Contributions of Joseph Smith

(As taken from the 1989 Jan and Feb Ensign Magazine Articles entitled, The Restoration of Major Doctrine Through Joseph Smith, Part One & Two. Only a small part of that message is included here).

Although the Prophet Joseph Smith’s mortal ministry was relatively brief—little more than fifteen years—his accomplishments and influence are eternal. Not only did he restore both the gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ, as directed by the Lord, he also introduced, through the revelations he received and through his teachings, most of the major doctrines, practices, and ordinances that characterize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The doctrines Joseph Smith taught, do several things:

1. They clarify scripture
2. They restore knowledge that had been revealed ages ago but had become lost or corrupted
3. They provide new knowledge; and
4. They organize his many insights into a broad vision of eternity.

Many of the Prophet’s teachings amazed and surprised others, revealing things that they had never before supposed. Brigham Young noted:

“You can understand, from the few remarks I make with regard to the Gospel, that many things which were revealed through Joseph came in contact with our own prejudices: We did not know how to understand them. I refer to myself for an instance. …
My traditions were such, that when the Vision came first to me, it was directly contrary and opposed to my former education.”

The effects of time and familiarity lead us to forget how “directly contrary and opposed to” prevailing notions some of the revelations were. Joseph Smith, however, perceived their profound import.

The main Christian sects of the nineteenth century taught of “one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons: nor dividing the Substance” and of “one only living and true God, … a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible.” (How are we to worship or pray to something like that? Who is the being, that has no body, that would want us to picture a God like that?)

The truths about God that Joseph Smith restored are of paramount importance. In 1844, he taught that “it is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another.”

Ten years earlier, the Lectures on Faith, which Joseph Smith directed and approved, taught that to acquire faith unto salvation one needs a correct idea of God’s character, perfections, and attributes, and that one needs to know that the course of life one is pursuing is according to God’s will. He also added, “If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves.”

The Prophet explained that “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens”; that “he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did”; and that he “worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling.”

Along with these concepts is the concept of divine parents, including an exalted Mother who stands beside God the Father.

The LDS doctrine of Heavenly Father has led one recent commentator to write, “The Mormons espouse a radical, anthropomorphic conception of God that sets them far apart from other religions.”

That concept includes the truth that man and woman are created in the image of God. (See Moses 6:9; Gen. 1:27.) These truths draw all men and women into a relationship with God built upon familial love, trust, and feelings of self-worth, hope, and humility, all in proper balance.

Between his death and resurrection, the Savior visited the world of departed spirits. There he taught the righteous and authorized faithful spirits to preach the gospel to all the dead, including the wicked, so that everyone would have the opportunity to accept the full gospel of salvation. He is now exalted and perfected like his Father. (See 3 Ne. 12:48; Acts 7:55.)

Ultimately, he will take the role of the Father as the Father will “take a higher exaltation,” and God will be “thus glorified and exalted in the salvation and exaltation of all his children.”

Paul, and also the early Christians understood the true nature of God. For example, they were often charged with abandoning monotheism and worshiping two Gods. They did not deny this. “We reasonably worship Jesus,” wrote Justin Martyr in the second century A.D., “having learned that He is the Son of the true God Himself, and holding Him in second place, and the prophetic spirit in the third.”

With the apostasy and the loss of many plain and precious truths that were once part of the gospel (see 1 Ne. 13:26), the true knowledge of God was lost. The surviving fragments of truth were subsequently interpreted into mystery, and those who continued to believe in the basic truths about God were denounced as heretics. By the fourth century A.D., little remained of mankind’s original understanding of God.

It is not surprising that the true knowledge of God would be one of Satan’s prime targets and one of the first fundamental doctrines to be lost. (to be continued)