The Red Heifer?

[Robert F. Smith]

6 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Levites and those among them who are literal descendants of Aaron (and of priestly authority) are still found among the Jews.  And this is recognized in latter-day scripture as still having authority.

DC 68:14-21 specifies that a man who is a literal descendant of Aaron (a cohen) has a legal right to the presidency of the Aaronic priesthood (i.e. the Presiding Bishop) of the Church.  Although even in the case where there is such a man, he still must be called by the First Presidency.

..............................................

This also applies to local LDS bishops, who are likewise presidents of the local Aaronic priesthood.

[Robert F. Smith]

21 hours ago, snowflake said:

I'm not sure that the Jews themselves would have "proper priesthood authority" to restore temple work. Also, I've often wondered how they will be able to tell who is from the line Levi to be able to do the temple work itself, also the OT is very specific and very strict about age requirements (Numbers 4:3), and no physical defects (Leviticus 21). Do you think the Jews will re-instate the traditional temple rituals described in the Torah and specifically documented and described the by the Temple institute, or go with the LDS "restored" temple set up used in LDS temples today? 

The sacrifices at that restored temple in Jerusalem will be blood sacrifices, and only the Jews are prepared to operate such a temple.  A realistic description of such a temple is available in Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity (Athenaeum, 1976/1985), 13-14, online at http://cnqzu.com/library/Philosophy/neoreaction/_extra authors/Johnson, Paul/A History Of Christianity.pdf ,

Quote

The Temple, now, in Herod's version, rising triumphantly over Jerusalem, was an ocular reminder that Judaism was about Jews and their history - not about anyone else. Other gods flew in across the deserts from the East without much difficulty, jettisoning the inconvenient and embarrassing accretions from their past, changing, as it were, their accents and manners as well as their names. But the God of the Jews was still alive and roaring in his Temple, demanding blood, making no attempt to conceal his racial and primitive origins. Herod's fabric was elegant, modern, sophisticated - he had, indeed, added some Hellenic decorative effects much resented by fundamentalist Jews who constantly sought to destroy them - but nothing could hide the essential business of the Temple, which was the ritual slaughter, consumption and combustion of sacrificial cattle on a gigantic scale. 

The place was as vast as a small city. There were literally thousands of priests, attendants, templesoldiers and minions. To the unprepared visitor, the dignity and charity of Jewish diaspora life, the thoughtful comments and homilies of the Alexandrian synagogue, was quite lost amid the smoke of the pyres, the bellows of terrified beasts, the sluices of blood, the abattoir stench, the unconcealed and unconcealable machinery of tribal religion inflated by modern wealth to an industrial scale.

 

Edited July 1, 2017 by Robert F. Smith

[Bernard Gui]

8 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Levites and those among them who are literal descendants of Aaron (and of priestly authority) are still found among the Jews.  And this is recognized in latter-day scripture as still having authority.

DC 68:14-21 specifies that a man who is a literal descendant of Aaron (a cohen) has a legal right to the presidency of the Aaronic priesthood (i.e. the Presiding Bishop) of the Church.  Although even in the case where there is such a man, he still must be called by the First Presidency.

DC 13, which contains words which John the Baptist spoke to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as he conferred the Aaronic priesthood upon them, speaks of a time when the Sons of Levi will offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.

What is clear from this is that non-Levites will continue to exercise the Aaronic priesthood until the Sons of Aaron are again available to do so in righteousness.  

 

Any ideas on the red heifer?

[clarkgoble]

8 hours ago, Bernard Gui said:

Any ideas on the red heifer?

A recent Interpreter article in the last issue discusses it for a page or so including a photo.

https://www.mormoninterpreter.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/bradshaw-v24-2017-pp123-316-PDF.pdf

[Stargazer]

On 7/1/2017 at 10:47 AM, Bernard Gui said:

Any ideas on the red heifer?

Nope!  Sorry.

[Bernard Gui]

On 7/1/2017 at 7:00 PM, clarkgoble said:

A recent Interpreter article in the last issue discusses it for a page or so including a photo.

https://www.mormoninterpreter.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/bradshaw-v24-2017-pp123-316-PDF.pdf

Thanks. I'll comment in a while.

 

[rodheadlee]

On 6/30/2017 at 2:08 PM, Bernard Gui said:

My understanding is that the modern Church does not replace Israel, but rather is the first phase part of the gathering of scattered Israel that must take place before Messiah comes again. Of course, for the Jews that would be simply when Messiah comes. Many things are to happen as the Saints and the Jews prepare for that event. The allegory of the olive tree deals with this as does Orson Hyde's prophetic dedication of the land for their return. Politically, IMO a miracle must happen before the temple in Jerusalem can be built. I've always thought it odd that the current situation in Jerusalem regarding the temple has not been a matter of prophecy, or maybe it has?

I have not read any LDS material on the red heifer which also surprises me given the importance this article appears to gives it.

Luke 13 :30, I  recommend 1-30 to get the context

30 And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are ^afirst which shall be last.

[clarkgoble]

Something else worth noting is that the Salt Lake temple nearly had a place for sacrifices. 

Under the pulpit in the west End [of the SLC Temple ] will be a place to Offer Sacrafizes. [sp] There will be an Altar prepared for that purposes [sp] so that when any sacrifices are to be offered they should be offered there. (Wilford Woodruff Journal: 1833-1898, Dec. 18, 1857, vol. 5, pg. 140)

I'm not sure why they finally decided against it.

Edited July 3, 2017 by clarkgoble

[theplains]

On 30/06/2017 at 2:17 PM, snowflake said:

The Mormon take is that this will happen in Jackson county Missouri correct? Not sure if the Temple Institute in Jerusalem got the memo on that specific point.

Maybe the LDS leadership will receive their own memo that it's time to start building the New Jerusalem in
Jackson Country.   It might come in the form of a declaration or revelation.  My feeling is that they are afraid
of building it (were they ever to have gain control of the land) and then Jesus never makes an appearance
there.  Imagine the poetic justice if the ownership of Temple Lot potentially becomes the iceberg that sinks
Smith's prophecy.

Jim

[CMZ]

I was at some sort of fireside, perhaps a Know Your Religion, around the mid-90's when the speaker mentioned the red heifer thing and talked about how some actual calf that had recently been born somewhere in the area of the Holy Land fit the needed description.

[Calm]

There have been a number announced that I remember (though it is possible most are repeats of a few as .I don't generally follow them up too closely...wiki says there have been 2 in 97 and 2002, both disqualified, but allegedly now a third).  They often get disqualified later on:

https://www.templeinstitute.org/archive/red_heifer_born.htm

If red heifers were so stringent in their requirements in the past, I wonder how most Israelites were ever purified as many would have had contact with a corpse in those days, so as to require this ceremony to be relatively frequent, I am guessing.

"The red heifer (Hebrew: פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה‬; para adumma), also known as the red cow, was a cow brought to the priests as a sacrifice according to the Hebrew Bible, and its ashes were used for the ritual purification of Tum'at HaMet ("the impurity of the dead"), that is, an Israelite who had come into contact with a corpse."

The claims of ensuring the purities of those involved sound close to child abuse as well, so I hope rules got inflated overtime to increase the sense of importance.

"The Mishnah recounts that children were used to draw and carry the water for the ceremony, children born and reared in isolation for the specific purpose of ensuring that they never came into contact with a corpse..."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_heifer

Edited May 21, 2018 by Calm