Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 3
Our Heritage, pages 1–4.
“I Had Seen
a Vision”
Introduction
How to approach this topic that was so eventful in the
history of this earth and our sojourn on it? On the last page are some
wonderful resources that I hope you all get a chance to read, watch, and work
through. Well, the writers of the lesson manual want us to understand its place
in history. Starting with the apostasy. Interestingly, our Gordon B. Hinckley
lesson last week gave us some strong insights into what the apostasy entailed,
and the events leading up to the Restoration of the Gospel and The Church of
Jesus Christ. So maybe we can now look at the Doctrine and Covenants as one of
the end results of centuries of preparation—it means that much.
1. After the Apostasy, God
prepared the way for the Restoration.
We talked last week about not being able to remember what
you believed in the past once you knew the truth. Can we imagine what it was
like not to have the Priesthood on the earth? How would having the heavens
closed feel? What if we had to rely on what other men thought to direct our
beliefs? Truly we can see why it was described in D&C 1:15–16
For they have strayed from mine
ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant; They seek not the Lord
to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after
the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and
whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon,
even Babylon the great, which shall fall.
We can perhaps imagine it better when we listen to what
Joseph was going through:
My mind at times was greatly excited,
the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. The Presbyterians were most
decided against the Baptists and Methodists, and used all the powers of both
reason and sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people
think they were in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and Methodists in
their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets
and disprove all [1]others
(JS—H 1:9).
There is a cutting from the Palmyra newspaper from 1820
in one of the multimedia links on the last page that might give us some insight
into the times:
In this 1820
article, for example, the editor of Palmyra’s newspaper claimed it was a
“notorious fact” that Methodist camp-meetings attracted “the intemperate, the
lewd and dissolute part of the community.” Demeaning statements such as this
one may have contributed to the feeling of religious tumult as much as
doctrinal differences did.
Preparation for the Restoration began in the 14th century
and the events were summarized in the Gordon B. Hinckley manual :Renaissance; Reformers
such as Wycliffe, Tyndale, Martin Luther; the discovery of the Americas, and
the establishment of the Constitute of the United States. I realize I was
perhaps a little negative on the subject of religious freedom, guaranteed by
the Constitution, but know that I must have faith that, although in the last
days, the Constitution will be in danger,[2] it
will not fall.
2. God prepared Joseph Smith to be the prophet of the
Restoration.
Thanks to the Joseph Smith Papers project, we have Lucy
Mack Smith’s history in which:
Beginning with
details of her New England ancestors, Smith related an account of her
family’s early experiences and support of [Joseph
Smith] during the founding era of the
church. Adversity and persecution are vividly evident, as are hard work, faith,
love, and testimony. Many details that we know about early church history can
be attributed to Lucy, such as [Joseph Smith’s] leg operation when he was a
child; the death of [Joseph Smith’s] oldest brother, Alvin; the dreams, visions, and blessings of Joseph
Smith Sr.; and a wife and mother’s grief as she buries her “beloved husband”
and many of her children. She also provided details and perspective about
missions, moves, travels, mobbings, and arrests that are not available
elsewhere.[3]
There are many stories that show how remarkable Joseph
was as a child and youth. Perhaps the most famous is when he had to have what
was loosely called surgery on his
leg.
Joseph Jr., was seven
years old when he survived a typhoid epidemic that caused more than 3,000
deaths in the New England area. As he was recovering, a severe infection developed
in the marrow of the bone in his left leg, and the almost unbearable pain lasted
for more than three weeks. The local surgeon decided that the leg would have to
be amputated, but at the insistence of Joseph’s mother, another doctor was sent
for. Nathan Smith, a physician at nearby Dartmouth College, said that he would
try to save the leg using a relatively new and extremely painful procedure to
remove part of the bone. The doctor brought cords to bind the boy, but Joseph
objected, saying that he would bear the operation without them. He also refused
brandy, the only form of anesthetic available to him, and asked only that his
father hold him in his arms during the operation.[4]
The manual tells us:
Joseph Smith
came from a rich spiritual heritage. His parents and grandparents were
religious, patriotic, educationally minded, and of strong moral convictions.
His paternal grandfather, Asael Smith, stated years before Joseph was born, “It
has been borne in upon my soul that one of my descendants will promulgate a
work to revolutionize the world of religious faith” (in Joseph Fielding Smith, Essentials in Church History, 27th ed.
[1974], 25).
3. The First Vision ushered in
the restoration of the gospel.
We talked last week about how the
First Vision changed completely what the world knew about God. If you can take
some time to look through the resources at the end of the post, I’d like to
hear from you on Sunday how the First Vision has affected you personally. I
will offer a poignant quote from Pres. Uchtdorf:
In my
growing-up years in Germany, I attended church in many different locations and
circumstances. . . The Zwickau chapel had an old air-driven organ. Every Sunday
a young man was assigned to push up and down the sturdy lever operating the
bellows to make the organ work. Even before I was an Aaronic Priesthood bearer,
I sometimes had the great privilege to assist in this important task. . . . There
was an additional benefit that came from this assignment: the bellows operator
sat in a seat that offered a great view of a stained-glass window that
beautified the front part of the chapel. The stained glass portrayed the First
Vision, with Joseph Smith kneeling in the Sacred Grove, looking up toward
heaven and into a pillar of light. . . . I often looked at this depiction of a
most sacred moment in world history. In my mind’s eye I saw Joseph receiving
knowledge, witness, and divine instructions as he became a blessed instrument
in the hand of our Heavenly Father. I felt a special spirit while looking at
the beautiful scene in this window picture of a believing young boy in a sacred
grove who made a courageous decision to earnestly pray to our Heavenly Father,
who listened and responded lovingly to him. Here I was, a young boy in
post–World War II Germany, living in a city in ruins, thousands of miles away
from Palmyra in North America and more than a hundred years after the event
actually took place. By the universal power of the Holy Ghost, I felt in my
heart and in my mind that it was true, that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus
Christ and heard Their voices. The Spirit of God comforted my soul at this
young age with an assurance of the reality of this sacred moment that resulted
in the beginning of a worldwide movement destined to “roll forth, until it has
filled the whole earth” (D&C 65:2). I believed Joseph Smith’s testimony of
that glorious experience in the Sacred Grove then, and I know it now. God has
spoken to mankind again!
4. Many truths were revealed in
the First Vision.
Again, can we think back to when
we didn’t know these truths? This post is overlong, but I will list just some
of them
a. God the Father and
Jesus Christ live.
b. The Father and the
Son are real, separate beings with glorified bodies of flesh and bones.
c. We are created in the
image of God.
d. Satan and his power
are real, but God’s power is infinitely greater.
e. God hears and answers
prayers and cares for us.
f. None of the churches
on earth had the fulness of Christ’s gospel.
g. Revelation has not
ceased.
President Monson tells us how we
can have our own “Sacred Grove experience”:
[John said] “And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent.” . . . Moroni . . . counseled, “And now, I would
commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written,
that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy
Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever.” President
David O. McKay counseled: “‘The greatest battle of life is fought within the
silent chambers of your own soul.’ … It is a good thing to sit down and commune
with yourself, to come to an understanding with yourself and decide in that
silent moment what your duty is to your family, to your Church, to your
country, and … to your fellowmen.” The boy prophet Joseph Smith sought heavenly
help by entering a grove which then became sacred. Do we need similar strength?
Does each need to seek his or her own “Sacred Grove”? A place where
communication between God and man can go forth unimpeded, uninterrupted, and
undisturbed is such a grove.
Accounts of the First Vision
Stephen Harper’s synthesis of the First Vision accounts
Additional material
·
“First Vision Accounts”: This
Gospel Topics essay introduces the different accounts of the First Vision
recorded during Joseph Smith’s lifetime.
·
“The First Vision:
Journey to the Sacred Grove”: This multimedia narrative
uses immersive images from the Smith farm and the Sacred Grove
to tell how Joseph Smith’s experiences led to the First Vision.
·
“Joseph
Smith’s Accounts of the First Vision”: In this series of short videos,
scholars address differences between Joseph Smith’s accounts of the First
Vision.
·
Artistic
Interpretations of the First Vision: This online exhibit includes selections of artwork
from the Church History Museum’s collection depicting Joseph Smith’s First
Vision.
·
“Preparation
of Joseph Smith: The First Vision”: This two-minute video depicts the First
Vision story as told in the Pearl of Great Price.
Joseph Smith History by his Mother, Lucy Mack Smith
[2] Interestingly I was about to
quote “hanging by a thread” but there is no evidence that Joseph actually used
those words—here is the analysis afrotc.byu.edu/sites/default/files/files/CONSTITUTIONHANGINGBYATHREAD.doc
No comments:
Post a Comment