DOCTRINE and COVENANTS

Sections 2024, 26

Hurricane Utah Adult Religion Class

Organizing the restored Church

In the First Vision, a promise that the fulness of the gospel should at some future time be made known unto me. Promises of things to come:
The rising up and the coming forth of my church out of the wilderness (D&C 5:14). I will establish my church (D&C 10:53). Wait a little longer, until you shall have my word, my rock, my church, and my gospel (D&C 11:16).
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1829 Articles of the Church of Christ

josephsmithpapers.org

Organization of the Church

6 April 1830 at the Peter Whitmer, Sr. home in Fayette, New York.

Name of the Church

1830: The Church of Christ. 1834: The Church of the Latter Day Saints. 1838: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (D&C 115:4).

Section 20
First revelation sustained by the members of the Church (June 1830). Revised and expanded, 18301835. Church handbook.

Section 20
D&C 20:1. Being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April. Literal count or flowery introduction?

Section 20
D&C 20:5. It was truly manifested unto this first elder [Joseph Smith] that he had received a remission of his sins. Indirect reference to the First Vision.

Section 20
D&C 20:89. The Book of Mormon containsthe fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Definition of fulness of the gospel?
D&C 33:1012a. 3 Nephi 27:2021a.

Section 20
D&C 20:17. Godis infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea.Joseph Smith, April 1844 Compare Mormon 9:729; Moroni 8:1018.
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Eternal nature of God

The Lord is the same yesterday, to-day and forever. This is the corner-stone, it may be said, of our faith. It is upon this foundation we have built; that he is an unchangeable God; that he does not manifest his mind and his will in plainness and simplicity to one people, and hide the same from a succeeding people who are equally faithful. But the great truth has been impressed upon us; the great truth that runs through all the writings of every man of God concerning whom we have any account from the beginning down to the last revelation that has been given, that God is no respecter of persons, that he is to-day as he was yesterday and as he ever was, and that he will continue to be the same being as long as time endures or eternity continues. Elder George Q. Cannon, October 1879
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Section 20
D&C 20:3031. We know that justification[and]sanctification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true. What is justification? What is sanctification?

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Section 20
D&C 20:32. Man may fall from grace thereforetake heed. Contra John Calvin:
Total depravity. Unconditional election. Limited atonement. Irresistible grace. Perseverance of the saints.

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Section 20
D&C 20:37. Six requirements for those who are received by baptism into his church.
1.Humble 2.Desire 3.Come forth 4.Witness 5.Are willing 6.Truly manifest

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Section 20
D&C 20:3867. The duty of the elders, priests, teachers, deaconsof the church of Christ. Priesthood revealed in stages. In 1830
Only 4 priesthood offices. No Aaronic/Melchizedek division. Assumes adults would fill all priesthood offices.

Transformation of the Aaronic Priesthood, 1829present.

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Aaronic Priesthood development

Stage 1: 18291846. Adult males ordained to Aaronic Priesthood offices. Stake-level Aaronic Priesthood quorums.

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Aaronic priesthood development

Stage 2: 18471877. Adult Melchizedek Priesthood holders as acting deacons, teachers, priests. Few Aaronic Priesthood holders; low activity rates.

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Aaronic priesthood development

Stage 3: 18771908. August 1877: Priesthood reorganization.
Aaronic Priesthood quorums moved from stake to ward level. Young men encouraged to accept Aaronic Priesthood ordination. Deacons pass the sacrament.

Melchizedek Priesthood still responsible for sacrament & block teaching.

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Aaronic priesthood development

Stage 4: 1908present. President Joseph F. Smith, April 1908: Young men should be given something to do. Priesthood Movement reforms:
Boys move through Aaronic Priesthood offices by age group, given specific responsibilities. Block teaching becomes ward teaching, bishops put in charge, Melchizedek Priesthood holders carry it out.
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Section 21
D&C 21:1, 46. There shall be a record kept among you; and in it thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church. What are the meanings and implications of these titles?

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Section 22
In the early days of this Church there were certain persons, belonging to the Baptist denomination, very moral and no doubt as good people as you could find anywhere, who came, saying they believed in the Book of Mormon, and that they had been baptized into the Baptist Church, and they wished to come into our Church. The Prophet Joseph had not, at that time, particularly inquired in relation to this matter, but he did inquire, and received a revelation from the Lord something like this,that although a man had been baptized a hundred times under these old institutions, it would avail him nothing. These Baptists had to be re-baptized: there was no other way to get into this Church. Elder Orson Pratt, November 1873
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Section 22
22:1. This is a new and an everlasting covenant. The new and everlasting covenant vs. a new and everlasting covenant.
D&C 66:2. D&C 132:4, 6.

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Section 23
23:3. [To Hyrum:] Thy heart is opened, and thy tongue loosed; and thy calling is to exhortation, and to strengthen the church continually. Compare D&C 11:21.

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Section 24

John Hamer bycommonconsent.com/author/johnhamer

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Section 24
24:1. Thou hast been delivered from all thine enemies, and thou hast been delivered from the powers of Satan and from darkness! Compare D&C 128:20. 24:8. Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many. 24:15. They [who] receive you not in my name, ye shall leave a cursingby casting off the dust of your feet against them as a testimony.
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Shaking the dust from ones feet

To ceremonially shake the dust from ones feet as a testimony against another was understood by the Jews to symbolize a cessation of fellowship and a renunciation of all responsibility for consequences that might follow. It became an ordinance of accusation and testimony by the Lords instructions to His apostles. In the current dispensation, the Lord has similarly directed His authorized servants to so testify against those who wilfully and maliciously oppose the truth when authoritatively presented. The responsibility of testifying before the Lord by this accusing symbol is so great that the means may be employed only under unusual and extreme conditions, as the Spirit of the Lord may direct. Elder James E. Talmage, 1915
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Section 26
26:2. All things shall be done by common consent in the church.

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Common consent
The priesthood selects, under the inspiration of our Father in heaven, and then it is the duty of the Latterday Saints, as they are assembled in conference, or other capacity, by the uplifted hand, to sustain or to reject; and I take it that no man has the right to raise his hand in opposition, or with contrary vote, unless he has a reason for doing so that would be valid if presented before those who stand at the head. In other words, I have no right to raise my hand in opposition to a man who is appointed to any position in this Church, simply because I may not like him, or because of some personal disagreement or feeling I may have, but only on the grounds that he is guilty of wrong doing, of transgression of the laws of the Church which would disqualify him for the position which he is called to hold. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, 1919
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DOCTRINE and COVENANTS

Next week: D&C 25, 2728

Hurricane Utah Adult Religion Class