Today I finished reading the Joseph Smith History, verses 66 - 75, and by extension, the Pearl of Great Price. In this final section, Joseph Smith meets Oliver Cowdery for the first time who serves as a scribe for the translation of the Book of Mormon. Prior to this, Emma had been serving as a scribe for Joseph after Martin Harris lost the 116 pages that he had served as a scribe for. I've personally never really liked it when people in the church brag that it only took Joseph 30 days to translate the entire Book of Mormon, or what ever period of time they say it took. I don't like it because it is misleading and in my opinion a little deceitful. The facts are, that Joseph got the plates in September 1827 and the Book of Mormon was not published until March 1830. Joseph first did translation work in December 1827 by his own account and Oliver Cowdery did not arrive until April 1829. Even from the time Oliver arrived to the time the Book of Mormon was published was almost a full year! Now I realize that he was not engaged in translating full time, but the fact of the matter is that it took almost 2 years to do the work of translation because of persecution and economic concerns.
I bring this up because like I said, it is a pet peeve of mine and bothers me because in my opinion it is borderline deceitful. I mean, if an author is writing a book, and he is fleshing out the idea and the back story and spending all this time, and then he only spends 8 months doing the actually writing, if you ask that author, most of them will include the prep time it took them to write the book. I am currently reading a book that the author did the writing in about 4 months, and it is a HUGE book of over 1000 pages, but by his own admission, it took him 10 years to write this book. So, I understand that Joseph did NOT write the Book of Mormon and it is what he says it is, a translation of an ancient text containing the revelations and teachings of prophets here in America, but opponents of the Book of Mormon and Joseph could easily state that that first year and a half Joseph "had" the plates was prep work and the actual writing took place in 30 days. That's why I don't like saying he translated the Book of Mormon in only 30 days, it sounds too defensive. I prefer when I am asked, which honestly is not that often, that he received the plates in 1827 and the book of was published in 1830.
Anyway, enough about pet peeves. The rest of this chapter is a recount of one of the most beautiful, wonderful events in human history, the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood. It is always so amazing to me that Joseph did not take more care to record the dates such amazing events took place. We do not know the day, or even the month for that matter of the First Vision. We don't know when the Melchizedek Priesthood was restored. As a matter of fact the only date we know of for sure is the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood, and by extension the baptism of Joseph and Oliver. It honestly makes me wonder if the reason we have that particular date is because Joseph told someone right away about it and THEY recorded it, perhaps even Emma, his wife. I do not say that as a slight against Joseph, I think it perfectly logical that he would not think to write down the date given what he was experiencing and how often it was happening. Nevertheless, I would personally like to know when those wonderful, world changing events happened. But I must be content with what I have.
I think I have mentioned that I have often wondered what it would be like to meet an angel. I'm pretty sure it would scare the wits out of me, but I still think it would incredible. But to not only have an angel appear but one so famous as John the Baptist would be an experience beyond words. However, even if an angel appeared, it would not be the experience I hope for I don't think. Angels always come with a set agenda. They are not there to answer questions and "get to know" me. No, really I guess I should say I long for the day when I can just meet historical figures and just talk with them. Among those I can't wait to meet one day are, in no particular order: Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, Alma the Younger, George Washington, Mahonri Moriancumer and others. Those men always fill me with wonder when I read about them and read their accounts.
But I stray from the purpose of this post. On May 15,1829, for the first time in almost 2000 years, the Aaronic Priesthood was had by righteous, worthy men on the earth. Oliver and Joseph were then commanded to baptize each other and to re-ordain each other to the Aaronic Priesthood. I've always thought that was kind of weird. Why did they need to ordain each other again to the Aaronic Priesthood? I really don't have an answer except to maybe set the precedent that only baptized members of the church can hold the Aaronic Priesthood. I really don't know and it's kind of strange to me to be honest. I guess I will know one day. But oddities aside, this is probably the most important event to happen since the Atonement of Christ. I say it is even more important than the obtaining of the Gold Plates containing the Book of Mormon because salvation can occur without the Book of Mormon, but salvation CANNOT occur without the saving ordinances and they cannot be performed without the Priesthood. The restoration of the Priesthood was that important, although Joseph and Oliver did not realize it at the time.
Well, that finishes our discussion on the Pearl of Great Price. Tomorrow we will start the New Testament and the life of our Savior. I have been looking forward to this for a while now so we are going to skip the Old Testament for now. I can't wait! Until tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment