Thread by @joshnaa2gez

The #cesletter doesn’t disprove any core claims of the Latter-day Saints.

But its effectiveness in creating doubt among so many demonstrates we’ve done a poor job explaining revelation, and it’s limitations.

This thread is my attempt to begin that discussion. 1/13

I propose we lay out some principles of revelation to help us understand what it is and isn’t, and what it’s like receiving it.

To be clear, this is not me just trying to force something to work. It’s based, not only on personal experience, but also in scripture. 2/13

There’s likely more than what I’ve identified (please feel free to contribute!)… But here’s a few principles of revelation I believe we should bear in mind always, including when encountering critiques like those found in the CES Letter.

3/13

PRINCIPLE #1: Revelation is hard.

Hard to…

-Receive (Enos 1: 2-7; also 1 Kings 19: 11-12)

-Understand (1 Nephi 11: 16-17; also Acts 10: 10-28, 1 Cor 13:12)

-Articulate (Romans 8: 26-27; also 1 Nephi 19: 6-7)

-Implement (1 Nephi 4: 6-18)

4/13

PRINCIPLE #2: Revelation is often imprecise, especially at first, and illuminates itself slowly, becoming more clear with time.

See…
- 1 Corinthians 13:12
- Proverbs 4:18
-Psalms 119:105
-1 Corinthians 3:2

5/13

PRINCIPLE #3: Those who receive revelation don’t understand the full implications of what they are articulating.

See Jonah 4: 1-2

See examples of dual fulfillment (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_fulf…), for example, Isaiah 14: 12-17 refers to both Satan and the King of Babylon.

6/13

PRINCIPLE #4: The articulation of revelation is always limited by language and skewed by the receiver’s bias.

See…
- 1 Corinthians 2:14
-Romans 8: 26-27

7/13

PRINCIPLE #5: The only qualification of a revelator is that they receive divine revelation. Their sins are many, and they do not always act in God’s name. But this doesn’t detract from when they are acting as his agent.

See the unending mistakes of biblical prophets.

8/13

PRINCIPLE #6: Revelation is a meeting of minds between God and man, and so it is unsurprising that we find an intermingling of man’s voice, culture and reference points with the pattern and mind of divinity.

See…
-Isaiah 1:18
-D&C 50: 10-12
D&C 1:24

9/13

PRINCIPLE #7: Revelation does not come until we ask the right question, with real intent… Even for prophets.

See…
-2 Nephi 32:4
-Moroni 10: 4-5
-Many others…

10/13

Principle #8: Revelation is best equipped to help us understand moral truth, and our goal should be less about describing the material world, and more about learning how to act in it.

See all of scripture 😬

11/13

Principle #9: Despite the difficulty and susceptibility of the revelatory process, it is necessary… because you must have a value system to perceive and act in the world (there’s too much data otherwise), and values are never empirically based.

12/13

PRINCIPLE #10: Those who disbelieve in the revelatory process like to borrow the assumptions proposed by those actually searching for transcendent truth, while simultaneously criticizing the foundation of the value system they’re using.

It’s easy to criticize.

13/13