- Phil on The Heavenly Lawsuit: Dan McClellan on the Original Meaning of Psalm 82: “Alex Arnold on his channel, Moroni’s Standard, provides a masterful weaving of Psalm 82, the Divine Council, and First Temple theology.” Jun 27, 21:35
- on The Heavenly Lawsuit: Dan McClellan on the Original Meaning of Psalm 82: “I meant to give an example: the Canaanite god of death, Mot, is described as having an insatiable appetite. Death swallows up everything. So when Paul, following Isaiah, says that thanks to Christ, “Death is swallowed up in victory,” he’s drawing on and subverting imagery from Canaanite religion.” Jun 27, 16:27
- on The Heavenly Lawsuit: Dan McClellan on the Original Meaning of Psalm 82: “Stephen, to your point about El and Yaweh, I guess so, kinda, sorta, not really? If we were to “Venn diagram” your connection, we have two ovals with one representing our understanding of God the Father and Jesus Christ and the other is the general consensus of historians on El amd Yaweh. The overlap is a few square inches where we have a father-son deity relationship and in the remaining area of the El-Yahweh oval you could park a couple of metaphorical 747s’ worth of historical odds and ends like, for example, “the rest of the heavenly council,” an a historical Exodus, and the monolatry of Israel for Yahweh being a late development in the kingdom of Judah rather than a foundational characteristic of a the predecessor united Kingdom under David.” Jun 27, 16:24
- on The Heavenly Lawsuit: Dan McClellan on the Original Meaning of Psalm 82: “There’s no doubt that Canaanite religion had a big impact on early Israelite religion, just as Neoplatonic philosophy had a big impact on early Christianity. Many scholars, including some people of faith, see Israelite religion as an outgrowth of Canaanite religion. Those of faith might describe it as a gradual revelation of God, moving from local to universal, judgmental to loving, etc. We would see Canaanite influence as corrupting truth that had been previously received by revelation. Dr. McClellan’s read on Psalm 82 could fit either model, so I have no idea where he stands. (No, not all the psalms are from the time of David and Solomon. See Psalm 137, for instance.) Mix the true gospel with Neoplatonism, and Jehovah becomes a god without body, parts, and passions. Mix the true gospel with Canaanite religion, and Jehovah becomes one of the seventy sons of El and Asherah, each with their own land and people, meeting together in a council. What makes things interesting is that. while in their zeal to reject Canaanite gods the Israelites declared that Jehovah is the only God, we believe that Jehovah does indeed have a divine Father, most of us believe he has a divine Mother, and we believe that he did meet in a divine council at least once. So Canaanite religion preserved some truths that were later lost, perhaps because it was an even more corrupted version of the original true gospel. The Israelites threw out the baby with the bathwater. The really provocative question is whether we can identify our Heavenly Mother with Asherah, and whether at least some of the ancient Israelite worship of Asherah had divine approval. I’ll answer that with a definitive “I don’t know.”” Jun 27, 16:17
- on The Chinese Communist Party, The Dalai Lama, The Church, and Live-and-Let-Live: “The last time the Dalai Lama was in SLC, Church leaders P3 decided not to meet with him. About the same time, they welcomed Trump (who was accompanied by Hatch). The irony here is that while refusing to meet with a global proponent of Freedom of Religion, the P3 agreed to meet with a pol whose personal words and actions are disgusting. Not a pretty picture. How about freedom of religion for the Tibetans and Uyghurs?” Jun 27, 16:12
- on The Heavenly Lawsuit: Dan McClellan on the Original Meaning of Psalm 82: ““Ye are Gods” is an excellent example of “proof texting.” It’s something that is done all too often in the Church.” Jun 27, 15:46
- on “Offer Your Whole Souls” (Gold from the Plates: Greatest Hits Sermons from the Book of Mormon): “Your OP got me to read the Book of Omni — yes the whole book! — again. And I wondered at the fact that there seemed to be so much logistical information written into the small plates by Amulek. But when I read your OP more carefully (a 2nd time) the connection you make between those events and Amulek’s teachings really jumped out at me. Good stuff.” Jun 27, 13:55
- on The Heavenly Lawsuit: Dan McClellan on the Original Meaning of Psalm 82: “I thought that all of the Psalms were written during the time of David and Solomon. Is that not the case? This year, I noticed that for Abraham the land the Canaan was setup to be YHWH’s land. But then when Moses was being visited on Mt. Sinai, YHWH said that he was God over all lands. A fact that was very mind expanding for Moses. I think it’s an interesting point that needs more attention when studying Genesis and Exodus.” Jun 27, 12:13
- on The Heavenly Lawsuit: Dan McClellan on the Original Meaning of Psalm 82: “I don’t know; Dr. McClellan wouldn’t see it as some sort of hit for Latter-day Saint claims, but I always thought that the idea that El is the “Heavenly Father” and chief God to YHWH fits into our narrative. Not perfectly of course, but it’s one of those things where our framework comports with higher criticism better than traditional Christianity’s.” Jun 26, 20:20
- on The Heavenly Lawsuit: Dan McClellan on the Original Meaning of Psalm 82: “Dan’s awesome, and his thoughts on the heavenly council (and a bunch of other biblical issues) are truly fascinating. That said, there’s a reason that, by his own admission, his bishop and stake president don’t let him anywhere near an adult Sunday School class. Pretty much none of what he writes and lectures about fits into the Church’s Gospel narrative. The idea of an ancient Canaanite council headed by El with Yahweh (Jehovah) simply being one of several of El’s godly offspring really doesn’t fit with the Church’s teachings on premortal life and the arrangement of the Godhead (just to name one example). The Bible contains a lot of hints that the narrative of Israelites who are devoted (if not always) faithful to Yahweh is vastly oversimplified if not downright wrong. Regardless definitely listen to Dan’s Data Over Dogma podcast.” Jun 26, 18:17
