Excerpt: Many of the earliest revelations were given at the request of others. Joseph Smith Senior, Oliver Cowdery and many others went to Joseph for heavenly guidance. In these early days, when the Book of Mormon was still being translated, most followers had not been baptized and none had received the gift of the Holy Ghost. They relied upon Joseph to receive revelation from God. How different it is for us today, as we receive encouragement from Pres Nelson to seek out personal revelation. As prophet of a worldwide Church, he does not have the time Joseph had to give personal revelations. Hyrum came to Joseph for guidance, wanting to go out and preach the gospel and the Book of Mormon. Here was guidance that applies to all of us.
This past week my husband and I found a bird in the lobby while cleaning a building.
Now, I care about the organization whose building we were cleaning. But I think all would agree that a wild bird would find any building to be a hell. As I had a chance to reflect, the bird’s saga reminded me of too many times when I or those I love have been caught in our own personal hells.
When we saw the bird, my husband tried to open the outer doors so the bird could fly free. But it is hard, when in hell, to know who or what to trust. In this case, the bird darted past us, flying through the labyrinthine hallways, into a room near an exit.
Here again, we attempted to coax the bird out a door to freedom. But the bird, panicked, darted down yet another hallway.
Two things are worth mentioning at this point.
First, my husband had seen an e-mail from the week prior, where a bird was reported in the largest room in the building, a room with a ceiling more than twenty feet high. The person reporting this had left the doors leading out of the large room open, in hopes that the bird might both escape the room, as it would surely die were it to remain in that large room.
Second, I had gone the other way through the hallways, shutting any doors left ajar.
The bird ended up at the front of the building again, flying straight towards freedom. My husband had propped open a door. But the bird flew straight into a window flanking the open door, likely to avoid being within arms’ reach of my husband. The bird fluttered aloft again and retreated to a perch at the far side of the lobby, which we had now closed off from the other hallways. My husband similarly backed away from the open door.
After a moment of resting, the bird flew towards freedom again. But again the bird hugged the wall, leading it directly to the window.
Helpless, we watched as the bird tried a third time, this time flying so hard that the impact knocked the bird to the floor, motionless.
My husband approached from behind. The bird, desperate, flapped away.
Through the open inner door.
But the bird collapsed before it made it through the outer door.
My husband carefully closed the inner door, leaving only a path to true freedom.
While my husband left to finish what we had come to do, I sat near the door, waiting for the bird to either expire or escape. There was plenty of time to reflect on how I and others had beat our souls bloody trying to escape from our own hells. There was time to reflect on how I, at least, had not been willing to take advantage of the helps that lay on every side. There were the times when I and others had been so destroyed that escape seemed futile.
The bird kept breathing, though shallowly. I waited, watching.
Then, to my surprise, the bird fluttered the wings that had been so awkwardly splayed akimbo. It hopped to its feet. Then, before I could have said anything, the bird took flight, soaring out the door to freedom.
May we, also, always keep trying to overcome the limitations that bind us. May those of us trying to help know that, at times, the one who needs help must rest before accepting the aid we so wish to grant.
Over all, may we, though bruised and hurting, find our way to the escape our Savior offers us.
Book Review: Moroni – a brief theological introduction, by David F. Holland
published by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute
The Maxwell Institute at BYU has been busy providing theological introductions to the books in the Book of Mormon. Below are links to my previous reviews on the other books available.
Holland divides his book into 7 chapters and a conclusion. The chapter titles are:
Resolute and Unsure
The Gifts of Sacred Community in a Time of Chaos
A Sacrament of Multiple Gifts
To Gather Among and to Rely Alone
The Sermon, Part One
The Sermon: Part Two
The Letters
Conclusion
The Book of Moroni is the last of the books in the Book of Mormon. It is comprised of ten, seemingly different chapters that seem to be a hodgepodge of ordinances and letters tacked onto the end of the gold plates, almost as an after thought.
Holland suggests that the collection of chapters and topics that Moroni brings to the table are a well thought out series of important themes and issues, that link them and their specific sequence together.
First, Holland notes that Moroni is offering us a grab bag full of gifts from God. In fact, the words “gift,” “give,” or similar terms are found about 30 times in Moroni’s ten chapters. Among the gifts that Holland discusses are: priesthood, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Sacrament, faith, hope, charity, meekness, miracles, and gifts of the Spirit. Moroni wishes us to recognize the great gifts that God is ready to impart to us. As Holland notes, “the giver leads us toward the Giver.”
Holland notes that Moroni lives in a time of great uncertainty. His nation is destroyed. The Lamanites are in constant battle around him, decades after the demise of the Nephites. They kill Christians, and since Moroni will not deny the Christ, he is forced to wander continually. Twice before, he thought he would finish the Nephite record and bury them, but third time is the charm.
Holland writes, “Severely isolated, with only the records of previous generations as his companions, Moroni knows more about the past than about what is happening in his present moment.” Instead of chronicling his own life experiences, he shares important teachings from past prophets in the Nephite record.
He recognizes the weakness he has in writing. Several times in the Jaredite record and in completing his father’s history, he noted the weakness they had in writing. Holland describes it as a constant “handwringing” that Moroni shares. He worries about the imperfections in the record. He worries that the future Gentile readers will mock at the sacred text. “Everywhere Moroni appears, this issue comes up.”
Holland expresses that in Moroni’s first words, we learn two very important and inextricable truths, “The first two theological declarations of the book of Moroni intertwine in its opening verses: Jesus is the Christ, and uncertainty is an unavoidable part of our existence in this mortal world.”
Interestingly, Holland notes that the following chapters on priesthood, baptism, etc., are issues for an organized church. “These things come from a man who is well aware that he will not live to see a church community capable of implementing these practices.”
As Moroni looked four hundred years into the past to share the Church organization and ordinances that the resurrected Christ taught the Nephites, now he is looking centuries into the future, when the Lamanites and Gentiles will perhaps be ready to organize Christ’s church again.
In discussing the importance of the church doctrine, organization and ordinances, Holland jumps ahead momentarily to chapter 8 (child baptism) and chapter 9 (the evil desecrations of the Nephites and Lamanites). He suggests that Moroni is using these letters from his father Mormon, as “guardrails” for organizing the church. Chapter 8 warns us about being so formally and logically strict in keeping/making commandments that we do away with the grace and love of God. Chapter 9 warns us about allowing things to go completely in the opposite direction: chaotic emotion and de-evolution going from children of Christ to children of demons.
It is an interesting suggestion, which definitely helps me personally to tie Moroni’s writings together. Instead of thinking he randomly grabbed a couple of his father’s letters, Moroni carefully selected two letters that would help guide the future church of Christ, warning them to avoid excesses in either direction (rigid logic and chaotic emotion). Holland calls these ends of two poles, “dead works” and “disorder.” The challenge is to manage to be centered in the middle of these two poles, rather than on the extremes.
Holland returns to discussing the priesthood, and the ordinances. He breaks down and analyzes each piece of the ordinance, and explains how they relate to today’s Church. He notes the careful balance the modern Church seeks to maintain between the power and guidance from the official hierarchy and the gift of personal revelation and gifts of God. In fact, he finds that the restored gospel has the “audacity” to make such an effort of balancing between the two.
In partaking of the Sacrament and other gifts, Holland shares a keen insight from Saba Mahmood’s study on Muslim rites, that the people had to constantly remind themselves,
“…that an act of [ritual] performed for its own sake, without regard for how it contributes to the realization of piety is ‘lost power.'”
The Sacrament, according to Holland, provides us with two important gifts that can transform us, as long as we do not drift into “thoughtlessness”: “the gift of repetitive discipline and the gift of supernatural grace.” He notes that the bread and water are sanctified, touched and made holy by the hand of God through his priesthood bearers:
“Before, they were unblessed and unsanctified; by the time they enter my mouth, they have been touched by the sanctifying power of the living God. This is not just a reverence that humans give them; this is a quality God imparts.”
In one of his deeper theological discussions, Holland shares the tension between agency and God’s foreknowledge. He briefly explores the background behind Calvin’s predestination versus free agency. This discussion is brought about by Mormon’s teaching that a good fountain cannot bring forth evil water, nor vice versa. This brings about a discussion on whether mankind are born completely evil (as Calvinism suggests) or as the children of God. How can we be both good and evil, a gray area, where Mormon only sees black and white? If we are sinful, can we change ourselves? Or can only God bring about change within us? Holland’s discussion and his suggested answer are interesting to consider, as he discusses the miracles of change and agency.
In Moroni 7, we find certain common issues for Latter-day Saints and other Christians: understanding the differences between grace and works, and faith and hope, and understanding how each pair work together.. Mormon ties them inextricably together. Holland explains how they relate and how they relate to each of us.
On discussing faith and hope, Holland explains that
“…if faith is the belief that God is good, hope is the belief that he will be good to me.”
This is a very interesting definition, given our modern context of faith and works. For many years in the 20th century, some Church leaders pressed works to the point that some members felt they had to earn their own salvation. Several times in his book, Holland expresses the balance, rather than the extreme, and that the gifts of God shared by Moroni are available to all. I’ve known members who believed Jesus is the Savior, but they doubted whether the atonement could actually save them from their sins. Here we find that faith and hope must go hand in hand: not only must we believe that Jesus is the Christ, but that he is my Savior!
Holland then shares an excellent discussion on charity. He especially notes that while most love is natural, charity (the love of Christ) is “supernatural.” It clearly is a gift, as Mormon explains it is given to those who pray diligently for it (Moroni 7:48).
Again, he returns to chapters 8 and 9. Mormon lays bare his feelings on child baptism and the depravity of the Nephites.
“Mormon’s unflinching gaze at the crimes of his own people, unobscured by the justifying instincts of nationalism, offers us a lesson in moral reasoning that elevates the low brutality of his description into a call to higher ground.”
The danger didn’t come from without, as Holland notes:
“…the people’s precipitous transformation into savagery did not come through the corrupting presence of external forces. It came in a moment when his people seemed most liberated from structural constraint. It came from within.”
Perhaps a deeper and more introspective study into these letters could offer us greater understanding of the processes ongoing in our nation today (Jan 2021), as we grapple with extremes of government excess and abuse on the one hand and chaotic rioting on the other.
Holland continues with several great insights into the remaining chapter: real intent, gifts of the Spirit, etc. In his final comments, he discusses the
“,,,formulation of the doctrine of the gift. These are offerings (offered independently of human ability), and we have the chance to choose them.”
As Holland notes earlier in the book,
“…it is difficult to appreciate a gift or its giver until you realize how desperately you need them.”
Moroni lived in desperate times. He saw the future and knew we would also live in desperate times, times that could easily reflect his own. Times when we would desperately need the supernatural gifts of God. Gifts like priesthood, remission of sins through baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, faith, hope, charity, and the redemption of Jesus Christ.
Over the past many months, I have read and reviewed several of the books in this series. I have not been disappointed in any of them. David F. Holland shares a Moroni that is very real and personal. I can now see how Moroni carefully chose what to place in the sacred plates. It is a gift that Holland has opened my eyes to. There is so much great information and concepts to consider in this book that I know I will be going back to it time and again to consider and ponder each of the teachings Moroni desperately wanted us to read and embrace.
I highly recommend this book. While there are a few deeper discussions, most of the concepts he shares are very accessible to the average reader. It will help each of us to read the very short book of Moroni in new ways.
There are times when the Church comes under fire for claiming to be God’s true Church.
This came to mind recently when I was researching psyllium, the ground husks of plantain seeds (in this case, plantain, the flowering plant). I had bought some psyllium for a gluten-free bread recipe and was intrigued by uses indicated by the packaging.
Curious, I found NIH articles titled “Evidence-Based Approach to Fiber Supplements and Clinically Meaningful Health Benefits” Part 1 and Part 2.
Bottom line, psyllium is by far the only supplement that actually provably delivers benefits across the board:
reduces cholesterol
mitigates glycemic spikes
improves satiety
mitigates constipation
helps mitigate diarrhea
reduces irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
helps achieve weight loss[ref]The NIH literature survey required two peer-reviewed studies to make a finding of unequivocal benefit, so only gave psyllium a +/- for this. [/ref]
Here’s the summary chart from the second of the NIH reports, which makes it obvious that psyllium really is head and shoulders above other supplementary fiber sources (click on the chart to open the table in a separate window):
Now, if we were going to provide a “benefit” chart for religions, what would we list as the benefits we seek from religion? Several come to mind for me, but I’m interested to hear what you have to say.
Though I have not yet had the pleasure of reading the totality of Terry’s Givens’s The Pearl of Greatest Price, I was delighted by the review written by Richard Bushman, which is in the most recent issue of BYU Studies (59:4).
Where the Book of Mormon and The Doctrine and Covenants were intentional scripture, largely or entirely created and published as scripture during the life of Joseph Smith, The Pearl of Great Price assembles a collection of writings by Joseph Smith that was originally assembled as a pamphlet in Britain by Franklin Richards in 1851, long after Joseph was dead. The collection was canonized in 1880 as President John Taylor was sustained as the new President of the Church. It may be worth noting that the text now known as The Book of Abraham and the Articles of Faith were originally published in the Times and Seasons during the spring of 1842, when Willard Richards (Franklin’s brother) was residing in the Times and Seasons building and John Taylor was effectively running the operations of publishing the Times and Seasons (though Joseph was titular editor at that time).
Richard Bushman points out how radically Joseph’s doctrine departed from what had become “Traditional Christianity.” Though Bushman doesn’t reflect on this, I imagine Terryl Givens in his text may make mention that Joseph’s doctrine does, in fact, hark back to the teachings of the original Church fathers, those who had learned Christianity from the Savior or those who themselves had learned at the feet of the Savior.
I recommend Terryl’s book for your consideration. But any reading this blog post surely have time and ability to take in Richard Bushman’s review of Terryl’s book. Please read it.
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One point Terryl apparently makes, with which I will take some exception, is the idea that the universe existed before God and that God appears powerless over aspects of that universe, specifically the free willed actions of individuals. A God who actively chooses to allow us free will is not the same as a God who lacks the power to take away our free will.
As I contemplate what it means to be like God and His Christ, I see how hard They work to teach us Truth and guide us into wise decisions. In becoming like Christ, this is an aspect that I try to emulate. But when I contemplate an omniscient and omnipotent God who respects our free will, this is to me more powerful than a God who simply can’t thwart our free will. As a mere human, it is possible for me to take away the free will of others. And therefore, God must also be capable of stripping us of free will.
Saints understand God, though raining down truth upon us, to not force our will. At this time of COVID and availability of scientifically validated mitigations, this alternate reading of the God of the Pearl of Great Price gives me insight into why communities dominated by Saints have reacted as they have.
