ENTRY 26 LOST SCRIPTURE

LOST SCRIPTURES

“And he also taught them concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, saying: My sons, I would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God.

 4 For it were not possible that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these plates; for he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians therefore he could read these engravings, and teach them to his children, that thereby they could teach them to their children, and so fulfilling the commandments of God, even down to this present time.

 5 I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct.
 6 O my sons, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes.
 7 And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers.
 8 And many more things did king Benjamin teach his sons, which are not written in this book.” (Mosiah 1:1-8)

Written records are provided to help us remember more than could be remembered if it was only spoken.  The written word has more lasting strength. It is more difficult to change.  It can be referred to long after the one who wrote it has departed.  From King Benjamin, we understand that it would have been impossible for a father to remember all things and teach them to his children, even a prophet such as Lehi.  He needed the written record to both remember and convince others of the truth.  We also learn that it is the traditions of fathers that can be one of the greatest interferences to accepting truth.  If the written word is searched diligently, it can be used to correct the traditions if these should stray off course over the generations.

The spoken word is an easier method to use to persuade, however the spoken word is also easier to corrupt than the written word.  There are two reasons for this.  One reason is that the message intended is often not the message received.  The message relayed to a third party will reflect the views and bias of the individual passing the message on.  As it is passed on, the meaning evolves until the original message is entirely lost. The second reason is that men corrupt the message to suit their own purposes.

Therefore, from King Benjamin, we learn that we ought to examine the scriptures carefully and compare them to the traditions taught by our fathers.  We must not simply accept the traditions solely on the basis that they are taught by our progenitors; rather we must compare the teachings we receive from others to what is written.  If our own traditions have wandered off course then we must repent of those traditions.

By Benjamin’s explanation, we understand that just because a leader has spoken does not mean that the time for thinking and reasoning is over.  Rather, the spoken word must be cross checked against the written word.  The written word likewise must be cross checked against truth.  Like a system of checks and balances, when we find a conflict of interest between the two, we necessarily must take it to the Lord personally to receive direct guidance on the issue.  The Lord will establish His word in mouth of two or three witnesses and oft times he will send more (2 COR 13:1 and 2 NE 11:3).  An over reliance on any single source will lead to error.  However, a continuous search to know the Will of God with a heart willing to receive truth will allow Him to teach you personally.  He will deliver His truth in a variety of shapes and forms.  Your willingness to receive it will allow you to overcome the mixture of lies and truths that are presented to you in all these mediums.  God will teach you directly through these sources despite their corruption.  He will teach you line upon line, a little here and a little there.

How does the spoken word get corrupted?  Perhaps you have played the “telephone game”.  One person whispers a message to the person standing next to them.  That person in turn, whispers the same message to the one on their other side.  The message is passed down the chain of people from one to the next.  By the time it gets around to the tenth person the message is completely obscured.  The first person might have said the following “All my life, I thought air was free until I bought a bag of chips.” And by the tenth person, the phrase has become “For his wife’s anniversary, he got a ragged chimp.” 

If the telephone game can corrupt a message within just a few minutes, what happens when the story is told from generation to generation?  How corruptible is the message when it is passed through different languages and cultures? There were ancient cultures that used oral tradition to pass on their teachings from one generation to the next.  It is said that these cultures understood the critical nature of getting the information exacting and correct and so the sages tasked with passing on the traditions would memorize the messages carefully and pass them along verbatim.  This has proven to be a fallacy.  These cultures did not pass on their traditions verbatim, word for word.  They in fact, did not recognize a need to get the stories verbatim.  They changed the stories with each telling, adjusting it to their suit their own circumstances in their own generations. The idea that it was a precise system has been imposed upon them by a modern society which functions by the written word.  We recognize a need in our own culture to get the words exact and we have the capacity to do so through the written word.  We think to ourselves, "Well, how did they manage it before the printing press and before literacy?"  And we assume they compensated for it by memorization, but it wasn't so (Bart Erhman). 

That is not to say that the written word cannot be corrupted.  Of course it can.  It can be reinterpreted.  It can be rewritten.  The words can be redefined. 

Christ’s original messages were delivered in Aramaic in Jerusalem during 30 A.D. His followers including his disciples were most likely illiterate.  They taught his message verbally throughout Israel and the message spread to various parts throughout the Roman Empire.  It took the better part of a century before these oral traditions were written down by highly educated scribes who wrote in Greek.  These scribes in all likelihood had never seen Jesus, nor spoken with his disciples who were long gone before their work began.  They were writing from the traditions taught by a rapidly growing religious tradition.  Down through the centuries and passing through multiple cultures, these written words were passed.  History has demonstrated that many popes and kings and priests were able to use these written words to exploit the masses for their own purposes. Yet others were able to use these words for the betterment of their fellow human beings.  And then centuries later, King James commissioned his own version to be written into English and he gave orders that ensured it would properly reflect and justify the same hierarchal structure of the Church of England in his day.  And that authorized King James version is the bible that many of us are still reading today in the 21st century. 

So crossing into dozens of countries and cultures and now 2000 years later, how reliable is the message we have in the Bible? Mormons acknowledge the possibility that there may be errors when we teach that the Book of Mormon was necessary to restore truths that were lost in the Bible.

Is it possible that a similar process of introducing errors could occur in our own latter day holy works, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants?  Please read the Title Page to the Book of Mormon and notice the following:

"And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment seat of Christ."

And so we have an admission that men can indeed introduce errors into the Book of Mormon.

Here are more reference to demonstrate the case that the Book of Mormon has errors:

"Nevertheless, I do not write anything upon plates save it be that I think it be sacred. And now, if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the weakness which is in me, according to the flesh, I would excuse myself." (1 Nephi 19:6)

 

"12 And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these. Behold, I am Moroni; and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you." (Mormon 8:12)

 

"16 And blessed be he that shall bring this thing to light; for it shall be brought out of darkness unto light, according to the word of God; yea, it shall be brought out of the earth, and it shall shine forth out of darkness, and come unto the knowledge of the people; and it shall be done by the power of God. 17 And if there be faults they be the faults of a man. But behold, we know no fault; nevertheless God knoweth all things; therefore, he that condemneth, let him be aware lest he shall be in danger of hell fire. (Mormon 8:16-17)      

 

"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." (Mormon 9:31)

 See also Ether 12:23-24 wherein Moroni laments that the written word does not equal the message that could be delivered as clearly and precisely as he would like it to be.  And God's response is not to fix the shortcomings, but rather to allow the errors to continue in order that weaknesses may be imposed upon men.  Why would God impose weaknesses upon the works of men?  That they may be humble and turn to Him.  Essentially God's response to Moroni is that He (God) intends to fix the errors on a case by case basis, working with the individual as the individual approaches God personally (Ether 12:27).  And so the errors stand uncorrected.  That is to say, the errors stand uncorrected until an individual turns to God directly and allows God to remove the errors on a personal level.

And so like Nephi, we cannot excuse ourselves on the basis of the errors of old.  The Book of Mormon has errors introduced into it by men.  If we claim it does not have any errors then the statement above admitting errors would be false and therefore those several statements would errors themselves.  You see, there is no escaping it.  There are some mistakes that we need to acknowledge. 

Acknowledging the mistakes is not to mock at their words.  Like Nephi said, "if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I would excuse myself because of other men..."  We are not to excuse ourselves because of the errors of others.  We are left in a position in which we must not reject the good that comes from the scriptures (not mock the scriptures) but neither are we to accept the scriptures as whole blindly and make the same mistakes as they of old (not excuse ourselves because of other men). This requires a recognition of the mistakes.  If we do not see the mistakes for what they are, then we very well may be participating in the same errors as they of old.  This requires increasing our understanding by recognizing and acknowledging the errors for what they are as we find them.
 

Let us say there is an eye witness account of God.  Someone sees God and not just sees God, but actually has an interaction with God.  They have a conversation.  God teaches the individual and even heals the person’s deepest pains.  Then God gives the person a message to share with others.  The message is simple.  Seek out God and you too can receive a visit from God and you too can receive a healing from your pain.  So the person tells the story, and people gather around to hear it. 

It’s incredible!   Word travels fast that there is this person who has received some gifts from God, including knowledge and including the power to heal.  So people begin to come in large numbers.  But the people don’t actually listen to the message.  The message is that they, the people, can speak with God.  Instead, the people decide that having a spokesman for them is enough.  They don’t want to repent and speak with God, but they would like to receive the gifts God offers to those who do repent and speak with Him.  The people try to usurp the gifts of God through the proxy of the individual who received the gifts directly. 

The people as a group try to take the individual and make them their leader.  Think of what this person could do!  They could lead us to victory against our enemies with their knowledge.  They could help us to prosper and we could be a great nation.  The message begins to get distorted.  Instead of understanding the original intent, which was to establish a relationship with the living God; the message is used as a rallying flag to gather against other groups. The message is used to self-justify rather than repent.  By the time the message is passed on to the next generation, people are using the message to conquer enemies next door, take on thirty wives, tax ten to fifteen percent of their followers income, and make war against “those others” who do not belong in their holy land.  All in the name of God!

That is not to say that the written word cannot be corrupted.  Of course it can.  It can be reinterpreted.  It can be rewritten.  The words can be redefined.  From Christ’s original message delivered in Aramaic in Jerusalem during 30 A.D. then passed into Greek and then into English and crossing into dozens of countries and cultures and now 2000 years later, how reliable is the message we have in the Bible? Mormons acknowledge this possibility when we teach that the Book of Mormon was necessary to restore truths that were lost in the Bible.

Joseph Smith is closer in time, but is it possible the process of corruption has begun all over again?  Are the patterns of history continuing to repeat?  A review of what the Book of Mormon prophecies regarding the church of the Gentiles is shockingly descriptive of the traditions we espouse today.  Are we in danger of failing to understand the true meaning of the original message?

What is the most pure source of a message from God? 

Answer:  That would be from God in person.

What would be the second best source of the message?

Answer:  That would be from the person who received a message directly from God with a directive to give that message to the people.

The farther downstream the source is from the pure communication of God, the more corrupt the message becomes.   The farther along the communication line from God, the more opportunity men have to twist the message to rationalize their own ambitions. 

Sometimes the men take the message and redefine the words.  For example, instead of teaching that The Redeemer is the one who redeems you in person if you will give heed to Him; they teach instead that The Redeemer has given me authority to redeem you if you will learn to be obedient to his counsel which he delivers through me. 

Sometimes men change the meaning of the words.  For example, instead of defining Testimony to mean “A witness account by one who has knowledge of a subject matter through direct means.”; instead, the definition of Testimony becomes “A verbal speech regarding Belief that is believed very, very strongly.”

However, sometimes, the original message is so counterintuitive to what the men are teaching that they seek to remove the message altogether.  Therefore, we lose scriptures in three ways…by redefining the terms, changing the actual words or in discarding the scriptures that conflict with current teachings.

One scriptural account that has been nearly lost is a book titled, The Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 Edition.  And in particular, today I hope to bring your attention to one section of that book, namely The Lectures on Faith. 

This work was co-written with Joseph Smith, although the exact authorship has been in discussion now for almost a couple centuries.  It is highly likely that Sidney Rigdon wrote a majority of it with guidance by Joseph Smith.  There is evidence that Joseph may have written one chapter by his own hand. 

But what is not in question, is that Joseph Smith approved of the work.  He used it as the teaching curriculum in the School of the Prophets.  Later, when a committee appointed by the church consisting of the First Presidency of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formed to compile a Book of Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph who acted in that capacity as President of the Church and member of the committee choose to include the Lectures on Faith in the publication.   

The membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints also accepted the Lectures on Faith as scripture.  The membership established this by a vote that sustained the contents of this work as “binding doctrine” in 1835. In fact, the Lectures on Faith were actually the “Doctrine” portion of the Doctrine and Covenants. 

How did this work become lost to the church?

By 1921, portions of the lectures were found to be in conflict with the current teachings of the church at that time.  For this reason, the lectures were removed.  This action occurred without sustaining by the membership of the church.  The men who made the decision to remove the lectures did so because of they did not feel the work was an accurate description of the nature of God.  They believed it was inconsistent with how they understood God. 

We should consider that the most pure form of communication of truth is from God in person.  Likewise, that would mean that the next best source of truth is from someone who had direct communication with God.  Therefore, considering that Joseph claimed to witness God in person and Joseph taught using the Lectures on Faith to a School of the Prophets…for the purpose of training Prophets!  And considering that the church body as a whole accepted the work as scriptures, we can reasonably accept that the Lectures on Faith are scripture. 

We should also consider that the men who removed the Doctrine portion from the Doctrine and Covenants did not at anytime make a claim to see God.  However, they felt it was necessary to correct the description of God written by another soul who did make that very claim. 

Therefore, can we reasonably conclude that the Lectures on Faith are Lost Scripture? 

In any advent, we need to do as King Benjamin counseled his sons and search diligently in the scriptures.  We need to compare our beliefs, teachings and actions to the counsel given by those who are closest to the pure source.   We need to search the testimonies left by those who knew the Lord. Then we need to strive to become associated with that pure source for own personal experience and witness.  We ought not to say “A Book of Mormon!  A Book of Mormon!  We don’t need any Lectures on Faith, for we already have a Book of Mormon!” 

Search the scriptures because you say that you believe them and you say that such a belief will give you eternal life, but the scriptures are the witness accounts that testify of Jesus Christ who alone can give you eternal life (John 5:39).