D&C 136 and Exodus

It is amazing to look at the similarities between D&C 136 and the entire Exodus story. The Lord often repeats events and lessons so that His children can see His hand in His work. The similarities that jump right out are the ones that have to do with the organization of the company. All of the leaders were organized in the same design as before. The Lord has a system of doing things that involve accountability, stewardship, and care for everyone else. God just made sure that in both treks that the Saints knew their roles and how to carry them out.
Another similarity that I have thought of is how God had to specify who the leader really was. There may not have been a revelation that said Brigham was the prophet, but the wording in section 136 is clear that the Apostles are now in charge, and we know that Brigham was at the head of that quorum. There were issues being settled among the latter-day saints and who was the leader. Likewise, I’m pretty sure that many of the children of Israel did not want to follow Moses when Aaron was around. Change can be hard at times, and the Lord understood what it was like to make the change, and therefore helped out by explaining the line of command.
The Lord in His consistency also saw fit to give His children a code to live by. From the Exodus we are all familiar with the Ten Commandments, and it is meaningful for us to consider those laws given to a people who were wanderers in a large company. We also can see how important is that the Lord spelled out how the saints should conduct themselves while having to be around each other constantly. The Lord repeated many of the original Ten Commandments, and then addressed the need for kindness, help, honesty in your borrowing, and avoiding idleness. These commands are always important, but especially in the circumstances that His people were in.
One other similar condition (but not for the same reason) existed between both parties that I want to mention; the fullness of the temple blessings were not among the people. However, the Lord wanted to bring them to a land where those blessings could given to all those who were worthy. Both received preparatory laws and commands until those incomparable blessings could once again be restored. There is a reason to all of the suffering, and the Lord provides comfort and hope at all times for those who delight to honor and serve Him.

The Crandall Museum

As I spent time in this museum, I realized how wonderful it is that we have the knowledge, technology, and capabilities that we do. I cannot believe how tedious of a task it must have been for Guttenberg to come up with all of the little details of his work. I know he had to have been inspired to do what he did. As the tour went on, I gained a subtle, but strong appreciation for the countless hours of forming, setting, and replacing the type. After over 400 years, there were nearly no developments at all in printing. The wood work was changed in for iron, and other than that, there wasn’t much more. How could that be so? I really don’t know, but I suppose God had given His children enough to be able to start this important task.
One of the explanations that was the most fascinating to me was how things lined up perfectly for Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon to be printed in Palmyra, NY. Palmyra was by no means a large city. Sure it was a growing town, but it really wasn’t very large and it didn’t have all of the resources one could find in a larger city. Just a few years before Joseph and Oliver finished translating the Book of Mormon, the Erie Canal was opened. This allowed for E. B. Granden to ship in a half ton iron printing press right to his printing shop (the was located just a few hundred feet from the canal). With the press in place, it just so happened that a skilled book binder was in town as well. What an amazing miracle, to have a printing press (there was also a skilled type-setter), a book binder, and a business man willing to take on the publishing of the Book of Mormon. That really struck me.
The thing that really hit me though, was what printing in general has done for the progress of humanity. What if we couldn’t read this blog, or anything? There would have almost no literacy, and perhaps the dark ages would have remained darker longer. More than even all of the secular benefits of literacy, God’s children now had access to His words. They could think, reason, ponder, and grow on their own. They could communicate in new ways that were never available before. Now, the Book of Mormon could also be available to all those seeking salvation as well. How wonderful it is!

Joseph Smith Found His Voice

Joseph Smith became a marvelous spokesman to the saints in Nauvoo. It was about this time that Joseph to become what you and I would consider to be a prophet: A man who gives inspired counsel and words, through guidance from God. Whenever a prophet speaks he is doing so in behalf of God. His words are the message that God would have His people hear. As with Moses, whatever he said under the gift and power of God was the word of God. Same with Joseph and all the prophets since.
As Joseph began to teach and instruct the saints in Nauvoo with more energy and ability, the people began to learn from him on a larger scale than ever before. The saints recognized the deep knowledge that his teachings contained and began to record what he spoke. It is for this reason that we have some of his words recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. What he taught was the mind of the Lord, and it was the will of the Lord. When he spoke it, he revealed truths that had not been answers to previous questions that were written as were most of the other sections. Those answered important questions of salvation, church organization, missionary work, and other important matters. Now that most of those questions were answered, we gained special glimpses of some deeper learning that God wants to give to us. Joseph saw so much more than we see. I personally am glad that people wrote down what we have.
For that matter, what if we had more records of Joseph’s sermons recorded from the Kirtland days, or the Harmony days? I feel that we would have more sermon-scriptures in our standard works. I’m certain that so much was lost of what we could have learned from the prophet if we had those records. The difference, though, is that Joseph really found his voice after his trial at Liberty. Most of the sermon-revelations came from 1839-1844 because of his increased ability to share his convictions.
A combination of the two reasons (really finding his voice, and the saints learning how important records are) is why we have more sermons recorded as scripture. General conference is recorded too because of the treasures they are, and I’m glad that we as a people have learned how great it is to see the prophet’s words constantly before our eyes that we may learn. I know that this is the church of God on the earth again.

The Joseph Smith Papers

It is always fascinating to take a step back and look at the actual writings of the first followers of our church. The detail and effort that these early pioneers put into recording what they truly believed to be the word of God, as dictated through Joseph Smith, is so amazing. Here, they mention two specific things: 1) how there will be a Civil war within the United States, and 2) how the council of the 12 is to make decisions. As a side note, I wonder why these two topics were both discussed during the same meeting? Just something that crossed my mind.
I want to speak for a minute about how amazing it is that Joseph had this revelation so early on. It was recorded in 1835, but it was from a meeting of the high counsel in 1834. Additionally, Joseph actually received this revelation in December of 1832 (on Christmas day in fact). So almost thirty years before war broke out, Joseph knew by the power of God what was going to happen. Could I or anyone else say that in 20 years from now that there will be a war to break out in a specific place and for the specific dispute that will cause it? Not if they do not have the spirit of prophecy. It’s simply astonishing the accuracy of this revelation and the detail the Lord provides.
I also find it quite interesting how much detail the Lord gives for the governance of His church. I personally believe it is to eliminate all questions, and to remove any of the pride that may have entered into the hearts of the Apostles. Perhaps this was more important then than it is now, because of the tenderness of the church, but it still is important to know that God wants an organized people, that are run according to what He wills. God wants to provide His saints every chance to remain part of the kingdom, and decisions should be made in the Lord’s way. How can we apply this to ourselves? We can see that revelation is necessary. We do not have the full picture as imperfect individuals. Thanks be to God for allowing us to receive His guidance.
I’m a Statistics major, and I love that the Lord used an element of probability in the layout of His decision making among the Apostles, and yet, I don’t really feel that it is chance. The Lord is in the inner workings of our lives, and will take care of His children.

There is an interesting power in art that makes you sometimes realize the bigger picture. I, for one, am not particularly savvy when it comes to finding deeper meaning behind the art, or the reasons that the artist tried to depict a certain feeling in a certain way. And to be frank, I quite often find it cheesy or silly when an art guide (or anyone for that matter) who asks the question: “What type of emotion does this invoke in you?” I really don’t like when there is an element of trying to force things. With all that being said, I still love art, and have spent quite some time trying to understand it at my own pace. I would like to mention one piece of art in particular that really stood out to me. It is this picture of Christ:





I don’t know exactly why it stood out to me, but I know a lot of the reasons. One is that it is very well done. I love the photorealism that it portrays. Another is the face of the Savior. He seems to be in deep thought about something, or perhaps some sort of agony He is suffering. Our wonderful tour guide mentioned how the background is just black. There is nothing else going on in the scene beside what you see in the front. So she asked us, “When did this take place?” A lot of people said that it was right as Christ had finished carrying the cross to where He was about to be crucified. While that seems possible, you can see that He is not sweating at all, as if no work had been performed yet. I thought about this, and my thought was it probably was just as soon as the laid the cross on Him to be carried. Now, though, after thinking more about it, there is some sort of distance in His face, as if He is thinking about something, and the cross seems heavy still, but yet the Savior is standing erect. I personally feel that this painting is Christ knowing full well that He has work to do, and that he will yet have to bear this burden to do His work. I feel He is lost in His thoughts, and that He is only thinking about what lies before Him. This is why I liked the visit to the Museum of Art, we were able to take time to reflect on the life of the Savior and who He is, and to notice that there is more for us to learn about Him.

Section 88 Manuscripts

I had the chance to read over the manuscripts of the revelations that comprise section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants. It is quite exciting to see these marvelous writings as written by those who originally penned them. I am constantly amazed by how these were just men doing the very best they could to record what the Lord had tried to teach them as faithfully as they possible could perform. Honestly, these imperfect men made simple grammatical and spelling errors, which might have even made them feel inadequate or frustrated by trying to record these incredible insights. There is a power present as you read over what they were able to accomplish with so little in resources and time.
Something else that I find interesting is how they were interested in going over the writings again and making revisions on it. I suppose some of the word choices aren’t the most critical to salvation, but there were several words that they crossed out and revised that really stood out to me. Interestingly, they were often the simple words; the prepositions. When describing the blessings we will receive, the words “of the” were changed to “a” when explaining the fullness we can receive. We won’t receive part, but all of it. That is what I feel was trying to be conveyed. Also, when we are keeping the laws of the kingdom, we aren’t just “perfected by law & Sanctified by the same,” but we are also “preserved” day to day by the same. That word preserved was tacked on at the beginning, which signifies to me that keeping our covenants and the commandments of the Lord really brings temporal, as well as spiritual blessings.
This reading brought up two questions to mind. How did Joseph and others decide what would go into the revelation? What made them choose this particular set of revelations is not something explained within this text, so I am just intrigued as to why these three separate revelations became one section. The other question I have is where did the verses at the end of section 88 come from? They aren’t contained in the writings of those 3 days. It’s no big deal to me because I know that this work is true, and that the Lord can perform His work.
What a wonderful feeling to know that we have a prophet on the earth and that he is guided directly by our Father and our Savior in helping us see the light of the kingdom, especially in light of the imperfections of these wonderful men, who did all they were capable of doing.

Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail

Joseph Smith taught: “The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, O man! if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity—thou must commune with God.” While imprisoned at Liberty Jail, I think that Joseph got this very opportunity: to think about all the works of God, who God really is, who he (Joseph) really is, how dark and deep are the works of the adversary, and many other things I am not aware of.
Now, I am not sure exactly what happened to Joseph Smith while he spent those awful months locked up in prison on false charges while his family and friends were being kicked out of their homes, some being killed, and all kinds of false charges were going around. We live in a very different world than back then, and so today it is common to lash out and make our voices heard with phone calls, internet blogs, newspapers, facebook, twitter, or any other source. For Joseph, he could write letters or try to contact the papers, but it was very difficult to make your voice heard. There was no justice, no retribution, and hardly any hope. He had to suffer, sit there, and think.
What a wonderful blessing indeed. I almost cry to call it a blessing, but that’s the way God’s plan works out. Whatever happens to us that is unfair or painful, whatever harm we cause to ourselves and others, can somehow turn out to become a blessing in our lives. While Joseph was incarcerated, he learned that God is mindful of His children, that these horrible ordeals would end, that Justice and Mercy would have their work, and that God will bless those who love Him and endure well. Joseph also learned how the priesthood works, how to better guide the church, and that many wonderful outpourings would come as a result of his trials (D&C 123:17).
I would not want to live in a dark hole for months in the cold, where it was not possible to stand erect, where there is only old filthy straw for comfort, where your guards wish you dead, where your bathroom is just a bucket (which I imagine the guards didn’t really want to clean); but that being the case, I suppose it is a very small price indeed to come to know the Son of Man, and “commune with God.” Joseph got the chance to gain pure knowledge from God, and he was humble enough to learn in this trial.

Salvation for All

This is one of my favorite doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For some reason as a member of the LDS church (or if you are a member of any church), it is easy to sometimes feel that we are the "special ones," that we are the ones who are going to be saved. I will admit though, that my notion was false. God loves His children. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die for all men, not just some men. Now before I go on any further, I do want to say that I know that all men must be baptized by priesthood authority, and receive the ordinances of the temple in order to be saved. Fortunately, God has all of those things worked out for everyone to eventually receive all the necessary ordinances, and it is up to us to accept them.
When Brother Topp came into our class, he explained how the Lord views those who have not received the gospel. He talked about how many of Latter-day Saints have not received the gospel either for any number of reasons, not just “non-members” have not received the gospel. What this says to me is that we are not to judge based on what we can see. In fact, some of the people we would least expect to accept the gospel have done so. For example, Saul of Tarsus accepted it in this life after doing horrible things to the followers of Christ. It reminds of Gilead, who was not a perfect man, and who was not really one that appeared to be chosen of the Lord. If you recall the battle of Gilead, the soldiers were to break their lanterns and shout what the Lord had commanded them. The light was not visible to others until the outer layer was broken. Perhaps Gilead and any other person may appear to be rough around the edges, but once you can get through that, you can see that there is light inside of them.
This truth became clearest to me from Lehi’s dream in the Book of Mormon. He talks of a lot of people in the great and spacious building, people getting lost in strange paths, and people losing hold of the iron rod. Then he talk about other multitudes who press forward to the tree of life. I feel that many of God’s children will be saved.
One last story comes to mind that reflects what I’ve learned. Quentin L. Cook shared of his grandfather: “This was an issue with my great-great-grandfather Phineas Wolcott Cook. He was born in 1820 in Connecticut. In his diary he notes that he had made a covenant with the Lord to serve Him if he could find the right way. He attended many churches and at one was asked to “testify [and] join the church [and] be a Christian.” His response was he “could not tell which one to join, there were so many.” He continued to investigate several churches. One doctrine was of particular significance to him. He explained: “Sometimes they found fault with me because I wanted a more liberal salvation for the family of man. I could not believe the Lord had made a part to be saved and a great part to be damned to all eternity.”13 Because of this doctrine, he allowed his name to be taken off the records of one Protestant religion. When the LDS missionaries taught him the true doctrine of the plan of salvation in 1844, he was baptized.
“Phineas’s faith in the loving mercy of the Lord and His plan of happiness has been shared by many honorable men and women, even when the teachings of their own churches were very bleak.”

Special Collections Library Visit

This week we had the chance to visit the BYU Library Special Collections. It was absolutely amazing to see in such amazing books and learn about the arduous task of making just one single book. In fact, that is the part that really stood out to me: There were people so dedicated to learning that they would go through the entire publishing process of writing things by hand in perfect detail.
I got to hold some of the books that were written over 500 years ago. Some things were even older than that, but I didn’t get to touch them. They were written in perfect, equally spaced lines and then the absolute care was taken into using beautiful handwriting that must have taken years to develop. I think the history of the books is a story in and of itself, as in, how well these books were cared for and how well they are still preserved. Is it just me, or does it seem that these old documents have somehow carried with them all of the personalities, words, desires, and characteristics of the people who made them and preserved them?
I also was deeply impressed by the books that were printed by the printing presses throughout the ages. We got to see and handle some of Gutenberg's original documents, as well as a first edition copy of the Book of Mormon. It was special to contrast that with the handwritten predecessors published by the dedicated Monks that came before mass production was an option. All of these had their own unique sentiment attached to them. Now that I’m sitting here typing this blog post, I have suddenly realized that the Lord had a direct hand in all of this. He let blessings come down to this earth to help bless His children by the majesty of these inventions. For centuries, dedicated followers of Christ demonstrated to the Lord their devotion, and their understanding of the importance of sacred writ. Because there were people ready and willing to receive light, God began His work through the service of these Monks and Nuns, and then through the jeweler, Gutenberg. Even from the earliest eras we know of, we see that God’s children have understood that there is a point to record keeping. And not just record keeping, but also the development of papyrus, and animal skins, then paper, now digital, and who knows what’s next!
Honestly, I don’t think that the visit would have been complete if our guide didn’t show us the video of “The Medieval Help Desk” at the start. If you haven’t seen it, the link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

We have so much, and we understand a lot in our times. But we still have a long way to go!

Suffering's Purpose in Our Lives

This is one of the topics that I have really spent a lot of time thinking about. Everyone at some point in their life has to come face to face with a difficulty that they are not strong enough to deal with. My feelings about why this happens come in four parts. The first reason is that I don't know. I really don't know why some things have to happen, or why they do, but they always do happen.

The second reason is that often we are actually guilty, and we try to convince ourselves that we haven’t done anything wrong to merit hard times. That I think is false, and also what the Lord tried to teach the Saints in Missouri in D&C 101 and 103. You can’t try to bend the rules (or break them) and expect nothing to happen. In fact, I am grateful for a God that doesn’t let us always break the rules and do about it. Imagine if He waited to teach us that what we are doing is wrong till when we die?

The third reason is that our characters have to be tested. Basically every novel, movie, or story ever written with a happy ending had a large portion of the plot dedicated to the main character going through a horrible ordeal filled with misunderstandings, lies, and painful testing. Why should we be any different if we want eternal lives? The right thing is always the right thing, no matter how many people do it or not. One of my favorite explanations as to why we go through suffering, according to Arthur Wentworth Hewitt is “because [God] loves us so much more than He loves our happiness. How so? Well, if on a basis of strict personal return here and now, all the good were always happy and all the bad suffered disaster (instead of often quite the reverse), this would be the most subtle damnation of character imaginable.” Another quote by Spencer W. Kimball explains that “[i]f pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil—all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency. . . . There would also be an absence of joy, success, resurrection, eternal life, and godhood.”

The fourth reason is so that we can receive the blessings of the Atonement. The Savior was perfect and without fault, and yet in order for Him to be perfected He had to go through the awful ordeal of Gethsemane. We can be made perfect in our suffering, and learn to love God and rely on His Son if we remain faithful to Them in our sufferings.

Patriarchal Blessings and the D&C

The fascinating thing about Patriarchal blessings and the Doctrine and Covenants is the overwhelming similarities they share. I know that the Lord answers all of us in individual ways and helps each child on a personal level. Both are written for meaningful study and application. They are to be read and re-read and additional insights are gained over and over again when you pray and sincerely seek knowledge from them.

There are a few differences worth mentioning, before I go into further depth with the similarities. While the D&C is for all to benefit by, Patriarchal blessings are meant only for the person who received the revelation. You can share insights gained and important principles, but not overly freely and typically not in the context of your individual blessing. They are also different in that certain commands given to you in a blessing are not for other people to fulfill or perform, whereas most of the commands in the D&C are for everyone to accomplish.

I had an interesting thought that never had come to me before that I want to share. A Patriarchal blessing and the revelations in the Doctrine & Covenants are given through a priesthood leader as direct revelation for those over whom they have stewardship. Think about that, the Lord shares with someone (His authorized servant) sacred knowledge about the way things can be for you (and in the case of apostolic revelation, for the whole world) if you and I are faithful. The blessing of Priesthood leaders is so easily overlooked that we can take it for granted if we don’t think about what flows from having them here.

Patriarchal blessings also show how Joseph Smith probably received most of the revelations: I have heard Patriarchs mention how they receive inspiration, and it is not word for word. They say they have impressions, thoughts and feelings that they then have to convey in the best language they can summon. I would be surprised if Joseph the prophet, Joseph F. Smith, or any patriarch received many revelations from God that were completely worded for them. I feel that some specific parts are given, and key words may be brought to mind, however, God grants them to understand what it is He wants them to teach and then these wonderful men do their best to accurately word what they have received from God.

These are wonderful guides for our life that fill it with knowledge and understanding of the Plan of Salvation. Even more importantly, we learn our individual plan of salvation that God has had for us from the beginning if we read both and are faithful, which is the word I would choose to summarize the intent of both: to be faithful.