Lectures on Faith 2: 26-36

Intro | Preface
Lecture 1: 1 |  2-9 | 10-11 | 12-17 | 18-24
Lecture 2: 1-4 | 5-12 | 12-25

Continuing into paragraph 26:

"Moses also gives us an account, in the 4th of Genesis [that's Moses 5 in your Standard Works], of the transgression of Cain, and the righteousness of Abel, and of the revelations of God to them."

Revelations to them. God revealed things to both of them. While Moses didn't directly record the revelations of God to Abel, he did record two of the revelations of God to Cain.

"He [Moses] says: 'In process of time Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord—And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering (this, I imagine, was likely shown through a revelation, so this is the one to Abel which Moses records): but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.'" (p. 26) Why would that be? Why would God accept a sacrifice that perfectly follows His commandments, and not accept a twisted version of His commandments? (Maybe Nadab and Abihu should have looked into this chapter of Genesis before offering "strange fire" in the tabernacle)

"'Now satan knew this [that God didn't respect Cain's offering], and it pleased him. [Why? Was this his plan all along when he commanded Cain to offer a sacrifice to God?]  And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why are you angry? why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin lies at the door, and satan desires to have you; and except you shall hearken unto my commandments, I will deliver you up: and it shall be unto you according to his desire.'" (p. 26)

Did you catch that? Cain, who declared his disdain for God (v. 16), and only sacrificed in obedience to Satan (v. 18-19), was able to hear God's voice. Keep this in mind; it occurs again later, and Joseph Smith comments further on it.

"'And Cain went into the field and talked with his brother Abel. And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him. And Cain gloried in what he had done, saying, I am free! surely the flocks of my brother will now fall into my hands.

'But the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel, your brother? And he said, I know not: am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said, What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries unto me from the ground. And now, you shall be cursed from the earth which has opened her mouth to receive your brother's blood, from your hand. When you till the ground, she shall not henceforth yield unto you her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond also, you shall be in the earth.

'And Cain said unto the Lord, Satan tempted me because of my brother's flocks. And I was also angry: for his offering was accepted, and mine was not: My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me out this day from the face of men, and from your face shall I be hid also; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, every one that finds me will slay me, because of my oath; for these things are not hid from the Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore, whoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.' " (p. 27-29)

To be honest, I don't quite understand that last paragraph. I know there are a lot of theories about this--from Hugh Nibley suggesting that Cain still walks this earth, to apocryphal accounts that say Cain was killed by Lamech's son--but I personally don't understand what this verse is saying. Maybe I just need to study further into scriptures and revelations as a whole, or maybe this requires direct revelation to understand. Maybe a combination of the two? We'll see (and unless I'm commanded otherwise, I'll share some of what I learn in the blog).

However, that's extraneous, and missing a vital, applicable principle: Even after Cain's deliberate murder of his own brother, he could still hear God speaking to him. It's clearly not what Moses experienced, where he saw God and viewed an enormous vision that left him exhausted, but Cain did hear God's voice, and recognized it as Him.

God wanted to speak with Cain even after this great sin . . .

Why on earth would we think God doesn't want to speak with us?

What if He is speaking, but we, unlike Cain, don't truly recognize His voice?

What if we just aren't listening, or haven't practiced learning how to listen?

If God's words "never cease" (Moses 1: 4), and God appears silent in our lives, what needs to change?

Paragraph 30: "The object of the foregoing quotations is to show to this class the way by which mankind were first made acquainted with the existence of a God: that it was by a manifestation of God to man, and that God continued, after man's transgression to manifest himself to him and his posterity: and notwithstanding they were separated from his immediate presence, that they could not see his face, they continued to hear his voice."

This answers the question at the start of this Lecture: How did mankind receive the idea that God exists? It was through the Knowledge of the first generation of mankind, which they taught to their posterity:

"Adam thus being made acquainted with God, communicated the knowledge which he had unto his posterity; and it was through this means that the thought was first suggested to their minds that there was a God. Which laid the foundation for the exercise of their faith, through which they could obtain a knowledge of his character and also of his glory." (p. 31)

Now, Adam couldn't impart Knowledge to his posterity directly. Knowledge, in these examples throughout the Lectures, refers to directly Knowing something is true. This is more than Faith (believing God lives, and acting as though He is real), and even more than understanding (comprehending the arguments for whether God exists). This is Knowledge through experience (seeing and communicating with God as Moses and Joseph Smith did). Anciently, this was known as Gnosis, which we'll get to later. Adam literally cannot impart this kind of Knowledge to his children, because he cannot control this experience in their lives. He could only allow God into his own life, and thereby receive that Knowledge. For his children, he could testify that he Knew; he could testify that the way was open for them to Know as well; but until his children exercised Faith in his promise and acted accordingly, they could not Know.

"Not only was there a manifestation made unto Adam of the existence of a God, but Moses informs us, as before quoted, that God condescended to talk with Cain after his great transgression, in slaying his brother, and that Cain knew that it was the Lord that was talking with him: so that when he was driven out from the presence of his brethren, he carried with him the knowledge of the existence of a God: and through this means, doubtless his posterity became acquainted with the fact that such a being existed." (p. 32)

Apparently, Cain had exercised his faith enough to Know God lives, and to recognize His voice. Even though he chose to turn away from that path to God, he retained the Knowledge and experience he had obtained previously.

"From this we can see that the whole human family, in the early age of their existence, in all their different branches, had this knowledge disseminated among them; so that the existence of God became an object of faith, in the early age of the world. And the evidences which these men had of the existence of a God, was the testimony of their fathers in the first instance." (p. 33)

From here, we now have at least two main branches of humanity who shared the existence and reality of God to their posterity: Cain to his family of darkness, and Adam to all of his descendants, which was ultimately preserved through his righteous children.

"The reason why we have been thus particular on this part of our subject, is, that this class may see by what means it was that God became an object of faith among men after the fall; and what it was that stirred up the faith of multitudes to feel after him; to search after a knowledge of his character, perfections and attributes, until they became extensively acquainted with him; and not only commune with him, and behold his glory, but be partakers of his power, and stand in his presence." (p. 34)

This is how mankind began to have faith in God: the testimony of those who Knew stirred up the faith of those who didn't yet Know, and stirred them up enough to act on that faith and "feel after him" (as Nephi mentioned in 1 Ne. 17: 45). In time, this act of feeling after Him, searching out His character, perfections, and attributes, they began to commune with Him, behold His glory, and "not only" this, "but be partakers of his power, and stand in his presence."

Is there a difference between beholding God and standing in His presence? Does that require patience and preparation, feeling after Him and searching into His characteristics? Does it require growth "line upon line"?

"Let this class mark particularly that the testimony which these men had of the existence of a God, was the testimony of man." (p. 35) And what is testimony? How do we use it outside of religion? In law, it refers to "evidence given under oath by a witness" (Nolo's Plain English Law Dictionary, Testimony). So then, what is a witness? "A person who testifies under oath at a deposition or trial, providing firsthand or expert evidence" (ibid, Witness).

It's interesting that this definition of testimony--an eyewitness providing firsthand evidence--perfectly fits how Adam taught his posterity: "for previous to the time that any of Adam's posterity had obtained a manifestation of God to themselves, Adam their common father had testified unto them of the existence of God, and of his eternal power and Godhead. For instance, Abel, before he received the assurance from heaven that his offerings were acceptable unto God, had received the important information of his father, that such a being did exist, who had created, and who did uphold all things. (So this is how Adam taught Abel, which led Abel to be accepted of God. An important example of righteous parenthood, I think.) Neither can there be a doubt existing on the mind of any person, that Adam was the first who did communicate the knowledge of the existence of a God, to his posterity; and that the whole faith of the world, from that time down to the present, is in a certain degree, dependent on the knowledge first communicated to them by their common progenitor; and it has been handed down to the day and generation in which we live, as we shall show from the face of the sacred records." (p. 35-36, emphasis added)

This part we'll go into next time. For now, it's enough to say that Adam's eyewitness account which he shared with his descendants inspired great faith, which led some of them to press forward in faith, believing and acting upon what they didn't yet see, until they in fact saw for themselves, and knew for themselves. We'll see how the pattern held in the next paragraphs.

Lectures on Faith 2: 12-25

Intro | Preface
Lecture 1: 1 |  2-9 | 10-11 | 12-17 | 18-24
Lecture 2: 1-4 | 5-12

After discussing the original, paradisaical state of mankind, and the knowledge they had, "We shall next proceed to examine the account given of his fall, and of his being driven out of the garden of Eden, and from the presence of the Lord." (p. 12)

"Moses proceeds: 'And they [Adam and Eve] heard the voice of the Lord God as they were walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where are you going? And he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I beheld that I was naked, and I hid myself.'"

A tangent: Moses uses the name "The Lord God" three times in this paragraph alone, and multiple times in the verses ahead. Could this mean "The Head God," or similar to "Lord of Lords?" And does it mean that, when the verses don't use the phrase "The Lord God," it means another of the Eloheim? (Check the last post for clarification of the "Eloheim" which Joseph taught)

"'And the Lord God said unto Adam, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree whereof I told you that you should not eat? If so, you should surely die? And the man said, The woman whom you gave me, and commanded that she should remain with me, gave me of the fruit of the tree, and I did eat.

"'And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this which you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

"'And again, the Lord said unto the woman, I will greatly multiply your sorrow, and your conception: in sorrow you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.'"

Again, a tangent: We Gentiles read the phrase "rule over you" and immediately think of the "phenomenal cosmic power" we get to wield against others; we think we get to put ourselves over others. And because this "ruling" must by definition be despotic and cruel, God must be saying women are inferior to men. Therefore, this must not be from God, since men and women are equally able to connect with God directly (2 Nephi 26: 33, with many examples throughout the scriptures).

Think about this, though: Who is prescribing man to "rule" over the woman? How does the One prescribing the "rule," rule His subjects? Does the Sermon on the Mount, or D&C 121's direction of persuasion through gentleness and meekness, or King Benjamin's "rule" over his subjects, reflect how He who commanded this "rule" would desire that men rule?

How does the King of Kings wish for his Kings and Queens to rule over others?

How easy is it for us to "set up stakes for the Almighty," to say what God must and must not do? (TPJS, pg. 320-321, 327)

Continuing, "'And the Lord God said unto Adam, because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife [rather than God's; this isn't saying men should never listen to their wives, but rather saying that God should be at the head], and have eaten of the fruit of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it! cursed shall be the ground for your sake: in sorrow you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns also, and thistles shall it bring forth to you: and you shall eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, until you shall return unto the ground—for you shall surely die—for out of it you were taken; for dust you were, and unto dust you shall return.' This was immediately followed by the fulfillment of what we previously said: Man was driven, or sent out of Eden.

"Two important items are shown from the former quotations: First, After man was created, he was not left without intelligence, or understanding, to wander in darkness, and spend an existence in ignorance and doubt—on the great and important point which effected his happiness—as to the real fact by whom he was created, or unto whom he was amenable for his conduct. God conversed with him face to face: in his presence he was permitted to stand, and from his own mouth he was permitted to receive instruction—he heard his voice, walked before him, and gazed upon his glory—while intelligence burst upon his understanding, and enabled him to give names to the vast assemblage of his Maker's works."

I got ahead of myself in the last post, talking about the Knowledge which Adam had received from God. That's what Joseph is saying here. Adam did not need to doubt or wander in ignorance about whether God truly existed; he Knew. He Knew who created him, whom he was accountable to, whom he had talked to, and whom he had learned from.

"Secondly, we have seen, that though man did transgress, his transgression did not deprive him of the previous knowledge with which he was endowed, relative to the existence and glory of his Creator; for no sooner did he hear his voice, than he sought to hide himself from his presence."

Here's where that Knowledge comes into play: what Adam and Eve had learned and experienced, they still knew, and they knew that even after partaking of the fruit they weren't supposed to take.

"Having shown, then, in the first instance, that God began to converse with man, immediately after he "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," and that he did not cease to manifest himself to him, even after his fall, we shall next proceed to show, that, though he was cast out from the garden of Eden, his knowledge of the existence of God was not lost, neither did God cease to manifest his will unto him.

"We next proceed to present the account of the direct revelation which man received, after he was cast out of Eden, and further copy from the new translation:

"'After Adam had been driven out of the garden, he began to till the earth, and to have dominion over all the beasts of the field, and to eat his bread by the sweat of his brow, as I, the Lord had commanded him: and he called upon the name of the Lord, and so did Eve his wife also. And they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the garden of Eden, speaking unto them; and they saw him not, for they were shut out from his presence: but he gave unto them commandments that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandment.

"'And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying, why do you offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him, I know not; but the Lord commanded me to offer sacrifices.

"'And the angel said unto him, This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, who is full of grace and truth. And you shall do all that you do in the name of the Son: and you shall repent and call upon God in his name forever. In that day the Holy Spirit fell upon Adam, and bore record of the Father and the Son.'"

Again, temple-goers ought to recognize this. These verses from Moses, beginning at "and after many days," were put into the Endowment ceremony word-for-word. Not only was Joseph's Biblical corrections important enough to use in the Lectures on Faith, they were also important enough to be used in the temple Endowment itself. So again, we're dealing with important stuff here.

Continuing to Joseph's explanation, "This last quotation, or summary, shows this important fact, that though our first parents were driven out of the garden of Eden, and were even separated from the presence of God, by a vail, they still retained a knowledge of his existence, and that sufficiently to move them to call upon him. And further, that no sooner was the plan of redemption revealed to man, and he began to call upon God, than the Holy Spirit was given, bearing record of the Father and Son."

So even being driven out of the Garden of Eden, with a vail separating their view of God's presence, didn't cover up their memory and knowledge. They remembered God and called out to Him. And it says the angel came to teach Adam and Eve "after many days." This isn't a specific time period. However, given the context in the next verses of Moses 5, this would be decades, if not a century, of dutiful and obedient sacrifices, without the complete knowledge of why they were doing this sacrifice. Really puts into perspective our "trials" of waiting for months or a couple years before receiving answers, doesn't it?

(And, third tangent: it's true that the verses only directly name Adam as the one conversing with the angel. But if you look at Moses 5: 11, Eve "heard all these things" and spoke with great Wisdom immediately after Adam had finished prophesying. So, is it impossible to claim that Adam and Eve were both there offering sacrifice? Could this have been a decade-long effort for both parties, where both received this Gift of the Holy Ghost? Is it possible that, in many cases when Adam is named, Eve is also there since they were "one flesh," and it is not good for Adam to be alone (Moses 3: 18 & 24)? Could Moses have only named Adam "to be short in writing"?)

This has been looking into Adam and Eve's experience thus far. In the next post, Joseph gets into what happens when they pass their knowledge on to their posterity.

Lectures on Faith 2: 5-12

Intro | Preface
Lecture 1: 1 |  2-9 | 10-11 | 12-17 | 18-24
Lecture 2: 1-4

Looking at "the evidences by which the first thoughts were suggested to the minds of men that there was a God who created all things" (p. 4), we'll continue into where Joseph Smith suggested we look:

"We shall now proceed to examine the situation of man at his first creation. Moses, the historian, has given us the following account of him in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, beginning with the 20th verse, and closing with the 30th. We copy from the new translation:"

Note: If you try to go to Genesis 1: 20-30 in the King James Version, you won't find what Joseph's talking about. By "new translation," he means the Joseph Smith Translation, or Inspired Version of the Bible. I want to take a moment to interrupt and discuss this Version, which we don't currently have in our LDS Standard Works. At least, not completely.

After the Book of Mormon's translation, Joseph was able to turn his attention to the Bible. After all, near the end of his translation1, Joseph found evidence that the Bible had been tampered with: both directly by Nephi's angelic guide (1 Nephi 13) and indirectly by Nephi quoting Isaiah differently than normal (1 Nephi 20-21, 2 Nephi 12-24). In fact, even the angelic visitor directing Joseph to the golden plates quoted Malachi "with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles" (JS-H 1: 36), so the idea that the Bible was "infallible" and unchangeable had already been rubbed out of Joseph's paradigm.

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1) That is, if he translated Mormon's abridgment first, from the Book of Lehi (now lost) down to Moroni, then the Words of Mormon, then 1 Nephi through Omni. There's some debate as to what order Joseph actually translated them all, but if you look at the questions he asked and the answers he received (just as in later D&C sections during Biblical study), the above order of translation would bring up the questions he asked in roughly the same order he asked them. That's beyond this post, though, so this is just in passing.
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As he continued, and after receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism (which baptism was after seeing the Father, the Son, various angels and visions, and translating the majority of the Book of Mormon, by the way), he then reports that, "Our minds being now enlightened, we began to have the scriptures laid open to our understandings, and the true meaning and intention of their more mysterious passages revealed unto us in a manner which we never could attain to previously, nor ever before had thought of" (ibid, p. 74). So, he began to have the meaning of the scriptures revealed to him through Intelligence beyond his own. This would give him an ideal vantage point to correct the Bible where clerical error or worse had tampered with it.

Joseph did a lot of correcting. All the footnotes and appendices we have in our Standard Works, and even the version published by the Community of Christ (formerly the RLDS church) don't technically contain them all, because Joseph continued making adjustments, corrections, and clarifications in his speeches and lectures. Many of these can be found in the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Joseph Smith Papers. And they do make a lot of sense when you use them with the Bible.

This leads some people to wonder "Well, why don't we just have the Inspired Version as the version we publish in our Standard Works?" Personally, I don't know. That would be really nice to have available right in the text, rather than being required to read the tiny footnotes and/or flip to somewhere in the index to find the corrections. Maybe the LDS church will get on that one of these days. I know others are.

Either way, this seemed to be an important topic for Joseph: that people correctly understand what the scriptures are saying. And the Lectures on Faith were expressly given (as the preface outlined) for discussing and unfolding "the important doctrine of salvation" (p. 2). This also seems like an important goal. Therefore, if understanding the doctrine of salvation is so important to get right, using the best source material to teach about this doctrine must be equally important. And Joseph here uses the New Translation (the Inspired Version) throughout all these Lectures; this is just the first time he points it out. Must be important, then. Certainly important enough that Joseph warned "except the church receive the fulness of the scriptures, that they would yet fail" (Far West Report, p. 16; also TPJS, p. 9).

Having said that, we continue now with the new translation--in this case, the Book of Moses:

"And the Lord God said unto the Only Begotten, who was with him from the beginning, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and it was done.

"And the Lord God said, Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of the Only Begotten created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." (p. 6-8)

At first glance, this seems really repetitive: They say they'll do something, they do something, then they say they did the thing. However, those who've been through the temple (at any time; they haven't changed this) will recognize the same cadence and pattern appears in all Divine actions throughout the Endowment presentation. Something is directed to be done; those who are directed go and do the thing directed; after it's done, they return and essentially say "it is finished." Apparently, it's the same pattern as God gave originally to Moses. It's always interesting to see the temple ceremonies leak through the scriptures, hidden in plain sight for those who recognize the Hand of God. I wonder what else is hidden in there . . .

Actually, here's something: "In the image of the Only Begotten created he him; male and female created he them." What does this mean? How can one being create two very different beings in the image of His own singular being?

Technically speaking, the word used for God in the Bible is "Eloheim," another word temple-goers will recognize. Eloheim, Joseph taught, should be a plural noun in Hebrew, while Eloi would be the singular (as Christ is said to have called during the crucifixion). In fact, Eloheim is the only word in the Hebrew language where the prefix -heim doesn't refer to something in the plural; all other words with -heim are plural in Hebrew. (See TPJS 369-376 for Joseph's original discourse on this topic). Another thing about the Hebrew language is its nouns are either masculine or feminine, and there are no gender-neutral nouns (or if there are, they're a relatively modern innovation, as this article on gender studies points out). A group of people, for example, is described with a feminine noun if it is all women, or with a masculine noun if there is at least one man in it. I don't know why that is, but that's the way it is. Therefore, the Eloheim/the Gods have at least one Male among them, perhaps more, but that doesn't mean the Gods are solely Male. Technically, if the Gods are able to make both men and women in Their own image, there must be at least one Female among them, perhaps more. There's a lot of details hidden here, perhaps more we don't recognize yet; but a few are poking through the haze, just vague enough to get us hardheaded humans to pray and ask God about them. Maybe that's their purpose . . .

Continuing with the Lecture, "And the Lord God said unto man, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." (p. 9) This isn't just referring to the Garden of Eden, notice; this is all seed-bearing herbs, and every fruit-bearing tree, to be used for sustenance. We can tell it's not solely for the Garden of Eden, because that's introduced in Moses' next chapter:

"Again, [Moses 3]:15-17,19-20: And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it; nevertheless, you may choose for yourself, for it is given unto you; but remember that I forbid it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.

"And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and commanded that they should be brought unto Adam, to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.

"From the foregoing we learn man's situation at his first creation; the knowledge with which he was endowed, and the high and exalted station in which he was placed—lord, or governor of all things on earth, and at the same time enjoying communion and intercourse with his Maker, without a vail to separate between." (p. 10-12)

So mankind, through Adam, didn't start off with Faith (believing something that couldn't be seen, and acting in conformity with that belief). It began with Knowledge, which "implies more than faith." (Lecture 7: 18) He spoke with God, he talked with God, received the Knowledge necessary to name every living thing on the planet, and knew whom he was responsible to, or who was giving him directions and commandments. It wasn't on Faith for him like it is for us. He Knew. And we'll get into why that's important in the next posts.