D&c 1

[Mystery Meat]

I would like to understand how others interpret D&C 1, especially the verses I provided below. I think it may be the most under-utilized chapter of scripture. I think it is absolutely beautiful Doctrine. I myself came to some interesting conclusions that challenged what I had previously believed. I would be interested for your feedback.

 

1 Hearken, O ye people of my church, saith the voice of him who dwells on high, and whose eyes are upon all men; yea, verily I say: Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the sea, listen together.

12 Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh;

13 And the anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth.

14 And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people;

15 For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant;

16 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.

17 Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;

18 And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets—

30 And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually—

37 Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled.

38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

 

[Uncle Dale]

I would like to understand how others interpret D&C 1, especially the verses I provided below. I think it may be the most under-utilized chapter of scripture. I think it is absolutely beautiful Doctrine. I myself came to some interesting conclusions that challenged what I had previously believed. I would be interested for your feedback.

 

Well, I'm not sure just how much I can contribute in regard to those

particular passages. Just after verse one, and just before verse 12,

there was a section in the original 1833 Independence Book of

Commandments which generally explained the purpose of the volume,

and thus the reason for this opening document.

 

Recall that the Mormons of that period expected the Lord's "Day of

Wrath" to break upon the world (and North Amercia, especially) at

any hour, almost -- certainly within the span of a couple of years.

 

See Joseph Smith's 1832 letter addressed to N. O. Saxon, partly

published in that editor's Rochester newspaper at the time:

http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/NY/miscNYSc.htm#020233

and printed in full in the Nauvoo Times and Seasons a little later:

http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v5n21.htm#705

 

This was a rarity, in that the prophesying was being shared with

the Gentiles, and not just reserved for the Latter Day Saints. The

understanding of those days was that all righteous men and women

should "flee the coming wrath" by gathering to Mount Zion, the

latter day city of refuge, "on the borders of the Lamanites."

 

Besides Joseph's letter, and perhaps a few verses, here and there

from the BoC (previously broadcast to the world via the Evening

and Morning Star), the "law" and "commandments" and "covenants"

issuing forth "out of Zion," were directed exclusively at the the Mormons;

even to the extent that some things should not be communicated

and shared outside of the Church.

 

The "Day of Wrath" never came. "Zion" was overrun by the Missourians

and never "redeemed." The call for a great and final gathering there

was postponed and eventually forgotten.

 

But, it is in that context that the document should be read -- and with

an 1833 Book of Commandments in hand, rather than a 2015 D&C.

 

UD

Edited February 2, 2015 by Uncle Dale

[JLHPROF]

I would like to understand how others interpret D&C 1, especially the verses I provided below. I think it may be the most under-utilized chapter of scripture. I think it is absolutely beautiful Doctrine. I myself came to some interesting conclusions that challenged what I had previously believed. I would be interested for your feedback.

 

Well, it would help to know what conclusions you came to...

 

But these verses are literally a "voice of warning" to the members of the Church.  Obey the revelations given through the prophets as God has spoken them and don't stray from the revealed ordinances or break the covenants you enter into.

 

Basically, it warns that in the not to distant future from the time it was written that many members would stray from what God reveals in order to follow their own beliefs and agendas.  And that God isn't going to change to make them happy and his commands, covenants and word WILL be fullfilled exactly whether we like it or not.

[rodheadlee]

A day of wrath did follow. The Civil War killed many Americans.

[canard78]

Kevin Christensen has an excellent take on this section. Hopefully he'll come along.

His Interpreter article is excellent:

http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/sophic-box-and-mantic-vista-a-review-of-deconstructing-mormonism/

[Uncle Dale]

A day of wrath did follow. The Civil War killed many Americans.

 

I doubt that the War Between the States can be attributed to

the anger of the God of Israel. If anything it was an outcome

of what was going on in Kansas, and of the aftermath of

Buchanan's troubled "Mormon War" in Utah Territory. Signs

of a possible impotence in the application of U.S. military force.

 

The slave-holders in the South doubted that the Federal

Government had the stomach for even more warfare, and

that its initial struggle against the new Confederacy would

be a short one, very likely ending in the rebels' favor.

 

Where in all of that the "righteous" should flee unto a city

of refuge, or the Lamanites would fall upon the wicked

Gentiles as young lions upon their prey, I cannot fathom.

 

Reading the Deseret News editorials and the Apostolic

discourses of that period, it seems to me that the leaders

in Utah Terririory were lukewarm supporters of Lincoln, if

they can be called Union loyalists at all. If they saw God

as being angry, it was an anger stemming from the failure

of Illinois, Missouri, Van Buren, etc. to facilitate vengeance

against the assassination of "the martyrs" (Joseph and Hyrum)

and against the expulsion from Nauvoo, and against the

iniquity of Johnston's Army occupying Utah Territory.

 

None of that pertained to the outcome of the Civil War;

nor was there any celebration in Utah in 1865-66, that

God's wrath had in any way been appeased. After the

war, the leaders in Utah were prone to attribute God's

coming wrath to the opposition demonstrated in the East

against Utah statehood, against keeping Utah's old,

extensive borders in place, and against polygamy itself.

 

Still -- the Federal soldiers sang: "Mine eyes have seen

the glory of the coming of the Lord" -- and expected the

successful termination of the war would trample out the

fraternal wrath stored up in a nation divided against itself.

 

Seems to have little to do with Jackson County, Missouri,

the Book of Commandments, and the professed covenant

between Israel's God and the "Chosen People."

 

UD

Edited February 2, 2015 by Uncle Dale

[rodheadlee]

Yep it's interesting that Utah Mormons basically sat out the Civil War after being led there by God.

[Alan]

One little thing I have noticed.

Bearing in mind that D&C 1 was purposely revealed in order to be the preface for the volume, and that D&C 136 was chronologically the last canonised "thus saith the Lord" revelation; I find it interesting that despite them coming through different people (Joseph Smith and Brigham Young) they both use the phrase "listen together" (D&C 1:1, D&C 136:41)

I may be wrong, but I cannot find another incidence of this phrase anywhere else.

[Calm]

It also occurs in section 45:6

Edited February 2, 2015 by calmoriah

[Uncle Dale]

Yep it's interesting that Utah Mormons basically sat out the Civil War after being led there by God.

 

All of that came years after BoC I (D&C 1) had been run through

the press in Independence. In 1833 California was a far off

never-never land. In 1863 she sat poised upon Deseret's

western flank, ready to pour in federal troops and volunteers,

had Brigham elected to follow the Confederacy's example.

 

But, looking back at 1833, the message of BoC I and the

situation of the Saints -- they very much expected President

Smith's "South Carolina revelation" to quickly come true.

 

There would be a great civil war growing out of South Carolina's

early 1830s "states rights" intransigence -- a war between the

wicked and the righteous that would spread across the Atlantic

to engulf Britain, Europe, and eventually the populated world.

 

The term "latter-day saints" was not generally employed by the

Mormons until Smith began his paramilitary campaign to redeem

Zion, in 1834 (when the Church's name was also changed) --

but references to such saints of the end-times, to the expected

"latter-day glory," etc., can be found in the religious literature

of those days. Many Christians expected that the Great and

Terrible Day of the Lord was very, very near at hand.

 

Such a world-shattering event would not, of course, consume

just the USA, leaving Canada and Mexico untouched. It would

not be a war fought over "states rights," or Jackson era tariffs.

 

When a Mormon convert of 1833 left her family in Boston and

hurried off to Jackson County, Missouri, she fully expected that

her eastern relatives would soon be destroyed and that she

herself would survive only because of the divine safety provided

for the righteous in western Missouri.

 

Each of the Book of Commandments chapters ought to be read

with that understanding in mind. Very soon the Gentiles would

be exterminated and the Children of Ephraim (Mormons) and

the Lamanites, and the Lost Tribes, and the Jews would become

the principal occupants of planet earth -- by 1836-37-38 at least.

 

When a Mormon of 1833 read those covenants and commandments,

it was not with the expectation that he or she would have a coming

lifetime spent amongst the wicked, in order to respond and live

out an obedient earthly stewardship. -- No -- the Temple would be

built -- Christ would return -- and rulership of the world eventually

turned over to Joseph Smith and those Saints who held fast to

the restored gospel and endured unto the end.

 

Of course, today, we might be inclined to view such scripture just a

little bit differently.

 

UD

Edited February 2, 2015 by Uncle Dale

[Kevin Christensen]

Kevin Christensen has an excellent take on this section. Hopefully he'll come along.

His Interpreter article is excellent:

http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/sophic-box-and-mantic-vista-a-review-of-deconstructing-mormonism/

Thanks. The relevant material is on pages 132 to 136. I've been posting the gist on occasion for many years, and once gave a Sunstone presentation on the topic.

FWIW

Kevin Christensen

Canonsburgh, PA

[Alan]

It also occurs in section 45:6

 

So it does!

Many thanks for that information. That's another one of my theories blown away!

[Mystery Meat]

Well, it would help to know what conclusions you came to...

 

But these verses are literally a "voice of warning" to the members of the Church.  Obey the revelations given through the prophets as God has spoken them and don't stray from the revealed ordinances or break the covenants you enter into.

 

Basically, it warns that in the not to distant future from the time it was written that many members would stray from what God reveals in order to follow their own beliefs and agendas.  And that God isn't going to change to make them happy and his commands, covenants and word WILL be fullfilled exactly whether we like it or not.

 

Basically, my understanding was enlarged to agree with many of the points Kevin Christiansen made in his article linked herein. I will discuss this more a bit later.