45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple faith is rather complex and profund!, January 27, 2002
This review is from: Lectures on Faith (Hardcover)
"Faith."
This small word, I think, is the key to everything, since at some point every religious and irreligious person is backed up to the wall of faith, and there they take their stand. I include irreligious, atheists, and antitheists as being faithful since it has been my experience that unbelief takes as much work as belief. You must close your eves to a lot of truth and say that the sun isn't shining at noon in July, which requires as much work as saying God lives in the face of the 9-11 Attacks, or famine, or dying babies. Indeed, C. S. Lewis observed, "A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful in his reading. There are traps everywhere." (Surprised by Joy, ch.12)
In the Lectures on Faith, Joseph Smith records seven lessons that the early leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were taught in the Temple at Kirtland. These lessons are a peek into Joseph Smith's mind and reveal his rather extensive understanding of faith.
The Lectures are seven and follow this outline:
Lecture 1: The nature of faith is discussed. It is a principle of action and a principle of power in the temporal and in the spiritual realm. In fact, "power" is a perfect synonym for faith. In its most unlimited sense, "faith then, is the first great governing principle which has power, dominion, and authority over all things; by it they exist, by it they are upheld, by it they are changed, or by it they remain, agreeable to the will of God."
Lecture 2: This lecture show the object upon with our faith exists. Our faith is based on God; and our knowledge of God is reducible to Adam's testimony as recorded in the Bible. Joseph Smith does a complex and sometimes tedious proof to show the internal consistency of the Bible, and that we have an unbroken chain of testimony from Adam to Abraham. In addition to the Adamic testimony, we can get our own person experiences with God, like Abraham, Moses or the Brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
Lecture 3: Discusses the character of God. Now that we know that God exists, we need to know what type of God we are dealing with, and have a correct understanding of God. The seven key characteristics are:
First, that he was God before the world was created, and the same God that he was after it was created.
Second, that he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in goodness, and that he was so from everlasting, and will be to everlasting.
Third, that he changes not, neither is there variableness with him; but that he is the same from everlasting to everlasting, being the same yesterday today and forever; and that his course is one eternal round, without variation.
Fourth, that he is a God of truth and cannot lie.
Fifth, that he is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him.
Sixth, that he is love.
Lecture 4: Discusses the attributes of God. These help clarify the correct nature of God. The seven key attributes are: Knowledge; Faith or Power; Justice; Judgment; Mercy; and Truth.
Lecture 5: Continues the discussion on the correct nature of God, and focuses on the nature of the Godhead, and each person's relationship to the members of the Godhead. This lecture is one of the best lectures on theology out there. The focus is on getting "the mind of Christ," which is another way of saying getting the Holy Ghost in our lives.
Lecture 6: Discusses the nature of sacrifice, and how sacrifice is necessary to know God and to have faith, Abraham being the example. "Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things, never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation."
Lecture 7: This lecture covers the effects that flow from faith, being namely Salvation. When we work by faith [see 1Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:11], we work by mental exertion, and we work by words, not physical labors. We become more like god, and soon become "assimilated" into the likeness of God. So, then, salvation is the product of faith.
I think I have given away half of the book! But buy the book and get some flesh on this skeleton-outline!
Shakespeare observed that brevity was the soul of wit (Hamlet), and that simplicity was oftentimes miscalled simple (Sonnet 66). These lectures are quite easy to follow, but the older I get, the more profound they become. We see that simple faith really isn't something simple, but that it is the mainspring of all things good. With such powerful teaching, comments about "blind faith," or people needing crutches seem to blur into the background.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A peek into a Prophet's mind, August 31, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Lectures on Faith (Hardcover)
"Lectures on Faith" is another must for any student of the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These lectures are on faith--what it is, the object upon which it rests and the effects that flow from faith. We a given a glimpse into the Prophet Joseph Smith's mind, we have the class notes from the School of the Prophets--what Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Parley and Orson Pratt were taught by Joseph Smith. It is a pearl of great price. It is the beest record of of mid-1830's LDS doctrine.
Along with "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith," it the floodlight on Joseph Smith's thought.
This current edition had been updated and corrected, with current scriptural versification, and a better typeface than the Bookcraft version of ca. 1948. The cover is also sturdier than the green 1948 edition.
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