Reflecting on my past week, I have been very humbled by several tender moments that I have experienced. I am so thankful for all that I have. I experienced one tender moment when viewing an email clip of Glen Beck giving a tribute to Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley. His tribute really touched me as I thought about what an honor it will be to one day meet Pres. Hinckley in the hereafter (this is something I have never had the opportunity of doing in this life) and just to simply say, "Thank you." He is a very real example of enduring to the end. He never stopped serving us. He never stopped working. He never even seemed to slow down. I just can't imagine my life being anything close to what his was but I can do my best in following his example and I am truly thankful for it.
Another moment for me was last night, Eric and I were invited to go hear a church historian, Brother Turley, speak on the making of the "Teaching of Joseph Smith" manual for church. One thing I learned is that I will be reading it and studying it on my own because I now have a greater appreciation for it. The reason it wasn't the first book in the series is due to the fact that it was the most difficult to develop. It was painstakingly researched and poured over until every single thing that was printed could most aunthentically be traced back to an actual teaching from Joseph Smith. The real problem is that there was a real lack of record keeping in his time. By Brigham Young's time he has scribes that would write everything he taught in shorthand and historians have very accurate records of Brigham Young and every other prophet moving forward. Even Joseph Smith's own personal journal was often kept through a scribe. One of which was a doctor (who stereotypically had very poor script). And the scribes would interchangeably use the word "I" for themselves and Joseph! This is just the beginning of endless confusing, incomplete or difficult to decipher texts that these scholars poured over to produce "the most accurate compilation of teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith written today." (This was a direct quote from Brother Turley.)
In addition to my appreciation for the manual itself, Brother Turley bore testimony of the miraculous work of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. There is absolutely no other explanation that makes sense other than the one that Joseph Smith and the witnesses said. That he translated the gold plates through the gift and power of God. He did this in a matter of less than 90 days! He did this with a grammar-school education. He did extremely little revision or correction and a lot of that was a matter of grammatics and spelling. He did this without any modern technology that writers today would use. He did this using many different scribes and he would pick up right where he left off without having anything read back to him. My own dad, bless his heart, is an apologist (of many things, one of them being the church) and has studied the translation and history of Joseph Smith in extreme detail and has shared with me many of the "little" things that happened during the translation. He has also studied the original printers' manuscripts which can show every single correction that occurred between that and the current book we have today and I have to say, it is remarkable how little they have changed. It is a book that due to its modern translation and development, we know the detailed history of, which cannot be said for any other book of scripture. I know that it could not have and truly did not come to pass by any other means than through Joseph Smith by the power of God. I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon. I am thankful for the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice that so many people put into it and I know that I take it for granted the majority of the time but I am always thankful to be reminded of this amazing miracle that lays by my bed each night.
Another moment for me was last night, Eric and I were invited to go hear a church historian, Brother Turley, speak on the making of the "Teaching of Joseph Smith" manual for church. One thing I learned is that I will be reading it and studying it on my own because I now have a greater appreciation for it. The reason it wasn't the first book in the series is due to the fact that it was the most difficult to develop. It was painstakingly researched and poured over until every single thing that was printed could most aunthentically be traced back to an actual teaching from Joseph Smith. The real problem is that there was a real lack of record keeping in his time. By Brigham Young's time he has scribes that would write everything he taught in shorthand and historians have very accurate records of Brigham Young and every other prophet moving forward. Even Joseph Smith's own personal journal was often kept through a scribe. One of which was a doctor (who stereotypically had very poor script). And the scribes would interchangeably use the word "I" for themselves and Joseph! This is just the beginning of endless confusing, incomplete or difficult to decipher texts that these scholars poured over to produce "the most accurate compilation of teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith written today." (This was a direct quote from Brother Turley.)
In addition to my appreciation for the manual itself, Brother Turley bore testimony of the miraculous work of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. There is absolutely no other explanation that makes sense other than the one that Joseph Smith and the witnesses said. That he translated the gold plates through the gift and power of God. He did this in a matter of less than 90 days! He did this with a grammar-school education. He did extremely little revision or correction and a lot of that was a matter of grammatics and spelling. He did this without any modern technology that writers today would use. He did this using many different scribes and he would pick up right where he left off without having anything read back to him. My own dad, bless his heart, is an apologist (of many things, one of them being the church) and has studied the translation and history of Joseph Smith in extreme detail and has shared with me many of the "little" things that happened during the translation. He has also studied the original printers' manuscripts which can show every single correction that occurred between that and the current book we have today and I have to say, it is remarkable how little they have changed. It is a book that due to its modern translation and development, we know the detailed history of, which cannot be said for any other book of scripture. I know that it could not have and truly did not come to pass by any other means than through Joseph Smith by the power of God. I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon. I am thankful for the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice that so many people put into it and I know that I take it for granted the majority of the time but I am always thankful to be reminded of this amazing miracle that lays by my bed each night.
2 comments:
Thank you for this inspiring post. It sounds like Brother Turley's talk was amazing. I will definitely appreciate reading the Joseph Smith manual and my Book of Mormon more now. Thanks again!!
P.S. On a much lighter note, I feel better about the "true colors" quiz now knowing that Eric & I are the same. Clearly, it must not be accurate! Although Eric does "conjure up images of elegant evening gowns, dashing tuxedos and gleaming limousines!!"
Thank you for your testimony, Sister. I admire you and your beauty inside and out. Love you.
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