Item Detail
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28293
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3
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0
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English
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Some Concepts of Divine Revelation : A Personal Promise, a Personal Challenge
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Sunstone
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May 1985
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10
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5
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Salt Lake City, UT
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Sunstone Education Foundation
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51-57
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Since the beginning of the Restoration many Mormons have been led to believe that their position on the principle of modern divine revelation was nearly unique in the Christian world. Reactions from other Christians have been sufficient to leave that impression. Very early, for example, Joseph Smith related his First Vision to a Christian minister and received this first taste of prevailing opinion: "He treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days, that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there would never be any more of them" (JS-H 2:24). Such reactions have been common in Mormon experience. This is not surprising since the belief in the cessation of modern revelation has been a dominant view throughout most of Christian history, the origin of the doctrine dating back to the second century. At that time the early church struggled desperately to protect the faith from the divisive influence of professed gnostic revelations. In self-defense, in the face of waning authoritative guidance, the church of that day enunciated the principle of "revelation given once for all in days long gone and never to be added to or altered." [From the text]