The Most Correct Book

FLECKS OF LIGHT

(The following are small parts of information taken from Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, by Robert Millet and Joseph McConkie, Vol. 1, pgs. 354-357):

"The Apostle Paul said: 'For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children' (Romans 9: 6-7).  Of our day, it might be said: Not all Mormons are Latter-day Saints; that is, not all who have entered into the new and everlasting covenant are keeping it."

Different subject:  "As the Resurrection was the tangible evidence that Jesus was the Christ for those living in the meridian of time, so the Book of Mormon is the tangible evidence of the truthfulness of the restored gospel in this dispensation.  It is our greatest missionary tool.  Here (2nd Nephi 30:3-6),  Nephi notes that from it the descendants of Lehi will learn of their fathers and that their fathers, contrary to the concepts of Christian churches generally, knew and worshipped Christ.

Indeed, it is in the Book of Mormon that we have restored to us a knowledge of the most basic and fundamental principles of the gospel, principles lost to the Bible as we presently have it.  The Book of Mormon, not the Bible, teaches that there is: 'a plan of salvation, that Christ is literally and unequivocally the Son of God.

Also, that it was necessary for Adam to fall in order that we be born, that without the Atonement, we would all become angels to the devil and on thru a host of doctrines fundamental to the exercise of faith and the obtaining of salvation…working out our salvation is a process rather than an event."

Another subject: "In earlier editions of the Book of Mormon, the phrase (2nd Nephi 30:6) read, 'white and a delightsome people.'  The manuscript that the Prophet prepared for the 1840 edition was changed to 'pure' rather than 'white.'  In the theological sense the difference is slight, 'white' being the symbol of purity. (Alma 5:24) (Mormon 9:6) (Revelation 19:8)  This, however, is not intended to say that in the course of generations righteous and faithful Lamanites will not also lose their darker skin, for such the Book of Mormon repeatedly prophesies."

Final subject:  "In 2nd Nephi 30:7 it says many shall begin to believe in Christ.  Nephi writes of a time when 'the Jews which are scattered also shall begin to believe in Christ.'  As with his prophecy describing the conversion of the Lamanites, again he emphasizes a process rather than an event.  History knows no people who have more tightly bound themselves with false traditions than the Jews.  It appears from latter-day revelation that the great conversion among the Jews will not take place until after Christ has set his foot upon the Mount of Olives.

It will then be split in two.  At that time the Jews will look upon the Lord and ask, 'What are these wounds in thine hands and in thy feet?...then shall they lament because they persecuted their king." (D&C 45:51-53)…

The work of gathering that will commence in the Millennium will be of such a magnitude that the extent of the gathering previously will hardly constitute a beginning by comparison.  (3 Nephi 21:26-28)

The Book of 3rd Nephi

DIVORCE

31. It hath been written, that whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement.

32 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; and whoso shall marry her who is divorced committeth adultery. (3 Nephi 12:31-32)

The following is from a round table discussion on the Book of Mormon, given in the year 2000, that included Andrew Skinner (AS), Joseph McConkie (JM), Dan Judd (DJ) and Brent Top (BT):

" (AS) This counsel on divorce seems pretty stiff to me.  Help me out here.  That seems to be a difficult doctrine to bump up against, particularly if you're divorced…(JM) The text is difficult and a good explanation of it may be so involved that most people are not going to remember it.  However, one thing that everyone can remember is that we have a true and living Church and a prophet at the head of the Church who holds all the keys of the kingdom.

Everybody knows somebody that got divorced and that the man who stands at the head of the Church, holding the keys of the kingdom, has given permission to go back to the temple to be sealed once more.  As far as we're concerned, the practice of the Church is the interpretation of the scriptures.

One of the great messages of this chapter is that they've got this living voice with them that supersedes all that had been said, prior to that.  We kind of miss that as we worry about how that applies to our day.  One of the key issues again is to whom was He speaking.

He was speaking to the people (of 3rd Nephi) when he said it.  In our day, we have this living prophet who holds those keys and we know how they work.  We know in our time that nobody in the Church would be considered to have committed adultery with the proper channels and the proper clearance to go back to the temple and marry again.  People worry about something here that properly they should not.

It would be helpful if we knew all that was taking place when this law was given anciently but before we worry about that, let's get a handle about what's happening today…The Gospel of Jesus Christ does not have a provision for divorce in the sense of a higher law.  Since the days of Moses, nobody had ever talked about divorce, nobody even considered it.  It was a new idea that grew out of wickedness, so we had to accommodate that in some form." 

The Book of Alma

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS FROM THE BOOK OF ALMA FROM FRAGMENTS OF CHAPTERS 32-36

(Panel consists of four BYU Professors, Robert Millet, Joseph McConkie, Camille Fronk and Andrew Skinner, beginning with Alma Chapter 32 and nourishing the word as a seed):

"This is a marvelous metaphor.  The seed is not just faith, the word or Jesus Christ.  The seed is Divine Sonship.  If I plant that seed and it grows up to be a tree, then I'm going to pluck fruits off of the tree.  Every single fruit that is sweet to the taste grows out of the doctrine of Divine Sonship.

If Jesus is literally God's Son, that means that God has to be a corporeal (tangible) Being; He has a body, parts and passions and that He really has a Son.  Now that means that in the resurrection, a man will be a man and a woman, praise the Lord, will be a woman. That means gender; we've resurrected gender and the chemistry that exists between a man and a woman as a result.

From that follows the family and the doctrine of eternal marriage, all rooting back to the seed.  We can be heirs because we are His children, joint heirs and obtain all that the Father has.  Every single principle we have discussed points back to having the right seed.

So our critics in the world say, 'You can't believe that; you can't have that; we don't find that in the Bible; that isn't part of our theology.

True enough, because they didn't plant that seed.  If you plant the seed of the Holy Trinity and you can call it what you will that grows out of it, but I don't think it's a beautiful tree.  You can search that tree endlessly, but never will you be able to find those fruits."

Then, the topic of the atonement is mentioned. "If a person stands up at fast and testimony meeting and says, 'How bad I feel that my sins are added to the suffering of the Savior.'  "It isn't an infinite atonement, plus my sins or minus my sins.   Infinite is infinite."

Next is the topic of death.  "Death doesn't change your nature.  What you are in this life is what you will be in the world of the spirits.  It is the same attitude, propensity, appetite, desire and disposition that you had in earth life.  If you are a fish in this life you are a fish in the next.  If you are a grumpy old bear in this life, you will be so in the next.

How does that square with a statement uttered by Melvin J. Ballard that it is ten times as hard to repent in the next life as it is here?  He is teaching the value of the physical body working in conjunction with spirit in accomplishing the work of salvation.

We should not anticipate getting into the next world and then doing our religious work.  Death can't put you on the path but it will not walk you off.  You just continue in your great journey."

Next, dramatic spiritual experiences are discussed.  "What is the unusual circumstance in Alma's conversion story?  There is a potential danger in the way that we teach extraordinary events, if we leave the impression in the minds of those we teach that they haven't had a true conversion if it isn't as dramatic as Alma's. 

It is a little like the evening newspaper headline.

What you are getting in the headline is not the normal routine experiences that you and I have had during the day.  Instead, it's the peculiar and the unusual.  For that reason, it is news.

For example, Moses parting the Red Sea is unusual but a prophet doesn't do that sort of thing every afternoon.  Most of us make progress in small increments, not the dramatic.

Once a young woman came to my office, after a Book of Mormon class, and sat before me and began to weep.  I asked her, 'what's wrong?'  She said that she was ashamed to say and I thought that she was going to confess some serious sin.  Finally, she said, 'I've never had a conversion experience like Alma had.' 

What do I say back to her?  Something like, 'Well, hang on, it will come or 'Really.  I'm sorry to hear that.'

No, it was very clear to me by her countenance and presence that this was a righteous individual.  Instead I said, 'No and you probably never will.  Most of us do not.'

Next on repentance, "I was sitting with a missionary companion; I think I had been on my mission for two days and we were having study time concerning forgiveness and repentance.  My companion said to me, 'Now Elder, keep in mind, if you can still remember your sins, the Lord hasn't forgiven you.'

I was shocked.  'Is that true?' I said.  He said, 'That's what the scriptures teach.'  Of course, that is not what they teach, but I didn't know that and for two weeks I went into depression.  I remembered my sins vividly and in Technicolor.

My companion meant well but the only problem was is that it was not true.  Obviously Alma was remembering and remembering graphically.

There is another lesson that needs to be learned here.  If you sin, there is no such thing as cheap grace or easy believeism.

You're not going to get rid of that sin without suffering.  Don't think you're getting away with anything.  Sin hurts: I got thru this; I repented but it was painful.  There is a great doctrine here and it is, there is no sin worth committing.  It isn't worth the suffering that's associated with it. 

A good wife is a woman that will stick with you thru all the problems you'd never have had if you hadn't have married her in the first place.  However, all of that increases thru the growth and development, joy and happiness and eternal blessings that you also wouldn't have had if you had not been true to that covenant that was tough to keep.  You learn an important lesson.  The amount of trust you place in God is the amount of support you will receive from Him."