Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants

1. Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants Explanatory Intro D&C 1

2. Fill in the Blank Testament • OLD ___________________ • NEW ___________________ • ANOTHER______________ • OUR___________________ Testament Testament Testament “I consider that the Doctrine and Covenants, our testament, contains a code of the most solemn, the most godlike proclamations ever made to the human family” (Wilford Woodruff, J.D., Vol. 22, p. 147).

3. “The Book of Mormon brings men to Christ. The Doctrine and Covenants brings men to Christ’s kingdom, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…The Book of Mormon is the ‘keystone’ of our religion, and the Doctrine and Covenants is the capstone, with continuing latter-day revelation. The Lord has placed His stamp of approval on both the keystone and the capstone” • Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, May 1987, 83

4. Thematic approach • Class member study guide • Our Heritage • Church History in the Fulness of Times

5. How is the Doctrine and Covenants different from other books of scripture? third paragraph in the Explanatory Introduction • not a translation • modern origin • Given through the prophet for the work of restoration • hear the voice of the Lord • No stories

6. How were the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants received? • sixth paragraph in the Explanatory Introduction • answer to prayer • real-life situations • real people How will this help you in your study of the D&C and in your life? http://www.lyocum.com/gallery/albums/traditional/joseph_smith.jpg

7. Increased understanding • Imagine that each revelation is a work of art in a museum gallery. We can appreciate the works of art on their own, to be sure, but walking through the gallery with a guide enriches the experience. The guide can direct our attention to the composition, colors, and design of the art works, note how each piece was influenced by the period in which it was created, and make suggestions for interpretation. • Steven C Harper, Making Sense of the D&C, xix

8. Our guides through the D&C • Study the content • Know the context of the revelation • Know what was going on in church history • Chapter headings • Know the people and their circumstances • Assess the fruits of the revelation, how did it affect the people involved?

9. Revelations “Esteemed highly”Do we hold revelation in high esteem? • We often had access to the manuscripts (of the revelations) when boarding with the Prophet; and it was our delight to read them over and over again, before they were printed. And so highly were they esteemed by us, that we committed some to memory; and a few we copied for the purpose of reference in our absence on missions, and also to read them to the saints for their edification. These copies are still in our possession. • Orson Pratt, The Seer, (Mar 1854): 228

10. How does prayer relate to revelation? • The purpose of prayer, however, is not to appease a vindictive Deity; nor is it to court favors from an indulgent Father. It is to attune oneself with the spirit or light which “proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space.” (D&C 88:12.) In that light is to be found sure answers to all our needs. • Prayer is the key which unlocks the door and lets Christ into our lives. • Marion G. Romney, “Prayer and Revelation,” Ensign, May 1978, 48

11. eighth paragraph in the Explanatory Introduction • What are some of the doctrines of the gospel that are explained in the Doctrine and Covenants?

12. 1st paragraph of Explanatory Intro • What reasons are given for why these revelations were given? • for the establishment and regulation of the kingdom of God on earth in the last days • messages, warnings, exhortations for temporal well-being and everlasting salvation

13. Chronological order of contents • During what years were more than seventy of the revelations received? • Why do you think so many of them were given during those years? • Why do you think the Lord did not give the Prophet Joseph Smith all of the revelations at one time?

14. We must plod along growing • The individual seeking knowledge goes to school for several years. He learns line upon line and precept upon precept. There is no other way. Perhaps he may think it would be an excellent thing could he go to school, say for one year, and accomplish everything, but all knowledge comes in the same way, that is, gradually through study and by faith. In the establishment of the church, Joseph Smith had to be instructed a little at a time. If the Lord had revealed to him the fulness of the plan of salvation with all its covenants and obligations at one time, he would have been overwhelmed as with a flood and could not have endured. So it is with us in all other matters of learning. We must plod along growing in understanding and power day by day. • Joseph Fielding Smith, TPJS, 304

15. We must be ready • One man wryly put it this way:” I would love to run a marathon. I think it would be a great accomplishment. But that’s not enough. Oh, I could take my body to the starting line and command it sternly: ‘All right, body! Here we go. Twenty-six miles, three hundred eighty-five yards. Do it!’” He then chuckled ruefully. “My body would roll on the ground, howling with laughter, and say, ‘Who are you talking to, sir?’” • Gerald N Lund, Hearing the Voice of the Lord, 157 Spiritual mastery involves the same slow process of learning and development as does physical and mental learning…It involves a lifetime of trial and error, learning and growth, moving from a spiritual crawl to spiritual mastery.

16. VideoOverview of Church History • Home and Family Collection: Church History • Or use the next slide and handout

18. Sec 1 Context • On 1 November 1831, the Prophet Joseph Smith presided at a special conference of elders, held in Hiram, Ohio. Those in attendance decided to compile some of the revelations the Prophet had received and publish them in a book called the Book of Commandments.

19. Following the first session of this conference, the Lord signified His approval for the publication by giving Joseph Smith a revelation that He called “my preface unto the book of my commandments” (D&C 1:6). This revelation is now section 1 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

20. Sec 1:Preface • What do we find in this section that might prepare us for reading the other revelations?

21. D&C 1:1-2HearkenThe Lord calls for our attention • About 30 sections begin with the word hearken in the first verse, 30 more with behold, and several with hear or listen.

22. Do we listen to Other Voices? • The adversary tries to smother this voice with a multitude of loud, persistent, persuasive, and appealing voices: • • Murmuring voices that conjure up perceived injustices. • • Whining voices that abhor challenge and work. • • Seductive voices that offer sensual enticements. • • Soothing voices that lull us into carnal security. • • Intellectual voices that profess sophistication and superiority.

23. Do we listen to Other Voices? • • Proud voices that rely on the arm of flesh. • • Flattering voices that puff us up with pride. • • Cynical voices that destroy hope. • • Entertaining voices that promote pleasure seeking. • • Commercial voices that tempt us to “spend money for that which is of no worth, [and our] labor for that which cannot satisfy.” 10 • • Delirious voices that spawn the desire for a “high.” • James E. Faust, “Voice of the Spirit,” Ensign, June 2006, 3

24. D&C 1:4A voice of warning •  What warnings does the Lord issue in this section? • D&C 1:7–10, • D&C 1:12–16, • D&C 1:31–33. • How do these warnings apply to us?

25. Sec 1: The Voice of WarningHearken and Prepare Blessings and purposes to Those who hearken and prepare Vs 20-33 Fate of those who stray Vs 10-16

26. Warning to those who don’t hearken

27. D&C 1:17-28Purposes for revelations in D&C

28. D&C 18-23 Purposes of the Doctrine and Covenants and the latter-day work aimed at the Church or the world as a whole D&C 1:24-28 Purposes of the Doctrine and Covenants to guide the individual members

29. Hearken or Stray?

30. D&C 1:1-4,11,34-35 • For whom are the messages of the Doctrine and Covenants intended? • How are these messages to go to all people?

31. We can see and feel the excitement of the Church’s growth. However, the Lord needs more than onlookers who cheer from the sidelines; we must ask ourselves if we are keeping pace and doing our part as families and as individuals. President Gordon B. Hinckley said: “This is a season of a thousand opportunities. It is ours to grasp and move forward. What a wonderful time it is for each of us to do his or her small part in moving the work of the Lord on to its magnificent destiny” Ensign, Nov. 1997, 67). What can we each do individually and in our families to help move forward the Lord’s great latter-day work?

32. D&C 1:23,30 • What is the destiny of His latter-day work? • How are the prophecies of the Church’s growth being fulfilled in our day?

33. Challenges presented by growth in the church and coming out of obscurity •  What are some examples of the Church’s efforts to meet these challenges? • increase in temple building, • efforts to build priesthood leadership, • the hastening of the translation of scriptures into many languages • purity of doctrine

34. D&C 1:35Is it futile to work for peace? • We know the prophecies of the future. We know the final outcome. We know the world collectively will not repent and consequently the last days will be filled with much pain and suffering. Therefore, we could throw up our hands and do nothing but pray for the end to come so the millennial reign could begin.

35. To do so would forfeit our right to participate in the grand event we are all awaiting. We must all become players in the winding-up scene, not spectators. We must do all we can to prevent calamities, and then do everything possible to assist and comfort the victims of tragedies that do occur. • Glen L Pace, Ensign, Nov 1990, 8

36. D&C 1:38How should we regard the statements of Church leaders? • The most important prophet, so far as we are concerned, is the one who is living in our day and age. This is the prophet who has today’s instructions from God to us today. God’s revelation to Adam did not instruct Noah how to build the ark. Every generation has need of the ancient scripture plus the current scripture from the living prophet. Therefore, the most crucial reading and pondering which you should do is of the latest inspired words form the Lord’s mouthpiece. That is why it is essential that you have access to and carefully read his words in current Church publications. • Ezra Taft Benson, Korea Area conf Report, 1975, 52

37. D&C 1:34-38Search His Words • What does the Lord teach us about His words and His voice in these verses? • How is searching the scriptures different from merely reading them? • How have you benefited from searching the Lord’s words in the Doctrine and Covenants?

38. Why is our dispensation different from any of the previous ones? • this dispensation will not end in apostasy • the Church will continue to grow until it fills the earth • the way is prepared for the Lord’s Second Coming Jeffrey R Holland, BYU Dev, Sept 12,2004

39. Next Week • “Behold, I Am Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World”

40. Other notes

41. BD 657/DispensationsD&C 112:30-32 • the lessons this year will cover many of the major events of our dispensation—the dispensation of the fulness of times (D&C 112:30–32)

42. The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times • “Prophets, priests and kings … have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung and written and prophesied of this our day; but they died without the sight; we are the favored people that God has made choice of to bring about the Latter-day glory; it is left for us to see, participate in and help to roll forward the Latter-day glory, ‘the dispensation of the fulness of times’ ” • (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 231).

43. History of the Doctrine and Covenants • The “unfinished” Book of Commandments, published in Missouri in 1833, contained 65 revelations the Prophet Joseph Smith received from the Lord, but there were others to be placed in the book (see D&C 1:6 and the section headings for D&C 1; 67; 69–70). In 1835, new revelations the Prophet Joseph received from the Lord, together with those published in the Book of Commandments, were published as the Doctrine and Covenants. This edition of the Doctrine and Covenants had 103 sections (there were 2 sections numbered 66). Since then, Presidents of the Church have received many more revelations, and some of them have been added to the Doctrine and Covenants. Elder Howard W. Hunter, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said that God “continues to provide guidance for all his children through a living prophet today. We declare that he, as promised, is with his servants always and directs the affairs of his Church throughout the world” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1981, 88; or Ensign, May 1981, 65).

45. What evidence is there in Church history that even though fewer sections have been added to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord continues to give revelation to His prophets? (Inspired programs such as welfare and family home evening; the LDS editions of the scriptures; “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” [Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102]; the organization of the Quorums of the Seventy; the miraculous expansion of missionary work and temple building around the world; the inspired messages from General Authorities at general conference and other occasions. These things and many others testify that prophets guide the Church in our day as much as at other times.)

46. Sec 1 •  In November 1831 the Church met in a special conference to discuss publishing the revelations that had been received by the Prophet Joseph Smith. At that time the Lord revealed His “Preface,” which appears in the Doctrine and Covenants as section 1 (see section 1 heading and v. 6). In this section the Lord gives “the voice of warning” (v. 4) to the inhabitants of the earth so they can prepare for the day of judgment. He describes the conditions or problems that exist in the world and His solution to those problems. He also declares His willingness to forgive those who repent and follow Him by forsaking Babylon, “which shall fall” (v. 16). An understanding of section 1 will serve as a foundation for your study of the Doctrine and Covenants. • CES teacher’s manual

47. 1833 Book of Commandments • 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, • 1844-through-1921 edition(s) of the Doctrine and Covenants.

48. 1833 Book of Commandments • began in 1831, and • it was for it that sections 1 and 133 were received as preface and appendix. • It gathered the earliest revelations, almost all of which were “commandments” (meaning, revelations to one or more individuals providing specific instructions or guidelines). And it gathered them in chronological order, as the D&C now does. • It was thus understood as a sort of revelatory history of the work of translating and promulgating the Book of Mormon, as that history led up to the establishment of Zion as it was underway in 1831 (the last revelations printed in the book find Joseph in Jackson County, receiving revelations about what it means to live in Zion, etc.). It is clearly to be associated with Joseph’s first translation project: though it does have occasional reference to issues arising from the earliest efforts at re-translating the Bible, its entire focus is on the work of translating and following out the implications of the Book of Mormon.

49. 1835Institutional D&C • Not only did it gather together the “commandments” that had already appeared in the Book of Commandments (all of which dated, as mentioned above, no later than 1831) and a number of subsequent “commandments” (received between 1831 and 1835), • In addition to “commandments” and beyond the content of the Book of Commandments (which, by the way, were revised and updated in many important instances), then, it contained: • many revelations associated with the New Translation project, • revelations associated with the structure and systematization of the Church, • revelations concerning the priesthood, • revelations concerning the building and organization of the temple, • theological lectures delivered in the School of the Prophets (the Lectures on Faith), and • official “statements of belief,” meant to clarify the Church’s position on several issues concerning which there had been public accusation (specifically: on political procedure and marriage).

50. 1835 • By 1834, Joseph Smith had received many more revelations and it was decided to try once again to publish them. The first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants appeared in 1835, printed by Frederick G. Williams, who was then serving as a counselor in the First Presidency. The book comprised two parts, the revelations, called “covenants,” and the “doctrine,” a collection of seven Lectures on Faith delivered in the School of the Prophets in Kirtland. These were not considered to be revelations; rather, they comprised the first priesthood lesson manual. The 1835 Doctrine and Covenants also included articles on Marriage and Governments and Laws in General (now D&C 134), penned by Oliver Cowdery, but approved in the absence of Joseph Smith, who was then in Michigan .