Class 2 – Sections 137 &138
Clarifications about life after death.
Challenge from last time:
Find scriptures in the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and
Covenants that demonstrate that:
God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate beings.
God the Father and Jesus Christ have bodies of flesh and
blood.
Section 76
• Who received it?
• When was it given?
• Where was it given?
• Why was it given?
Section 76
• Who received it? Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon
• When was it given? Early 1832
• Where was it given? John Johnson’s house (Hiram, Ohio)
• Why was it given? Translation/ What is heaven?
John Johnson’s Farm
•became the church headquarters
•16 sections of the D&C given there in 1831 - 1832
•The Prophet and Sidney Rigdon tarred and feathered
there.
Philo Dibble
…The vision which is recorded in the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants was given at the house of ‘Father Johnson,’ in
Hiram, Ohio, and during the time that Joseph and Sidney were
in the spirit and saw the heavens open, there were other men
in the room, perhaps twelve, among whom I was one during a
part of the time—probably two-thirds of the time,—I saw the
glory and felt the power, but did not see the vision.
“The events and conversation, while they were seeing what is
written (and many things were seen and related that are not
written,) I will relate as minutely as is necessary.
Philo Dibble
“Joseph would, at intervals, say: ‘What do I see?’ as one
might say while looking out the window and beholding what all
in the room could not see. Then he would relate what he had
seen or what he was looking at. Then Sidney replied, ‘I see
the same.’ Presently Sidney would say ‘what do I see?’ and
would repeat what he had seen or was seeing, and Joseph
would reply, ‘I see the same.’
“This manner of conversation was reported at short intervals
to the end of the vision, and during the whole time not a word
was spoken by any other person. Not a sound nor motion
made by anyone but Joseph and Sidney, and it seemed to me
that they never moved a joint or limb during the time I was
there, which I think was over an hour, and to the end of the
vision.
Philo Dibble
“Joseph sat firmly and calmly all the time in the midst of a
magnificent glory, but Sidney sat limp and pale, apparently as
limber as a rag, observing which, Joseph remarked, smilingly,
‘Sidney is not used to it as I am.’”
What is the “standard” Christian view of what
happens to us after death?
Good Works
Cumulative Good Works
heaven
0
hell
Start below zero – add all the good subtract all the bad…
So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto
his steward, Call the labourers, and give them [their] hire,
beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came
that [were hired] about the eleventh hour, they received every
man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that
they should have received more; and they likewise received
every man a penny. And when they had received [it], they
murmured against the goodman of the house. -- Matt 20:8-11
Good Works
The Final Day
heaven
0
hell
Wherever you are when you die is what’s important.
We believe emphatically in what it says, "by obedience to the
laws and ordinances of the Gospel." We have no faith in
death-bed repentance. We have no faith that by making a
confession just before death we can be saved.
-- Pres. Heber J. Grant, April 1935 Conference
So… How are we judged?
What we really are
celestial
terrestrial
telestial
0
Start out good, then we prove ourselves
by what we think, say and do.
perdition
According to a 19th Century American, what
would it take to get to heaven?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. – John 3:5
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have
been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the
likeness] of [his] resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we
should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be
dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
--Romans 6:3-8
What do you with little children or people
never have the opportunity for baptism?
Some solutions Christians have taken:
1. Baptism is not really necessary
2. God is just and He controls the destinies of men – but those
who do not receive baptism are damned.
3. Limbo…
Limbo
(Late Lat. limbus) a word of Teutonic derivation, meaning literally "hem" or "border,"
as of a garment, or anything joined on (cf. Italian lembo or English limb).
In theological usage the name is applied to (a) the temporary place or state of the
souls of the just who, although purified from sin, were excluded from the beatific
vision until Christ’s triumphant ascension into heaven (the "limbus patrum"); or (b)
to the permanent place or state of those unbaptized children and others who, dying
without grievous personal sin, are excluded from the beatific vision on account of
original sin alone (the "limbus infantium" or "puerorum").
-- Catholic Encyclopedia http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/index.html
Does Sect. 76 answer the question of salvation
little children and people never have the
opportunity for baptism?
Why would Joseph Smith have been
concerned about such questions?
What were the circumstances surrounding
Joseph Smith receiving Sect. 137?
What were the circumstances surrounding
Joseph Smith receiving Sect. 137?
• Washings in the Printing Office.
• Anointings in the uncompleted Temple.
• Ordination of Joseph Smith, Sr. as Patriarch
• See the course website: http://www.physics.byu.edu/faculty/rees/325
What is the message of Sect. 137?
What is the message of Sect. 137?
• What the celestial kingdom is like.
• We can be with our families.
• Children who die before the age of accountability obtain
celestial glory automatically.
• Those who did not hear the gospel can accept it.
Background to Section 138
• How was Joseph F. Smith related to Joseph Smith?
• What was happening in 1918?
• Joseph F. Smith died about six weeks later.
Background to Section 138
• What was Joseph F. Smith’s question?
Background to Section 138
• What was Joseph F. Smith’s question?
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and
preached unto the spirits in prison. -- 1 Peter 3:18-19
What are the messages of Section 138?
Messages of Section 138
• The importance of pondering scriptures
• Being separated from our body is a bondage.
• Christ organized missionary work among the dead
though he didn’t actually preach to the wicked himself.