REL C 225 Midterm

Who is the cornerstone of the Restoration?

Jesus Christ

What are the six foundational time periods of Church history we will cover in this class (titles and years)?

Beginnings 1820-1831

Two Church Centers 1831-1838

Nauvoo 1839-1846

Church in the West 1846-1950

Expansion 1950-1989

Worldwide Church 1990-Present

For this class, what is the definition of doctrine?

An authorized church teaching, or an official teaching

What are the four types of doctrine?

Core doctrine - unchanging truths of salvation; the essentials, known and believed to be saved

Supportive doctrine - elaboration, descriptive, timely teachings expanding on core doctrine

Policy doctrine - timely statements related to applications of supportive or core doctrine (often have to do with behaviors)

Esoteric Doctrine - unknown or only partially revealed or yet to be revealed truth

What are the four sources of evaluating an official Latter-day Saint teaching?

1. Is it found repeatedly in the scriptures?

2. Is there a united statement from the first presidency and the quorum of the 12?

3. Is it consistently taught by General Authorities and Officers of the church, acting in their official capacity? 

4. Is it found in recent Church publications or statements?

What are the five factors for evaluating a historical source?

1. Is it a primary account?

2. What is its relationship with other sources?

3. Is it a contemporary account?

4. Does it seek an objective perspective?

5. Are the claims supported by evidence?

Why are there different First Vision accounts (3 Factors)?

1. Audience and context - who is Joseph talking to?

2. Purpose and content - Why is Joseph saying what he’s saying?

3. Memory and interpretation - as time goes on, we interpret things differently

How many primary accounts of the First Vision did Joseph produce, and what years were they written?

4 Primary Accounts

1832 Account

1835 Account

1838 Account

1842 Account

What was the audience for each of Joseph’s accounts? 

1832 Account - unpublished autobiography

1835 Account - Robert Matthews, a visitor to Kirtland, Ohio

1838 Account - official church history, canonized in Pearl of Great Price

1842 Account - published for an audience unfamiliar with Latter-day Saint beliefs

What is the unique content found in each of the primary First Vision accounts (major themes or ideas emphasized)?

1832 Account - Focuses most on personal redemption

1835 Account - Focuses most on visionary, otherworldly experiences

1838 Account - Focuses most on which Church to join, with pre and post vision details

1842 Account - Focuses most on a concise summary for non-LDS audience

Who wrote the secondary accounts of the First Vision?

Orsen Pratt

Orsen Hyde

Levi Richards

David Nye White

Alexander Neibaur

What are two primary doctrinal messages from the First Vision?

There had been a “Doctrinal Apostasy” through the creeds of Christianity

There had been an apostasy from authorized ordinances and covenants

What is a creed?

Credo - I believe

Creeds were formed to get at what a Christian believes

What are the basic Christian creeds?

1. The Apostles Creed - the one we might agree with most 

2. The Nicene Creed - starts to take it further, talks about the divinity of Jesus

3. The Chalcedonian Creed - trinitarian doctrine

4. The Athanasion Creed - takes it the furthest - one eternal

How do creeds define a Christian?

The creedal definitions of the trinity God

What could it mean that churches “deny God’s power”?

They have a form of godliness, but they deny the power of God that comes through priesthood ordinances and covenants

When and how did Joseph Smith obtain his brown seer stone, and what did he use it for?

When he was 16 years old, he found a brown seer stone when digging a well on the Willard property

What took Joseph to Harmony, PA?

He went to dig for Josiah Stoale

How many years passed from Moroni’s first visit to Joseph Smith until Joseph could obtain the gold plates?

4

What did Joseph need to repent of before he could obtain the plates?

his desire for money and fame

What year did Joseph Smith obtain the gold plates and when was the Book of Mormon translation completed?

He received the plates in September 1827

Most of the Book of Mormon was translated from April 1829 - June 1829, 65-72 working days

What is the broader definition of Urim and Thummim?

Interpreters

How was the Book of Mormon translated?

“Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God”

What were the instruments used in the translation of the Book of Mormon?

Urim and Thummim, Seer Stone, Spectacles

What are at least five reliable databases to find high quality content related to Latter-day Saint history and doctrine?

Religious Studies Center, BYU Studies, Joseph Smith Papers, Church Topics and Questions, Scriptures.byu.edu

What is a one-word summary from Doctrine and Covenants 22 why this Church was established and is true?

True - The church is authorized to govern God’s kingdom on the earth and to dispense the covenants and ordinances of salvation

What is the difference between priesthood power, authority, offices, keys, and ordinances?

Priesthood: The authority and power that God gives to man to act in all things for the salvation of man.

Priesthood Power (comes through righteousness): No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; D&C 121:41

Priesthood authority: the authorization to represent God and act in His name

Priesthood offices: Deacon, Teacher, Priest, Elder, High Priest, Bishop, Patriarch, Seventy, Apostle (have to do with oversee the ordinances of salvation)

Priesthood ordinances - outward rituals done by priesthood office and authority to help us become bound to God

Priesthood keys - the authority to direct the use of the priesthood on behalf of God’s children

What four priesthood offices existed when the Church was organized in 1830?

Deacon, Teacher, Priest, Elder

What priesthood keys did John the Baptist restore?

Aaronic Priesthood - the ministering of angels, the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins

What priesthood and keys did Peter, James, and John restore?

Melchizedek Priesthood - The Keys of the Apostleship, The Keys of the Kingdom, The Keys of the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times

What occurred in the chamber of father Whitmer and what is its relationship to the office of elder?

The voice of the Lord authorized and instructed Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to ordain each other elders and confer the Holy Ghost.

What occurred at the June 1831 conference regarding high priesthood or Melchizedek’s priesthood?

The authority of the Melchizedek priesthood was manifested and conferred, for the first time, upon several of the elders

Other than John The Baptist and Peter, James, and John, who are at least five other angels that restored priesthood to Joseph Smith?

Moses - gather Israel, Elias - Abrahamic covenant, Elijah- sealing power, Moroni - fulfillment of prophets, Adam, Michael the archangel, Gabriel, Raphael

What is the patriarchal or familial priesthood, and where and how is it conferred?

The patriarchal priesthood is the covenants of exaltation, and was restored by Elijah

What Doctrine and Covenants section is known as the Church’s constitution, or its Articles and Covenants?

1. Section 20 

2. Logical segments - Amen

3. One of the revelations presented to the church to ratify

What are six foundational doctrines found in the Church’s constitution in Doctrine and Covenants 20?

1. We have a God in Heaven

2. God is our Creator 

3. Man is Fallen

4. Jesus Christ offered an Atonement 

5. Obey the gospel - faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost 

6. Justification and Sanctification

What is the 1833 Book of Commandments?

Joseph Smith's book of revelations

What were the original doctrine and covenants parts that created the 1835 book’s title?

Theology on the doctrine of the church (included lectures on faith), Covenants and commandments of the Lord (Joseph’s revelations)

What were the various origins of how some D&C revelations were received?

Minutes, journal entries, talk that he gave, the Lord speaking and Joseph dictating, dictated words that appeared on the stones

What book of scripture is the foundation of the Church?

The Doctrine and Covenants

Why do we need the Doctrine and Covenants if we have the Book of Mormon?

The Book of Mormon - the book of salvation; D&C - the book of exaltation

What is a three-step approach to studying the Doctrine and Covenants?

1. Learn the background and historical context 

2. Study for original intent 

3. Explain and apply the truths

Why are written revelations sometimes altered?

Clarify ideas more clearly; add to the revelations; errors in transcription;

What is Joseph’s Promise regarding the Doctrine and Covenants?

Search the scriptures - search the revelations which we publish and ask your Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ

What are examples of canonization (sections added) and decanonization (sections taken away) in the Doctrine and Covenants?

Canonization: 119, 135, 2, 13, 110, 136, 137, 138, Official declaration 1 and 2

Decanonization: 1835 statement on marriage, lectures on faith

What are the Stewardship test, the Brethren test, and the Fruits test pertaining to personal revelation?

The Stewardship Test - Is it within my defined realm of responsibility, and do I make the final decision?

The Brethren Test - Is it consistent with the united voice of the current 1st Presidency and 12 Apostles?

The Fruits Test - Does it produce the fruits of the Spirit and help me make and keep sacred covenants?

What is the Spirit’s primary role?

The Spirit leads us to do good, to do justly, to walk humbly, and to judge righteously

How did we get the Pearl of Great Price, and when was it canonized?

A vision of Moses, translation of ancient papyrus scrolls (Abraham), revision of Matthew, Joseph Smith History, Articles of Faith

Where does the Book of Moses come from?

A vision of Moses, he begins to translate Moses’ words

What does it mean that Joseph Smith translated the Bible?

Interpret - to discern it’s meaning 

Translation = Inspired, Appropriate Interpretation

Prophetic transmission - to add to, to take away, to clarify, to restore original intent, to rephrase, to reinterpret, to apply

How many changes did Joseph Smith make to the Bible, and how many of those changes are included in the Latter-day Saint Bible today?

3,400 changes, 1/3 of those in the footnotes or back of the scriptures

How is the JST connected to the D&C?

At the same time he is translating he gets revelation about Zion. 

JST is a launch pad for D&C 

Why was Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible considered to be open-ended (unfinished)?

How could you ever clarify, interpret, apply, the whole Bible?

What is a four-step process to interpret scripture?

• Bible translations 

• Modern Prophets 

• Other scriptures

• Historical context

Where does the Book of Abraham come from?

Egyptian papyri that Joseph Smith translated

What are some of the academic challenges and responses to the Book of Abraham?

None of the character on the papyrus fragments mention Abraham’s name or any of the events recorded in the book of Abraham

What does it mean that Abraham desired the “blessings of the fathers”?

He wants the priesthood after the order of the Son of God 

The fathers- the great patriarchs, Melchizedek, Noah, Adam, Enoch

What is the Abrahamic covenant?

Make thee a great nations, a blessing unto thy seed, bear this ministry and priesthood to all nations, to become the children of God

Who may the planet Kolob best symbolize?

Kolob symbolizes Jesus Christ

What do the three facsimiles represent?

Deliverance, eternal knowledge, judgment/exaltation

What main gospel themes are present in the Book of Abraham?

• Become a priest to God 

• Make eternal covenants

• Be taught and instructed 

• Learn about Creation, fall, and Atonement

What is the Lamanite mission and its major effect on the Church?

Four men leave from Fayette New York and travel 1,000 miles 

To “go forth unto the Lamanites, to proclaim glad tidings of great joy unto them, by presenting unto them the fulness of the gospel”

“Also to rear up a pillar as a witness where the Temple of God shall be built, in the glorious New Jerusalem” 

Where was the Church first commanded to gather in this dispensation?

Ohio

Where will the latter-day city of Zion be built?

Independence, Missouri

What was Joseph Smith’s vision for Zion?

Millennium and Second Coming mindset 

Gather the righteous into one place 

Zion will be all the righteous gathered together 

Honest men 

Walk with God 

The poor were cared for 

What are three reasons where the saints disobeyed the Lord in gathering to Zion?

1. Gathered too quickly 

2. Gathered without permission

3. Refused to consecrate

What Doctrine and Covenants section is known as the Law of the Church?

Section 42

What are the more perfect, non-10 commandment laws listed in D&C 42?

Preach the gospel

Love thy spouse with all thy heart 

Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor, nor do him any harm

Thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties

Thou shalt not be proud in thine heart

Thou shalt not be idle

Thou shalt live together in love

Thou shalt stand in the place of thy stewardship 

Thou shalt not take thy brother’s garment; thou shalt pay for that which thou shalt receive of thy brother

And if thou obtainest more than that which would be for thy support, thou shalt give it into my storehouse, that all things may be done according to that which I have said 

Teach them unto all men; for they shall be taught unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people

What are the definitions of and differences between all things common, the United Firm (order) and the law of consecration?

All things common - the law of stewardship of properties; a small group of people that are poor and interdependent, redistribution

The United Firm (Order) - a consecration based business organization of the church; uniting the businesses of Missouri and Ohio, pooled resources to care for full time church leaders and send resources to help church members 

The law of consecration - As God’s agent, you dedicate your time, talents and means to building up God’s kingdom on earth as he directs you 

The Law of consecration is fully in effect in this church