joseph smith

The Importance of Temple Work

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The sealing power has been compared to links in a chain which bind families together eternally.

The sealing power is compared to links in a chain which bind families together eternally all the way back to our father Adam.

Last week I was asked by our bishop to present a 10-15 minute portion of a lesson today on the importance of temple work in our combined priesthood/relief society meeting.

Our stake is preparing for a “temple month” theme for January, and our meeting today was meant to inspire us to be thinking about family history, genealogy and temple work and to do more of it.  Our bishop wanted me to present some general information about the reason for the temple and why the work performed there is of such supernal import. After my part of the lesson, two sisters were to give instruction on family history work, FamilySearch, indexing, and preparing and submitting names to the temple.

Since I only had about 10 minutes, I considered carefully what I wanted to present to introduce this topic.  Below are the notes from my portion of the lesson:  [Read more…]

Will The “Heathen” Most Likely All Be Exalted?

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I had a conversation a few months ago about this question.  Those that I were discussing this with made the argument that the “heathen,” the term my correspondent used for those who’ve never heard a part or portion of the gospel in mortality, are without the gospel law in mortality, and therefore they will be judged very much like little children, and will most likely all be exalted.  Here is a followup that one of them recently emailed me:

I finally found the scripture I was thinking of when I wrote that “the heathen” who “died without law”, (that is, without having heard any form or portion whatsoever of the gospel) are still likely to be saved (and most likely even exalted) in the Celestial Kingdom.

In his discourse to his son about infant baptism, Mormon throws in those who “without the law” and puts them in the same category as those who die as infants, Moroni 8:22:

“For behold that all little children are alive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law.  For the power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law; wherefore, he that is not condemned, or he that is under no condemnation, cannot repent; and unto such baptism availeth nothing— ”

I’ll admit that there is still room for interpretation in light of Section 76, and of course Christ is the final judge of every individual.

I disagree with this interpretation of Moroni 8:22 (a similar scripture can be found in 2 Nephi 9:25-26).  I believe this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the gospel, which has serious repercussions to our understanding of God’s plan of redemption, and the work we do in the temple.  [Read more…]

Mormon Theology Seminar Conference: Reading Alma 32 on Sept. 19

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I will have the chance to attend the Mormon Theology Seminar’s conference entitled “An Experiment on the Word: Reading Alma 32” that is coming up next Friday, September 19th, 2008.  It is being held from 9am-4pm in room B192 in the Joseph F. Smith Building on BYU campus.  More details can be found on Mormon Theology Seminar’s website, or in their PDF flyer.  You can also learn more about it from a podcast with some of the organizers.  The conference will be the culmination of a several month online seminar that took place at alma32.wordpress.com.

Here is the schedule:

  • 9am • Julie M. Smith • So Shall My Word Be: Reading Alma 32 through Isaiah 55
  • 10am • James E. Faulconer • Desiring to Believe: Philo-Sophia and the Word of God
  • 11am • Adam Miller • You Must Needs Say that the Word is Good
  • 1pm • Jenny Webb • It is Well that Ye are Cast Out: Alma 32 and Eden
  • 2pm • Joseph M. Spencer • Faith, Hope, and Charity: Alma and Joseph Smith
  • 3pm • Robert Couch • “No Cause to Believe”: Knowledge and Other Signs of Dormant Faith

Since the FAIR Conference liveblogging seemed to work so well, I’m going to see if I can liveblog this event too (I hope they have WiFi in the JFSB).  If anyone else is also attending the conference and wants to collaborate on the liveblogging, contact me and maybe we can join our efforts.  We will be using the awesome CoverItLive service.

If you want to receive an email reminder of the liveblogging we will be doing here next Friday, see the right hand sidebar on TempleStudy.com to sign up for one.

The Rainbow – A Token of the Covenant

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Noah's Thanksoffering (c.1803) by Joseph Anton Koch. Noah builds an altar to the Lord after being delivered from the Flood; God sends the rainbow as a sign of his covenant (Genesis 8-9). (click for larger view)

Noah's Thanksoffering (c.1803) by Joseph Anton Koch. (click image for larger view)

This morning I was listening to the ABC News report on the incoming hurricane Ike, which is heading straight towards the Galveston/Houston area of Texas, and the forecast of widespread destruction that it is provoking.  The news anchor was reporting from Galveston Island, Texas, where the brunt of the storm is said to be bearing down quickly.  The reporter ended his news clip by saying that there was a rainbow directly over Galveston Island.

It is destructive times like these that cause us to reflect on God, and His place in our world.  It seems like cruel irony that the rainbow was placed as a sign of the covenant that God made with man that He would not flood the earth again.  But then again, that was surely a deliberate decision, that each time we witness these horrific natural events like hurricanes we remember God is still there, and that He knows our trials and tribulations (cf. Hel. 12:3).  Yes, even “if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7).  Events like these turn us back to God, and remind us to worship Him who is the Creator of heaven and earth.  It is only by obeying God’s commandments and enduring trying times such as these that we can “triumph over all [our] foes” (D&C 121:7-8):  [Read more…]

Levi Rightmyer on “Kings and Priests of the order of Melchisedec”

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I was doing some research this morning when I stumbled upon a very interesting passage from a book published in 1916 by Levi Rightmyer entitled, The Light of Truth as Revealed in the Holy Scriptures.  The entire text of the book is available for perusal on Google Books here.  The author is not LDS, although he appears to have known something of the Church (see page 482 for his reference to “Joseph Smith and the Mormons of Utah”).

What I found was a passage which discusses Christ, a priest after the order of Melchizedek, and that “all who are called to God’s kingdom and glory are called to fill the positions of Melchisedec kings and priests in the ages to come under the Lord Jesus Christ…” and if this truth is not so today it is because of apostasy:

…mankind have been deceived by false and ignorant teachers who in the early days of the church corrupted the way of the Lord as the antediluvian sons of God did before the flood, who walked after the vain imaginations of their own evil hearts even as it is now.  The world is full of religion, but nearly empty of the true knowledge of God. There are many great revivals in which are developed a high degree of religious feeling, but unfortunately they are attended with a very low degree of scriptural knowledge and true religious intelligence. (p. 740)

[Read more…]