Messenger
It has become a common belief amongst many Latter-day Saints that the atonement of Jesus extends to other earths like ours. This teaching is common in wards throughout the world, and is mentioned in books about the Savior by several by modern Mormon authors. But is this a revealed doctrine or just a popular theory, and what have the scriptures and prophets had to say on this subject?
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Brigham Young gave over 30 sermons on Adam, in a period of 25 years. As he never gave all of the details of what he believed in one single sermon, this is an attempt to compile all of his unique teachings into one text, as if he were explaining it from begging to end.
All of the words come from Brigham Young. The quotes used are uninterrupted, except in a few instances in which he went on to another aspect of this subject in mid-sentence. References are given throughout, so that a reader can compare it to the original account, and see for themselves that Brother Brigham did indeed clearly and repeatedly teach this same doctrine, in all of its aspects, and on several occasions.1
President Brigham Young, 1852-1877
from the Journal of Discourses & Manuscript Addresses
Now, let all who may hear these doctrines, pause before they make light of them, or treat them with indifference, for they will prove their salvation or damnation.2 It3 will be a curse to many of the elders of Israel because of their folly with regard to it.”4
Adam’s birth & mortal life
When you tell me that father Adam was made as we make adobes from the earth, you tell me what I deem an idle tale. When you tell me that the beasts of the field were produced in that manner, you are speaking idle words devoid of meaning. There is no such thing in all the eternities where the Gods dwell.5
Did the Lord put into him his spirit? Yes, as the Lord put into you your spirit, he was begotten of a father, and brought forth as you and I were;6 He was made just the same way you and I are made, but on another earth. … He had lived on an earth similar to ours.7
Though we have it in history that our father Adam was made of the dust of this earth, and that he knew nothing about his God previous to being made here, yet it is not so; … Adam was made from the dust of an earth, but not from the dust of this earth.”8
He was made of the dust of the earth where he lived, where he honored his calling, believed in his Saviour, or Elder Brother, …9 He had been with the his10 Lord and had lived with him upon an earth like this and had been faithful and overcome, … and was well acquainted with the Lord and was one of his ‘mess mates.11’12
He had received the Priesthood and the keys thereof, and had been faithful in all things13 He did abide his creation, and did honor to his calling and Priesthood. He obeyed his Master or Lord, and probably many of his wives did the same; they lived and died upon an earth, and then were resurrected again to immortality and eternal life.14
On September 27th, 1886 President John Taylor received what many have called his most controversial revelation. Its existence has been debated since the 1930s, and its standing and meaning have been called into question ever since.
It was written whilst Taylor was in hiding to avoid imprisonment for living plural marriage, and at a time when several Church members were calling upon him to end that practice. These facts are not disputed, even by the document’s critics. Neither have their been any suggestions that the text has been altered in any way, which is as follows:
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A new century dawns upon the world today. The hundred years just completed were the most momentous in the history of man upon this planet. It would be impossible in a hundred days to make even a brief summary of the notable events, the marvelous developments, the grand achievements, and the beneficial inventions and discoveries, which mark the progress of the ten decades now left behind in the ceaseless march of humanity. The very mention of the nineteenth century suggests advancement, improvement, liberty, and light. Happy are we to have lived amidst its wonders and shared in the riches of its treasures of intelligence!
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In the summer of 1845 a curious article appeared in the Times & Seasons magazine1, the official LDS Church periodical of the time. We cannot know for certain who the author was, but we do know that the Editor John Taylor approved it for publication. The first part concluded with the disclaimer that it was “not revelation, but the innuendoes relate to holy transactions, which may lead good people to search after truth and find it.”
As for the title of the article, “Paracletes”, it is a Greek word which the New Testament translates Comforter, another name for the Holy Ghost. Whether the author is referring to the spirit with which the article should be read or to the “holy spirits” his story is about is unknown.
This commentary attempts to explain its symbolic language, and make it more accessible to modern Latter-day Saints who may not realize what it is trying to teach, and the significance of the article itself. It is hoped that it will help those reading to “search after the truth and find it.”
1. Once upon a time, the most honorable men of the creations or universes, met together to promote the best interest of the great whole. – The ‘head’ said to his oldest son, “you are the rightful heir to all, but you know I have many kingdoms and many mansions, and of course it will need many kings and many priests, to govern them, come you with me in solemn council, and let us and some of the ‘best’ men we have had born in the regions of light, to rule in those kingdoms and set them in order by exhibiting good that evil may be manifest.”
2. It was said and done, for every thing there, was adopted from the ‘head’ by common consent. As free agency gave the sons of the ‘head’ a fair chance to choose for themselves, the most noble of the hosts, came forward and selected a world or kingdom, and a time or a season, when he would take his chance, at winning the hearts of the multitude, a kingdom, crown, and never ending glory.
3. The innumerable multiplicity of kingdoms, or spheres for action, with beings and animals in proportion, and time, times, eternity and eternities, for a full development of the qualities and powers of each, would so far exceed the common comprehension of mortals, that I can only say eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, nor hath a natural heart yet been able to calculate either. I then shall content myself, for this time to sketch but one. Idumia2 is the one as interesting as any, and being situated at an immense distance from the center or “head’s” residence, and many eternities from the birth of the “Son of the morning” or even the great holy day when the “morning stars sang together,”3 because so many worlds had been wrought out and left “empty and desolate,”4 as places for “all the sons” of God to multiply and replenish the earth, I select that.
The “head’s residence” in this case is probably Kolob, the world where our heavenly Father’s father resided, and where our earth (which it calls Idumia) during its early organization revolved around until it “fell” into its present orbit.
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“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”1 Thus states the first verse of holy writ accepted by the Jewish, Christian and Muslim world. To them there is only one God, but to Latter-day Saints the question of which God was responsible for the creation of the earth is not such a simple one. We believe in a Godhead of three divine beings, and that there were Gods that preceded our own, and so the question of which God we are referring to at any one time can be more complex.
During the last 100 years it has become a popular idea amongst many latter-day Saints that Jesus Christ was the primary creator of this earth. That he fashioned the physical world we live upon, if not all the planets in our solar system. However, several verses of scripture seem to challenge this view, whilst others seem to support it. How do we reconcile this?
God the Father or Jesus as Creator?
Jesus in the Joseph Smith translation of the gospel of Matthew tell us to “call no-one your creator, but your Father in heaven”2, and from the first verse in Genesis to the book of Revelation it speaks of “God … that made heaven and earth and the sea”3 Likewise, in the Book of Mormon we are told that “God … hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.”4 This would seem to indicate that God the Father is the creator of the earth and everything upon it, including us.
Yet, the Book of Mormon introduces us to the idea that Jesus played a vital part in the creation, when King Benjamin states “he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning”5 This is a concept that the Savior Himself repeats when he visits the new world and states, “I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.”6 Similarly, in our day He proclaimed to Joseph Smith, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who created the heavens and the earth,”7 How then can God the Father and Jesus Christ both be creators?
Here the scriptures gives us a valuable insight. In the Epistles of Paul we are taught that “God … created all things by Jesus Christ”8 and that it was “by His Son … He [God] made the worlds”9 To Moses God taught the same thing when he told him that, “I am … the Almighty God; by mine Only Begotten I created these things;” and then goes on to say “in the beginning I [God] created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest.”10
If it is true that “whether [God’s speaks] by His own voice or by the voice of His servants, it is the same”11 then whether it is God who acts or His Son it is also the same, because, as Jesus tells the Nephite Saints He “came into the world to do the will of His Father”12
Contents
Plural Marriage & The Parable of the Talents
Circumcision – A Covenant Fulfilled
Jessica: “I shall be saved by my husband; he hath made me a Christian.”
Shylock’s servant: “This making of Christians will raise the price of hogs: if we all become pork-eaters, in no time we’ll not be able to afford to cook bacon.” (The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare)
From the days of Noah there was a distinction between clean and unclean animals. It was only the unclean animals that went in two by two.(1) It does not say, however, exactly which animals were deemed unclean. Read the rest of this entry »
The Old Covenant & Circumcision
Circumcision, the practice of removing part, or all of the foreskin, is generally associated in the world today with the Jews or Muslims.1 It is symbolic of a promise made between Abraham and God that He, “will establish a covenant of circumcision with thee, and it shall be my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations; that thou mayest know for ever that children are not accountable before me until they are eight years old.”2
Thus it was a covenant between Abraham and his descendants that their children were not accountable until they reached eight years of age;3 the age they were eligible for baptism. Associated with this practice was the giving of a child a name4, just as the Lord gave Abraham a new name following his own circumcision.5 It was also possibly God’s alternative to pagan ceremonies performed on or for the birth of a child.
Although the scriptures speak of many other principles in the first few chapters of the book of Genesis, such as the sabbath and baptism, there is no indication that circumcision existed prior to Abraham’s day: 4000 years after Adam left the garden of Eden. As far as we know Abel, Seth, Enoch, Peleg, Jared and his brother, Noah, and Melchizedek – who was Abraham’s priesthood head – were all uncircumcised. Yet Seth was called perfect6, and both Enoch and Melchizedek (along with their cities) were translated.7 It is also important to note that Abraham, the friend8 of God, found favor9 with the Lord before His circumcision. As the apostle Paul explains:
“… we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
“… For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”10
There is no passage of scripture which explicitly states that circumcision is related to salvation. The law of Moses required circumcision to partake of the Passover.11 But the law of Moses was instituted after Abraham’s covenant, as was the Passover, and its lesser laws were given by God to the wayward children of Israel.
Circumcision served an important purpose in reminding parents of their responsibility towards their children, and in separating ancient Israel from her heathen neighbors. But was God’s covenant intended to always be kept through circumcision, or could it be fulfilled somehow on our behalf? Read the rest of this entry »