Continuous revelation or continuing revelation is a theological belief or position that God continues to reveal divine principles or commandments to humanity.
Continuous revelation also forms part of the rituals of gatherings in various chapters of Taoism. In the Bahá'í Faith, progressive revelation is an important concept that is similar to continuous revelation.
A notable factor of continuous or continuing revelation as a source of divine commandments and statements is the written recording of such statements in an open scriptural canon, as is the case with the Latter Day Saints origin churches with Community of Christ in particular adding frequently to their Doctrine and Covenants in recent years. While more frequent with the Latter Day Saints, it is less frequent with the Bahá'í Faith, with progressive revelation only being periodically expanded over an extremely long period.
Progressive revelation is a core teaching in the Baháʼí Faith that suggests that religious truth is revealed by God progressively and cyclically over time through a series of divine messengers or prophets, known as Manifestation of God, and that the teachings are tailored to suit the needs of the time and place of their appearance.[1][2]Baháʼí teachings consider several world religions as different stages in the history of one religion, while believing that the revelation of Baháʼu'lláh is the most recent (though there will never be a last), and therefore the most relevant to modern society.[1]
Baháʼís believe each Manifestation of God establishes a covenant and founds a religion. This process of revelation, according to the Baháʼí writings, is also never ceasing.[1] The general theme of the successive and continuous religions founded by Manifestations of God is that there is an evolutionary tendency, and that each Manifestation brings a larger measure of revelation (or religion) to humankind than the previous one.[3] The differences in the revelation brought by the Manifestations of God is stated to be not inherent in the characteristics of the Manifestation of God, but instead attributed to the various worldly, societal and human factors;[3] these differences are in accordance with the "conditions" and "varying requirements of the age" and the "spiritual capacity" of humanity which is increasing over time.[3]
Vatican II states "no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord, Jesus Christ." The notion of progressive or continuing revelation is not held by the Catholic Church or by Eastern Orthodoxy, who instead favor the idea of tradition and development of doctrine. Progressivist and continuationist approaches are condemned, such as is outlined in the 2000 declaration Dominus Iesus prepared by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Protestantism
Protestants generally teach that the modern age is not a period of continuing revelation.[4]
The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) affirm continuing revelation through the Inner light or the light within, which is the presence of God which provides illumination and guidance to the individual and through individuals to the group. Some, usually African and Evangelical, Friends hold that individual revelations should be tested against the Bible, while others place less importance on scripture. Both groups believe that the Inner Light speaks to people directly and not just through the text of the Bible.
Because Friends believe that revelation is ongoing, they have no set creed or dogmas. As early Friends listened to the Inner light and endeavored to live accordingly, some common lived expressions of faith emerged, which became known as testimonies. Although rooted in the immediate experience of the Society of Friends, Quakers believe much of the testimonies may be verified in the Bible, especially as described in the Gospels regarding the life and teachings of Jesus.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement, continuing revelation is the principle that God or his divine agents still continue to communicate to humankind.[citation needed]Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, used the example of the Lord's revelations to Moses in Deuteronomy to explain the importance and necessity of continuous revelation to guide "those who seek diligently to know [God's] precepts":
God said, "Thou shalt not kill" [Deuteronomy 5:17][5] at another time He said, "Thou shalt utterly destroy." [Deuteronomy 7:2; 12;2; 20:17].[6] This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted-by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire[...] As God has designed our happiness—and the happiness of all His creatures, He never has—He never will—institute an ordinance or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which He has designed, and which will not end in the greatest amount of good and glory to those who become the recipients of his law and ordinances... for all things shall be made known unto them in [His] own due time, and in the end they shall have joy.
The LDS Church believes in continuing revelation, not continuous revelation, and differentiates between the two.[7]
Personal versus church-wide revelation
The LDS Church distinguishes between personal revelation and revelation directed to all members of the church. Members believe that personal revelation can come to any individual with a righteous desire, for example to direct someone in their search for truth. In contrast, revelation for the entire church only comes to those who have been called by God as prophets, which in the LDS Church includes the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.[8]
Opposition to continued revelation
Church members see the tendency to dismiss the possibility that God could call modern prophets as similar to the attitude of those in the Bible who rejected the prophets and/or apostles of their day; the sense of change in the message of Jesus and the apostles led many to regard them as false prophets. Jesus himself warned against false prophets, teaching that the way to distinguish between a true and a false prophet was "by their fruits";[9] however, the perceived threat to tradition was often a strong enough deterrent to cause the witnesses of good fruits (such as powerful sermons or miraculous healings) to dismiss them as the work of the devil.[10] After Jesus ordained his apostles, he warned them of the extreme opposition they would encounter for these reasons, telling them, "ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake".[11] Jesus also said, "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets," thus illustrating that opposition will naturally accompany a true prophet if they are doing their job correctly.[12]
Apostasy
Sometimes the opposition against God's prophets escalated to the point of violence and martyrdom, which Jesus and the apostles frequently referenced while preaching to their detractors (Matthew 23:31–37, Luke 11:47–51, Acts 7:52, Romans 11:3, 1 Thessalonians 2:15). In this sense, church members acknowledge that revelation has not continued uninterrupted throughout history, being that the killing of God's prophets sometimes resulted in periods without church-wide revelation—which church members refer to as apostasies. Similar to prophets before them, Peter and the apostles also suffered martyrdom at the hands of their persecutors—with the exception of John who was banished to the Isle of Patmos.[13] This view is in contrast to the mainstream Christian view that the apostolic era came to a close because revelation had reached its completion.[14]
LDS Church members believe that once the Christian church was no longer led by revelation, its doctrine began to be altered by theologians who took it upon themselves to continue developing doctrine, despite not being called or authorized to receive revelation for the church body. In the absence of revelation, these theologians often resorted to speculation,[15] which coupled with their own interpretations and extrapolations of scripture, inevitably resulted in disagreement and division on many doctrinal points.[16] Ecumenical councils were held in order to settle these differences, yet without prophets called and authorized to reveal God's will on the topics being debated, the attendees could only vote on the theories presented in order to decide which ones would become official doctrine[17]—a practice that served to ostracize as heretics those who did not go along with these decisions, and in some cases led to major schisms in the church. Church members view this process of doctrinal development as completely foreign to God's established pattern of revealing doctrine through a prophet. They point to history as incontrovertible proof that humans are incapable of agreeing on how to interpret the Bible (2 Peter 1:20), which should act as a strong indicator that God's purpose for the Bible was not to derive doctrine, but rather to support it. When doctrine is not established and maintained through continued revelation, Church members see the inevitable result as "philosophies of man, mingled with scripture".[18]
Restoration
LDS Church members again point to the Bible to show that after every period of apostasy, God always eventually called another prophet when the time was right. It is in that same spirit that church members claim that once conditions were ready, God again resumed his pattern of revealing his will through prophets by calling Joseph Smith, through whom he restored the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, clearing up the error that had been introduced during the Great Apostasy. Church members believe that since that time, revelation through prophets and apostles has continued unbroken until the present day, God having promised that revelation will not be taken again from the earth before the Second Coming of Christ.[19]
Open scriptural canon
The open scripturalcanon of the LDS Church is based on the principle of continuous revelation. Its 9th Article of Faith states:
We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
Members of the LDS Church anticipate additions to its canon, including the translation of the remaining two-thirds of the golden plates, which was the source of the Book of Mormon.
Community of Christ
The Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), the second largest Latter Day Saint denomination, regularly canonizes revelation into its Doctrine and Covenants. Continuing revelation is one of the enduring principles of the church which "define the essence, heart, and soul of our faith community. They describe the personality of our church as expressed throughout the world."[20]
Prophetic people
In recent years, the church has begun to redefine the process of revelation from one that comes from the top down with an appointed Prophet providing revelation to the church to one that is more collaborative and bottom up with the people increasingly becoming involved in the revelatory process as a community. This change has included theological and procedural changes including concepts such as faithful disagreement[21] which allows for open debate, dialogue and disagreement within the church body without consequence.
One of the most clear explications of the role of a prophetic people in the church was canonised in the church's Doctrine and Covenants on March 29, 2004.[22]
The phrase Khatamu 'n-Nabiyyīn ("Seal of the Prophets") is a title used in the Quran to designate the prophetMuhammad. It is generally regarded to mean that Muhammad is the last of the prophets sent by God.
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadi Muslims believe that while law-bearing revelation has ended with the perfection of scripture in the form of the Quran, non-scriptural revelation to non-prophets and non-law-bearing Muslim prophets continues. They cite Quranic verses and Ahadith, which are considered by many to be authentic in support of their belief in continuous revelation.
Judaism
Reform Judaism is centered on a continual revelation and that "revelation is a continuous process, confined to no one group and to no one age," according to the Movement's 1937 Columbus Platform.[23]
Conservative Judaism teaches God's revelation at Mount Sinai and God's continuing revelation through study of Jewish texts and through life as a Jewish believer.[24]
In various designated offshoots of Taoism like the De Schools in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, and the Dao Schools in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, weekly or sometimes monthly gatherings are held at temples to receive and understand communications from above by way of two mediums holding rattan sifts writing on sand, who are 'dictated' with news ranging in contents from current affairs, religion, to arts and morality; the writings are called Sift Text or '乩文'.
↑ Keith A. Mathison, The Shape of Sola Scriptura 2001, page 161: "We do not live in a period of continuing revelation. This is not simply a Protestant doctrine. Vatican II states that, "no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord, Jesus Christ."
↑ Oaks, Dallin H. (March 1997), "Teaching and Learning by the Spirit", Ensign: 14, Revelations from God[...] are not constant. We believe in continuing revelation, not continuous revelation. We are often left to work out problems without the dictation or specific direction of the Spirit.
↑ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14588a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia article on "History of Dogmatic Theology" mentions speculation a few times, for example "The Great Fathers of the Church and the ecclesiastical writers of the first 800 years rendered important services by their positive demonstration and their speculative treatment of dogmatic truth."
↑ Elliot N. Dorff Conservative Judaism: Our Ancestors to Our Descendants 1996 - Page 201 "We believe in God's revelation to us at Mount Sinai and in God's continuing revelation to us through study of Jewish texts and through our lives as Jews. b. Some believe that God's revelation at Sinai and subsequently consists of God's own ..
The Standard Works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are the four books that currently constitute its open scriptural canon. The four books of the standard works are:
The Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, editions of the book continue to be printed mainly by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ.
Mormonism is the theology and religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of the Latter Day Saint movement, although since 2018 there has been a push from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to distance itself from this label. One historian, Sydney E. Ahlstrom, wrote in 1982 that, depending on the context, the term Mormonism could refer to "a sect, a mystery cult, a new religion, a church, a people, a nation, or an American subculture; indeed, at different times and places it is all of these."
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the supernatural source to other people. The message that the prophet conveys is called a prophecy.
In religion and theology, revelation is the disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities.
In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or preternatural knowledge, for example of future events. They can be revealed to the prophet in various ways depending on the religion and the story, such as visions, or direct interaction with divine beings in physical form. Stories of prophetic deeds sometimes receive considerable attention and some have been known to survive for centuries through oral tradition or as religious texts.
In Mormonism, the restoration refers to a return of the authentic priesthood power, spiritual gifts, ordinances, living prophets and revelation of the primitive Church of Christ after a long period of apostasy. While in some contexts the term may also refer to the early history of Mormonism, in other contexts the term is used in a way to include the time that has elapsed from the church's earliest beginnings until the present day. Especially in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "the restoration" is often used also as a term to encompass the corpus of religious messages from its general leaders down to the present.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, an apostle is a "special witness of the name of Jesus Christ who is sent to teach the principles of salvation to others." In many Latter Day Saint churches, an apostle is a priesthood office of high authority within the church hierarchy. In many churches, apostles may be members of the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency of the church. In most Latter Day Saint churches, modern-day apostles are considered to have the same status and authority as the Biblical apostles.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III, Sidney Rigdon, and James Strang. Several other titles have been associated with this office, including First Elder of the church, Presiding High Priest, President of the High Priesthood, Trustee-in-Trust for the church, Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator. Joseph Smith was known by all of these titles in his lifetime.
The Latter Day Saint movement is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s.
Prima scriptura is the Christian doctrine that canonized scripture is "first" or "above all other" sources of divine revelation. Implicitly, this view suggests that, besides canonical scripture, there can be other guides for what a believer should believe and how they should live, such as the Holy Spirit, created order, traditions, charismatic gifts, mystical insight, angelic visitations, conscience, common sense, the views of experts, the spirit of the times or something else. Prima scriptura suggests that ways of knowing or understanding God and his will that do not originate from canonized scripture are perhaps helpful in interpreting that scripture, but testable by the canon and correctable by it, if they seem to contradict the scriptures. Prima scriptura is upheld by the Anglican and Methodist traditions of Christianity, which suggest that Scripture is the primary source for Christian doctrine, but that "tradition, experience, and reason" can nurture the Christian religion as long as they are in harmony with the Bible. Pentecostals generally uphold prima scriptura with an emphasis on the leading of the Holy Spirit rather than tradition.
Progressive revelation is a core teaching in the Baháʼí Faith that suggests that religious truth is revealed by God progressively and cyclically over time through a series of divine Messengers, and that the teachings are tailored to suit the needs of the time and place of their appearance. Thus, the Baháʼí teachings recognize the divine origin of several world religions as different stages in the history of one religion, while believing that the revelation of Baháʼu'lláh is the most recent, and therefore the most relevant to modern society.
Within the Latter Day Saint movement, the "Articles of Faith" is a statement of beliefs composed by Joseph Smith as part of an 1842 letter sent to "Long" John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, and first published in the Latter Day Saint newspaper Times and Seasons. It is a concise listing of thirteen fundamental doctrines of Mormonism. Most Latter Day Saint denominations view the articles as an authoritative statement of basic theology. Some denominations, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have adopted the articles as scripture. For some sects, the Articles of Faith are known collectively as "An Epitome of Faith and Doctrine".
According to the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement, the plan of salvation is a plan God created to save, redeem, and exalt humankind, through the atonement of Jesus Christ. The elements of this plan are drawn from various sources, including the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and numerous statements made by the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In Mormonism, revelation is communication from God to man. Latter Day Saints teach that the Latter Day Saint movement began with a revelation from God, which began a process of restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. Latter Day Saints also teach that revelation is the foundation of the church established by Jesus Christ and that it remains an essential element of his true church today. Continuous revelation provides individual Latter Day Saints with a "testimony", described by Richard Bushman as "one of the most potent words in the Mormon lexicon".
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other adherents in the Latter Day Saint movement, believe that there will be a Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth sometime in the future. The LDS Church and its leaders do not make predictions of the actual date of the Second Coming.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints focuses its doctrine and teaching on Jesus Christ; that he was the Son of God, born of Mary, lived a perfect life, performed miracles, bled from every pore in the Garden of Gethsemane, died on the cross, rose on the third day, appeared again to his disciples, and now resides, authoritatively, on the right hand side of God. In brief, some beliefs are in common with Catholics, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. However, teachings of the LDS Church differ significantly in other ways and encompass a broad set of doctrines, so that the above-mentioned denominations usually place the LDS Church outside the bounds of orthodox Christian teaching as summarized in the Nicene Creed.
Islam and Mormonism have been compared to one another since the earliest origins of the latter in the nineteenth century, sometimes by detractors of one or both religions, but also at least once by Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, himself. Smith was also frequently referred to as "the Modern Muhammad" by several publications of the era, notably in the New York Herald, shortly after his assassination in June 1844. This epithet repeated a comparison that had been made from Smith's earliest career, one that was not intended at the time to be complimentary.
In religion, a covenant is a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general. The concept, central to the Abrahamic religions, is derived from the biblical covenants, notably from the Abrahamic covenant. Christianity asserts that God made an additional covenant through Jesus Christ, called the "New Covenant".
Remnant fellowships are a loosely organized branch of the Latter Day Saint movement formed by individuals who accept alleged divine revelations received by Denver Snuffer Jr.. The Remnant Fellowships generally feel called to personal and social renewal preparatory to Christ's eventual second coming. According to movement beliefs, participants anticipate a coming time when remnants remain within the full restored covenant with Jesus Christ: an allusion to a belief that "The Bible, Book of Mormon, and modern revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith, prophesy that the gospel of Jesus Christ would shift from the Gentile stewards of the gospel back to Israel in the last days." The movement places a renewed focus on individual communion with God, gifts of the spirit, tangible expressions of faith, and the eventual establishment of Zion. While the movement has no official name, the term "Snufferite" has been used to denote followers. Other designations include covenant of Christ movement and Denver Snuffer movement. Participants sometimes reference each other as "covenant Brother," "covenant Sister".
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