Oh, how I wish the prophets and our scriptures could be free of the cultures of their times.
The context here is of an angry God who has come to warn the inhabitants of the earth.
- There is none to escape
- The rebellious will be pierced with sorrow
- The people shall fear and tremble
- The wrath of God shall be poured out
- The anger of the Lord is kindled
- His sword is bathed in heaven
- Those who don't hear will be cut off
I would venture to guess that what the Lord was trying to say in verses 1 through 16 would more aptly be put like this:
"I am grieved as I look down upon all the suffering of man. I anguish as I see how you treat each other. And I am saddened by how the truths of my gospel have been corrupted over these many years. I can only see more suffering if there is not a change."
1:17 says, "Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamities which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith Jr. and spoke to him from heaven, and gave him commandments."
The year is 1831 - November. The church is in its infancy. The restoration has begun but it will come precept by precept, step by step.
However, the Lord continues to explain why he is restoring his church.
1. A new day is ushered in when personal revelation - God speaking to each person - will replace the idea that he speaks only through the powerful church leaders of the day. There is no intermediary necessary.
2. Faith will increase as individuals have their own revelatory experiences,
3. God's covenant with man is being revealed. That renewal is the restoration and it brings:
- Truth about who God, our Heavenly parents are
- Truth about who man is
- The purpose of mortality
- The sealing power
The Lord says then that he has given this to his servants "in their weakness after the manner of their language"
These verses are important for us. God calls servants but they are humans - imperfect humans. In verse 25 he says, "And inasmuch as they erred it might be made known.
Verse 26 "And inasmuch as they sought wisdom they might be instructed.
Verse 27 "And inasmuch as they sin they might be chastened that they might repent."
Finally in verse 28 it says, "And receive knowledge from time to time."
This is the process we have. We have seen it over and over since that spring day when Joseph went to pray. Truth has been restored little by little.
Even some things that were common in the early church have been discontinued. Polygamy turned out to be not so good. Some made it work but for the most part there were unhappy marriages. It ended because of outside pressures. The process was painful and caused lasting damage to many families. A revelation was necessary to make it in final. It is a complicated piece of LDS history but it ended.
Racism was an unfortunate piece of cultural baggage that persisted in the church and lasted much longer. Many early saints were slave owners. Joseph was able to see past racial barriers but Brigham wasn't. The lasting effects of his policy to exclude blacks from holding the priesthood damaged our relationship with the black community in the United States. That persisted long after the priesthood revelation in 1978. Why else in 2020 would we have church leaders in 2020 telling us that there is no excuse for any feelings of prejudice towards another group or race?
The church is changing the language that defines god. God is now commonly referred to as "our Heavenly Parents". Mother is being included as her daughters are taking their rightful place in the world.
Slowly but surely we are separating out gospel truths from cultural baggage. Unfortunately God has only humans to work with and we are a mixture of both good and bad and are hesitant to change what we have perceived as Gospel truth. But the change IS taking place.
I watched an episode of Come Follow Me Insights with Tyler Griffin and Taylor Halverson. Both are BYU professors. Tyler is an ancient scripture is in the ancient scripture department with a doctorate in instructional technology. Taylor is a professor of entrepreneurship with the Marriott School of business. He has degrees in ancient near studies, biblical studies, Judaism and Christianity in antiquity along with instructional systems technology.
All that just to say that I was impressed by their insights. They are able to read the scriptures with so much positivity where my triggers cause me to get negative.
So if you look at verses 2 and 3 without the lens of the angry God what you see is God predicting what is going to happen if the people of the earth do not change.
God is not doing things to the people of the earth. They are doing these things to themselves and so in verse 4 the Lord says he wants to help us see the consequences of our folly by choosing disciples for these latter days.
He gives those disciples authority and is sending them forth. What if we choose to interpret verse 9 not as God's punishment but as the consequences for bad choices which eventually do come. As he says in verse 10 every man receives as he has given.
Brother Griffin speaking suggests that we see ourselves in these scriptures. The world is in chaos and we have been given the gospel. We are the Lord's disciples today. He drew a picture of the earth and said it is the Lord's work to save the entire world. then using a Covey principle he suggests we have our own little spot, our own little circle of influence where we can do good. That is the job of each disciple.
Brother Halverson then points out that the word authority has as at its root the word "author". Moroni 6:4 says that the people of his church are "relying alone upon the merits of Christ who was the author and finisher of their faith.". He is "authoring the words of life" so that he can "finish" us - or bring us back into his presence. Better yet, He would like to make us whole, to be like him as we accept authority - think not so much that God gives us power or even worse exclusive ness in administering his church - think rather he is asking us to join him in being the author of good works here upon the earth.
Verse 7 since God does not want us to be afraid of him - I would rather read this verse in this way: Be amazed! Be astounded! I hope this blows your mind away because this is going to happen! This shall be fulfilled.
I also was impressed that these two men redefined the word commandments. They called them "covenantal instructions for faithfulness". Perhaps I am not the only person who sees the need to redefine some of our language. By using this particular redefinition, the word commandment changes from meaning "do as I say or else" to "let me give you some help so you will find happiness in life."
That is a big change! And it is a necessary change that portrays the true character of our Heavenly Parents.
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