Doctrines Plus Covenants

Doctrines Plus Covenants www.kevinhinckley.com

Alternate Primary Songs "When I Go to Church,“ I always take a box of candy. When I go to church. I nibble it, it's soft and sweet. I let it fall beneath my feet. It gets stuck to the bishop's feet When I go to church. "A Happy Family,“ I love money, it loves me. I love spending lavishly. But I'm broke, and so you see, That's why I'm into burglary. "The Golden Plates,“ The china plates lay hidden Deep in the cabinet drawer Until the child found them And dropped them on the floor.

Questions as we begin the Doctrine and Covenants How should we approach our study of church history and the doctrines and covenants found in the Doctrine and Covenants?

Elder Marlin JensonChurch Historian After long and prayerful consideration of pertinent scriptural passages by both the assigned General Authorities and Church history staff members… ….a scriptural mandate has been articulated. We feel the purpose of Church History is to help Church members make and keep their sacred covenants [This is] to be accomplished in three ways: First, Church history is to witness to the truths of the Restoration. Second, Church history is to help us remember…”the great things that the Lord [has] done for [our] fathers. Finally, Church history is to preserve the revealed order of the kingdom. Religious Educator, Vol 8, No 3, 2007, p. 5

Notes: This is a good place to talk about what we should be talking about in Gospel Doctrine. This class is not a place to be talking about interesting facts or faith promoting rumors. It should be a place where what we talk about needs to be focused on those things that also will help members “make and keep sacred covenants.

Question But what should we do with the “warts” of church leaders and church history?

Notes: Good place to talk about how we handle the “difficult questions”; that is, those topics (polygamy, temples/masonry…) in the church. We don’t have a place to discuss them in new member discussions, etc. But, again, Gospel Doctrine is not the place either.

Elder Jenson …the question is sometimes asked, “do you tell everything?” I think in the process we must exercise discretion and good judgement in the telling of Church history. The audience for which the material is intended must also be taken into account. A good guideline is provided by…Elder Dallen Oaks, “Some things are true but not useful.” Its not that we have anything to hide—most facts…are in the public domain in some form—its more a question of propriety and whether good will be done and faith increased if we tell it. Will it be useful?

Questions as we begin the Doctrine and Covenants How should we approach our study of church history and the doctrines and covenants found in the Doctrine and Covenants? What unique knowledge is contained in the Doctrine and Covenants?

Just one example:In what ways does the world view: The God of the Old Testament The God of the New Testament

Notes: The world tends to see an angry, vengeful God of the Old Testament and a loving, merciful God in the New.

For Example, Elder Bruce Hafen The Calvinist doctrines that underlie the Puritan ethic… are misleading. Not only does Calvinism deny free agency, it also teaches that our successes are evidence that God has chosen us, while our failures are evidence that God has rejected us. This logic seems compelling enough that those who believe it are more likely to seek success than they are to seek God. At the other extreme, those who experience personal failures can all too easily assume they are the rejects of heaven. When self-doubt of that kind sets in, the will to keep striving may wane. It is natural to assume that when we don't appear to be doing "excellently" the perfection process is not working. But the exact opposite may be true. Our moments of greatest stress and difficulty are often the times when the refiner's fire is doing its most purifying work. Broken Heart: Applying the Atonement to Life's Experiences ( 1989), p. 97

How do we view: The God of the Doctrine and Covenants The God of the Old Testament The God of the New Testament

Notes: Joseph Smith recorded three separate visits with the Savior. You might discuss with the class what Joseph learned from each of the following visits.

Joseph’s three Recorded Visions with Savior The Call The First Vision (JS 1) The Vision Three Degrees of Glory (D&C 76) The Keys Keys to the Last Dispensation (D&C 110)

Notes: The following typifies the Savior we learn about in the Doctrine and Covenants.

Jesus the Advocate D&C 45 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him— Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, … Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren…

Notes: The upcoming note also typifies the kind of life and “peaceful walk” we learn to walk with the knowledge coming from the D&C. After reading this quote, talk about how we learn to live a life of quiet service;

Finally, what kind of lives does the Doctrine and Covenants suggest we live? An image suggesting this kind of private relationship with the Lord is described in a story by Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson tells of his boyhood, growing up in a part of England where darkness came early in the evening. He and his friends imitated British policemen by carrying small, tin "bull's-eye" lanterns on their belts. Just for the fun of it, Stevenson and his friends made a game out of hiding the glowing lantern inside the front of their buttoned overcoats and then making their way along the dark paths as if they had no light with them. In Stevenson's words: When two of these [lads] met, there would be an anxious, "Have you got your lantern?" and a gratified "Yes!" … for, as it was the rule to keep our glory contained, none could recognize a lantern-bearer. . . . The essence of this bliss was to walk by yourself in the black night, the slide shut, the top-coat buttoned, not a ray escaping, whether to conduct your footsteps or to make your glory public, —a mere pillar of darkness in the dark; and all the while, deep down in the privacy of your fool's heart, to know you had a bull's-eye at your belt, and to exult and sing over the knowledge. . . . [One's] life from without may seem but a rude mound of mud: [but] there will be some golden chamber at the heart of it, in which he dwells delighted; and for as dark as his pathway seems to the observer, he will have some kind of bull's-eye at his belt. (Bruce Hafen, The Broken Heart, p. 105)

Doctrines Plus Covenants