture. The ancient revelation is always secondary to the modern revelation in authority (despite the rhetorically assertion that they are in harmony). But this forces the issue of precisely why have a secondary authority at all? If the Bible (and Book of Mormon, and D&C) are always of secondary authority, do they really have any authority at all? Is the reason that the Bible is practically irrelevant in Mormon culture simply because it is irrelevant? What authority if any does the Bible have. I submit that it has none.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I actually think that the scriptures have a primarily devotional character. Practically, they are tools for the Saints to commune with God. There is wisdom to be found for sure, but institutional Church policy/teaching trumps all (including regularly the BoM, and D&C). By accepted definition Church authorities are the lens through which scripture is interpreted.

TGP said...

J.,
If the scriptures have only a devotional character, would you agree that they actually have no binding authority on belief and doctrine except where they happen to coincide with modern revelation?

Dave said...

For many reasons, it is easier to ground a doctrine or practice on the Bible (or on other LDS scriptures) than on modern revelation alone. Only when a modern revelator seeks to deflect or reject a clear Biblical pronouncement does the modern revelator then need to stand on his or her own authority. And since LDS revelators make few express pronouncements (General Conference is mostly moral exhortation), the tension between biblical or scriptural authority and live prophetic authority rarely becomes an issue.

Anonymous said...

I would argue that that is the current situation in the Church.

Now it is true that extra-hierarchal debates (over or including scripture) can ultimately sway hierarchal interpretation of the scripture (see, e.g., FARMS or even Dialogue).

Anonymous said...

"We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly..."

When/where slavery has existed, the scriptures have told one should submit oneself willingly to it. (This happened with the people of Limhi and Alma the elder in the Book of Mormon, also).

Jesus pointed out that divorce was allowed under the "law of Moses" (but given by God) because of the "hardness of (your) hearts", but from the beginning it was not so" (i.e., the time of Adam)

The scriptures clearly indicate that the Lord's word shall endure (even longer than the earth, or the condition of the earth now). Hence, the Bible is as relevant inasmuch as it applies to us today, as ever.

And who can say that any scripture is inferior to another? Scripture has authority because it is the word of God—as pointed out in D&C 1, this is true, whether spoken by the Lord's servants or himself, it is the same"

True, what the Lord says now may (but does not forcibly) override what he has said in the past. Situations can and do change, and hence current revelation is needed for the present moment.

But, by and large, God is unchanging, though man, either individually or collectively, may change some or much one way or another. He will give his word at a given time as by him is deemed appropriate.

But trying to justify homosexuality because slavery is not as extensive today as anciently, and hence is little spoken of in restoration scriptures, is wrong.

Homosexuality is addressed, I assert, in restoration scripture--

"6 Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt not steal; neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it."

Homosexuality, is, like adultery, in that it is a sexual sin-- hence, it is "like unto it", and is something we are commanded not to do.

DMP

Anonymous said...

Hmm... And where does modern revelation get it's persuasive authority in LDS thought? The personal confirmation of the Spirit, perhaps?

And ditto for the Bible.

Dan H said...

I think the Bible has a sort of de facto authority. Mormons are very selective readers of the Bible, but they do refer to it in policy and doctrine discussions. Those of us who have been on missions or graduated from seminary are also very gifted at pulling out prooftexts (never mind the actual context of the verses).

The line "as far as it's translated correctly" has become something of an "escape clause" when the Bible doesn't mesh well with our beliefs. Yet, I would say that ,overall, the Bible still commands a certain respect in LDS circles. As for the issue of homosexuality: one is reminded of how church leaders once used the scriptures to justify withholding the preisthood from blacks. Hopefully we can embrace an equality-based hermeneutic before kingdom come.

SmallAxe said...

I think another way to reconceptualize it is as follows:

Do we need the Bible to establish the Mormon position? Ultimately speaking, no, because the prophet could technically fill the role of the Bible (and the BoM for that matter, and all recorded scripture). He delivers the message of God to his children. So from an ontological perspective we can safely say that the scriptures are not necessary. However, the fact that the prophet(s) choose(s) to continue to employ them binds us to them as authoritative. In a sense we agree with the scriptures because they agree with the prophet and not necessarily the other way around. As such it seems that the question we should pursue would be, why does the prophet contine to use the scriptures? And I think here some answers have already been suggested, but I'll also add: The scriptures serve to bind us to the people of the past in such a way that we see the gospel as something extending back to the first human beings.

just some random thoughts for what they're worth...

TGP said...

anonymous said:
"When/where slavery has existed, the scriptures have told one should submit oneself willingly to it. (This happened with the people of Limhi and Alma the elder in the Book of Mormon, also)."

I think that this illustrates the problem with a strict view of the revelatory nature of scripture. You end up having to defend ugly ideas like this.

HP,
I'd like to hear more about how you think that the scriptures provide a "check." From what I can see, I can't think of any "revelation" given by the FP that would be rejected because it didn't coincide with the scriptures. I can concede that the scriptures may be a catalyst for new revelation, and inspire new ways of thinking about things, but I don't see them as providing any regulatory limits on doctrine per se.

Handle,
I think that you are right that Mormons refer to the Bible in doctrinal discussions and as "evidence" for certain doctrines, but this is what causes the hermeneutical question. Why are some biblical "doctrines" accepted and not others? There must be a third factor by which to judge the authority of any biblical teaching. For conservative Protestants, this third factor is invisible. They take their own experience of the world and their own values as "natural" and interpret the Bible accordingly. For LDS, this third factor is revelation from the FP. In both cases, this third factor is authoritative, not the Bible itself.

Anonymous said...

trailertrash, just a couple questions . . .

What kind of testimony for God would a believing slave have in a hollow, material world?

What is your final authority?

TGP said...

Todd,
I am not sure that I understand either the content or the force of your first question. Care to explain?
As for the second question, I am not sure that I understand the force of this question either, but I would suspect that my answer is the cumulative revelation of the church, my own testimony, and my brain to figure out the rest. Is that what you were asking?

SmallAxe said...

I agree that for the most part we want to interpret current revelation in light of past revelation for a multitude of reasons. But I think two quotes in particular spell out what happens when push comes to shove:

Ernest L. Wilkinson, BYU Speeches, April 21, 1966, p.3.

In one of the early meetings of our Church, one brother, in the presence of the Prophet Joseph, preached that doctrine, stating that "those who give revelations should give revelations according to those books" and "confine [themselves] to them." When he concluded, Brother Joseph turned to Brother Brigham and said, "Brother Brigham, I want you to take the stand and tell us your views with regard to the living oracles and the written word of God." Brother Brigham took the stand, and he took the Bible, and laid it down; he took the Book of Mormon, and laid it down; and he took the Book of D&C, and laid it down before him, and he said: "There is the written word of God to us, concerning the work of God from the beginning of the world almost, to our day. And now, "said he, "when compared with the living oracles, those books are nothing to me; those books do not convey the word of God direct to us now, as do the words of a Prophet . . . in our day and generation. I would rather have the living oracles than all the writing in the books. . ." When he was through, Brother Joseph said to the congregation: "Brother Brigham has told you the word of the Lord, and he has told you the truth." (Wilford Woodruff, Conference Report 10, 97:22-23)

Also Ezra Taft Benson stated: "the Living Prophet...is more vital to us than the Standard Works [Bible, Book of Mormon, etc.]...The living Prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet [an Old Testament Prophet]"..."Keep your eye on the President of the Church. If he ever tells you to do anything, and it is wrong, and you do it, the Lord will bless you for it" (Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophets, BYU Devotional, Feb 26, 1980, p.3,6).

Anonymous said...

TT,

I am back.

I don't think the Bible is encouraging that I should go out and buy some slaves some time in the near future. But what I do find remarkable is Paul's exhortion to slaves and masters in Ephesians. This is so contra, so remarkable to secular, hollow lifestyle in the Roman world. A slave that happily obeys? What is wrong with that dude?! Can you imagine the discussion in Ephesus?

TT, I appreciate your honesty. Why is it so difficult for my LDS friends in Idaho to flat out tell me the priority of authority.

First - the intuitiveness of my own heart and its reasoning skills.

Secondly, the collective wisdom of the modern day LDS authorities

Below that, thirdly, latter-day texts.

And way down at the bottom of the totem pole - the Bible.

But TT, I am one of those Protestant inerrantists.

(curious, hp, would you consider my blog an anti?)

TGP said...

Todd,
Thanks for coming back. As for your point about a "slave that happily obeys" as being some sort of desirable, I think that you seem to be missing the moral problem here. The boogey man of a "secular hollow lifestyle" isn't the problem, it is the advocacy of slavery.

As for your list about the priority of authority, where are you getting it from? I suspect that the reason that many LDS can't answer the question is because there is no answer for LDS. We have multiple sources of authority and no official way of prioritizing them. So what? What is the point of your list?

Anonymous said...

TT, thank for the alert on my blog. It must have been my bumbling fingers.

I don’t think Paul was trying to be the political revolutionary in correcting all the political ills. He was not a Jewish zealot promoting the overthrow of the Roman government so that Jews could be free, no longer household slaves. He greeted local house fellowships in Rome that consisted of both believing masters and believing slaves. He sought reconciliation between a master and his servant in the book of Philemon. I clearly see Paul’s words not elevating certain social status but eradicating it. Believers are one in Christ whatever there position is.

Was Paul out there promoting that Christians ought to go purchase slaves? I don’t think so. When I am reading the Bible, I don’t experience the need to possess slaves or multiply wives. I don’t interpret King David to be the spiritual paradigm for either of these cultural activities. Do you find such encouragement within Scripture?

I do see Paul addressing the big boogey man . . . the spiritual slavery of the human heart. Everyone is a slave to something or someone. TT, what or to whom are you a doulos?

In regards to my prioritizing of religious authorities, just chalk it up to my own personal observations. Maybe, I am completely out of the ballpark. But this is what I perceive presently. I think what we identify as our religious authority has much bearing on our Christianity in practical life.

Thanks for letting me interject on your blog. Feel free to do the same on mine.

TGP said...

"When I am reading the Bible, I don’t experience the need to possess slaves or multiply wives."

There are historical reasons why this is the case, not because that is what the Bible plainly teaches. When our 19th century ancestors read the Bible, they read it as saying that slaves should obey their masters. There are still slave holders today in various parts of the world, including our own country. Since the Bible doesn't condemn slavery, should we take the neutral position and tell those slaves that according to our religion they should just try to be good slaves? This isn't some hypothetical. It is a real moral problem and I am not comfortable excusing Paul on this point.