Its no secret that I am a wildcard. Earlier this year when I laid out everything I would need from a healthy Mormon spiritual community one of the things I listed was the ability to non-literally interpret scripture.
One of the things that has attracted me to Community of Christ has been their relationship with scripture. They have 9 affirmations that express what scripture is within the church. I wanted to share them today. The preface begins the list:
Scripture provides divine guidance and inspired insight for life when responsibly interpreted and faithfully applied. Scripture helps us believe in Jesus Christ. Its witness guides us to eternal life and enables us to grow spiritually, to transform our lives, and to participate actively in the life and ministry of the church.
Affirmation One
We declare that Jesus Christ—who lived, was crucified, was raised from the dead, and comes again—is the Living Word of God. It is to Christ that scripture points. It is through Christ that we have life (John 5:39–40). It is Christ whom we must hear (Mark 9:7).
Affirmation Two
We find the Living Word in and through scripture. Scripture is the indispensable witness of the saving, transforming message that God has entrusted to the church. The church formed the canon of scripture so that it might always have a way to hear the good news, nurture its faith, measure its life, test its experience, and remember its identity.
Affirmation Three
Scripture is a library of books that speaks in many voices. These books were written in diverse times and places, and reflect the languages, cultures, and conditions under which they were written. God’s revelation through scripture does not come to us apart from the humanity of the writers, but in and through that humanity. In the earthen vessels of scripture we have been given the treasure of divine love and grace (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Affirmation Four
Scripture’s authority is derived from the model of Christ, who came to be a servant (Mark 10:45). Therefore, the authority of scripture is not the authority to oppress, control, or dominate. If Jesus came to serve, how much more should the books that point to him be treated as a servant of the saving purposes of God.
Affirmation Five
Scripture is vital and essential to the church, but not because it is inerrant (in the sense that every detail is historically or scientifically correct). Scripture makes no such claim for itself. Rather, generations of Christians have found scripture simply to be trustworthy in keeping them anchored in revelation, in promoting faith in Christ, and in nurturing the life of discipleship. For these purposes, scripture is unfailingly reliable (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
Affirmation Six
Faith, experience, tradition, and scholarship each have something to contribute to our understanding of scripture. In wrestling to hear and respond to the witness of scripture, the church must value the light that each of these sources may offer.
Affirmation Seven
As the church tries to interpret scripture responsibly, it seeks the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that the Spirit would guide his disciples into new truth (John 16:12–15). By the Spirit, the ancient words of scripture can become revelatory, allowing us to grasp what may not have been seen or heard before.
Affirmation Eight
Disciples are called to grow in their knowledge and understanding of the scriptures so that they may ever increase in love for God, neighbor, and self (Matthew 22:37–40; Mosiah 1:49), uphold the dignity and worth of all persons (Doctrine and Covenants 16:3c–d), and faithfully follow the way of Jesus Christ.
Affirmation Nine
With other Christians, we affirm the Bible as the foundational scripture for the church. In addition, Community of Christ uses the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants as scripture. We do not use these sacred writings to replace the witness of the Bible or improve upon it, but because they confirm its message that Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God (Preface of the Book of Mormon; Doctrine and Covenants 76:3g). We have heard Christ speak in all three books of scripture, and bear witness that he is “alive forever and ever” (Revelation 1:18).
For our time we shall seek to live and interpret the witness of scripture by the Spirit, with the community, for the sake of mission, in the name of the Prince of Peace.
This is a pretty radically different set of beliefs that I grew up with within the LDS church. I want to dive a bit into why those perspectives are so unique, and in my opinion, a good step forward.
Affirmation three specifically says that scripture should be understood as being written by people who were products of their time, culture, and biases. One example I was given was 1 Timothy 2:12 which was written 1,800 years ago and says that women shouldn’t teach and should be silent and subservient to men. Today we have D&C 156 which specifically says that women should be ordained to the priesthood and says that pride and personal gain is why women had been barred from it in the past. This shows the process of becoming more inclusive and less oppressive through a scriptural context, which is pretty cool.
affirmations four, seven, and eight are all about how scripture doesn’t give people permission to oppress, control, or dominate and instead responsibly interpret scripture to uphold the dignity of yourself and others. My previous example with women and the priesthood is a great one, but another good one is how LGBT people have been treated.
Its no secret that LGBT folks are pretty demonized by the wider Christian community. There are a couple verses in the Bible that people love to go to to justify all sorts of dehumanizing things to us. Coc has taken real steps to try and reverse this oppression through scriptural means. For example, D&C 163:7C says:
It is not pleasing to God when any passage of scripture is used to diminish or oppress races, genders, or classes of human beings. Much physical and emotional violence has been done to some of God’s beloved children through the misuse of scripture. The church is called to confess and repent of such attitudes and practices.
D&C 164:6A-B says:
A. As revealed in Christ, God, the Creator of all, ultimately is concerned about behaviors and relationships that uphold the worth and giftedness of all people and that protect the most vulnerable. Such relationships are to be rooted in the principles of Christ-like love, mutual respect, responsibility, justice, covenant, and faithfulness, against which there is no law.
B. If the church more fully will understand and consistently apply these principles, questions arising about responsible human sexuality; gender identities, roles, and relationships; marriage; and other issues may be resolved according to God’s divine purposes. Be assured, nothing within these principles condones selfish, irresponsible, promiscuous, degrading, or abusive relationships.
Its one thing to talk about being LGBT-friendly, but actions speak louder than words. Their actions have matched their words when there congregations that are vocally LGBT affirming, there are tons of openly LGBT folks in the priesthood, and they have openly gay and married men like John Hamer in the Q70.
As a bisexual person, I am pretty encouraged by the progress they are making
Affirmation 5 and six are big things for me. It says that scripture is important, but shouldn’t be seen as a history of science textbook, and we should listen to scholars.
Coming from a tradition that only accepts scriptural literalism to a community that specifically says that scripture being literally true isn’t the most important thing is a huge breath of fresh air. I am free to explore moral and philosophical lessons without having to force it to fit a particular and false narrative regarding the past.
It is awesome that CoC encourages you to pursue knowledge from people who are experts in their field. For example, people like D. Michael Quinn and Dan Vogel should be seen as sources of authority regarding Mormon history. What they have to say should hold just as much (if not more) weight as tradition and personal experience.
In fact, I think the BoM works best when it is understood to be a 19th century writing regarding the political anxieties regarding the sustainability of the newly formed American republic, worries of devolving into imperialism, racial tensions, class tensions, economic tensions, and tensions regarding war and peace.
All-in-all, I think these affirmations are pretty neat ways to approach scripture.