Thursday, August 7, 2014

the restoration of the gospel of jesus christ through joseph smith

Once upon a time there was a young boy named Joseph Smith who was honest and good and tried his best to follow Jesus Christ. In 1820, he lived in upstate New York, was 14 years old, and was mighty confused with which religion was right.

For those of you who know your United States history, you'll remember that 1820 was in the midst of a religious revival, and there was a whole lot going. Reformation had occurred just a few hundred years before, which had given way to more choices of which church to join for the people. Suddenly it wasn't just the Catholic church and the Church of England; you could be a Methodist, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, the choices were endless. People would gather for camp meetings to hear the different clergymen, each urging the people to accept their faith and follow Christ through what they knew to be the correct way.

Joseph was in the middle of all this, and he was a thoughtful boy. He wrote:

During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.

My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?

Joseph knew that the Bible taught there should be "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5), but which "one" should that be? He knew salvation was important, he believed the Bible to be the word of God, and he wanted to follow Jesus Christ in the way God wanted him to, not any other man.

One day, as he was reading the Bible, he read a verse in James chapter 1 verse 5 that struck him like no other verse before had struck him. It penetrated his core and "seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of [his] heart." The verse read:

"If any of ye lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

Did he not "lack wisdom"? Was Joseph not unsure of how to act? Was he not confused and frustrated with the different answers he seemed to be getting from each church? An appeal to the Bible did not seem to be working, for how could one church understand a verse of scripture to mean one thing while another understood it to be entirely different? If the Bible didn't contain the answer, where could he find it?

It was the Bible itself that directed Joseph to ask God Himself. Why do we revere the Bible so much in the first place? Because it is the word of God. We believe that the prophets who wrote the books that later became the Bible were inspired, not just floundering around writing whatever came into their fancy. We believe those words to be true because they are revelation from God, yet sometimes we forget to look past those words. Sometimes we believe the Bible to be the end, the final say, God Himself.

If we're confused about what is written in the book, why don't we just ask the author?

That's what Joseph did. His account of this experience is to beautifully written to push to the side or paraphrase, so I'll just let you read it:

In accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally. 
After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. 
But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. 
It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him
My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join. 
I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” 
He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home . . . It seems as though the adversary was aware, at a very early period of my life, that I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom; else why should the powers of darkness combine against me? Why the opposition and persecution that arose against me, almost in my infancy?
I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; . . . It caused me serious reflection then, and often has since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and in a manner to create in them a spirit of the most bitter persecution and reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great sorrow to myself. 
However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise. 
So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it."



This story seems pretty incredible, I know. But my feelings are quite different - that it IS credible. Did not God speak to men in ages past through visions and angelic visitations? Is not that, in essence, what much of the Bible is -- men called of God telling us the revelation they received?

And what about the fact that Joseph was only 14 when this happened? I mean, why in the world would God the Father and Jesus Christ appear to a young, uneducated farm boy in order to begin the restoration of the gospel? It is my feeling and knowledge that God has always spoken to the young, the uneducated, and the humble to continue His work. When called to deliver his people out of Egypt, Moses himself said, "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11). When Samuel was just a boy he heard the voice of the Lord calling him to the work and giving him a vision (1 Samuel 3).

Is God the same yesterday today and forever? Do we still need His voice and modern revelation, or has the world become so pure as to not need it? I would submit that yes, we need God's authority and God's direction. Now more than ever.

I believe that Joseph Smith truly did see God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I believe it because I feel it - the logic that abides in the story told by Joseph Smith correlates to the way God has always spoken to His people. The peace that I find as I contemplate it can not be found elsewhere.




Scriptures:

The story of Joseph Smith is prophesied (2 Nephi 3)
Christ will gather us in the last dispensation (Ephesians 1:10)
One lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:5)
Ask God (James 1:5)


Other sources:

Joseph Smith History
The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith