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“Oh say, what is truth?”

“Oh say, what is truth?”

Last updated on: March 10, 2024 at 10:21 am by Dan Peterson

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“Oh say, what is truth?” 2024-03-10T10:21:40-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The Panama City Panama Temple (LDS.org)
Things are considerably better in Panama these days.

Cody Quirk has kindly called to my notice an article about an interesting discovery in Central America: “Archaeologists in Panama find ancient tomb filled with gold treasure — and sacrificial victims.”

Although the site and the golden artifacts that were found by the archaeologists date to a period that is somewhat after the end of the narrative of the Book of Mormon, and although they were located in an area that, according to the Mesoamerican model that I find most persuasive, is somewhat outside the sphere of the Book of Mormon lands, they still strike me as worthy of attention. The “gold treasure,” of course, would find itself completely at home in the world described by the text that was written on the golden plates. But so, too, would the brutality of the human sacrifices that apparently occurred at the site:

Here’s a good article on the general background, written by Mark Alan Wright and Brant A. Gardner for the very first issue of Interpreter: “The Cultural Context of Nephite Apostasy”

Abstract: Nephite apostates turned away from true worship in consistent and predictable ways throughout the Book of Mormon. Their beliefs and practices may have been the result of influence from the larger socioreligious context in which the Nephites lived. A Mesoamerican setting provides a plausible cultural background that explains why Nephite apostasy took the particular form it did and may help us gain a deeper understanding of some specific references that Nephite prophets used when combating that apostasy. We propose that apostate Nephite religion resulted from the syncretization of certain beliefs and practices from normative Nephite religion with those attested in ancient Mesoamerica. We suggest that orthodox Nephite expectations of the “heavenly king” were supplanted by the more present and tangible “divine king.”

A page from the Aleppo Codex, a medieval manuscript of the Hebrew Bible that was probably produced in the town of Tiberias, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

But let’s bring you up to date with the most recent articles to appear in Interpreter and on the Interpreter Foundation’s website:

“Recovering the Lost Concept of Truth in the Restoration Scriptures: Another Key to Understanding God’s Word,” written by Blaine L. Hart

Abstract: The word “truth” has for practical purposes lost one of its original English-language meanings, and this has significant implications for understanding scriptures. The obvious, well-understood meaning is that which is real or factual. However, the earliest meaning in English is that which is true in an entirely different way, in the sense of fidelity, loyalty, and faithfulness. The King James translators frequently used “truth” in this latter sense. The sense of “truth” as “faithfulness” remained well known in the nineteenth century. Some passages in the Book of Mormon and other Restoration scriptures reveal deeper insights when read with this understanding. Pondering both meanings of “truth” in the scriptures can serve as a source of inspiration and learning.

“Interpreting Interpreter: Oh Say, What is Truth?” written by Kyler Rasmussen

This post is a summary of the article “Recovering the Lost Concept of Truth in the Restoration Scriptures: Another Key to Understanding God’s Word” by Blaine L. Hart in Volume 60 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. All of the Interpreting Interpreter articles may be seen at https://interpreterfoundation.org/category/summaries/. An introduction to the Interpreting Interpreter series is available at https://interpreterfoundation.org/interpreting-interpreter-on-abstracting-thought/.

The Takeaway: Hart explores scriptural use of the word truth in its more archaic meaning of “fidelity” or “reliability,” outlining examples from various corners of the standard works and the words of modern prophets and encouraging us to consider that meaning in places where we would otherwise interpret the word as “factual” or “honest.”

The Columbus Ohio Temple. (Photograph from LDS.org)

I recounted an episode in yesterday’s blog entry that was described to me by Karl Ricks Anderson during a 2016 filming project in Kirtland, Ohio. It was about a reprimand given by the Spirit in the Kirtland Temple, according to the man himself, to an official of the then Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Of course, although I told it precisely as I recall it being told to me by some who was directly involved in the incident, the Usual Suspects branded it mere gossip and even accused me of having altogether made the story up or at least of having falsified it in order to express (by innuendo) my famously deep disdain for faiths other than my own and, in particular, my contempt for members of the Community of Christ. (As a denizen of the Peterson Obsession Board who goes by the name of “Dumb-Dud,” or something of that sort, put it, “Someone told me in confidence [a very reliable source] that DCP regularly makes this stuff up. I can’t name his name but if you knew who it was you would totally believe me. I just can’t possibly name him.”) However, although I was unaware of the fact, it turns out that the episode has been recounted publicly elsewhere. It’s mentioned in this interesting short article that was posted on Wednesday, with further details of which I was either uncertain or wholly unaware.

And here are three other interesting articles that were sparked by this week’s stunning announcement:

“After buying Kirtland Temple, church hopes to keep it ‘old’: There will be no rush to renovate a historic site Latter-day Saints want to preserve as sacred ground ‘where heaven and earth came together’”

“How preserving the Kirtland Temple points people to God: Latter-day Saints and others react to the Church’s acquisition of the temple and explain how their testimonies are strengthened by experiences there”

“Where the Sealing Powers Returned: A Photo Essay of the Kirtland Temple”

Eliza R. Snow
Second president of the Relief Society
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

There are materials in this article that plainly come from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™: “The Relief Society is answering ‘extraordinary occasions and pressing calls’ across the globe, President Johnson says: Ahead of the 182nd anniversary of the Relief Society, President Camille Johnson reflected on how the mission of relief has held steady”

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