Lessons on the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ and His Apostles
Lesson No. Twenty-Nine
On Mars’ Hill and at the Louisville Theological Seminary
“Paul, in Athens, preaches from Mars’ Hill about the unknown god” (Acts 17 Headnote) – Paul began, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are most religious (Vs 22, footnote a). For as I passed by, and beheld your sacred, venerated objects (Vs 23, footnote a), I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you” (Acts 17:22-23). Paul, as a great missionary, proceeded to teach the plan of salvation, focusing on the following:
The doctrine of creation and pre-earth life – “God made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth…seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things. And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Vs 24-26).
The Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man – “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device” (Vs 28-29).
The knowledge of God has been restored, and now faith in Christ and repentance is required – Previously “God overlooked” this ignorance, but now “he commandeth all men every where to repent” (Vs 30).
The resurrection of Christ assures that all will be judged and held accountable (See Vs 31).
The result of Paul’s teachings was that some said, “We will hear thee again of this matter” (Vs 32).
The Louisville Theological Seminary and the “incomprehensible God” – The Louisville Theological Seminary is one of the oldest and largest Christian theological seminaries in the country. It teaches the doctrine of the Trinity and of an incomprehensible God, as set forth in the Athanasian Creed. This Creed states in part: “The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the Holy Ghost incomprehensible…And yet there are not three incomprehensibles but one incomprehensible.”
For three years, from 1990 to 1993, I served as mission president of the Kentucky Louisville Mission. During this time I worked with over five hundred missionaries, and most were young men and women.
From time to time this Seminary invited representatives of “fringe” religions to visit a class of about 50 students, and answer questions about their beliefs. Usually our Church sent a local knowledgeable member in an attempt to demonstrate that we were normal people who strived to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we wanted to be friends. Usually the results fell short of what we had hoped.
When I learned how we were received at the Seminary, the Holy Spirit spoke to my mind that we should follow Paul’s example and testify to these people, who believed in an incomprehensible God, of our knowledge of God as revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith. My presentation included:
In the pre-earth life all human beings were not just created but were begotten spirit sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents, and as such inherited a divine nature and destiny – One of the most observable things in all of nature is that when the offspring of a plant, or animal, or man develops fully and properly they become like the parent. Certainly then, if we are as Paul said, “the offspring of God” (Acts 17:28-29), then if we grow spiritually and mature properly we will become like our Heavenly Parents.
Our knowledge of our pre-earth life informs all that we do and that we believe – These include:
The sanctity of life – We oppose abortion because human life does not begin at mortal birth, but in the pre-mortal existence when we were begotten sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents.
We are all brothers and sisters and that we are commanded to love one another – Therefore, we support true equality, and we abhor sexism, racism, persecution, discrimination, etc.
In our pre-earth life, as we grew spiritually, we developed capacities, talents, and interests – These capacities, talents, and interests came with us to this life. Our most important personality trait we brought from the pre-existence is the extent of our desire to increase in spirituality.
We first learned and accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ in our pre-earth life – Therefore, when we are taught the gospel in this life, if we will listen to the still small voice of the Holy Ghost, we will recognize the harmony of the gospel and know that we believed these things before.
The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in our day through the Prophet Joseph Smith – Therefore, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ we are held to a higher standard. We strive to increase in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent and improve daily.
Testimony – During my presentation at the Seminary, as I taught and testified of Christ and the restoration of the gospel and priesthood authority in our day, there was no mocking questions. At the end of the presentation I followed Alma’s example, and said “unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance (by someone with priesthood authority), that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life” (Alma 5:62, parentheses mine).
Because the Holy Spirit was present, there was no offense taken, a seed was planted, and attitudes about our Church were softened. I believe that at a different time and at a different setting some of these good people, especially as they notice the example of committed members of our Church, will remember this experience at the Seminary, and will desire to learn more about the restored gospel.