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Many More Ordinances Including Resurrection

August 13, 2008 – 6:07 am | By Bryce Haymond

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Brigham Young - June 1, 1871 - 70th birthday

I came across a talk from President Brigham Young that was deeply insightful, and I want to share a portion. It is from an address he gave on August 24, 1872 in Farmington, Utah, and reported by David W. Evans. In it President Young describes the ordinances of the temple, and the many ordinances that we have yet to receive, including resurrection.

Now a few words to the brethren and sisters upon the doctrine and ordinances of the house of God. All who have lived on the earth according to the best light they had, and would have received the fullness of the Gospel had it been preached to them, are worthy of a glorious resurrection, and will attain to this by being administered for in the flesh by those who have the authority. All others will have a resurrection, and receive a glory, except those who have sinned against the Holy Ghost.

It is supposed by this people that we have all the ordinances in our possession for life and salvation, and exaltation, and that we are administering in these ordinances. This is not the case. We are in possession of all the ordinances that can be administered in the flesh; but there are other ordinances and administrations that must be administered beyond this world. I know you would ask what they are. I will mention one. Read More »

Print | Posted in Church History | Tagged authority, brigham young, crown, endowment, exaltation, keys, ordinances, priesthood, prophet, resurrection, salvation | Comments (9)

The “Mark” of Anointing

August 12, 2008 – 11:42 am | By Bryce Haymond

The Annointing of David by Samuel, Breviary of Martin d'Aragon, 14th Century.

A few days ago I read a post by James over at his superb blog, Lehi’s Library, entitled, “Looking Beyond the Mark: Insights from Margaret Barker.” In it, James refers to an excellent article by Kevin Christensen who talks about the Deuteronomist de-Christianizing of the Old Testament and Josiah’s reforms. I thought he made some great points that I want to reiterate and further discuss. Read More »

Print | Posted in Practices, Scholarship, Texts | Tagged anointing, book of mormon, david, farms, hebrew, jerusalem, jesus christ, jews, john, margaret barker, marks, paul, restoration, satan, scholar, sealing, solomon, symbol | Comments (7)

Margaret Barker Interview - Part 7b (Temple in the Modern World)

August 10, 2008 – 4:56 pm | By Bryce Haymond

“We have to try to get through the filter of the later editing… But deep down, there was something there. I’m mean this [the temple] is a cultural icon, it’s shaped our pictures of the garden of Eden, it’s shaped our pictures of what it is to be a human being. Because Adam is the great high priest, and everything that happened within that setting, for better or worse, has shaped the Western world’s idea of what it means to be human. It’s a huge thing to discover…” —Margaret Barker

Print | Posted in Scholarship | Tagged bill hamblin, conversation, interview, margaret barker, oxford, scholar, talk, video | Comments (2)

Margaret Barker Interview - Part 7a (Location of the Temple)

August 10, 2008 – 4:40 pm | By Bryce Haymond

“…the building of the Second Temple involved leveling a new site… I mean, as far as I can see, the Zachariah prophesies about the mountain becoming a plain and building all that sort of thing, they are implying that a new mountaintop site is to be used for the rebuilt temple. That suggests to me that the site of the first temple was not the site of the second temple.” —Margaret Barker

Print | Posted in Scholarship | Tagged bill hamblin, conversation, interview, margaret barker, oxford, scholar, talk, video | Comments (3)

Margaret Barker Interview - Part 6 (Seeing the Face of God)

August 9, 2008 – 11:44 am | By Bryce Haymond

“The original purpose of the temple pilgrimage, was that you went to the temple to see the face of the Lord. Yea? In the old calendars ‘each of your males will see the face of the Lord’… By the time you’re reading the Masoretic texts as we have now, ‘each of your males will be seen in the presence of the Lord’… it’s been changed. Because the idea that you saw the presence of God was unthinkable, so they said, well, ok, you appear in the presence of God, you present yourself in the temple…” —Margaret Barker

“So we know that somebody thought it was you are seeing the face of the Lord. Yea. Very interesting, very interesting. So someone has been at work, changing the docs, and we know which way.” —Margaret Barker

“I think Melchizedek was a theophany of Yahweh. The Jewish interpretation, certainly the next passage, … Yahweh is the great high priest, and he is the one, as you have in the temple, you know, the great high priest is Yahweh, and he is the priest to God Most High. So you’ve got a hierarchy of priests. And I think that is how Genesis 15 was interpreted. Where, in the Apocalypse of Abraham, Abraham sees, mostly clearly, Melchizedek, but he describes him as … the angel Yahweh, and he is dressed as a high priest, with his purple and his… turban thing, and yes, it’s all very very interesting… all the other earlier sources… Melchizedek is the priest of El Elyon, almost certainly Yahweh, part of the great angel hierarchy. I mean, the implications of that for Melchizedek priesthood, is just mind boggling, absolutely mind boggling… So there is a lot of work for people to do, waiting to be done. Oh dear, it would be nice if we didn’t need sleep. We’d get such a lot more done!” —Margaret Barker

Print | Posted in Scholarship | Tagged bill hamblin, conversation, interview, margaret barker, oxford, scholar, talk, video | Comments (3)

Margaret Barker Interview - Part 5 (Social Implications)

August 9, 2008 – 10:54 am | By Bryce Haymond

“… the Old Testament describes idolatry as the work of human hands. So if you worship the work of human hands, the political system, economics, anything like that, that is idolatry. The consequence of idolatry, according to the commandments, is that the third and fourth generation suffer from their iniquity.” —Margaret Barker

“A single parent is actually a contradiction in terms. What you’ve actually got is an abandonment. But you’re not allowed to say that. Because it is usually the mum who is bringing up the child.” —Margaret Barker

“The image of God. That is what we were created in, isn’t it? … That is the basis of human dignity. And if you deny that image in yourself, you are denying the most precious thing. If you say, I am no more than the skin and bones, … you’d have lost the most important thing of all. … I don’t know if you have this in America, but in magazines you have all this ‘Let’s give you a new image!’ You know, and you have your hair dyed and plastic surgery, and all the rest of it. You don’t need a new image! You know, we’ve got the greatest image already, but most people don’t know that. You are the image of God… and that defines your rights and your responsibilities.” —Margaret Barker