What would real apostles on the earth look like?

[huckelberry]

There are apostles among us if you look hard enough.

Everybody wang Chung,
After the revelatory sense in highway 61 I was puzzled by Blonde on Blonde. I listened to it over and over, it was enjoyable and intriguing but it was locked into Bobs personal experience. No political or overarching message. Just I am a person experiencing all this troubling stuff in the world. ("stuck here in Mobile.....")

Many years later there was an interview , 60 minutes with Bob, perhaps the most open interview with him I am aware of. Bob explains he felt like everybody wanted him to be a prophet or some such and he only wanted to escape the expectation. He illustrated by saying people came to his door and wanted to talk about all sorts of stuff. Some fellow wanted to ask Bob all about organic gardening. Bradley asks , "what do you know about organic gardening?" "absolutely nothing" Bob replies.

I gather....
So Bobs most prophet revelation is do not ask so much from your prophet, your own experience is real , pay attention.

Tangled up and Blue, like a wound whose scar wont forget.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

gather....
So Bobs most prophet revelation is do not ask so much from your prophet, your own experience is real , pay attention.

Exactly. Just imagine how much better off the Church would be if it followed Bob Dylan's simple, yet prophetic advice.

Bob Dylan (Nobel Prize winner in literature) has been responsible for some of the finest and most inspirational pieces of prophetic prose and poetry of the last century, and set them to some of the most culturally important songs ever written. Russell M. Nelson, not so much.


Blowin' In The Wind
Album: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)

"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind."



It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Album: Bringing It All Back Home (1965)

"As human gods aim for their mark,

Make everything from toy guns that spark,

To flesh-coloured Christs that glow in the dark,

Easy to see without looking too far,

That not much is really sacred."

[Moksha]

Just a guess. I mean an apostle does not have to look like anything special.

[IHAQ]

They wouldn’t wear suits, they wouldn’t demand your money, they wouldn’t refuse to apologise, they wouldn’t fly business class, they wouldn’t be found in board rooms, but they would be found amongst the poorest and neediest in the world where they would lead by actions rather than in no-annual banal pontifications that they themselves don’t live up to.

[mcjathan]

How deeply grateful I am that we of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith, who, while yet a boy, spoke with God the Eternal Father and His Beloved Son, the Risen Lord.

I remember watching Hinkley give this talk and being struck by him saying on the one hand that the church doesn't rely on man-made statements, but then on the other hand saying the church relies on the statement of a man, Joseph Smith. Wait, what? Don't the current apostles commune face-to-face with Jesus?!? If they did in fact, they wouldn't be constantly referencing Joseph Smith's claimed manifestations, they'd be referencing their own physical encounters with god. Now that I've seen this slight of hand in church leaders' claim to diving authority, I can't unsee it. Posers.

[dastardly stem]

Crazy people. They’d be begging on their travels around the world, squeaking on street corners and designated areas for preachers, paranoid that the last days are upon us, while proclaiming enthusiastic repentance for poorly defined reasons, condemning the world with great vigor. They’d be Claiming visions are guiding them and lying about being able to heal people of maladies with rumor-level stories of having seen and raised dead people. They’d put on quite a show, I’d figure.

…or they’d be old retired business dudes forcing upon their public image at all costs a supposed self-righteousness exceeding all others.

[malkie]

How deeply grateful I am that we of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith, who, while yet a boy, spoke with God the Eternal Father and His Beloved Son, the Risen Lord.

I remember watching Hinkley give this talk and being struck by him saying on the one hand that the church doesn't rely on man-made statements, but then on the other hand saying the church relies on the statement of a man, Joseph Smith. Wait, what? Don't the current apostles commune face-to-face with Jesus?!? If they did in fact, they wouldn't be constantly referencing Joseph Smith's claimed manifestations, they'd be referencing their own physical encounters with god. Now that I've seen this slight of hand in church leaders' claim to diving authority, I can't unsee it. Posers.

I seem to remember the days when an apostle was a "special witness of Jesus Christ".

Now, in the Mormon church, he's a special witness to the name of Jesus Christ, whatever that is supposed to mean. (Perhaps Wade will let us know.)

[PseudoPaul]

They would all be practicing Jews, for starters.

[Bret Ripley]

They would all be practicing Jews, for starters.

A start quickly followed by a revelation that Heavenly Father will accept a doctor's receipt as evidence of circumcision.

[Moksha]

Now, in the Mormon church, he's a special witness to the name of Jesus Christ, whatever that is supposed to mean.

They would insist it is pronounced JEEZ US and not Hey Soos.