Sept. 9, 2024

Missionary

Missionary

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Megan Conner is the mother of 6 spectacular humans and a breaker of generational trauma cycles. She has spent the last 10 years overcoming the effects of child SA and other abusive relationships and cycles. She is the author of I Walked Through Fire to Get Here, which was written to give support and hope to other survivors. Megan is passionate about helping people make small changes that make their lives better every day.  

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Transcript

00:00:02.653 --> 00:00:04.195


beautiful humans and welcome



00:00:04.254 --> 00:00:05.516


to another episode of the



00:00:05.556 --> 00:00:07.557


midlife revolution i'm your



00:00:07.577 --> 00:00:09.958


host vegan connor and today



00:00:09.978 --> 00:00:11.160


we're going to talk about



00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:13.080


what might happen if you



00:00:13.121 --> 00:00:15.063


are visited by a pair of



00:00:15.163 --> 00:00:17.463


mormon missionaries you've



00:00:17.504 --> 00:00:19.004


seen these lovely ladies



00:00:19.085 --> 00:00:20.265


and young men out there on



00:00:20.306 --> 00:00:22.106


the streets maybe knocking



00:00:22.187 --> 00:00:24.228


on doors maybe they've even



00:00:24.309 --> 00:00:25.370


come to your door



00:00:26.431 --> 00:00:27.911


the classic white



00:00:28.053 --> 00:00:30.234


short-sleeved button-down shirt with tie,



00:00:30.995 --> 00:00:32.856


the classic black name tag



00:00:32.877 --> 00:00:35.378


declaring elder or sister.



00:00:35.979 --> 00:00:37.320


You've seen them on their bikes.



00:00:38.042 --> 00:00:39.063


You've seen them talking to



00:00:39.103 --> 00:00:40.283


strangers on the street.



00:00:41.125 --> 00:00:43.186


And maybe someday they will



00:00:43.246 --> 00:00:44.328


come to your door.



00:00:44.828 --> 00:00:46.549


Here's a lovely guide on Amazon,



00:00:47.090 --> 00:00:48.490


a Catholic survival kit,



00:00:49.112 --> 00:00:49.773


what to do when



00:00:49.813 --> 00:00:50.973


missionaries come knocking.



00:00:52.454 --> 00:00:53.996


Honestly, I love to see these bright,



00:00:54.036 --> 00:00:54.976


smiling faces.



00:00:55.216 --> 00:00:56.698


My daughter served a Mormon



00:00:56.737 --> 00:00:57.798


mission right after she



00:00:57.838 --> 00:00:59.039


graduated from high school,



00:00:59.780 --> 00:01:01.881


and I always am going to



00:01:02.180 --> 00:01:03.262


talk to missionaries when



00:01:03.281 --> 00:01:05.102


they come around, invite them in,



00:01:05.843 --> 00:01:07.084


and wish them the best,



00:01:07.885 --> 00:01:09.105


although I may not be



00:01:09.165 --> 00:01:11.147


interested in listening to their message.



00:01:12.287 --> 00:01:13.608


I will talk a little bit



00:01:13.688 --> 00:01:15.430


later in a subsequent



00:01:15.510 --> 00:01:16.871


episode with my daughter



00:01:16.992 --> 00:01:18.453


about her mission experience.



00:01:19.233 --> 00:01:20.433


And you may be shocked to



00:01:20.474 --> 00:01:21.435


know that a lot of these



00:01:21.474 --> 00:01:22.475


young men and women are



00:01:22.495 --> 00:01:24.257


paying their own way to be



00:01:24.337 --> 00:01:24.856


on their mission.



00:01:26.144 --> 00:01:27.203


last time that i checked it



00:01:27.243 --> 00:01:30.224


cost about 450 a month to



00:01:30.325 --> 00:01:31.486


attend a mission and young



00:01:31.506 --> 00:01:32.626


men and women are expected



00:01:32.665 --> 00:01:34.346


to pay their own way in



00:01:34.406 --> 00:01:36.167


addition they receive very



00:01:36.227 --> 00:01:38.847


little help from the church



00:01:39.248 --> 00:01:40.408


in paying for meals and



00:01:40.427 --> 00:01:41.868


other things like that a



00:01:41.909 --> 00:01:43.349


lot of them are living in



00:01:43.489 --> 00:01:45.170


apartments that have been



00:01:45.189 --> 00:01:46.730


leased for a very long time



00:01:46.909 --> 00:01:47.790


and the missionaries in the



00:01:47.890 --> 00:01:49.531


area have been living in those apartments



00:01:50.111 --> 00:01:51.132


for years and years,



00:01:51.772 --> 00:01:53.153


just coming and going as



00:01:53.212 --> 00:01:54.174


they leave their mission.



00:01:54.194 --> 00:01:56.575


And many of them don't get



00:01:56.635 --> 00:01:57.876


enough to eat during the day.



00:01:58.256 --> 00:02:00.778


They have to be out teaching



00:02:00.837 --> 00:02:02.319


for a certain number of hours a day.



00:02:02.739 --> 00:02:04.280


They're up very early in the morning.



00:02:05.001 --> 00:02:06.302


And it used to be that the



00:02:06.341 --> 00:02:07.221


members were allowed to



00:02:07.281 --> 00:02:08.983


feed the missionaries once a week.



00:02:09.484 --> 00:02:11.164


But now they've sort of



00:02:12.604 --> 00:02:14.007


decreased the amount of time



00:02:14.046 --> 00:02:14.826


that they want to have



00:02:15.048 --> 00:02:16.849


missionaries in the homes of members.



00:02:17.449 --> 00:02:19.472


And so the last that I heard,



00:02:19.491 --> 00:02:21.074


the missionaries were



00:02:21.133 --> 00:02:21.895


allowed to come over and



00:02:21.935 --> 00:02:22.895


share a message with you,



00:02:22.936 --> 00:02:24.298


but not to share a meal.



00:02:24.418 --> 00:02:25.179


They preferred that the



00:02:25.218 --> 00:02:26.639


missionaries be out talking



00:02:27.100 --> 00:02:28.021


to people who are not



00:02:28.081 --> 00:02:28.842


members of the church.



00:02:29.423 --> 00:02:30.643


So I'm not sure how much of



00:02:30.682 --> 00:02:31.503


that has changed,



00:02:31.584 --> 00:02:32.864


but we will have more



00:02:32.903 --> 00:02:33.844


discussions about it.



00:02:34.104 --> 00:02:35.264


The reason I mention it is



00:02:35.324 --> 00:02:36.866


because whenever I see missionaries,



00:02:37.445 --> 00:02:38.746


I always want to ask them



00:02:38.806 --> 00:02:40.266


if they have enough to eat,



00:02:40.526 --> 00:02:41.927


if they're feeling safe,



00:02:42.268 --> 00:02:43.508


if they're well cared for,



00:02:43.527 --> 00:02:45.348


and if they feel safe.



00:02:45.788 --> 00:02:46.650


on their mission and with



00:02:46.669 --> 00:02:47.990


their leadership or if



00:02:48.030 --> 00:02:48.850


there's anything that they



00:02:48.871 --> 00:02:49.631


want to talk about,



00:02:49.691 --> 00:02:50.752


I open the door for that.



00:02:51.331 --> 00:02:52.612


I always offer them water



00:02:52.673 --> 00:02:53.653


when they come through my



00:02:53.693 --> 00:02:54.774


neighborhood just because



00:02:54.913 --> 00:02:56.294


they're out there in the heat a lot.



00:02:56.975 --> 00:02:58.235


And oftentimes I will send



00:02:58.276 --> 00:02:59.597


them off with food or with



00:02:59.657 --> 00:03:00.617


money to go buy food



00:03:00.677 --> 00:03:01.578


because I know a lot of



00:03:01.617 --> 00:03:02.438


them don't get enough to



00:03:02.519 --> 00:03:03.479


eat on their mission.



00:03:04.780 --> 00:03:06.001


So the mission rules have



00:03:06.040 --> 00:03:07.801


changed a lot over the years, obviously,



00:03:07.822 --> 00:03:10.203


but also the topics that



00:03:10.223 --> 00:03:11.462


the missionaries talk about



00:03:11.543 --> 00:03:12.484


have changed a lot.



00:03:13.063 --> 00:03:14.585


And you may be curious about



00:03:14.664 --> 00:03:15.585


what they might say to you



00:03:15.645 --> 00:03:16.506


if they come to your door,



00:03:16.545 --> 00:03:18.246


but you may also not want



00:03:18.306 --> 00:03:20.326


to invite them in and endure that.



00:03:20.407 --> 00:03:22.008


So this episode is just for that.



00:03:22.108 --> 00:03:23.109


I will tell you some of the



00:03:23.149 --> 00:03:24.169


things that they might talk



00:03:24.229 --> 00:03:25.810


about at your door,



00:03:26.590 --> 00:03:27.471


and then you can make a



00:03:27.510 --> 00:03:28.431


choice about whether you



00:03:28.450 --> 00:03:29.731


want to have them come in or not.



00:03:30.551 --> 00:03:31.532


first of all when a



00:03:31.573 --> 00:03:32.853


missionary comes and knocks



00:03:32.933 --> 00:03:34.594


on your door if you answer



00:03:34.634 --> 00:03:35.414


the door and have a



00:03:35.455 --> 00:03:37.776


conversation at all that



00:03:37.817 --> 00:03:39.076


conversation gets recorded



00:03:39.137 --> 00:03:40.198


in what's called the area



00:03:40.237 --> 00:03:41.519


book the missionaries want



00:03:41.538 --> 00:03:43.340


to keep a record of who



00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:44.381


answers the door and who



00:03:44.401 --> 00:03:45.561


doesn't who's friendly to



00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:46.722


the missionaries and who is



00:03:46.801 --> 00:03:48.823


not and if there's any



00:03:48.943 --> 00:03:50.724


little spark of interest at



00:03:50.965 --> 00:03:52.526


all opening the door's interest



00:03:53.126 --> 00:03:53.906


then they're going to keep



00:03:53.945 --> 00:03:55.186


your name and your contact



00:03:55.225 --> 00:03:56.347


information in their area



00:03:56.387 --> 00:03:57.806


book so that when they get



00:03:57.866 --> 00:03:59.106


transferred out of the area



00:03:59.247 --> 00:04:00.728


and the next missionaries come in,



00:04:01.548 --> 00:04:02.728


the next missionaries know



00:04:02.948 --> 00:04:04.008


that you're a safe person.



00:04:04.048 --> 00:04:05.068


You can knock on their door.



00:04:05.489 --> 00:04:06.429


They're going to notate it.



00:04:06.508 --> 00:04:07.748


If you offer them food or drink,



00:04:07.769 --> 00:04:08.669


they're going to notate it.



00:04:08.748 --> 00:04:10.028


If you come in and offer to



00:04:10.068 --> 00:04:12.270


have a conversation, if you say, no,



00:04:12.310 --> 00:04:13.330


thanks, I'm an atheist,



00:04:13.349 --> 00:04:13.930


they're going to make a



00:04:13.990 --> 00:04:14.849


note of that as well.



00:04:15.270 --> 00:04:16.471


They may still come to try



00:04:16.511 --> 00:04:17.250


and contact you.



00:04:17.831 --> 00:04:18.872


even if you declare a



00:04:19.072 --> 00:04:20.672


religious affiliation or no



00:04:21.072 --> 00:04:22.153


religious affiliation.



00:04:22.913 --> 00:04:24.014


So they keep track of all of



00:04:24.074 --> 00:04:24.913


these things and keep



00:04:24.973 --> 00:04:26.235


records so that the next



00:04:26.295 --> 00:04:27.995


missionaries have an idea



00:04:28.035 --> 00:04:28.896


of where to start when



00:04:28.915 --> 00:04:29.815


they're in your neighborhood.



00:04:30.815 --> 00:04:31.937


Now, a long time ago,



00:04:32.476 --> 00:04:34.317


there used to be actual



00:04:34.478 --> 00:04:36.939


physical pamphlets that the



00:04:36.978 --> 00:04:38.319


missionaries would use on



00:04:38.500 --> 00:04:40.060


each one of their visits to your house.



00:04:40.661 --> 00:04:43.641


And the first pamphlet that they used was



00:04:44.968 --> 00:04:46.529


a guidebook for the



00:04:46.569 --> 00:04:48.351


missionaries to use that



00:04:48.391 --> 00:04:49.233


would sort of guide them



00:04:49.293 --> 00:04:50.673


through a number of topics



00:04:50.733 --> 00:04:51.574


and lessons for you.



00:04:52.035 --> 00:04:54.036


Nowadays, missionaries will say, Hey,



00:04:54.076 --> 00:04:55.497


can we share a message with



00:04:55.517 --> 00:04:56.519


you about families?



00:04:56.598 --> 00:04:57.519


Which means they want to



00:04:57.559 --> 00:04:59.480


talk about temples, eternal families,



00:04:59.521 --> 00:05:00.841


how your family can be together.



00:05:01.403 --> 00:05:02.083


They may say,



00:05:02.182 --> 00:05:03.244


can we share a message with



00:05:03.264 --> 00:05:04.625


you about Jesus Christ?



00:05:05.086 --> 00:05:06.045


And then they want to share



00:05:06.166 --> 00:05:07.346


how they believe that Jesus



00:05:07.387 --> 00:05:08.487


Christ visited the people



00:05:08.548 --> 00:05:09.428


on this continent.



00:05:09.970 --> 00:05:11.670


And that is what is part of



00:05:11.690 --> 00:05:12.692


the book of Mormon is the



00:05:12.771 --> 00:05:13.673


record of that visit.



00:05:14.653 --> 00:05:15.273


They may say,



00:05:15.673 --> 00:05:16.754


we'd like to share a message



00:05:16.793 --> 00:05:18.334


with you about God.



00:05:18.975 --> 00:05:19.956


And then they'll probably



00:05:19.995 --> 00:05:20.935


talk about what they call



00:05:20.956 --> 00:05:22.257


the plan of salvation or



00:05:22.297 --> 00:05:23.257


the plan of happiness.



00:05:23.697 --> 00:05:24.798


And they'll take you through



00:05:25.117 --> 00:05:26.459


what they believe is what



00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:28.199


happened before we got here to earth,



00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:29.860


why we're here on the earth,



00:05:29.899 --> 00:05:30.641


and then what's gonna



00:05:30.701 --> 00:05:32.641


happen after we leave the earth.



00:05:33.122 --> 00:05:34.422


So today's missionaries are



00:05:34.482 --> 00:05:35.843


trained more just to have a



00:05:35.882 --> 00:05:36.862


conversation with you.



00:05:36.923 --> 00:05:37.923


They may even say,



00:05:37.963 --> 00:05:39.485


can we share a Bible verse with you?



00:05:40.305 --> 00:05:41.406


in which they might share a



00:05:41.646 --> 00:05:43.026


verse with you from joseph



00:05:43.067 --> 00:05:44.168


smith's translation of the



00:05:44.208 --> 00:05:45.548


bible which might differ



00:05:45.649 --> 00:05:46.629


from the version of the



00:05:46.670 --> 00:05:48.571


bible that you read it's



00:05:48.670 --> 00:05:49.851


all of this is just to open



00:05:49.872 --> 00:05:50.713


the door to have a



00:05:50.752 --> 00:05:51.932


religious conversation to



00:05:51.992 --> 00:05:53.574


find out what religion you



00:05:53.875 --> 00:05:55.036


are if you're satisfied



00:05:55.076 --> 00:05:55.975


with your religion if



00:05:56.016 --> 00:05:57.197


you're questioning religion



00:05:57.677 --> 00:05:58.937


or if you have no religion



00:05:58.978 --> 00:06:00.019


and you're searching for



00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:01.180


meaning and purpose in your



00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:03.661


life but back in the 80s



00:06:03.862 --> 00:06:05.843


they had discussion pamphlets and



00:06:06.843 --> 00:06:08.423


when a missionary goes to



00:06:08.444 --> 00:06:09.365


the missionary training



00:06:09.425 --> 00:06:10.865


center what they were



00:06:10.904 --> 00:06:13.245


learning was how to contact



00:06:13.286 --> 00:06:14.745


a person develop a



00:06:14.786 --> 00:06:16.386


relationship with them open



00:06:16.406 --> 00:06:17.367


the door for teaching



00:06:17.427 --> 00:06:18.507


opportunities and then



00:06:18.666 --> 00:06:20.766


exactly what to teach they



00:06:20.786 --> 00:06:21.548


would go through these



00:06:21.588 --> 00:06:22.747


little pamphlets while they



00:06:22.788 --> 00:06:23.567


were sitting there at your



00:06:23.608 --> 00:06:24.987


kitchen table they had a



00:06:25.048 --> 00:06:27.209


very specific outline as to



00:06:27.288 --> 00:06:28.048


what they were going to



00:06:28.088 --> 00:06:29.408


address with you what



00:06:29.468 --> 00:06:30.649


scriptures to read what



00:06:30.709 --> 00:06:32.129


questions to ask and all of



00:06:32.170 --> 00:06:33.689


that so i want to present



00:06:33.730 --> 00:06:34.990


those today because



00:06:35.911 --> 00:06:36.951


when missionaries come into



00:06:36.971 --> 00:06:37.952


your home to teach you



00:06:38.194 --> 00:06:39.574


about mormonism or the



00:06:39.615 --> 00:06:40.536


church of jesus christ of



00:06:40.576 --> 00:06:41.958


latter-day saints they're



00:06:41.978 --> 00:06:43.119


going to paint for you a



00:06:43.338 --> 00:06:45.120


very basic picture of some



00:06:45.141 --> 00:06:46.622


of the most important



00:06:46.923 --> 00:06:48.384


doctrines to them but



00:06:48.404 --> 00:06:49.446


there's a lot of things



00:06:49.485 --> 00:06:50.848


that they're not going to tell you



00:06:51.408 --> 00:06:52.750


as well of course they're



00:06:52.769 --> 00:06:53.329


going to leave out



00:06:53.389 --> 00:06:54.752


problematic racial history



00:06:54.872 --> 00:06:55.892


of course they don't want



00:06:55.932 --> 00:06:57.033


to talk about polygamy



00:06:57.514 --> 00:06:58.375


they'll say that that's in



00:06:58.415 --> 00:06:59.997


the past of course they're



00:07:00.038 --> 00:07:00.738


not going to want to talk



00:07:00.778 --> 00:07:02.199


about things like the ces



00:07:02.259 --> 00:07:04.041


letter or anything that



00:07:04.101 --> 00:07:05.204


challenges the official



00:07:05.223 --> 00:07:06.685


mormon narrative they're



00:07:06.725 --> 00:07:07.586


not going to want to talk



00:07:07.665 --> 00:07:09.889


about the recent sec fine



00:07:10.348 --> 00:07:11.408


or any of the financial



00:07:11.470 --> 00:07:12.529


scandals that have come up.



00:07:12.569 --> 00:07:13.370


They're not going to want to



00:07:13.410 --> 00:07:14.391


talk about Tim Ballard



00:07:14.430 --> 00:07:15.471


being excommunicated.



00:07:15.850 --> 00:07:16.651


They're not going to want to



00:07:16.690 --> 00:07:18.351


talk about the abuse claims



00:07:18.872 --> 00:07:19.872


or the settlements with the



00:07:19.911 --> 00:07:21.752


Boy Scouts of America over abuse.



00:07:22.432 --> 00:07:23.553


All of those things are off



00:07:23.593 --> 00:07:25.793


the table for missionary discussions.



00:07:26.915 --> 00:07:27.074


So,



00:07:29.507 --> 00:07:30.228


Unfortunately,



00:07:30.329 --> 00:07:31.730


it's not really a situation



00:07:31.790 --> 00:07:33.391


where they're trying to



00:07:33.471 --> 00:07:35.194


convert you with informed consent.



00:07:35.654 --> 00:07:36.675


They're trying to convert



00:07:36.696 --> 00:07:38.218


you as quickly as possible



00:07:38.658 --> 00:07:40.199


by sort of appealing to



00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:42.221


your sensibilities about



00:07:42.262 --> 00:07:43.783


spirituality and God.



00:07:44.204 --> 00:07:45.365


They want to ask you to pray



00:07:45.425 --> 00:07:46.766


about things rather than



00:07:46.966 --> 00:07:47.927


using your critical



00:07:47.968 --> 00:07:49.290


thinking skills to



00:07:49.389 --> 00:07:51.012


logically analyze what they're saying.



00:07:51.692 --> 00:07:53.314


And their goal is to get you



00:07:53.355 --> 00:07:54.997


baptized as quickly as they can.



00:07:55.016 --> 00:07:58.000


And then more information will come later.



00:07:58.540 --> 00:07:59.742


I know this is true because



00:07:59.783 --> 00:08:00.463


I was a member of the



00:08:00.504 --> 00:08:02.386


church for 40 years of my life,



00:08:02.966 --> 00:08:04.449


arguably 45 years if you



00:08:04.488 --> 00:08:05.649


count my childhood as well.



00:08:06.630 --> 00:08:10.112


And I was also a ward missionary,



00:08:10.353 --> 00:08:11.935


which meant that my job was



00:08:12.014 --> 00:08:12.915


to meet with all of the



00:08:12.954 --> 00:08:14.076


people who'd been recently



00:08:14.115 --> 00:08:15.956


baptized and teach them a



00:08:16.036 --> 00:08:17.197


second set of lessons,



00:08:17.317 --> 00:08:18.858


the lessons that come after



00:08:18.899 --> 00:08:20.560


a person has visited with



00:08:20.579 --> 00:08:22.281


the missionaries and gone



00:08:22.302 --> 00:08:23.682


through the baptismal process.



00:08:24.463 --> 00:08:25.684


The lessons I was teaching



00:08:25.744 --> 00:08:26.803


didn't cover any of those



00:08:26.884 --> 00:08:28.545


problematic topics either.



00:08:28.725 --> 00:08:30.026


They dug a little bit deeper



00:08:30.146 --> 00:08:32.147


into what is expected of



00:08:32.206 --> 00:08:33.988


you as a member of the LDS church.



00:08:34.607 --> 00:08:36.369


And really some of it was cultural,



00:08:36.448 --> 00:08:37.529


but there was a little bit



00:08:37.570 --> 00:08:38.690


of doctrinal stuff in there.



00:08:38.730 --> 00:08:40.091


Things like the word of wisdom,



00:08:40.150 --> 00:08:41.272


not drinking, smoking,



00:08:41.912 --> 00:08:43.013


all of those kinds of things.



00:08:43.692 --> 00:08:45.494


And it was a little bit of a



00:08:45.634 --> 00:08:47.014


deeper dive into some of



00:08:47.034 --> 00:08:48.635


the doctrinal things as well.



00:08:49.155 --> 00:08:50.395


There was a set of 12



00:08:50.395 --> 00:08:52.076


lessons when I was a ward missionary.



00:08:52.157 --> 00:08:54.097


So every time a person got baptized,



00:08:54.197 --> 00:08:54.958


I would visit with them



00:08:55.078 --> 00:08:57.340


once a week during those 12 lessons.



00:08:57.759 --> 00:08:58.600


Sometimes we would give



00:08:58.640 --> 00:08:59.780


those lessons during Sunday



00:08:59.821 --> 00:09:01.182


school on Sunday,



00:09:01.221 --> 00:09:03.123


but my job was really more



00:09:03.182 --> 00:09:05.024


for those people who had gotten baptized,



00:09:05.083 --> 00:09:06.245


but weren't attending



00:09:06.304 --> 00:09:07.985


Sunday school at church on Sunday.



00:09:08.525 --> 00:09:09.927


And so I would go into their homes



00:09:10.567 --> 00:09:11.850


and try to invite them back



00:09:11.890 --> 00:09:13.134


to church say we miss you



00:09:13.174 --> 00:09:14.076


we love you we'd love to



00:09:14.157 --> 00:09:15.620


have you and also



00:09:16.583 --> 00:09:17.923


Here's a spiritual discussion.



00:09:18.325 --> 00:09:19.264


How are you feeling about



00:09:19.284 --> 00:09:20.225


your spirituality?



00:09:20.384 --> 00:09:21.065


Are you praying?



00:09:21.184 --> 00:09:22.666


Are you reading your scriptures every day?



00:09:23.105 --> 00:09:24.285


And it was my job to do that



00:09:24.326 --> 00:09:25.606


for about two years while I



00:09:25.647 --> 00:09:26.807


was an active believing



00:09:26.846 --> 00:09:27.667


member of the church.



00:09:28.326 --> 00:09:29.927


So I want to go through with



00:09:29.967 --> 00:09:32.269


you now what the discussion



00:09:32.308 --> 00:09:34.749


manuals looked like back in



00:09:34.948 --> 00:09:36.350


the 80s when there was a



00:09:36.409 --> 00:09:38.629


manual for every single lesson.



00:09:39.910 --> 00:09:40.551


These come...



00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:44.900


courtesy of IMGR,



00:09:44.941 --> 00:09:46.260


where anybody can post



00:09:46.780 --> 00:09:48.142


things and turn it into a



00:09:48.201 --> 00:09:49.402


searchable PDF format.



00:09:49.422 --> 00:09:50.322


So you can see it says,



00:09:50.361 --> 00:09:51.643


The Plan of Our Heavenly Father,



00:09:52.062 --> 00:09:53.623


Discussion 1,



00:09:53.623 --> 00:09:55.644


Uniform System for Teaching the Gospel.



00:09:55.724 --> 00:09:56.864


It was very important to the



00:09:56.903 --> 00:09:58.465


church and still is that



00:09:58.565 --> 00:09:59.605


all of the missionaries are



00:09:59.664 --> 00:10:01.065


teaching the same lessons



00:10:01.525 --> 00:10:02.346


and that they're presenting



00:10:02.365 --> 00:10:04.405


the same information in the same way.



00:10:04.426 --> 00:10:05.907


No going off book here.



00:10:06.996 --> 00:10:08.477


and there's a set of



00:10:08.538 --> 00:10:10.078


instructions here for the



00:10:10.419 --> 00:10:12.100


lesson planning for the



00:10:12.160 --> 00:10:13.062


discussion and this would



00:10:13.081 --> 00:10:14.682


all happen before they even



00:10:14.942 --> 00:10:16.264


come into your home before



00:10:16.303 --> 00:10:17.024


they even leave their



00:10:17.065 --> 00:10:18.826


apartment for the day so



00:10:19.005 --> 00:10:20.187


the lds missionaries will



00:10:20.206 --> 00:10:21.148


get up at six o'clock



00:10:21.187 --> 00:10:22.128


they're supposed to have



00:10:22.227 --> 00:10:23.428


personal scripture study



00:10:23.448 --> 00:10:24.730


then they're supposed to



00:10:24.870 --> 00:10:26.250


exercise then they're



00:10:26.270 --> 00:10:27.552


supposed to have companion



00:10:27.591 --> 00:10:28.832


study which means them and



00:10:28.852 --> 00:10:30.053


their companion will study



00:10:30.073 --> 00:10:30.955


the scriptures together



00:10:31.735 --> 00:10:33.017


and they're supposed to say



00:10:33.057 --> 00:10:34.499


a prayer about who they're



00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:35.639


supposed to teach that day,



00:10:36.140 --> 00:10:37.522


get guidance from God or



00:10:37.542 --> 00:10:38.984


the Holy Spirit about what



00:10:39.043 --> 00:10:40.085


neighborhoods to visit.



00:10:40.765 --> 00:10:41.866


And so they'll show up in



00:10:41.907 --> 00:10:42.628


your neighborhood



00:10:42.889 --> 00:10:44.890


spiritually prepared to



00:10:45.270 --> 00:10:46.393


meet somebody who wants to



00:10:46.432 --> 00:10:47.254


learn about the gospel.



00:10:48.802 --> 00:10:50.844


So when you look at this



00:10:50.943 --> 00:10:52.104


planning for the discussion



00:10:52.144 --> 00:10:53.524


phase right here, it says,



00:10:53.583 --> 00:10:54.524


prepare to teach this



00:10:54.585 --> 00:10:55.565


discussion by thinking



00:10:55.625 --> 00:10:57.144


about the investigator's needs.



00:10:57.245 --> 00:10:58.125


People who were learning



00:10:58.166 --> 00:10:58.985


about the church were



00:10:59.046 --> 00:11:00.765


called investigators at the time.



00:11:01.486 --> 00:11:03.586


And so they were instructed



00:11:03.606 --> 00:11:05.427


to think about the needs of



00:11:05.467 --> 00:11:06.528


you as an individual.



00:11:06.548 --> 00:11:09.028


And also they were



00:11:09.089 --> 00:11:10.688


instructed to pray about



00:11:10.849 --> 00:11:11.850


what you might need to hear



00:11:11.909 --> 00:11:13.809


about and what potential



00:11:13.850 --> 00:11:15.009


problems might come up.



00:11:18.174 --> 00:11:19.416


says then how plan how you



00:11:19.456 --> 00:11:20.076


might present the



00:11:20.116 --> 00:11:21.317


discussion to meet these



00:11:21.378 --> 00:11:22.719


needs for example consider



00:11:23.099 --> 00:11:23.740


which of your own



00:11:23.820 --> 00:11:24.880


experiences might be



00:11:24.961 --> 00:11:26.461


meaningful to them to hear



00:11:26.942 --> 00:11:27.962


what examples might help



00:11:28.003 --> 00:11:29.585


them understand clearly or



00:11:29.664 --> 00:11:30.684


resolve their concerns



00:11:31.166 --> 00:11:32.027


which book of mormon



00:11:32.067 --> 00:11:33.106


passages you could share



00:11:33.126 --> 00:11:34.347


with them which of their



00:11:34.448 --> 00:11:35.589


own experiences might



00:11:35.649 --> 00:11:36.690


relate to your message



00:11:37.230 --> 00:11:38.932


specifically plan what you



00:11:38.971 --> 00:11:40.133


will do to prepare these



00:11:40.192 --> 00:11:41.735


investigators to feel the spirit



00:11:42.394 --> 00:11:42.674


two,



00:11:43.115 --> 00:11:44.336


when to invite them to make



00:11:44.375 --> 00:11:46.037


commitments like praying or



00:11:46.057 --> 00:11:47.477


getting baptized, and three,



00:11:47.857 --> 00:11:48.758


how you will follow up to



00:11:48.817 --> 00:11:49.979


help them keep their commitments.



00:11:50.538 --> 00:11:51.539


The main focus of the



00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:52.440


discussion should be the



00:11:52.460 --> 00:11:53.341


Book of Mormon and the



00:11:53.380 --> 00:11:54.400


Prophet Joseph Smith.



00:11:54.801 --> 00:11:56.142


Do not spend too much time



00:11:56.241 --> 00:11:57.462


on the first two principles,



00:11:57.883 --> 00:11:58.863


especially if the



00:11:58.923 --> 00:12:00.144


investigators basically



00:12:00.183 --> 00:12:01.384


agree with what you present.



00:12:01.924 --> 00:12:03.206


Leave enough time to discuss



00:12:03.245 --> 00:12:04.466


the truths that are unique



00:12:04.505 --> 00:12:05.527


to the restored gospel.



00:12:06.187 --> 00:12:07.288


After the discussion,



00:12:07.707 --> 00:12:08.509


the investigator's



00:12:08.609 --> 00:12:09.729


strongest impressions



00:12:09.808 --> 00:12:10.950


should be of the Book of



00:12:10.990 --> 00:12:12.890


Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith.



00:12:13.471 --> 00:12:13.991


Through them,



00:12:14.052 --> 00:12:15.153


we gained our understanding



00:12:15.173 --> 00:12:16.133


of God and His plan.



00:12:16.714 --> 00:12:18.475


Now the doctrinal overview,



00:12:18.715 --> 00:12:20.216


there are six points to this,



00:12:20.816 --> 00:12:21.856


and I can totally



00:12:21.897 --> 00:12:23.116


understand why they started



00:12:23.157 --> 00:12:23.937


to narrow down.



00:12:24.577 --> 00:12:25.658


the discussion format



00:12:25.678 --> 00:12:27.059


because there's a lot of



00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:28.640


material to go over here.



00:12:29.261 --> 00:12:29.802


And you could,



00:12:29.922 --> 00:12:31.322


even if you only spent 10



00:12:31.322 --> 00:12:33.445


minutes on each one, that's a full hour.



00:12:33.865 --> 00:12:35.046


But these topics are pretty



00:12:35.105 --> 00:12:36.886


deep for just 10 minutes of discussion.



00:12:37.950 --> 00:12:39.270


So here are the main principles.



00:12:39.770 --> 00:12:40.971


God the Father has a plan



00:12:41.011 --> 00:12:41.772


for our happiness.



00:12:41.951 --> 00:12:43.352


It's called the plan of salvation.



00:12:43.832 --> 00:12:45.014


If they go into describing



00:12:45.053 --> 00:12:45.913


the plan of salvation,



00:12:45.933 --> 00:12:46.855


that's probably like



00:12:46.894 --> 00:12:48.635


another 20 or 30 minute discussion.



00:12:49.255 --> 00:12:49.736


Number two,



00:12:49.817 --> 00:12:51.236


Jesus Christ has a central



00:12:51.277 --> 00:12:52.337


mission in the plan,



00:12:52.918 --> 00:12:54.759


meaning he's very important to the plan.



00:12:55.379 --> 00:12:55.879


Number three,



00:12:56.059 --> 00:12:57.380


God reveals the truth about



00:12:57.441 --> 00:12:58.642


his plan through prophets.



00:12:59.062 --> 00:13:00.763


It's very important for prophets.



00:13:01.562 --> 00:13:03.163


investigators to understand



00:13:03.504 --> 00:13:05.344


what a prophet is and



00:13:05.683 --> 00:13:07.144


relate to you that there is



00:13:07.164 --> 00:13:08.445


a prophet on the earth today.



00:13:08.465 --> 00:13:09.684


Number four,



00:13:09.745 --> 00:13:11.025


the prophet Joseph Smith is a



00:13:11.086 --> 00:13:12.586


modern witness of Jesus Christ.



00:13:12.826 --> 00:13:13.365


Through him,



00:13:13.505 --> 00:13:14.746


God has restored knowledge



00:13:14.807 --> 00:13:15.787


about the divine plan.



00:13:15.807 --> 00:13:17.147


Number five,



00:13:17.307 --> 00:13:18.467


the Book of Mormon is another



00:13:18.508 --> 00:13:19.687


testament of Jesus Christ



00:13:19.868 --> 00:13:21.928


that clearly explains the divine plan.



00:13:21.948 --> 00:13:23.889


And six, through the Holy Ghost,



00:13:24.009 --> 00:13:25.229


each person can know this



00:13:25.288 --> 00:13:26.309


message is true.



00:13:27.389 --> 00:13:28.471


and then commitments during



00:13:28.490 --> 00:13:29.571


this discussion you need to



00:13:29.610 --> 00:13:30.831


help the investigators feel



00:13:30.850 --> 00:13:31.792


the presence of the holy



00:13:31.851 --> 00:13:33.011


spirit this will prepare



00:13:33.032 --> 00:13:33.673


them to make the



00:13:33.712 --> 00:13:34.712


commitments that lead to



00:13:34.773 --> 00:13:36.094


conversion and baptism



00:13:36.533 --> 00:13:37.793


during this discussion the



00:13:37.854 --> 00:13:39.014


investigators should commit



00:13:39.054 --> 00:13:40.975


themselves to one read from



00:13:40.995 --> 00:13:42.096


the book of mormon and pray



00:13:42.135 --> 00:13:43.777


to know that it is true the



00:13:43.836 --> 00:13:44.636


following reading



00:13:44.716 --> 00:13:46.457


assignment is suggested and



00:13:46.477 --> 00:13:48.778


then they give the specific



00:13:48.839 --> 00:13:50.019


verses and chapters that



00:13:50.058 --> 00:13:51.379


they want investigators to



00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.059


read as homework after the



00:13:53.100 --> 00:13:54.221


discussion is over



00:13:54.780 --> 00:13:55.902


then they want them to pray



00:13:55.922 --> 00:13:57.102


that to know that joseph



00:13:57.123 --> 00:13:58.224


smith is a prophet of god



00:13:58.744 --> 00:13:59.784


and take part in the next



00:13:59.845 --> 00:14:01.666


discussion preferably the



00:14:01.706 --> 00:14:03.307


remaining five discussions



00:14:03.628 --> 00:14:04.928


at a specific time so



00:14:05.288 --> 00:14:06.950


missionaries were taught to



00:14:06.990 --> 00:14:08.071


go ahead and get a



00:14:08.130 --> 00:14:09.371


commitment from the



00:14:09.432 --> 00:14:11.693


investigators to come back



00:14:11.793 --> 00:14:13.596


for a second discussion and



00:14:13.655 --> 00:14:14.655


get a commitment from them



00:14:14.676 --> 00:14:15.616


that they were going to



00:14:15.756 --> 00:14:16.677


read the chapters in the



00:14:16.697 --> 00:14:17.818


book of mormon and pray



00:14:17.859 --> 00:14:19.360


about whether or not they



00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:20.360


were true in fact you'll



00:14:20.400 --> 00:14:21.481


notice it wasn't presented



00:14:21.522 --> 00:14:22.501


that way it said



00:14:23.302 --> 00:14:25.264


pray to know that the book



00:14:25.304 --> 00:14:26.586


of mormon is true pray to



00:14:26.667 --> 00:14:27.807


know that joseph smith was



00:14:27.868 --> 00:14:30.431


a prophet so they didn't



00:14:30.471 --> 00:14:32.232


want to even introduce the



00:14:32.312 --> 00:14:33.815


possibility of doubt there



00:14:35.437 --> 00:14:37.538


so once they get to the



00:14:37.578 --> 00:14:40.001


investigators home they are



00:14:40.062 --> 00:14:42.004


to create a learning atmosphere



00:14:43.207 --> 00:14:44.568


they want you to become



00:14:44.629 --> 00:14:45.690


acquainted and build a



00:14:45.710 --> 00:14:46.892


relationship of trust and



00:14:46.912 --> 00:14:48.373


they line out exactly how



00:14:48.413 --> 00:14:50.294


this how to do this you



00:14:50.335 --> 00:14:51.196


might share information



00:14:51.235 --> 00:14:52.356


about yourself including



00:14:52.397 --> 00:14:53.638


your hometown family and



00:14:53.677 --> 00:14:55.099


schooling your interests



00:14:55.239 --> 00:14:56.080


and why you came on a



00:14:56.120 --> 00:14:57.360


mission although now



00:14:57.461 --> 00:14:59.703


missionaries are counseled



00:14:59.964 --> 00:15:01.004


not to talk about their



00:15:01.044 --> 00:15:02.645


hometown or their family or



00:15:02.686 --> 00:15:04.067


their schooling they're



00:15:04.248 --> 00:15:06.090


taught to focus only on the mission



00:15:06.629 --> 00:15:07.429


So, for example,



00:15:07.490 --> 00:15:08.770


they told us as members



00:15:09.311 --> 00:15:10.750


that we were not supposed



00:15:10.770 --> 00:15:12.491


to ask missionaries where they were from.



00:15:12.511 --> 00:15:13.792


We were supposed to ask them



00:15:13.871 --> 00:15:15.212


how long they'd been on their mission.



00:15:15.732 --> 00:15:16.852


They wanted to keep the



00:15:16.972 --> 00:15:17.993


elders and the sisters



00:15:18.073 --> 00:15:19.033


focused on what they were



00:15:19.073 --> 00:15:20.333


doing and not thinking



00:15:20.394 --> 00:15:21.615


about being at home.



00:15:22.335 --> 00:15:23.534


And so that was just another



00:15:23.575 --> 00:15:24.735


way that they sort of tried



00:15:24.775 --> 00:15:26.275


to keep missionaries on



00:15:26.316 --> 00:15:27.275


track and thinking about



00:15:27.316 --> 00:15:28.557


the right things while they



00:15:28.596 --> 00:15:29.297


were on their mission.



00:15:31.815 --> 00:15:33.576


next you might find out



00:15:33.655 --> 00:15:34.735


about the investigators



00:15:34.956 --> 00:15:36.557


family work interests



00:15:36.716 --> 00:15:37.677


religious attitudes



00:15:37.856 --> 00:15:38.998


experiences that led them



00:15:39.038 --> 00:15:40.118


to investigate the church



00:15:40.317 --> 00:15:41.359


acquaintance with members



00:15:41.418 --> 00:15:42.839


of the church knowledge of



00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:43.839


the church and their their



00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:45.139


experiences with people who



00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:47.240


are lds if you spent any



00:15:47.280 --> 00:15:48.441


time at all in sales you



00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:49.822


know that these are sales



00:15:49.861 --> 00:15:51.802


tactics this is a way to



00:15:51.922 --> 00:15:53.222


build a relationship you're



00:15:53.322 --> 00:15:54.302


asking about their



00:15:54.363 --> 00:15:55.384


important things they're



00:15:55.423 --> 00:15:56.683


asking about your important



00:15:56.724 --> 00:15:58.144


things you're sharing some things



00:15:59.125 --> 00:16:00.346


And you're asking them to



00:16:00.385 --> 00:16:01.506


share really personal



00:16:01.606 --> 00:16:03.048


information about their



00:16:03.087 --> 00:16:04.428


religious beliefs as well.



00:16:04.948 --> 00:16:07.230


So they're trying to really



00:16:07.671 --> 00:16:09.331


get you to be vulnerable in



00:16:09.371 --> 00:16:11.374


this first discussion right off the bat.



00:16:12.405 --> 00:16:12.886


Then it says,



00:16:12.986 --> 00:16:14.548


establish a reverent atmosphere.



00:16:14.568 --> 00:16:16.171


Set a reverent and relaxed



00:16:16.211 --> 00:16:17.293


atmosphere of the discussion.



00:16:17.373 --> 00:16:18.553


Remember that you're a guest



00:16:18.615 --> 00:16:19.775


in the investigator's home.



00:16:20.317 --> 00:16:20.857


You should,



00:16:21.097 --> 00:16:22.580


with the investigator's permission,



00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:24.062


arrange the seating so all



00:16:24.101 --> 00:16:25.583


can participate comfortably.



00:16:25.644 --> 00:16:26.325


That's interesting.



00:16:26.365 --> 00:16:27.447


I've never had a missionary



00:16:27.506 --> 00:16:28.467


do that in my house.



00:16:30.104 --> 00:16:31.424


Try to remove distractions.



00:16:31.485 --> 00:16:32.025


For instance,



00:16:32.225 --> 00:16:33.346


ask whether you may turn off



00:16:33.366 --> 00:16:34.447


the television or radio.



00:16:34.727 --> 00:16:36.028


I did have them do this when



00:16:36.049 --> 00:16:37.530


they were teaching my former spouse,



00:16:37.551 --> 00:16:38.511


who was not a member of the



00:16:38.572 --> 00:16:39.932


church when we first got married.



00:16:40.594 --> 00:16:41.715


They would often ask,



00:16:42.154 --> 00:16:43.496


can we turn off the TV?



00:16:44.236 --> 00:16:45.317


If he was in the kitchen



00:16:45.339 --> 00:16:47.620


doing dishes after dinner, they would say,



00:16:47.760 --> 00:16:49.162


would you join us over here?



00:16:49.743 --> 00:16:51.344


Rather than doing dishes while we talk,



00:16:51.384 --> 00:16:52.485


they really want your full



00:16:52.625 --> 00:16:53.606


undivided attention.



00:16:55.014 --> 00:16:57.075


They say, recognize the family head,



00:16:57.456 --> 00:16:59.037


which of course is going to be the man,



00:16:59.336 --> 00:17:01.557


invite all family members to participate.



00:17:02.057 --> 00:17:03.599


With the permission of the family head,



00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:04.420


offer a prayer.



00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:05.760


And then later they would



00:17:05.881 --> 00:17:07.301


ask you to be the one to pray.



00:17:08.955 --> 00:17:09.556


they're supposed to



00:17:09.596 --> 00:17:10.696


introduce the discussion



00:17:11.117 --> 00:17:12.298


and they're going to talk



00:17:12.438 --> 00:17:13.858


briefly about the points



00:17:13.900 --> 00:17:14.779


that they're going to cover



00:17:15.340 --> 00:17:16.280


in the discussion they're



00:17:16.300 --> 00:17:17.541


going to prepare you for



00:17:17.622 --> 00:17:19.143


what to expect for example



00:17:19.683 --> 00:17:20.544


they should feel free to



00:17:20.604 --> 00:17:21.924


express their feelings ask



00:17:21.984 --> 00:17:23.105


questions tell you when



00:17:23.125 --> 00:17:23.906


they don't understand



00:17:23.967 --> 00:17:25.907


something and sincerely try



00:17:25.948 --> 00:17:27.449


to find out whether your



00:17:27.489 --> 00:17:29.871


message is true so



00:17:31.532 --> 00:17:32.932


there are five actually



00:17:32.972 --> 00:17:34.413


there are six principles in



00:17:34.453 --> 00:17:36.273


this first discussion and



00:17:36.314 --> 00:17:37.753


you can see this is quite a



00:17:37.834 --> 00:17:40.275


lengthy pamphlet it's a lot



00:17:40.434 --> 00:17:42.714


to go through and i can



00:17:42.775 --> 00:17:44.015


imagine a set of



00:17:44.076 --> 00:17:44.976


missionaries spending a



00:17:45.016 --> 00:17:46.215


couple of hours on all of



00:17:46.256 --> 00:17:47.496


this especially if somebody



00:17:47.556 --> 00:17:49.317


is either not really



00:17:49.376 --> 00:17:50.596


familiar with religion or



00:17:50.636 --> 00:17:51.616


with the scriptures with



00:17:51.636 --> 00:17:53.196


the bible at all if they



00:17:53.356 --> 00:17:54.518


aren't really practicing



00:17:54.617 --> 00:17:55.718


any particular religion



00:17:56.916 --> 00:17:58.317


it would be a lot to go through.



00:17:58.337 --> 00:18:00.638


And you could spend probably



00:18:00.679 --> 00:18:01.980


a half an hour on each one



00:18:02.019 --> 00:18:02.681


of these points.



00:18:03.340 --> 00:18:04.442


And it would probably feel



00:18:04.501 --> 00:18:05.721


really overwhelming to try



00:18:05.741 --> 00:18:06.962


and get all of this crammed



00:18:07.083 --> 00:18:08.284


into one lesson,



00:18:08.324 --> 00:18:09.325


which I think is why the



00:18:09.805 --> 00:18:10.905


church has gotten away from



00:18:10.925 --> 00:18:12.866


this particular format of teaching.



00:18:13.366 --> 00:18:15.087


And they've gone to more informal,



00:18:15.228 --> 00:18:16.409


shorter discussions where



00:18:16.449 --> 00:18:17.970


you spend 15 to 20 minutes



00:18:18.049 --> 00:18:19.570


talking about a gospel principle.



00:18:20.270 --> 00:18:21.511


I think that the focus is



00:18:21.612 --> 00:18:23.074


still to try and get the



00:18:23.114 --> 00:18:24.275


person to come to church



00:18:24.355 --> 00:18:25.756


right away the following Sunday.



00:18:26.376 --> 00:18:28.377


And also the next commitment



00:18:28.498 --> 00:18:29.699


is to try and get them to



00:18:29.779 --> 00:18:30.901


agree to be baptized as



00:18:30.961 --> 00:18:31.840


quickly as possible,



00:18:31.961 --> 00:18:33.823


sometimes even with just one discussion.



00:18:34.423 --> 00:18:35.724


There used to be a rule that



00:18:35.765 --> 00:18:37.006


people had to attend church



00:18:37.086 --> 00:18:39.327


two times before they could get baptized.



00:18:39.748 --> 00:18:41.269


I don't know if that's still a rule or not,



00:18:41.789 --> 00:18:42.750


but the person getting



00:18:42.790 --> 00:18:44.612


baptized does have to go to



00:18:44.652 --> 00:18:45.673


an interview with the bishop.



00:18:46.513 --> 00:18:47.875


basically to confirm what



00:18:47.914 --> 00:18:49.816


was taught and then make



00:18:49.855 --> 00:18:50.915


sure that they understand



00:18:50.997 --> 00:18:52.717


it and make sure that they



00:18:53.038 --> 00:18:54.538


are willing to get baptized



00:18:55.058 --> 00:18:56.859


as far as i know there is



00:18:57.099 --> 00:18:59.441


absolutely no point at



00:18:59.560 --> 00:19:01.741


which a bishop interviewing



00:19:01.781 --> 00:19:03.103


a potential person to get



00:19:03.123 --> 00:19:04.923


baptized or a missionary



00:19:05.003 --> 00:19:06.244


presenting the material at



00:19:06.365 --> 00:19:07.285


no point are they going to



00:19:07.425 --> 00:19:09.046


ask you if you know about



00:19:09.145 --> 00:19:10.346


any of the other historical



00:19:10.386 --> 00:19:12.048


things of the church or



00:19:12.107 --> 00:19:13.368


attempt to teach you those things



00:19:13.828 --> 00:19:14.869


They're going to present the



00:19:14.910 --> 00:19:16.330


prescribed information and



00:19:16.351 --> 00:19:17.211


they're going to get you to



00:19:17.250 --> 00:19:19.071


commit to it as quickly as possible.



00:19:19.652 --> 00:19:21.173


So the main focus of these



00:19:21.232 --> 00:19:22.574


discussions back then was



00:19:22.614 --> 00:19:23.694


to get into the first



00:19:23.775 --> 00:19:25.375


vision of Joseph Smith,



00:19:25.435 --> 00:19:27.777


where he claimed to see God



00:19:27.936 --> 00:19:28.817


and Jesus Christ.



00:19:29.337 --> 00:19:30.538


And they told him not to



00:19:30.578 --> 00:19:31.558


join any of the churches



00:19:31.638 --> 00:19:32.940


because none of them were correct,



00:19:33.420 --> 00:19:35.280


but that he needed to wait



00:19:35.362 --> 00:19:36.521


for further instructions



00:19:36.582 --> 00:19:37.903


from God about what to do



00:19:37.962 --> 00:19:38.963


regarding religion.



00:19:39.864 --> 00:19:41.164


That's really the focus of



00:19:41.204 --> 00:19:42.786


this first discussion is to



00:19:42.806 --> 00:19:44.067


get people to understand



00:19:44.186 --> 00:19:45.688


that we can only find out



00:19:45.708 --> 00:19:47.147


about God through a prophet



00:19:47.788 --> 00:19:48.848


or through the revelation



00:19:48.869 --> 00:19:49.950


of God through a prophet.



00:19:50.150 --> 00:19:51.391


And they want to make sure



00:19:51.411 --> 00:19:52.791


that you understand that



00:19:52.832 --> 00:19:54.212


Joseph Smith was a prophet



00:19:54.292 --> 00:19:56.013


because he saw God in Jesus Christ.



00:19:56.554 --> 00:19:58.036


and then claimed to speak



00:19:58.115 --> 00:20:00.117


for him for the rest of his life.



00:20:00.877 --> 00:20:01.858


Getting you to understand



00:20:01.898 --> 00:20:03.800


that principle is really important.



00:20:04.162 --> 00:20:05.163


And the reason I want to



00:20:05.202 --> 00:20:06.304


bring this one up today is



00:20:06.344 --> 00:20:07.184


the first one that most



00:20:07.244 --> 00:20:08.705


missionaries will go over with you.



00:20:09.165 --> 00:20:10.086


But there are some things



00:20:10.468 --> 00:20:11.568


even about this first



00:20:11.628 --> 00:20:12.890


vision of Joseph Smith that



00:20:12.930 --> 00:20:14.111


they won't tell you about



00:20:14.612 --> 00:20:15.992


and things that I didn't



00:20:16.093 --> 00:20:17.875


even know about as a member



00:20:17.914 --> 00:20:18.394


of the church.



00:20:19.135 --> 00:20:21.337


And it wasn't until about



00:20:21.337 --> 00:20:22.858


2015 that the LDS Church



00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:24.260


started posting on their



00:20:24.300 --> 00:20:25.561


website these things called



00:20:25.862 --> 00:20:27.262


gospel topic essays,



00:20:27.723 --> 00:20:28.944


which addressed some of the



00:20:29.005 --> 00:20:30.266


history of the church.



00:20:30.605 --> 00:20:31.988


That's become problematic in



00:20:32.028 --> 00:20:33.108


the last years because the



00:20:33.169 --> 00:20:34.930


more people ask questions about it,



00:20:35.471 --> 00:20:37.172


the less they believe in



00:20:37.211 --> 00:20:38.532


the truth claims that they



00:20:38.553 --> 00:20:39.794


were taught since they were a kid.



00:20:40.744 --> 00:20:41.744


So we'll get back to that a



00:20:41.785 --> 00:20:42.425


little bit later.



00:20:42.445 --> 00:20:44.125


I just want to show you what



00:20:44.306 --> 00:20:45.527


is in the rest of this



00:20:46.146 --> 00:20:47.326


lesson manual and what the



00:20:47.346 --> 00:20:48.267


missionaries go over.



00:20:48.988 --> 00:20:51.028


So principle one, we believe in God.



00:20:51.387 --> 00:20:53.028


Most people believe in a supreme being,



00:20:53.269 --> 00:20:54.028


even though they may call



00:20:54.068 --> 00:20:54.910


him by different names.



00:20:55.430 --> 00:20:56.670


We know that God lives and



00:20:56.710 --> 00:20:57.651


we want to share with you



00:20:57.730 --> 00:20:58.711


our feelings about him.



00:20:59.330 --> 00:21:02.372


God is perfect, all wise and all powerful.



00:21:02.551 --> 00:21:04.553


He's also merciful, kind and just.



00:21:05.373 --> 00:21:07.055


except when he's not we know



00:21:07.095 --> 00:21:08.115


that he can have that we



00:21:08.155 --> 00:21:09.537


can have faith in him we



00:21:09.576 --> 00:21:10.718


can love him with all our



00:21:10.877 --> 00:21:12.138


hearts and then next to it



00:21:12.179 --> 00:21:13.440


it says find out what the



00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:14.760


investigators believe about



00:21:14.780 --> 00:21:16.423


god and how they feel about god



00:21:17.869 --> 00:21:19.631


Next, God is our father in heaven.



00:21:19.851 --> 00:21:21.451


We're children of our father in heaven.



00:21:21.631 --> 00:21:22.932


We're created in his image



00:21:23.311 --> 00:21:24.951


because he's the father of all people.



00:21:25.232 --> 00:21:26.772


We are brothers and sisters.



00:21:26.952 --> 00:21:28.413


And that's why LDS people



00:21:28.453 --> 00:21:30.554


call each other brother and



00:21:30.574 --> 00:21:32.015


their last name or sister



00:21:32.035 --> 00:21:33.015


and their last name.



00:21:33.394 --> 00:21:34.375


We don't really use first



00:21:34.415 --> 00:21:35.056


names in the church.



00:21:36.220 --> 00:21:37.380


God has a plan for us.



00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:39.181


As our father, God loves us.



00:21:39.401 --> 00:21:41.060


He wants us to progress and be happy.



00:21:41.521 --> 00:21:43.021


He wants us to become more like him.



00:21:43.501 --> 00:21:44.701


He prepared a plan that will



00:21:44.721 --> 00:21:46.002


bring us joy in this life



00:21:46.123 --> 00:21:47.242


and eternal life with him.



00:21:47.722 --> 00:21:50.023


This plan is called the plan of salvation.



00:21:50.763 --> 00:21:50.943


Now,



00:21:51.003 --> 00:21:52.125


sometimes they call it the plan of



00:21:52.164 --> 00:21:52.605


happiness.



00:21:53.464 --> 00:21:55.486


Then they tell the missionaries to testify,



00:21:55.746 --> 00:21:56.986


express your feelings about



00:21:57.006 --> 00:21:58.467


your belief in God, his wisdom,



00:21:58.547 --> 00:21:59.326


and his love for us,



00:22:00.147 --> 00:22:01.188


what it means to you to



00:22:01.228 --> 00:22:02.387


know that you're a child of God,



00:22:02.488 --> 00:22:03.429


and the happiness you've



00:22:03.469 --> 00:22:04.528


found through your efforts



00:22:04.608 --> 00:22:06.230


to grow and become more like God.



00:22:07.375 --> 00:22:10.596


These testify experiences



00:22:10.696 --> 00:22:11.978


sort of start to follow a



00:22:12.178 --> 00:22:13.459


really familiar pattern.



00:22:14.058 --> 00:22:15.039


And when you listen to



00:22:15.099 --> 00:22:16.621


people in the LDS church



00:22:16.661 --> 00:22:17.701


talk about their beliefs,



00:22:18.541 --> 00:22:20.222


sometimes they'll call it a testimony,



00:22:20.383 --> 00:22:21.364


and sometimes they'll say,



00:22:21.443 --> 00:22:23.005


I would like to bear my testimony,



00:22:23.045 --> 00:22:24.005


which basically means they



00:22:24.045 --> 00:22:25.926


just want to tell you what they believe.



00:22:26.727 --> 00:22:28.367


Once a month in the LDS church,



00:22:28.567 --> 00:22:29.628


there is a fast and



00:22:29.689 --> 00:22:31.328


testimony meeting where



00:22:31.368 --> 00:22:32.450


members are expected to



00:22:32.509 --> 00:22:33.691


give up two meals.



00:22:33.770 --> 00:22:35.692


They're expected to fast for



00:22:35.731 --> 00:22:37.471


two meals and then give up



00:22:37.512 --> 00:22:39.232


the cost of those meals to



00:22:39.353 --> 00:22:40.253


feed the poor and needy.



00:22:40.314 --> 00:22:41.314


This is a concept that I



00:22:41.374 --> 00:22:43.035


actually really loved as a



00:22:43.075 --> 00:22:43.796


member of the church.



00:22:43.836 --> 00:22:44.875


I thought it was wonderful



00:22:44.955 --> 00:22:46.436


for me to make a sacrifice



00:22:46.957 --> 00:22:48.137


and to give money so that



00:22:48.218 --> 00:22:49.377


other people could be fed.



00:22:49.499 --> 00:22:50.919


That made a lot of sense to me.



00:22:51.378 --> 00:22:52.359


It sounded like something



00:22:52.420 --> 00:22:53.580


that Jesus would have taught.



00:22:54.560 --> 00:22:55.662


And I really loved that part



00:22:55.701 --> 00:22:56.122


of the church.



00:22:58.273 --> 00:22:59.434


Then there's some scriptural



00:22:59.474 --> 00:23:00.435


resources over here.



00:23:01.737 --> 00:23:02.557


And what would happen in



00:23:02.597 --> 00:23:03.818


these fast and testimony



00:23:03.838 --> 00:23:04.920


meetings is that you're



00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:06.422


supposed to come to church



00:23:06.461 --> 00:23:07.962


having fasted for two meals.



00:23:08.703 --> 00:23:12.087


And then the leader of the congregation,



00:23:12.147 --> 00:23:13.088


who's called a bishop,



00:23:13.288 --> 00:23:14.869


would open up the meeting



00:23:14.951 --> 00:23:16.412


for anybody to come and



00:23:16.511 --> 00:23:17.894


share their testimony or



00:23:18.034 --> 00:23:18.713


what they believe.



00:23:19.550 --> 00:23:20.451


So it was sort of like,



00:23:20.711 --> 00:23:22.032


I like to call it open mic



00:23:22.093 --> 00:23:23.534


Sunday because anybody



00:23:23.574 --> 00:23:24.755


could get up there and talk



00:23:24.815 --> 00:23:25.596


about anything.



00:23:26.375 --> 00:23:28.478


And as I got a little bit older,



00:23:28.498 --> 00:23:30.619


the church leadership in



00:23:30.660 --> 00:23:32.221


Salt Lake started to tell people,



00:23:33.101 --> 00:23:34.342


you really need to restrict



00:23:34.402 --> 00:23:36.263


your testimony to some



00:23:36.344 --> 00:23:37.765


basic gospel principles.



00:23:38.345 --> 00:23:40.166


We don't want to hear travel logs.



00:23:40.227 --> 00:23:41.708


People get up there all the time and say,



00:23:41.768 --> 00:23:43.229


I recently took a trip to blah, blah,



00:23:43.249 --> 00:23:43.528


blah.



00:23:43.548 --> 00:23:44.309


And when I attended



00:23:44.329 --> 00:23:45.391


sacrament meeting there,



00:23:45.451 --> 00:23:46.191


this is what happened.



00:23:47.051 --> 00:23:48.153


um they really don't want



00:23:48.193 --> 00:23:49.817


people to share things



00:23:50.057 --> 00:23:52.461


about their sins for



00:23:52.520 --> 00:23:53.281


example they don't want



00:23:53.301 --> 00:23:54.723


people to get up and say i



00:23:54.844 --> 00:23:55.664


really struggle with the



00:23:55.684 --> 00:23:56.787


word of wisdom and i had a



00:23:56.826 --> 00:23:57.909


drink last night and i



00:23:57.949 --> 00:23:59.010


promised myself i'm not



00:23:59.030 --> 00:23:59.811


going to do it again and



00:23:59.852 --> 00:24:00.633


i'm going to repent now



00:24:01.617 --> 00:24:02.679


They also don't really want



00:24:02.719 --> 00:24:04.961


you to share things about



00:24:05.101 --> 00:24:06.662


your personal medical journey.



00:24:06.843 --> 00:24:07.983


Although a lot of people do



00:24:08.023 --> 00:24:09.964


that because we do believe



00:24:10.025 --> 00:24:11.446


Mormons do believe in the



00:24:11.467 --> 00:24:12.728


laying on of hands for the



00:24:12.788 --> 00:24:13.667


healing of the sick.



00:24:14.209 --> 00:24:15.730


And so a lot of people use



00:24:16.029 --> 00:24:17.191


testimony meeting as an



00:24:17.231 --> 00:24:18.472


opportunity to talk about a



00:24:18.512 --> 00:24:19.933


time when they were very sick.



00:24:20.413 --> 00:24:21.675


and then were healed after a



00:24:21.715 --> 00:24:22.537


priesthood blessing.



00:24:23.178 --> 00:24:25.079


And things got out of hand a



00:24:25.140 --> 00:24:25.800


lot of the time.



00:24:26.701 --> 00:24:27.803


I heard a lot of very



00:24:27.863 --> 00:24:29.484


sensitive information in



00:24:29.545 --> 00:24:31.067


church meetings that I



00:24:31.126 --> 00:24:33.108


didn't feel was appropriate to share.



00:24:33.910 --> 00:24:34.891


And it can be really



00:24:34.971 --> 00:24:35.932


overwhelming for a new



00:24:35.971 --> 00:24:37.012


member to come in during



00:24:37.073 --> 00:24:37.974


one of these testimony



00:24:37.994 --> 00:24:39.076


meetings and hear people



00:24:39.096 --> 00:24:40.698


sharing all of this personal information.



00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:43.461


So that would have been an



00:24:43.500 --> 00:24:45.162


opportunity for somebody to come up.



00:24:45.801 --> 00:24:46.923


And the leadership of the



00:24:46.942 --> 00:24:48.042


church did tell us we need



00:24:48.083 --> 00:24:49.723


to restrict it to these five things.



00:24:49.864 --> 00:24:51.105


We want you to talk about



00:24:51.184 --> 00:24:52.705


your belief in the Book of Mormon,



00:24:53.486 --> 00:24:55.086


in the restoration of the gospel,



00:24:55.307 --> 00:24:56.587


in the prophet Joseph Smith,



00:24:56.847 --> 00:24:57.868


in the current prophet.



00:24:57.929 --> 00:24:59.190


And I forget there was another one.



00:24:59.869 --> 00:25:01.371


the scriptures or something like that.



00:25:01.451 --> 00:25:02.672


So they tried to keep people



00:25:02.711 --> 00:25:04.212


narrowed down to these little topics,



00:25:04.272 --> 00:25:05.353


but it didn't always work.



00:25:05.512 --> 00:25:06.693


And a lot of times it ended



00:25:06.753 --> 00:25:07.474


up being really



00:25:07.555 --> 00:25:08.815


uncomfortable and embarrassing.



00:25:09.395 --> 00:25:10.496


More than once I heard



00:25:10.536 --> 00:25:11.416


people make political



00:25:11.477 --> 00:25:12.557


statements from the stand.



00:25:12.837 --> 00:25:15.940


And more than once I heard people,



00:25:16.680 --> 00:25:18.221


more than once people were



00:25:18.340 --> 00:25:20.362


asked to step down before



00:25:20.402 --> 00:25:21.542


they had finished their very,



00:25:21.603 --> 00:25:22.884


very long testimony.



00:25:23.460 --> 00:25:24.400


All of that to say,



00:25:24.721 --> 00:25:26.041


testimonies can start to



00:25:26.101 --> 00:25:28.502


sound like a little bit of a prescribed,



00:25:28.943 --> 00:25:29.943


a little bit of a script.



00:25:30.823 --> 00:25:32.304


And so missionaries coming



00:25:32.324 --> 00:25:34.065


into your home will bear their testimony.



00:25:34.445 --> 00:25:35.405


They'll say something like,



00:25:35.506 --> 00:25:36.326


I want you to know.



00:25:36.870 --> 00:25:38.011


that I believe that Joseph



00:25:38.051 --> 00:25:39.251


Smith was a prophet of God.



00:25:39.671 --> 00:25:40.832


I know that he restored the



00:25:40.872 --> 00:25:42.513


gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth.



00:25:43.113 --> 00:25:44.434


And I know that the Book of



00:25:44.474 --> 00:25:45.694


Mormon is the word of God.



00:25:45.975 --> 00:25:47.896


And I know this because I prayed about it.



00:25:48.516 --> 00:25:49.837


The Holy Ghost bore witness



00:25:49.877 --> 00:25:50.877


to me that it was true.



00:25:51.337 --> 00:25:52.818


And I know that if you pray to God,



00:25:53.278 --> 00:25:54.259


that the Holy Ghost will



00:25:54.279 --> 00:25:55.399


bear witness to you too.



00:25:56.080 --> 00:25:57.060


That's kind of what that's



00:25:57.100 --> 00:25:58.701


going to sound like and look like.



00:25:59.201 --> 00:26:00.362


And at the end of the discussion,



00:26:00.402 --> 00:26:01.242


the missionaries are gonna



00:26:01.342 --> 00:26:02.283


ask you to pray,



00:26:02.903 --> 00:26:03.664


or they're going to give



00:26:03.684 --> 00:26:04.404


you an assignment



00:26:05.142 --> 00:26:06.143


to promise that you'll pray



00:26:06.183 --> 00:26:07.243


about the things they've taught you.



00:26:09.644 --> 00:26:11.145


The second principle is the



00:26:11.505 --> 00:26:14.086


divine sonship of Jesus Christ.



00:26:16.868 --> 00:26:19.209


We need help to overcome sin and death.



00:26:19.289 --> 00:26:21.090


Without the help of our Father in heaven,



00:26:21.170 --> 00:26:22.250


we could not benefit from



00:26:22.270 --> 00:26:23.331


the plan of salvation.



00:26:23.991 --> 00:26:25.712


now i'm pretty certain that



00:26:25.932 --> 00:26:26.872


the missionaries also



00:26:26.932 --> 00:26:28.192


during this lesson were



00:26:28.573 --> 00:26:30.313


asked to present the plan



00:26:30.353 --> 00:26:31.554


of salvation which was a



00:26:31.674 --> 00:26:33.074


formal written plan that



00:26:33.134 --> 00:26:34.515


wanted people to understand



00:26:34.935 --> 00:26:35.735


and again this could have



00:26:35.755 --> 00:26:37.135


been an entire lesson all



00:26:37.175 --> 00:26:39.076


by itself it feels super



00:26:39.136 --> 00:26:40.517


overwhelming to put all of



00:26:40.557 --> 00:26:41.597


this stuff just in one



00:26:41.637 --> 00:26:43.217


visit but i want to share



00:26:43.258 --> 00:26:45.078


with you what the plan of



00:26:45.118 --> 00:26:47.079


salvation looks like and i



00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:48.859


just went on pinterest and



00:26:49.540 --> 00:26:52.941


was able to find this little graphic



00:26:54.318 --> 00:26:55.739


and you can see lots of



00:26:55.779 --> 00:26:56.959


different graphics of the



00:26:56.999 --> 00:26:58.700


plan of salvation if you



00:26:58.720 --> 00:26:59.660


look it up online you'll



00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:00.481


see all these different



00:27:00.541 --> 00:27:02.121


versions and this



00:27:02.182 --> 00:27:03.822


particular one on pinterest



00:27:04.202 --> 00:27:05.003


the reason i picked this



00:27:05.083 --> 00:27:06.203


one is because they started



00:27:06.283 --> 00:27:08.324


to incorporate the idea



00:27:08.404 --> 00:27:09.485


that the plan of salvation



00:27:09.525 --> 00:27:10.885


is a plan of love and so



00:27:10.905 --> 00:27:12.206


they use the word or the



00:27:12.266 --> 00:27:14.527


letters in the word love to explain this



00:27:16.104 --> 00:27:18.006


Now it starts over on the



00:27:18.066 --> 00:27:20.489


very left side with pre-earth life.



00:27:20.709 --> 00:27:22.511


We believed that we existed



00:27:22.591 --> 00:27:24.293


as spirit children in sort



00:27:24.333 --> 00:27:25.594


of a heaven before we came



00:27:25.654 --> 00:27:27.916


to earth and that there was



00:27:27.937 --> 00:27:31.300


a war in heaven where God



00:27:31.340 --> 00:27:33.302


wanted to send his children



00:27:33.342 --> 00:27:34.824


to earth to test them and



00:27:34.864 --> 00:27:36.746


to see if they would follow



00:27:37.727 --> 00:27:38.448


his teachings.



00:27:39.443 --> 00:27:41.304


even when they weren't in his presence.



00:27:41.844 --> 00:27:44.085


And Mormons believed that



00:27:44.205 --> 00:27:45.645


Satan came forward and said,



00:27:46.065 --> 00:27:47.946


I have a great idea.



00:27:48.186 --> 00:27:50.227


Why don't we compel everyone



00:27:50.327 --> 00:27:51.107


to follow you?



00:27:51.327 --> 00:27:52.828


And then all of your



00:27:52.868 --> 00:27:54.468


children will get to return to heaven.



00:27:54.928 --> 00:27:56.069


They won't have any choice,



00:27:56.169 --> 00:27:57.629


but they will follow you.



00:27:57.789 --> 00:27:59.150


And then everybody gets to go to heaven.



00:27:59.750 --> 00:28:01.310


And Jesus came forward and he said,



00:28:01.470 --> 00:28:02.471


I have a better plan.



00:28:02.991 --> 00:28:04.791


My idea is that you give



00:28:04.851 --> 00:28:06.571


everyone free will and they



00:28:06.611 --> 00:28:08.252


can choose to follow you or not.



00:28:08.972 --> 00:28:11.772


And the legend goes that, of course,



00:28:11.852 --> 00:28:12.573


Jesus won.



00:28:13.093 --> 00:28:14.513


But God said, well, in that case,



00:28:14.553 --> 00:28:15.773


we're going to need a savior.



00:28:16.433 --> 00:28:18.034


And Satan said, you know,



00:28:18.094 --> 00:28:19.694


send me as a savior.



00:28:19.734 --> 00:28:21.394


I'll make sure everybody follows the plan.



00:28:21.494 --> 00:28:22.174


And Jesus said,



00:28:22.214 --> 00:28:23.715


send me and I'll sacrifice



00:28:23.775 --> 00:28:24.835


myself forever.



00:28:25.080 --> 00:28:27.041


So that people can repent



00:28:27.161 --> 00:28:27.942


and return to you.



00:28:28.342 --> 00:28:29.583


And the legend is that Jesus



00:28:29.643 --> 00:28:31.344


won out and became our savior.



00:28:31.865 --> 00:28:32.825


That's what happened in the



00:28:32.845 --> 00:28:33.526


pre-earth life.



00:28:34.486 --> 00:28:36.388


And then there was the creation.



00:28:36.408 --> 00:28:38.069


And then at the bottom of



00:28:38.089 --> 00:28:40.150


the L that's us coming to earth,



00:28:40.410 --> 00:28:41.471


receiving our bodies,



00:28:41.711 --> 00:28:43.472


our spirits and our bodies come together.



00:28:43.953 --> 00:28:44.913


And then we have this earth



00:28:44.953 --> 00:28:46.054


experience where we get to



00:28:46.114 --> 00:28:47.275


choose whether we're going



00:28:47.295 --> 00:28:48.235


to follow God or not.



00:28:48.756 --> 00:28:49.937


Then when we die,



00:28:50.337 --> 00:28:52.098


we immediately go to either



00:28:52.258 --> 00:28:54.800


paradise or spirit prison.



00:28:55.380 --> 00:28:56.602


Spirit prison is for those



00:28:56.682 --> 00:28:58.804


people who were not



00:28:58.844 --> 00:28:59.985


righteous on the earth,



00:29:00.506 --> 00:29:01.587


they did not have the



00:29:01.627 --> 00:29:02.828


gospel of Jesus Christ,



00:29:03.449 --> 00:29:05.711


and they had to be sort of set aside.



00:29:05.811 --> 00:29:07.093


Paradise is where you get to



00:29:07.133 --> 00:29:08.554


be with your loved ones and



00:29:09.015 --> 00:29:10.736


with Jesus Christ before



00:29:10.777 --> 00:29:11.637


the judgment comes.



00:29:12.558 --> 00:29:15.201


The Mormons believe that if



00:29:15.221 --> 00:29:16.823


you died without the opportunity to...



00:29:18.356 --> 00:29:19.556


hear the gospel of Jesus



00:29:19.576 --> 00:29:20.917


Christ or become converted



00:29:20.977 --> 00:29:22.217


to the gospel of Jesus Christ,



00:29:22.798 --> 00:29:25.979


that you can still, in spirit prison,



00:29:26.159 --> 00:29:27.419


be taught about Jesus.



00:29:28.019 --> 00:29:29.000


That's one of the reasons



00:29:29.080 --> 00:29:30.840


why Mormons do genealogy,



00:29:30.900 --> 00:29:31.841


family history work,



00:29:32.301 --> 00:29:33.101


and that's one of the



00:29:33.341 --> 00:29:34.742


functions of a temple.



00:29:35.262 --> 00:29:36.823


temples are not attended on



00:29:36.863 --> 00:29:38.744


sunday you go to the temple



00:29:38.925 --> 00:29:39.945


at other times during the



00:29:39.985 --> 00:29:40.966


week and there's a



00:29:41.006 --> 00:29:42.287


baptismal font in the



00:29:42.327 --> 00:29:43.788


temple and what you would



00:29:43.828 --> 00:29:45.669


do is you would go to your



00:29:45.709 --> 00:29:46.730


family history you would



00:29:46.790 --> 00:29:48.211


find somebody who had not



00:29:48.231 --> 00:29:49.151


been a member of the church



00:29:49.191 --> 00:29:50.032


while they were alive



00:29:50.212 --> 00:29:51.113


somebody who had passed



00:29:51.173 --> 00:29:52.894


away they had to be at



00:29:52.934 --> 00:29:55.396


least 110 years since they



00:29:55.476 --> 00:29:57.437


had been alive and you



00:29:57.457 --> 00:29:58.117


would put all their



00:29:58.157 --> 00:29:59.598


information into the lds



00:29:59.638 --> 00:30:00.799


database you would print



00:30:00.839 --> 00:30:01.800


out a little card and you



00:30:01.820 --> 00:30:02.720


would take that card with



00:30:02.760 --> 00:30:04.602


you to the baptistry in the temple



00:30:05.782 --> 00:30:07.723


then you would go into the



00:30:07.743 --> 00:30:09.624


waters of baptism dressed all in white.



00:30:09.904 --> 00:30:11.104


There would be an elder



00:30:11.144 --> 00:30:12.425


there who was going to



00:30:12.465 --> 00:30:13.845


perform the baptism and a



00:30:13.905 --> 00:30:15.106


witness there who would



00:30:15.286 --> 00:30:16.206


witness the baptism.



00:30:16.326 --> 00:30:17.247


And then somebody who would



00:30:17.327 --> 00:30:19.728


actually record the date



00:30:19.788 --> 00:30:21.128


and time that you were baptized.



00:30:21.208 --> 00:30:21.889


And you would give this



00:30:21.929 --> 00:30:22.769


little card with your



00:30:22.849 --> 00:30:25.590


ancestor's name on it to the elder.



00:30:26.130 --> 00:30:27.451


And the elder would say,



00:30:27.471 --> 00:30:29.952


he would call my name and he would say,



00:30:31.266 --> 00:30:31.966


Sister Aiden,



00:30:32.607 --> 00:30:35.248


I now baptize you for and in behalf of,



00:30:35.828 --> 00:30:37.329


and then you would say the person's name,



00:30:39.449 --> 00:30:40.010


Aunt Sarah,



00:30:41.150 --> 00:30:42.771


and he would repeat it and say,



00:30:42.871 --> 00:30:44.011


Aunt Sarah, who is dead,



00:30:44.131 --> 00:30:45.052


and then he would dunk you



00:30:45.072 --> 00:30:46.833


under the water and bring you up,



00:30:46.893 --> 00:30:47.473


and that would be



00:30:48.430 --> 00:30:49.890


a recorded ordinance that



00:30:49.910 --> 00:30:51.771


that person had officially been baptized.



00:30:52.371 --> 00:30:53.751


What Mormons believe is at



00:30:53.832 --> 00:30:55.832


that point that Aunt Sarah,



00:30:55.932 --> 00:30:57.212


who is already in heaven



00:30:57.272 --> 00:30:58.293


and has been dead,



00:30:58.833 --> 00:30:59.793


has been waiting for this



00:30:59.813 --> 00:31:01.234


day for a long time because



00:31:01.274 --> 00:31:02.614


while she was in spirit prison,



00:31:03.034 --> 00:31:04.755


she had people teaching her the gospel,



00:31:04.835 --> 00:31:06.095


teaching her about Jesus Christ,



00:31:06.175 --> 00:31:08.556


and she said, I believe it, I accept it,



00:31:08.896 --> 00:31:10.296


and they say, oh, that's great,



00:31:10.376 --> 00:31:11.836


but you don't have a body anymore,



00:31:11.877 --> 00:31:13.037


so you can't be baptized,



00:31:13.077 --> 00:31:14.757


so you can't progress and



00:31:14.797 --> 00:31:16.518


go to paradise until



00:31:17.776 --> 00:31:19.778


somebody on earth gets baptized for you.



00:31:20.378 --> 00:31:22.981


And so we as LDS people



00:31:23.041 --> 00:31:24.322


believed that once we were



00:31:24.362 --> 00:31:25.723


baptized for that person,



00:31:26.204 --> 00:31:27.365


that they could then move



00:31:27.525 --> 00:31:29.667


out of spirit prison and into paradise.



00:31:31.569 --> 00:31:33.070


So that's a little tangent



00:31:33.390 --> 00:31:35.953


about baptism that came



00:31:36.013 --> 00:31:37.214


about mainly because I was



00:31:37.254 --> 00:31:38.075


trying to talk about the



00:31:38.115 --> 00:31:38.975


plan of salvation.



00:31:39.055 --> 00:31:40.397


So we'll go back to that now.



00:31:43.496 --> 00:31:45.557


So after being in paradise



00:31:45.617 --> 00:31:46.478


or spirit prison,



00:31:46.878 --> 00:31:47.938


then we believe that



00:31:48.659 --> 00:31:50.260


everybody on earth who ever



00:31:50.320 --> 00:31:51.640


lived will be resurrected



00:31:52.421 --> 00:31:53.541


and their body and their



00:31:53.581 --> 00:31:54.842


spirit will come back together.



00:31:55.402 --> 00:31:57.183


And then we will all be judged.



00:31:57.563 --> 00:31:59.464


And we will go to one of



00:31:59.544 --> 00:32:01.666


three kingdoms based on our faithfulness.



00:32:01.726 --> 00:32:01.946


Now,



00:32:02.326 --> 00:32:04.227


Mormons believe that the telestial



00:32:04.267 --> 00:32:06.368


kingdom is basically going



00:32:06.408 --> 00:32:08.169


to be heaven on earth.



00:32:08.329 --> 00:32:08.929


It's the earth,



00:32:08.989 --> 00:32:11.231


but like in a renewed paradisical state.



00:32:12.231 --> 00:32:13.452


And that the terrestrial



00:32:13.492 --> 00:32:14.612


kingdom is going to be even



00:32:14.692 --> 00:32:15.433


cooler than that.



00:32:15.593 --> 00:32:16.713


And the celestial kingdom is



00:32:16.733 --> 00:32:17.894


going to be the only place



00:32:17.914 --> 00:32:18.894


where you can live with God



00:32:18.954 --> 00:32:20.855


and Jesus Christ and your family members.



00:32:21.476 --> 00:32:23.397


In order to get into the celestial kingdom,



00:32:23.477 --> 00:32:25.038


you have to not only be baptized,



00:32:25.078 --> 00:32:26.238


but you also have to go



00:32:26.298 --> 00:32:27.179


through the temple and



00:32:27.219 --> 00:32:28.599


receive other ordinances



00:32:28.679 --> 00:32:30.200


and make other promises to God.



00:32:30.820 --> 00:32:31.981


Then you have to live those



00:32:32.021 --> 00:32:33.542


commandments for your entire life.



00:32:34.182 --> 00:32:35.603


and quote unquote endure to



00:32:35.623 --> 00:32:38.184


the end before you can move



00:32:38.284 --> 00:32:39.605


on to the celestial kingdom



00:32:40.285 --> 00:32:42.626


and if i were good to go to



00:32:42.666 --> 00:32:43.766


the celestial kingdom but



00:32:43.806 --> 00:32:44.827


some of my family members



00:32:44.847 --> 00:32:46.067


didn't make it i could go



00:32:46.087 --> 00:32:47.028


down and visit them in the



00:32:47.068 --> 00:32:48.729


other kingdoms but they



00:32:48.789 --> 00:32:49.869


couldn't come up and visit



00:32:50.009 --> 00:32:51.270


me in the celestial kingdom



00:32:51.710 --> 00:32:52.831


now on this particular



00:32:52.911 --> 00:32:54.552


graphic there is one part



00:32:54.592 --> 00:32:56.593


that is left out and that



00:32:56.734 --> 00:32:58.315


is outer darkness it's



00:32:58.735 --> 00:32:59.836


something that they kind of



00:32:59.856 --> 00:33:00.977


have stopped talking about



00:33:01.077 --> 00:33:02.037


in the plan of salvation



00:33:02.077 --> 00:33:02.798


but it's definitely



00:33:02.838 --> 00:33:03.638


something that i learned



00:33:03.678 --> 00:33:05.440


about as a child it's that



00:33:05.500 --> 00:33:07.561


scary version of mormon



00:33:07.601 --> 00:33:10.243


hell basically where you're



00:33:10.283 --> 00:33:11.764


separated from god and from



00:33:11.784 --> 00:33:13.065


your loved ones because at



00:33:13.265 --> 00:33:14.926


one point you knew the



00:33:14.986 --> 00:33:17.008


truth but then you rejected



00:33:17.068 --> 00:33:18.429


it so in this larger



00:33:18.489 --> 00:33:19.950


graphic over here to the right



00:33:20.430 --> 00:33:24.094


You can see things are a little bit more,



00:33:24.234 --> 00:33:25.856


let's see if it'll go, if I visit here,



00:33:25.896 --> 00:33:26.076


yeah.



00:33:26.417 --> 00:33:30.782


Things are a little bit more analyzed,



00:33:30.822 --> 00:33:31.723


a little more clearly.



00:33:32.143 --> 00:33:34.165


We have premortal existence over here,



00:33:34.365 --> 00:33:35.286


and then there's a veil of



00:33:35.347 --> 00:33:36.468


forgetfulness that comes



00:33:36.548 --> 00:33:37.709


over us when we're born,



00:33:37.769 --> 00:33:39.311


when we come to the earth.



00:33:39.719 --> 00:33:41.139


So we don't remember being



00:33:41.159 --> 00:33:43.620


in our pre-mortal existence



00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:47.342


with our family and the war



00:33:47.382 --> 00:33:48.482


in heaven and all of that.



00:33:48.982 --> 00:33:49.922


So then when you die,



00:33:49.962 --> 00:33:51.083


the spirit goes to either



00:33:51.123 --> 00:33:52.443


paradise or spirit prison



00:33:52.943 --> 00:33:54.364


and your body goes to the grave.



00:33:54.584 --> 00:33:55.984


Then at the resurrection,



00:33:56.004 --> 00:33:57.585


your spirit and body are united.



00:33:58.125 --> 00:33:59.225


Then there's the final



00:33:59.285 --> 00:34:00.486


judgment where you can go



00:34:00.526 --> 00:34:01.806


to one of these three kingdoms.



00:34:02.246 --> 00:34:03.767


And it does mention outer



00:34:03.807 --> 00:34:04.607


darkness over here.



00:34:04.667 --> 00:34:06.648


Now, our outer darkness is for people



00:34:07.168 --> 00:34:09.571


who knew the truth or had



00:34:09.611 --> 00:34:11.072


the fullness of the truth



00:34:11.633 --> 00:34:13.595


and then rejected it so



00:34:13.835 --> 00:34:15.597


anybody who leaves the



00:34:15.637 --> 00:34:16.798


church of jesus christ of



00:34:16.838 --> 00:34:18.400


latter-day saints is going



00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:19.801


to outer darkness because



00:34:20.682 --> 00:34:21.864


it said that we knew the



00:34:21.924 --> 00:34:22.985


truth we accepted it we



00:34:23.025 --> 00:34:23.986


made these promises and



00:34:24.026 --> 00:34:25.607


covenants and then at some



00:34:25.647 --> 00:34:26.649


point in our lives we



00:34:26.849 --> 00:34:28.050


rejected it so we don't get



00:34:28.070 --> 00:34:29.532


to go to any of the kingdoms



00:34:30.032 --> 00:34:30.973


But we get to go to our



00:34:31.013 --> 00:34:32.114


darkness where we'll be



00:34:32.154 --> 00:34:33.296


separated from God and from



00:34:33.336 --> 00:34:34.797


our families and where we



00:34:34.917 --> 00:34:35.919


basically get to hang out



00:34:35.959 --> 00:34:37.420


with Satan for the rest of eternity.



00:34:37.721 --> 00:34:38.622


So that's pretty cool.



00:34:39.943 --> 00:34:41.265


Not something that's usually



00:34:41.305 --> 00:34:43.147


mentioned in the missionary lessons.



00:34:44.753 --> 00:34:45.935


unless you just get a



00:34:45.975 --> 00:34:47.697


missionary who is



00:34:47.737 --> 00:34:48.799


interested in talking about



00:34:48.819 --> 00:34:49.460


those kind of things,



00:34:49.580 --> 00:34:50.141


or if you have an



00:34:50.161 --> 00:34:51.924


investigator who asks about it.



00:34:52.665 --> 00:34:54.788


So back to the super long



00:34:54.848 --> 00:34:56.010


lesson that you're going through,



00:34:56.030 --> 00:34:56.931


the first time the



00:34:56.951 --> 00:34:58.033


missionaries are coming over,



00:34:58.113 --> 00:34:59.355


at least they did this back in the 80s.



00:35:00.592 --> 00:35:02.313


So the plan of salvation



00:35:02.393 --> 00:35:03.754


gets wrapped up and then we



00:35:03.794 --> 00:35:04.674


go to principle two.



00:35:04.995 --> 00:35:05.855


All of that, you guys,



00:35:05.875 --> 00:35:07.096


it was just principle one.



00:35:08.717 --> 00:35:09.917


So in principle two,



00:35:10.278 --> 00:35:11.418


it's important for



00:35:11.478 --> 00:35:12.499


missionaries to teach you



00:35:12.679 --> 00:35:14.320


that Jesus Christ was the



00:35:14.380 --> 00:35:15.421


divine son of God,



00:35:15.441 --> 00:35:17.702


that he was sent to earth



00:35:17.802 --> 00:35:19.723


to fulfill the plan of salvation,



00:35:20.263 --> 00:35:21.444


that he is our savior,



00:35:21.544 --> 00:35:23.305


that he overcame sin and death,



00:35:23.926 --> 00:35:25.486


and that he showed us how



00:35:25.526 --> 00:35:26.707


to fulfill the plan by



00:35:26.847 --> 00:35:27.888


repenting of our sins.



00:35:28.348 --> 00:35:29.630


now there is a ton of



00:35:29.790 --> 00:35:31.252


information here lots of



00:35:31.312 --> 00:35:32.714


scriptural references again



00:35:32.754 --> 00:35:33.595


you could spend a whole



00:35:33.696 --> 00:35:34.877


hour with investigators



00:35:34.937 --> 00:35:35.959


talking about this if they



00:35:35.999 --> 00:35:37.180


didn't know about jesus



00:35:37.220 --> 00:35:38.883


christ or believe that he



00:35:38.903 --> 00:35:40.825


was a savior prior to this



00:35:42.111 --> 00:35:42.992


Then there's sort of this



00:35:43.012 --> 00:35:44.153


little challenge down here.



00:35:44.213 --> 00:35:45.234


Find out whether the



00:35:45.274 --> 00:35:46.455


investigators have seen



00:35:46.495 --> 00:35:47.636


blessings enter their lives



00:35:47.696 --> 00:35:48.617


because they followed the



00:35:48.657 --> 00:35:49.898


example of Christ or did



00:35:49.918 --> 00:35:50.658


Christ-like things.



00:35:50.718 --> 00:35:51.079


So again,



00:35:51.119 --> 00:35:51.839


you're trying to get the



00:35:51.879 --> 00:35:53.941


investigators to engage in



00:35:53.981 --> 00:35:55.002


a discussion where they



00:35:55.062 --> 00:35:56.363


reveal really personal



00:35:56.423 --> 00:35:57.804


experiences and information



00:35:57.864 --> 00:35:58.645


about themselves.



00:35:59.085 --> 00:36:00.306


And that sort of helps bond



00:36:00.367 --> 00:36:01.347


them to the missionaries.



00:36:02.268 --> 00:36:03.129


which of the teachings of



00:36:03.189 --> 00:36:04.150


christ have meant the most



00:36:04.190 --> 00:36:06.271


to them and then have faith



00:36:06.312 --> 00:36:07.913


to do what he taught they



00:36:07.953 --> 00:36:09.134


want you to know if you



00:36:09.174 --> 00:36:10.275


have faith to do what jesus



00:36:10.655 --> 00:36:11.656


christ taught you'll find



00:36:11.716 --> 00:36:13.558


peace in this life and also



00:36:13.618 --> 00:36:14.718


you can become more like



00:36:14.759 --> 00:36:15.879


him and like our heavenly



00:36:15.919 --> 00:36:17.080


father and return to live



00:36:17.100 --> 00:36:18.281


with them after this life



00:36:18.842 --> 00:36:20.183


and again there's another



00:36:20.223 --> 00:36:22.245


little section for a testimony over here



00:36:24.181 --> 00:36:26.062


Then on to principle three,



00:36:26.903 --> 00:36:28.424


they talk about God's pattern.



00:36:29.084 --> 00:36:30.225


He chooses witnesses,



00:36:30.545 --> 00:36:32.146


the prophets testify of Christ,



00:36:32.507 --> 00:36:34.228


the Holy Ghost confirms the truth,



00:36:34.608 --> 00:36:35.809


and we're invited to obey.



00:36:35.909 --> 00:36:36.569


And they're going to come



00:36:36.609 --> 00:36:37.890


back to this God's pattern



00:36:37.990 --> 00:36:39.411


all the time while they're teaching you.



00:36:40.052 --> 00:36:41.132


And they're also going to



00:36:41.172 --> 00:36:43.134


remind you that in the Bible,



00:36:43.174 --> 00:36:44.555


there's an example of this



00:36:45.075 --> 00:36:47.036


where God chose a witness,



00:36:47.577 --> 00:36:49.178


the prophet testified of Christ,



00:36:49.278 --> 00:36:51.439


the Holy Ghost confirmed the testify,



00:36:51.619 --> 00:36:53.601


and then we're invited to obey.



00:36:54.381 --> 00:36:56.022


And they send you to this



00:36:56.062 --> 00:36:58.544


scripture in Amos 3.7, which is,



00:36:58.924 --> 00:37:00.325


God will do nothing save he



00:37:00.385 --> 00:37:02.226


reveal his secrets to his servants,



00:37:02.326 --> 00:37:02.866


the prophets.



00:37:02.966 --> 00:37:03.506


That was one of the



00:37:03.546 --> 00:37:04.867


scriptures that we had to memorize.



00:37:04.947 --> 00:37:06.748


It's still back there in my



00:37:06.768 --> 00:37:07.729


Mormon memory banks.



00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:10.761


So then they wanna find out



00:37:10.941 --> 00:37:11.981


whether the investigators



00:37:12.081 --> 00:37:13.201


understand what a prophet



00:37:13.281 --> 00:37:15.382


is and how he can help us know the truth.



00:37:15.482 --> 00:37:16.422


And there are some examples



00:37:16.502 --> 00:37:18.223


over here of biblical prophets.



00:37:18.983 --> 00:37:19.924


No doubt they're gonna talk



00:37:19.964 --> 00:37:21.484


about Moses and how the 10



00:37:21.484 --> 00:37:22.965


commandments were revealed to him.



00:37:22.985 --> 00:37:25.065


And that was an example of a prophet.



00:37:25.425 --> 00:37:26.786


Basically anybody in the



00:37:26.846 --> 00:37:27.966


Bible that testified of



00:37:28.006 --> 00:37:29.427


Jesus Christ was a prophet.



00:37:30.047 --> 00:37:31.367


And then you want to know



00:37:31.407 --> 00:37:32.668


whether they understand how



00:37:32.708 --> 00:37:34.328


the Holy Ghost can help you



00:37:34.388 --> 00:37:36.349


recognize the truth of a prophet's words.



00:37:36.989 --> 00:37:38.110


often at this point the



00:37:38.150 --> 00:37:39.531


missionaries will talk



00:37:39.571 --> 00:37:40.852


about prayer and about the



00:37:40.912 --> 00:37:43.134


holy ghost and lds people



00:37:43.194 --> 00:37:44.616


believe that if you pray to



00:37:44.656 --> 00:37:46.417


god and then just sit



00:37:46.617 --> 00:37:48.439


quietly that you can have a



00:37:48.499 --> 00:37:49.940


spiritual confirmation of



00:37:50.020 --> 00:37:51.561


something being true and



00:37:51.601 --> 00:37:52.822


basically what that is is



00:37:52.883 --> 00:37:55.184


just a good warm feeling so



00:37:55.465 --> 00:37:57.406


if you say a prayer and at



00:37:57.426 --> 00:37:59.168


the end of the prayer you feel peaceful



00:38:00.328 --> 00:38:02.529


you feel a warm feeling then



00:38:02.689 --> 00:38:03.610


that's supposed to be the



00:38:03.650 --> 00:38:04.970


Holy Ghost confirming to



00:38:05.010 --> 00:38:06.371


you that something is true



00:38:06.911 --> 00:38:08.492


when really sometimes it's



00:38:08.532 --> 00:38:10.313


just the act of praying and



00:38:10.373 --> 00:38:11.653


getting quiet with yourself



00:38:12.153 --> 00:38:13.554


and having some meditation



00:38:13.594 --> 00:38:14.354


that makes you feel



00:38:14.414 --> 00:38:15.995


peaceful and then people



00:38:16.055 --> 00:38:17.136


learn to relate that



00:38:17.296 --> 00:38:19.176


feeling to getting some



00:38:19.216 --> 00:38:20.437


kind of a revelation from



00:38:20.497 --> 00:38:22.698


God and this can become



00:38:22.838 --> 00:38:24.739


really problematic because



00:38:26.075 --> 00:38:27.156


at this point you're



00:38:27.196 --> 00:38:28.677


basically teaching yourself



00:38:28.877 --> 00:38:31.259


to confirm your own bias



00:38:31.439 --> 00:38:32.680


about what you do or do not



00:38:32.720 --> 00:38:35.683


want to believe so i could



00:38:35.743 --> 00:38:37.224


pray for example to know if



00:38:37.924 --> 00:38:39.666


i'm supposed to be the next



00:38:39.726 --> 00:38:42.148


leader of the church and if



00:38:42.228 --> 00:38:43.609


i get a good warm peaceful



00:38:43.669 --> 00:38:45.170


feeling and i sort of hear



00:38:45.210 --> 00:38:46.631


a still small voice telling



00:38:46.651 --> 00:38:48.713


me yes megan you're going



00:38:48.733 --> 00:38:50.374


to be the next bishop of



00:38:50.414 --> 00:38:52.416


the digital first ward then



00:38:52.436 --> 00:38:53.857


i can go out and declare



00:38:53.897 --> 00:38:54.878


that to people and say



00:38:55.558 --> 00:38:56.821


I received a revelation from



00:38:56.862 --> 00:38:58.325


God that I'm supposed to be



00:38:58.365 --> 00:39:00.029


the bishop of the digital first ward.



00:39:00.671 --> 00:39:02.114


And nobody can argue with me



00:39:02.174 --> 00:39:03.618


because it came from God.



00:39:03.959 --> 00:39:05.222


I received that revelation.



00:39:05.615 --> 00:39:07.216


witness i received that warm



00:39:07.256 --> 00:39:08.877


feeling in my heart and so



00:39:08.917 --> 00:39:09.677


you can see where it's



00:39:09.697 --> 00:39:10.678


really easy for this to



00:39:10.718 --> 00:39:12.679


become problematic now the



00:39:12.739 --> 00:39:13.759


leaders of the church in



00:39:13.819 --> 00:39:15.240


salt lake have always said



00:39:15.780 --> 00:39:17.221


nobody can get revelation



00:39:17.281 --> 00:39:18.582


for anyone but themselves



00:39:19.322 --> 00:39:20.503


the only person that can



00:39:20.543 --> 00:39:21.563


get revelation for the



00:39:21.603 --> 00:39:22.724


worldwide church is the



00:39:22.784 --> 00:39:24.465


prophet the only person



00:39:24.505 --> 00:39:26.466


that can get revelation for the word



00:39:27.046 --> 00:39:28.427


is the bishop so the bishop



00:39:28.527 --> 00:39:29.488


assigns leadership



00:39:29.528 --> 00:39:31.830


positions no person is



00:39:31.870 --> 00:39:32.811


supposed to be able to go



00:39:32.831 --> 00:39:34.592


to the bishop and say hey i



00:39:34.612 --> 00:39:35.793


got a revelation that i'm



00:39:35.833 --> 00:39:37.534


supposed to be the head of



00:39:37.574 --> 00:39:38.915


the women's organization or



00:39:39.035 --> 00:39:40.136


any of that so there is



00:39:40.176 --> 00:39:41.217


supposed to be a chain of



00:39:41.277 --> 00:39:43.319


authority but i hope that



00:39:43.359 --> 00:39:44.780


it's easy for you to see as



00:39:44.820 --> 00:39:46.481


it is for me to see that



00:39:46.721 --> 00:39:48.082


this idea of receiving



00:39:48.122 --> 00:39:49.824


personal revelation and



00:39:50.004 --> 00:39:51.245


using good feelings or



00:39:51.385 --> 00:39:52.726


elevated emotions to



00:39:52.806 --> 00:39:54.587


confirm that something that



00:39:54.607 --> 00:39:56.008


you're hearing or feeling is from god



00:39:57.145 --> 00:39:58.486


can be really problematic



00:39:58.626 --> 00:40:00.347


and we have seen it lead to



00:40:00.467 --> 00:40:02.448


a lot of really disturbing things,



00:40:03.088 --> 00:40:04.489


not the least of which are



00:40:04.509 --> 00:40:06.030


the Chad Daybell and Lori



00:40:06.070 --> 00:40:08.191


Vallow horrible case that



00:40:08.231 --> 00:40:09.191


we've just been through.



00:40:09.771 --> 00:40:11.392


So I want you to know where



00:40:11.432 --> 00:40:12.153


that comes from.



00:40:13.814 --> 00:40:16.355


Now, if we go back to the lesson,



00:40:17.385 --> 00:40:18.346


The missionaries are gonna



00:40:18.406 --> 00:40:19.427


confirm with you that you



00:40:19.467 --> 00:40:20.849


understand God's pattern



00:40:20.989 --> 00:40:22.350


and that you understand how



00:40:22.430 --> 00:40:23.732


to receive a witness from



00:40:23.772 --> 00:40:25.714


the Holy Ghost that something is true.



00:40:26.255 --> 00:40:27.115


And then they want the



00:40:27.156 --> 00:40:28.517


missionaries to express



00:40:28.557 --> 00:40:30.059


their feelings about their



00:40:30.099 --> 00:40:31.180


faith in God and how the



00:40:31.220 --> 00:40:32.481


Holy Ghost has confirmed



00:40:33.082 --> 00:40:34.403


their understanding of the truth.



00:40:35.184 --> 00:40:36.986


Finally, in principle four,



00:40:37.066 --> 00:40:39.909


we're going to get to the first vision,



00:40:40.269 --> 00:40:41.570


which was really the goal



00:40:41.711 --> 00:40:43.292


of this whole lesson in the



00:40:43.332 --> 00:40:44.754


first place was to tell you



00:40:44.794 --> 00:40:46.295


what a prophet is and then



00:40:46.355 --> 00:40:47.697


to tell you that we have a



00:40:47.757 --> 00:40:49.078


prophet on the earth today



00:40:49.578 --> 00:40:51.861


because of what Joseph Smith did.



00:40:53.222 --> 00:40:53.402


Now,



00:40:53.762 --> 00:40:54.623


they're going to go through these



00:40:54.683 --> 00:40:55.604


points methodically.



00:40:55.945 --> 00:40:56.485


In our day,



00:40:56.585 --> 00:40:57.987


God has followed his pattern



00:40:58.007 --> 00:40:58.968


for revealing truth.



00:41:00.136 --> 00:41:01.357


chose a prophet who learned



00:41:01.377 --> 00:41:02.538


about the plan of salvation



00:41:02.598 --> 00:41:04.060


from first-hand experience



00:41:04.440 --> 00:41:05.501


this prophet was joseph



00:41:05.561 --> 00:41:07.483


smith he was confused about



00:41:07.523 --> 00:41:09.304


religion so in 1820 joseph



00:41:09.364 --> 00:41:10.765


smith was just a 14 year



00:41:10.826 --> 00:41:12.707


old boy he was confused by



00:41:12.747 --> 00:41:14.569


the different ideas being



00:41:14.629 --> 00:41:15.510


taught about religion



00:41:15.530 --> 00:41:17.391


churches all claim to teach



00:41:17.431 --> 00:41:18.492


the truth about god but



00:41:18.552 --> 00:41:20.194


joseph was confused by the



00:41:20.234 --> 00:41:21.355


differences among their



00:41:21.395 --> 00:41:23.397


teachings and he described



00:41:23.437 --> 00:41:25.158


his feelings in these words



00:41:25.198 --> 00:41:26.559


and then they tell you to read



00:41:27.340 --> 00:41:29.201


from joseph smith history



00:41:29.261 --> 00:41:30.302


which is printed in the



00:41:30.322 --> 00:41:32.082


mormon scriptures and so it



00:41:32.162 --> 00:41:33.083


comes in a big book of



00:41:33.123 --> 00:41:34.664


scripture it makes it look



00:41:34.704 --> 00:41:35.424


like it's part of the



00:41:35.464 --> 00:41:36.305


scriptures like the



00:41:36.365 --> 00:41:38.646


revealed word of god and



00:41:39.266 --> 00:41:40.367


then they go on to say one



00:41:40.387 --> 00:41:41.607


day joseph read a passage



00:41:41.647 --> 00:41:42.628


in the bible that showed



00:41:42.688 --> 00:41:44.029


him how to overcome this



00:41:44.089 --> 00:41:46.210


confusion and that was to pray



00:41:46.970 --> 00:41:48.090


They're going to read from



00:41:48.110 --> 00:41:51.271


the book of James where they say,



00:41:51.391 --> 00:41:53.312


if any man lacks wisdom,



00:41:53.712 --> 00:41:54.852


let him ask of God.



00:41:54.872 --> 00:41:57.993


And so Joseph decided to go



00:41:58.293 --> 00:41:59.633


and do just as the Bible said.



00:42:00.113 --> 00:42:01.333


He would ask God in prayer.



00:42:01.634 --> 00:42:02.374


One spring morning,



00:42:02.434 --> 00:42:04.134


he went into a nearby grove of trees.



00:42:04.554 --> 00:42:05.735


He knelt down and began to



00:42:05.795 --> 00:42:07.175


pray to God with all of his heart.



00:42:07.755 --> 00:42:08.995


Because of his great faith,



00:42:09.235 --> 00:42:10.516


he fully expected God to



00:42:10.636 --> 00:42:11.376


answer his prayer.



00:42:11.996 --> 00:42:12.216


Now,



00:42:12.576 --> 00:42:15.358


this is the story that I was taught as



00:42:15.398 --> 00:42:16.899


a girl growing up in the church.



00:42:17.439 --> 00:42:18.820


It was the story that was



00:42:18.920 --> 00:42:19.708


portrayed



00:42:20.390 --> 00:42:22.051


In numerous types of media,



00:42:22.251 --> 00:42:24.193


there were books, there were songs,



00:42:24.273 --> 00:42:26.215


there were posters, there were stories,



00:42:26.255 --> 00:42:27.175


there were movies.



00:42:27.876 --> 00:42:29.917


We got all kinds of



00:42:30.478 --> 00:42:31.318


information that was



00:42:31.398 --> 00:42:32.699


printed based on the story



00:42:32.739 --> 00:42:33.780


that you just heard.



00:42:33.960 --> 00:42:35.582


I'm going to expand on it



00:42:35.622 --> 00:42:36.562


just a little bit so you



00:42:36.602 --> 00:42:38.284


have all of the information



00:42:38.324 --> 00:42:39.264


that you need to have for



00:42:39.284 --> 00:42:40.065


the information I'm going



00:42:40.085 --> 00:42:41.886


to give you next after this.



00:42:42.987 --> 00:42:44.829


Joseph saw God the Father



00:42:45.109 --> 00:42:46.270


and Jesus Christ the Son.



00:42:47.090 --> 00:42:49.032


In his own words, this is what happened.



00:42:51.098 --> 00:42:52.339


Joseph says, quote,



00:42:52.799 --> 00:42:54.060


I saw a pillar of light



00:42:54.200 --> 00:42:55.401


exactly over my head,



00:42:55.721 --> 00:42:57.062


above the brightness of the sun,



00:42:57.522 --> 00:42:58.763


which descended gradually



00:42:58.923 --> 00:43:00.123


until it fell upon me.



00:43:00.644 --> 00:43:02.044


When the light rested upon me,



00:43:02.285 --> 00:43:04.146


I saw two personages whose



00:43:04.206 --> 00:43:05.627


brightness and glory defy



00:43:05.747 --> 00:43:07.448


all description standing



00:43:07.508 --> 00:43:08.448


above me in the air.



00:43:08.909 --> 00:43:10.189


One of them spake unto me,



00:43:10.509 --> 00:43:12.090


calling me by name and said,



00:43:12.311 --> 00:43:13.331


pointing to the other,



00:43:13.831 --> 00:43:16.093


this is my beloved son, hear him.



00:43:17.079 --> 00:43:18.182


In answer to his prayer,



00:43:18.283 --> 00:43:19.626


God the Father and Jesus



00:43:19.686 --> 00:43:21.591


Christ visited young Joseph.



00:43:23.193 --> 00:43:23.693


So next,



00:43:23.893 --> 00:43:25.774


Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.



00:43:25.915 --> 00:43:27.656


Through this and other experiences,



00:43:27.776 --> 00:43:29.417


Joseph Smith was called as a prophet.



00:43:29.777 --> 00:43:31.137


He was much like Moses and



00:43:31.258 --> 00:43:32.298


other biblical prophets.



00:43:32.418 --> 00:43:33.959


They also saw God and were



00:43:33.999 --> 00:43:35.240


called to preach his message.



00:43:36.595 --> 00:43:38.236


Joseph is a witness of Christ.



00:43:38.536 --> 00:43:39.936


Because he saw and talked



00:43:39.996 --> 00:43:41.217


with the resurrected Savior,



00:43:41.277 --> 00:43:42.597


Joseph Smith is a powerful



00:43:42.637 --> 00:43:43.797


witness of Jesus Christ.



00:43:44.318 --> 00:43:44.878


Through him,



00:43:45.038 --> 00:43:46.498


God revealed the truths of the



00:43:46.538 --> 00:43:47.399


plan of salvation,



00:43:47.599 --> 00:43:48.899


including the divine



00:43:48.999 --> 00:43:50.800


mission of Jesus Christ.



00:43:51.440 --> 00:43:52.420


They asked the missionaries



00:43:52.480 --> 00:43:54.021


to testify that Joseph Smith's



00:43:54.601 --> 00:43:55.401


vision is true,



00:43:55.882 --> 00:43:56.962


that he really did see God



00:43:56.982 --> 00:43:57.703


in Jesus Christ.



00:43:57.743 --> 00:43:58.983


They want you to testify the



00:43:59.023 --> 00:44:00.364


importance of his divine



00:44:00.424 --> 00:44:01.625


call as a witness of Christ



00:44:02.325 --> 00:44:04.246


and to testify about Joseph



00:44:04.266 --> 00:44:05.547


Smith's calling to restore



00:44:05.587 --> 00:44:07.768


the truth about the plan of salvation.



00:44:08.308 --> 00:44:09.309


Then they want you to find



00:44:09.409 --> 00:44:10.709


out how the investigators



00:44:10.769 --> 00:44:12.390


feel about your instruction



00:44:12.490 --> 00:44:13.251


on Joseph Smith.



00:44:13.691 --> 00:44:14.291


And there are a bunch of



00:44:14.351 --> 00:44:15.372


other scriptures that they



00:44:15.412 --> 00:44:17.253


will read you that back all of this up,



00:44:17.753 --> 00:44:18.773


one from the Book of Mormon



00:44:18.874 --> 00:44:20.574


and three from the Doctrine and Covenants,



00:44:20.654 --> 00:44:23.416


which were Joseph Smith's own writings.



00:44:23.836 --> 00:44:24.917


so that's what they're going



00:44:24.957 --> 00:44:27.039


to use to back all of that



00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:30.802


up now keep in mind the



00:44:30.843 --> 00:44:32.504


first vision it's the



00:44:32.604 --> 00:44:34.606


cornerstone of mormonism



00:44:35.487 --> 00:44:37.649


the church stands and falls



00:44:38.009 --> 00:44:40.391


on the first vision if



00:44:40.511 --> 00:44:41.973


joseph smith did not see



00:44:42.013 --> 00:44:44.155


god in jesus christ and if



00:44:44.195 --> 00:44:45.416


he was not told by god in



00:44:45.436 --> 00:44:47.258


jesus christ not to join



00:44:47.318 --> 00:44:48.359


any of the churches but to



00:44:48.399 --> 00:44:49.580


wait for further instruction



00:44:51.137 --> 00:44:52.198


If that didn't happen,



00:44:52.558 --> 00:44:54.319


then all of Mormonism



00:44:54.359 --> 00:44:55.960


pretty much is made up.



00:44:56.941 --> 00:44:59.023


If Joseph Smith made up his first vision,



00:44:59.043 --> 00:45:01.905


then probably Mormonism is made up too.



00:45:02.745 --> 00:45:03.386


At least that's the



00:45:03.446 --> 00:45:04.827


conclusion that I came to.



00:45:05.367 --> 00:45:06.868


So imagine how disturbing it



00:45:06.908 --> 00:45:08.509


was for me to then go to



00:45:08.589 --> 00:45:11.591


the lds.org website to the



00:45:11.631 --> 00:45:13.553


gospel topic essays and



00:45:13.633 --> 00:45:15.134


find out that there's more



00:45:15.174 --> 00:45:17.956


than one version of the first vision.



00:45:26.134 --> 00:45:26.274


Now,



00:45:26.314 --> 00:45:29.056


these gospel topic essays were sort of



00:45:29.136 --> 00:45:30.497


buried on the church website.



00:45:30.597 --> 00:45:33.159


You do have to go looking



00:45:33.239 --> 00:45:34.900


for them in order to find them.



00:45:35.501 --> 00:45:36.361


And the church didn't



00:45:36.461 --> 00:45:37.822


announce really that they



00:45:37.862 --> 00:45:38.823


were putting these gospel



00:45:38.843 --> 00:45:40.004


topic essays up here.



00:45:40.064 --> 00:45:41.745


So I didn't even know about



00:45:41.785 --> 00:45:43.807


these essays until after I



00:45:43.887 --> 00:45:45.468


left the church over



00:45:45.528 --> 00:45:46.348


learning some other



00:45:46.388 --> 00:45:48.110


problematic parts of church history.



00:45:48.630 --> 00:45:49.891


And so it was really



00:45:49.931 --> 00:45:51.152


disturbing to me to know



00:45:51.392 --> 00:45:53.333


that at least five years



00:45:53.453 --> 00:45:55.195


before I stopped going to church,



00:45:55.975 --> 00:45:57.496


that this information was



00:45:57.636 --> 00:45:58.937


out there and the church



00:45:58.977 --> 00:46:00.158


just quietly put it out



00:46:00.198 --> 00:46:01.939


there without telling



00:46:01.979 --> 00:46:03.560


members about it or really



00:46:03.620 --> 00:46:05.741


announcing it to anybody so



00:46:06.241 --> 00:46:07.342


here's what the church's



00:46:07.402 --> 00:46:08.663


own website you can see



00:46:08.743 --> 00:46:09.984


right up here at the top of



00:46:10.024 --> 00:46:11.865


the tab that it's churchofjesuschrist.org



00:46:12.765 --> 00:46:14.167


If you type into your search



00:46:14.287 --> 00:46:17.010


engine LDS gospel topic essays,



00:46:17.531 --> 00:46:18.992


you can get directed to this site.



00:46:19.152 --> 00:46:21.315


And then it gives you, I'll just go back.



00:46:22.596 --> 00:46:25.319


When you go to the essays page, actually,



00:46:25.339 --> 00:46:27.361


this is the church history topics page.



00:46:27.882 --> 00:46:29.544


So I'll even go back and



00:46:29.584 --> 00:46:30.985


tell you how hard this is to find.



00:46:31.646 --> 00:46:31.806


So.



00:46:33.047 --> 00:46:34.968


If you go to lds.org or



00:46:35.008 --> 00:46:36.789


churchofjesuschrist.org,



00:46:37.149 --> 00:46:38.070


this is what you're going to see.



00:46:38.110 --> 00:46:39.331


This is the main page.



00:46:39.851 --> 00:46:40.591


Actually, no, it's not.



00:46:40.731 --> 00:46:41.392


I'll go back one more.



00:46:41.592 --> 00:46:41.992


There we go.



00:46:42.412 --> 00:46:43.873


This is the main page of the



00:46:43.913 --> 00:46:45.214


churchofjesuschrist.org.



00:46:45.294 --> 00:46:46.694


It used to be lds.org.



00:46:48.555 --> 00:46:49.796


Here is what we believe.



00:46:49.836 --> 00:46:50.897


Learn about Jesus Christ.



00:46:50.957 --> 00:46:51.977


Find meaning in your life.



00:46:52.157 --> 00:46:53.598


Navigate life's challenges.



00:46:54.298 --> 00:46:55.399


Come visit a church.



00:46:55.479 --> 00:46:56.419


You can put your full



00:46:56.580 --> 00:46:57.520


address in there and find a



00:46:57.560 --> 00:46:58.601


church building to go to.



00:46:58.681 --> 00:47:00.382


Here's some FAQ for you.



00:47:01.476 --> 00:47:02.837


You can request a visit from



00:47:02.857 --> 00:47:03.737


the missionaries.



00:47:04.418 --> 00:47:05.718


Here's a message from the



00:47:05.779 --> 00:47:07.299


current president of the



00:47:07.339 --> 00:47:08.340


Corporation of the Church



00:47:08.360 --> 00:47:09.761


of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,



00:47:09.841 --> 00:47:10.741


Russell Nelson.



00:47:12.582 --> 00:47:13.943


These are some just, you know,



00:47:13.963 --> 00:47:15.044


what to expect at church,



00:47:15.084 --> 00:47:17.065


what our beliefs are, get to know us,



00:47:18.126 --> 00:47:19.466


latest news from the church,



00:47:19.547 --> 00:47:21.748


the official news, the whitewash news,



00:47:21.808 --> 00:47:23.229


the news that they want you to see.



00:47:24.289 --> 00:47:25.830


And then all of these down here,



00:47:26.370 --> 00:47:27.631


all the clickable things up



00:47:27.671 --> 00:47:28.852


there available down here too.



00:47:28.952 --> 00:47:30.253


So this is the main page.



00:47:31.271 --> 00:47:31.431


Now,



00:47:31.531 --> 00:47:33.392


in order to get to the gospel topic



00:47:33.452 --> 00:47:35.493


essays, I have to go here,



00:47:36.893 --> 00:47:39.254


which scriptures, general conference,



00:47:39.515 --> 00:47:40.395


come follow me,



00:47:40.475 --> 00:47:41.415


which is like the Sunday



00:47:41.455 --> 00:47:43.956


school curriculum, the gospel library,



00:47:44.036 --> 00:47:45.717


the media library, music library,



00:47:45.837 --> 00:47:47.458


life help, topics and questions.



00:47:47.478 --> 00:47:48.298


So you have to come all the



00:47:48.318 --> 00:47:49.579


way to topics and questions.



00:47:53.681 --> 00:47:55.001


And these are like the main



00:47:55.721 --> 00:47:56.662


topics right here.



00:47:59.280 --> 00:48:01.001


additional topics church



00:48:01.061 --> 00:48:02.662


history so if we go to the



00:48:02.682 --> 00:48:04.743


church history topics you



00:48:04.783 --> 00:48:06.223


can scroll through and this



00:48:06.284 --> 00:48:07.564


is alphabetical these are



00:48:07.604 --> 00:48:09.845


notable people and events



00:48:10.786 --> 00:48:12.787


in church history and



00:48:12.807 --> 00:48:14.307


around american history



00:48:14.368 --> 00:48:15.108


during the time that the



00:48:15.148 --> 00:48:16.729


church was being formed but



00:48:16.789 --> 00:48:17.789


if i want to know anything



00:48:17.849 --> 00:48:18.870


about the first vision i



00:48:19.450 --> 00:48:20.771


have to go all the way down



00:48:20.791 --> 00:48:23.232


to joseph smith



00:48:25.553 --> 00:48:27.954


uh not joseph f smith not



00:48:27.994 --> 00:48:29.035


joseph fielding smith



00:48:29.715 --> 00:48:30.576


joseph smith and plural



00:48:30.596 --> 00:48:31.836


marriage joseph smith



00:48:31.916 --> 00:48:33.397


junior joseph smith senior



00:48:33.837 --> 00:48:35.018


translation of the bible



00:48:35.018 --> 00:48:38.159


1826 trial 1844 campaign



00:48:38.199 --> 00:48:40.100


for president here we go



00:48:40.180 --> 00:48:41.941


joseph smith's first vision accounts



00:48:44.579 --> 00:48:46.060


Now there's a little blurb right here,



00:48:46.080 --> 00:48:47.780


and then you have to go to



00:48:47.820 --> 00:48:49.361


church resources where it



00:48:49.421 --> 00:48:51.782


says verse first vision accounts,



00:48:52.422 --> 00:48:55.583


gospel topics at topics.lds.org.



00:48:56.043 --> 00:48:57.364


So if you just type in to



00:48:58.324 --> 00:49:02.046


your search engine topics.lds.org,



00:49:02.086 --> 00:49:02.966


it will take you to the



00:49:03.006 --> 00:49:04.927


page of the gospel topic essays.



00:49:05.427 --> 00:49:06.047


And we're just going to



00:49:06.087 --> 00:49:07.408


click on first vision accounts.



00:49:08.348 --> 00:49:09.308


And so this is what's going



00:49:09.328 --> 00:49:10.929


to come up now.



00:49:12.753 --> 00:49:14.094


I'm going to just read this to you,



00:49:14.254 --> 00:49:15.134


and I want you to keep in



00:49:15.174 --> 00:49:16.594


mind what the missionary



00:49:16.634 --> 00:49:18.015


discussion already said,



00:49:18.695 --> 00:49:20.916


that Joseph was 14 years old,



00:49:21.456 --> 00:49:22.537


that he went into the woods



00:49:22.597 --> 00:49:23.417


to pray because he didn't



00:49:23.457 --> 00:49:24.537


know what church to join.



00:49:25.118 --> 00:49:26.578


He saw two personages,



00:49:26.678 --> 00:49:28.159


God the Father and Jesus Christ.



00:49:28.599 --> 00:49:29.759


Jesus Christ spoke to him



00:49:29.819 --> 00:49:30.860


and told him that all the



00:49:30.900 --> 00:49:32.220


churches were an abomination,



00:49:32.620 --> 00:49:34.281


that he should join none of them,



00:49:34.821 --> 00:49:36.622


and that he should wait for more people.



00:49:37.142 --> 00:49:39.265


knowledge to come from god



00:49:39.946 --> 00:49:41.509


so this is what the gospel



00:49:41.529 --> 00:49:44.313


topic essay says about that



00:49:45.034 --> 00:49:46.076


joseph smith recorded that



00:49:46.116 --> 00:49:47.037


god the father in jesus



00:49:47.077 --> 00:49:48.259


christ appeared to him in a



00:49:48.299 --> 00:49:49.321


grove of trees near his



00:49:49.361 --> 00:49:50.522


parents home in western new



00:49:50.542 --> 00:49:52.445


york state when he was about 14 years old



00:49:53.046 --> 00:49:54.287


concerned by his sins and



00:49:54.347 --> 00:49:55.547


unsure which spiritual path



00:49:55.587 --> 00:49:56.648


to follow joseph sought



00:49:56.688 --> 00:49:57.588


guidance by attending



00:49:57.628 --> 00:49:58.749


meetings reading scriptures



00:49:58.789 --> 00:50:00.509


and praying in answer he



00:50:00.569 --> 00:50:01.430


received a heavenly



00:50:01.470 --> 00:50:03.551


manifestation joseph shared



00:50:03.791 --> 00:50:04.811


and documented the first



00:50:04.851 --> 00:50:05.992


vision as it came to be



00:50:06.052 --> 00:50:07.593


known on multiple occasions



00:50:08.093 --> 00:50:09.073


he wrote or assigned



00:50:09.113 --> 00:50:10.394


scribes to write four



00:50:10.494 --> 00:50:11.434


different accounts of the



00:50:11.474 --> 00:50:12.755


vision now this is not



00:50:12.795 --> 00:50:14.296


something that i heard as a child



00:50:15.156 --> 00:50:17.918


All I knew was that there was one story.



00:50:17.978 --> 00:50:19.859


It was referred to as the Wentworth Letter,



00:50:20.439 --> 00:50:21.540


and it was someone



00:50:21.720 --> 00:50:22.941


inquiring about the church,



00:50:23.061 --> 00:50:23.781


and in response,



00:50:23.861 --> 00:50:25.182


Joseph Smith wrote down his



00:50:25.242 --> 00:50:26.403


First Vision account.



00:50:26.883 --> 00:50:27.924


I had no idea that there



00:50:27.944 --> 00:50:28.944


were other accounts or that



00:50:29.024 --> 00:50:30.125


other people wrote about it,



00:50:30.826 --> 00:50:32.426


and I had no idea that



00:50:32.507 --> 00:50:33.587


Joseph himself wrote an



00:50:33.627 --> 00:50:35.528


account that predated that



00:50:35.628 --> 00:50:36.589


Wentworth Letter account.



00:50:39.513 --> 00:50:39.693


So,



00:50:39.993 --> 00:50:41.435


Joseph Smith published two accounts of



00:50:41.455 --> 00:50:42.916


the First Vision during his lifetime.



00:50:43.076 --> 00:50:43.817


The first of these,



00:50:43.877 --> 00:50:45.818


known today as Joseph Smith History,



00:50:46.239 --> 00:50:47.359


was canonized in the Pearl



00:50:47.379 --> 00:50:48.420


of Great Price and thus



00:50:48.480 --> 00:50:49.801


became the best known account.



00:50:50.382 --> 00:50:51.743


The two unpublished accounts,



00:50:51.963 --> 00:50:53.144


recorded in Joseph Smith's



00:50:53.324 --> 00:50:55.046


earliest autobiography and



00:50:55.126 --> 00:50:56.026


later a journal,



00:50:56.387 --> 00:50:57.528


were generally forgotten



00:50:57.708 --> 00:50:58.889


until historians working



00:50:58.929 --> 00:50:59.790


for the Church of Jesus



00:50:59.830 --> 00:51:00.850


Christ of Latter-day Saints



00:51:00.910 --> 00:51:02.131


rediscovered and published



00:51:02.151 --> 00:51:03.513


them in the 1960s.



00:51:03.613 --> 00:51:05.935


Now, this is actually not true.



00:51:06.655 --> 00:51:07.736


because what actually



00:51:07.776 --> 00:51:09.837


happened is that Joseph



00:51:09.917 --> 00:51:12.019


Fielding Smith discovered



00:51:12.079 --> 00:51:13.680


the first written account



00:51:14.060 --> 00:51:15.881


of Joseph's first vision in



00:51:15.941 --> 00:51:16.962


Joseph Smith's diary,



00:51:17.742 --> 00:51:20.984


and he cut it out of the



00:51:21.004 --> 00:51:24.967


diary and secreted it away into a vault.



00:51:25.888 --> 00:51:27.549


The reason that we have this



00:51:27.589 --> 00:51:29.310


information is due to



00:51:29.430 --> 00:51:30.671


historian Sandra Tanner,



00:51:31.789 --> 00:51:33.530


researching these documents



00:51:33.610 --> 00:51:34.510


and seeing some of them



00:51:34.570 --> 00:51:36.571


firsthand and realizing



00:51:36.791 --> 00:51:38.831


that Joseph's journal now,



00:51:39.452 --> 00:51:41.052


it's very clear that



00:51:41.912 --> 00:51:43.953


somebody taped those pages



00:51:44.013 --> 00:51:45.354


back into Joseph's journal.



00:51:45.814 --> 00:51:46.994


And we do, I believe,



00:51:47.074 --> 00:51:48.214


have a firsthand account



00:51:48.274 --> 00:51:50.055


from Sandra Tanner about



00:51:50.095 --> 00:51:51.315


her research on this topic.



00:51:51.396 --> 00:51:53.076


And we also have some



00:51:53.116 --> 00:51:54.376


journal entries that



00:51:54.437 --> 00:51:56.277


confirm that this first



00:51:56.317 --> 00:51:57.678


account was cut out of



00:51:57.738 --> 00:51:58.858


Joseph Smith's journal.



00:52:00.227 --> 00:52:02.612


Let's go back and find out what it says.



00:52:09.220 --> 00:52:09.800


Since that time,



00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:10.701


these documents have been



00:52:10.741 --> 00:52:12.622


discussed repeatedly in church magazines,



00:52:12.822 --> 00:52:13.823


in works printed by the



00:52:13.863 --> 00:52:14.524


church-owned and



00:52:14.564 --> 00:52:15.784


church-affiliated presses,



00:52:16.025 --> 00:52:16.985


and by Latter-day Saint



00:52:17.045 --> 00:52:18.426


scholars in other venues.



00:52:18.926 --> 00:52:20.407


In addition to the firsthand accounts,



00:52:20.447 --> 00:52:21.328


there are also five



00:52:21.388 --> 00:52:22.349


descriptions of Joseph



00:52:22.369 --> 00:52:23.510


Smith's vision recorded by



00:52:23.550 --> 00:52:24.370


his contemporaries.



00:52:24.890 --> 00:52:25.771


The various accounts of the



00:52:25.811 --> 00:52:27.732


first vision tell a consistent story.



00:52:28.393 --> 00:52:28.793


Not true.



00:52:29.473 --> 00:52:30.174


Though naturally,



00:52:30.234 --> 00:52:32.195


they differ in emphasis and detail.



00:52:32.556 --> 00:52:33.496


That's because the story is



00:52:33.536 --> 00:52:34.217


not consistent.



00:52:35.045 --> 00:52:36.526


Historians expect that when



00:52:36.566 --> 00:52:37.806


an individual retells an



00:52:37.846 --> 00:52:38.907


experience in multiple



00:52:38.947 --> 00:52:39.787


settings to different



00:52:39.867 --> 00:52:41.248


audiences over many years,



00:52:41.688 --> 00:52:43.029


each account will emphasize



00:52:43.069 --> 00:52:44.190


various aspects of the



00:52:44.230 --> 00:52:46.291


experience and contain unique details.



00:52:46.851 --> 00:52:47.171


Indeed,



00:52:47.231 --> 00:52:48.672


differences similar to those in the



00:52:48.712 --> 00:52:50.133


first vision accounts exist



00:52:50.253 --> 00:52:51.493


in the multiple scriptural



00:52:51.553 --> 00:52:52.714


accounts of Paul's vision



00:52:53.134 --> 00:52:54.435


on the road to Damascus and



00:52:54.455 --> 00:52:55.795


the apostles' experience on



00:52:55.815 --> 00:52:57.076


the Mount of Transfiguration.



00:52:57.736 --> 00:52:58.897


Yet despite the differences,



00:52:59.097 --> 00:53:00.758


a basic consistency remains



00:53:00.878 --> 00:53:01.978


across all the accounts of



00:53:01.998 --> 00:53:02.599


the first vision.



00:53:03.279 --> 00:53:04.500


not true as we will just



00:53:04.880 --> 00:53:05.821


find out here in a second



00:53:06.342 --> 00:53:07.823


some have mistakenly argued



00:53:07.923 --> 00:53:09.284


that any variation in the



00:53:09.324 --> 00:53:10.585


retelling of the story is



00:53:10.705 --> 00:53:12.747


evidence of fabrication to



00:53:12.767 --> 00:53:14.048


the contrary the rich



00:53:14.108 --> 00:53:15.629


historical record enables



00:53:15.709 --> 00:53:17.070


us to learn more about this



00:53:17.130 --> 00:53:18.651


remarkable event than we



00:53:18.691 --> 00:53:25.877


could if it were less well documented so



00:53:25.877 --> 00:53:28.657


1832 account,



00:53:29.138 --> 00:53:30.378


the earliest known account of



00:53:30.398 --> 00:53:31.058


the first vision,



00:53:31.239 --> 00:53:32.439


the only account written in



00:53:32.479 --> 00:53:33.599


Joseph Smith's own hand,



00:53:34.060 --> 00:53:36.060


which to me arguably means



00:53:36.241 --> 00:53:37.721


it should be the most reliable.



00:53:38.481 --> 00:53:39.342


It's found in a short



00:53:39.442 --> 00:53:40.642


unpublished autobiography



00:53:40.682 --> 00:53:41.723


Joseph Smith produced in



00:53:41.743 --> 00:53:42.683


the second half of 1832.



00:53:42.683 --> 00:53:45.124


It is the earliest version



00:53:45.224 --> 00:53:46.004


and therefore the most



00:53:46.064 --> 00:53:46.905


likely to be correct.



00:53:47.685 --> 00:53:48.906


in the account joseph smith



00:53:48.946 --> 00:53:50.166


described his consciousness



00:53:50.226 --> 00:53:51.347


of his own sins and his



00:53:51.387 --> 00:53:52.588


frustration at being unable



00:53:52.628 --> 00:53:53.568


to find a church that



00:53:53.688 --> 00:53:54.649


matched the one he had read



00:53:54.689 --> 00:53:55.769


about in the new testament



00:53:56.229 --> 00:53:57.210


and that would lead him to



00:53:57.250 --> 00:53:59.091


redemption he emphasized



00:53:59.131 --> 00:54:00.251


jesus christ's atonement



00:54:00.372 --> 00:54:01.472


and the personal redemption



00:54:01.552 --> 00:54:03.093


it offered he wrote that



00:54:03.533 --> 00:54:05.134


the lord appeared and



00:54:05.194 --> 00:54:06.935


forgave him of his sins as



00:54:06.995 --> 00:54:08.015


a result of the vision



00:54:08.236 --> 00:54:09.596


joseph experienced joy and



00:54:09.636 --> 00:54:11.377


love though as he noted he



00:54:11.417 --> 00:54:12.558


could find no one who



00:54:12.598 --> 00:54:14.899


believed his account this



00:54:16.226 --> 00:54:18.468


sort of summary is already



00:54:19.008 --> 00:54:21.129


vastly different from the



00:54:21.189 --> 00:54:23.911


story that is told in the



00:54:24.592 --> 00:54:27.554


missionary lessons and that



00:54:27.594 --> 00:54:30.176


was recounted in books and



00:54:30.276 --> 00:54:32.337


movies and songs and art



00:54:34.399 --> 00:54:36.340


this saying that joseph



00:54:36.380 --> 00:54:37.561


wrote that the lord



00:54:37.681 --> 00:54:39.362


appeared and forgave him of



00:54:39.402 --> 00:54:41.443


his sins is already vastly



00:54:41.483 --> 00:54:43.385


different because there's only one person



00:54:45.602 --> 00:54:47.585


and there's no mention of



00:54:47.646 --> 00:54:48.587


which church to join.



00:54:48.988 --> 00:54:50.070


Let's read the 1832 account here.



00:54:57.189 --> 00:54:58.210


Joseph Smith's own words,



00:54:58.910 --> 00:55:02.512


at about the age of 12 years, not 14,



00:55:02.512 --> 00:55:03.912


my mind became seriously



00:55:03.952 --> 00:55:04.933


impressed with regard to



00:55:04.953 --> 00:55:06.213


the all important concerns



00:55:06.253 --> 00:55:08.074


for the welfare of my immortal soul,



00:55:08.434 --> 00:55:10.035


which led me to searching the scriptures,



00:55:10.535 --> 00:55:11.796


believing as I was taught



00:55:11.876 --> 00:55:12.877


that they contain the word



00:55:12.897 --> 00:55:15.198


of God and thus applying myself to them.



00:55:15.958 --> 00:55:17.119


My intimate acquaintance



00:55:17.159 --> 00:55:18.179


with those of different



00:55:18.199 --> 00:55:19.480


denominations led me to



00:55:19.560 --> 00:55:20.701


marvel exceedingly,



00:55:20.801 --> 00:55:22.302


for I discovered that they



00:55:22.342 --> 00:55:23.663


did not adorn their



00:55:23.723 --> 00:55:25.084


profession by a holy walk



00:55:25.224 --> 00:55:26.545


and a godly conversation



00:55:26.985 --> 00:55:28.266


agreeable to what I found



00:55:28.326 --> 00:55:30.447


contained in that sacred depository.



00:55:30.967 --> 00:55:32.308


This was a grief to my soul.



00:55:32.768 --> 00:55:33.929


He's basically saying that



00:55:34.169 --> 00:55:35.650


the leaders of the churches



00:55:36.711 --> 00:55:38.012


didn't seem to be godly men.



00:55:38.152 --> 00:55:39.192


They didn't seem to be



00:55:39.352 --> 00:55:41.033


devout or pious in any way.



00:55:41.494 --> 00:55:43.195


And he was pretty disturbed by that.



00:55:44.271 --> 00:55:46.732


Thus, from the age of 12 years to 15,



00:55:46.732 --> 00:55:48.032


I pondered many things in



00:55:48.052 --> 00:55:49.152


my heart concerning the



00:55:49.192 --> 00:55:51.333


situation of the world of mankind,



00:55:51.733 --> 00:55:53.093


the contentions and divisions,



00:55:53.453 --> 00:55:54.953


the wickedness and abominations,



00:55:55.454 --> 00:55:56.414


and the darkness which



00:55:56.494 --> 00:55:58.314


pervaded the minds of mankind.



00:55:58.934 --> 00:56:00.035


Now, later on,



00:56:00.075 --> 00:56:01.115


the church claims that



00:56:01.175 --> 00:56:02.395


Joseph Smith only had a



00:56:02.675 --> 00:56:04.195


second grade education,



00:56:04.215 --> 00:56:06.676


but his vocabulary is obviously very good,



00:56:07.196 --> 00:56:08.496


and his manner of writing



00:56:09.577 --> 00:56:10.517


seems pretty educated.



00:56:11.456 --> 00:56:17.041


He says, So in other words,



00:56:17.081 --> 00:56:18.021


he knew he was a sinner.



00:56:18.562 --> 00:56:19.723


And by searching the scriptures,



00:56:19.783 --> 00:56:21.184


I found that mankind did



00:56:21.244 --> 00:56:22.285


not come into the Lord



00:56:22.825 --> 00:56:24.587


except they had apostatized



00:56:24.747 --> 00:56:26.428


from the truth, true and living faith.



00:56:26.909 --> 00:56:28.290


And there was no society or



00:56:28.330 --> 00:56:29.951


denomination that was built



00:56:30.031 --> 00:56:31.132


upon the gospel of Jesus



00:56:31.172 --> 00:56:33.054


Christ as recorded in the New Testament.



00:56:33.794 --> 00:56:35.215


I felt to mourn for my own



00:56:35.295 --> 00:56:37.136


sins and for the sins of the world,



00:56:37.196 --> 00:56:38.117


for I learned in the



00:56:38.157 --> 00:56:39.758


scriptures that God was the



00:56:39.818 --> 00:56:41.779


same yesterday, today, and forever,



00:56:42.120 --> 00:56:43.821


that he was no respecter of persons,



00:56:44.201 --> 00:56:44.982


for he was God."



00:56:45.875 --> 00:56:47.435


For I looked upon the sun,



00:56:47.555 --> 00:56:48.836


the glorious luminary of



00:56:48.876 --> 00:56:50.236


the earth and also the moon



00:56:50.356 --> 00:56:51.536


rolling in their majesty



00:56:51.576 --> 00:56:52.816


through the heavens and



00:56:52.936 --> 00:56:54.396


also the stars shining in



00:56:54.416 --> 00:56:56.057


their courses and the earth



00:56:56.217 --> 00:56:57.657


also upon which I stood and



00:56:57.677 --> 00:56:58.977


the beasts of the field and



00:56:58.997 --> 00:57:00.177


the fowls of heaven and the



00:57:00.257 --> 00:57:02.078


fish of the waters and also



00:57:02.138 --> 00:57:03.498


man walking forth upon the



00:57:03.538 --> 00:57:04.298


face of the earth in



00:57:04.338 --> 00:57:05.938


majesty and in the strength



00:57:05.958 --> 00:57:07.559


of beauty whose power and



00:57:07.599 --> 00:57:09.139


intelligence in governing



00:57:09.179 --> 00:57:10.079


the things which are so



00:57:10.139 --> 00:57:11.399


exceedingly great and marvelous,



00:57:11.919 --> 00:57:13.160


even in the likeness of him



00:57:13.520 --> 00:57:14.420


who created them."



00:57:15.001 --> 00:57:16.815


It's pretty charismatic and flowery,



00:57:16.835 --> 00:57:17.339


I got to say.



00:57:18.930 --> 00:57:20.711


And when I considered upon these things,



00:57:20.791 --> 00:57:22.732


my heart exclaimed, well,



00:57:22.832 --> 00:57:24.072


hath the wise man said,



00:57:24.092 --> 00:57:26.033


it is a fool that saith in his heart,



00:57:26.133 --> 00:57:26.994


there is no God.



00:57:27.654 --> 00:57:29.615


My heart exclaimed, all,



00:57:30.115 --> 00:57:31.436


all these bear testimony



00:57:31.556 --> 00:57:33.016


and bespeak an omnipotent



00:57:33.117 --> 00:57:34.337


and omnipresent power,



00:57:34.857 --> 00:57:36.538


a being who maketh laws and



00:57:36.558 --> 00:57:38.699


decreeth and bindeth all



00:57:38.759 --> 00:57:39.800


things in their bounds,



00:57:39.920 --> 00:57:41.160


who filleth eternity,



00:57:41.460 --> 00:57:43.021


who was and is and will be



00:57:43.081 --> 00:57:44.722


from all eternity to eternity.



00:57:46.380 --> 00:57:47.620


That's quite a lot to unpack.



00:57:47.921 --> 00:57:49.201


And I considered all these



00:57:49.281 --> 00:57:51.382


things and that that being



00:57:51.762 --> 00:57:53.482


seeketh such to worship him



00:57:54.162 --> 00:57:56.843


as worship him in spirit and in truth.



00:57:57.383 --> 00:57:59.324


Therefore, here's the good part.



00:57:59.884 --> 00:58:01.465


I cried unto the Lord for mercy,



00:58:01.845 --> 00:58:03.005


for there was none else to



00:58:03.065 --> 00:58:05.106


whom I could go and obtain mercy.



00:58:05.706 --> 00:58:07.006


And the Lord heard my cry in



00:58:07.026 --> 00:58:07.667


the wilderness.



00:58:08.127 --> 00:58:09.607


And while in the attitude of



00:58:09.667 --> 00:58:11.808


calling upon the Lord, in the other words,



00:58:12.088 --> 00:58:13.768


while I was praying in the



00:58:14.129 --> 00:58:15.209


16th year of my age,



00:58:15.709 --> 00:58:16.690


Not the 14th year.



00:58:17.511 --> 00:58:19.072


A pillar of light above the



00:58:19.112 --> 00:58:20.113


brightness of the sun at



00:58:20.173 --> 00:58:21.414


noonday came down from



00:58:21.494 --> 00:58:22.956


above and rested upon me.



00:58:22.976 --> 00:58:24.817


I was filled with the spirit



00:58:24.837 --> 00:58:26.699


of God and the Lord opened



00:58:26.719 --> 00:58:29.141


the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord.



00:58:29.161 --> 00:58:30.823


That's it.



00:58:31.563 --> 00:58:32.104


Just the Lord.



00:58:33.814 --> 00:58:36.035


And he spake unto me, saying, Joseph,



00:58:36.135 --> 00:58:38.536


my son, thy sins are forgiven thee.



00:58:39.076 --> 00:58:41.537


Go thy way, walk in my statutes,



00:58:41.737 --> 00:58:42.818


and keep my commandments.



00:58:43.258 --> 00:58:45.539


Behold, I am the Lord of glory.



00:58:46.039 --> 00:58:47.499


I was crucified for the world,



00:58:48.080 --> 00:58:49.420


that all those who believe



00:58:49.480 --> 00:58:51.041


on my name may have eternal life.



00:58:51.581 --> 00:58:53.323


behold the world lieth in



00:58:53.423 --> 00:58:55.064


sin at this time and none



00:58:55.125 --> 00:58:57.367


doeth good no not one they



00:58:57.387 --> 00:58:58.468


have turned aside from the



00:58:58.508 --> 00:59:00.149


gospel and keep not my



00:59:00.189 --> 00:59:01.911


commandments they draw near



00:59:01.951 --> 00:59:03.753


to me with their lips while



00:59:03.793 --> 00:59:05.054


their hearts are far from



00:59:05.094 --> 00:59:07.036


me and mine anger is



00:59:07.076 --> 00:59:07.937


kindling against the



00:59:07.997 --> 00:59:09.639


inhabitants of the earth to



00:59:09.679 --> 00:59:11.721


visit them according to their ungodliness



00:59:12.181 --> 00:59:13.402


and to bring to pass that



00:59:13.482 --> 00:59:14.602


which hath been spoken by



00:59:14.642 --> 00:59:16.243


the mouth of the prophets and apostles.



00:59:16.663 --> 00:59:18.884


Behold, and lo, I come quickly,



00:59:19.305 --> 00:59:21.165


as it is written of me in the cloud,



00:59:21.346 --> 00:59:23.366


clothed in the glory of my Father.



00:59:24.347 --> 00:59:25.147


Then Joseph says,



00:59:25.287 --> 00:59:26.508


My soul was filled with love,



00:59:26.688 --> 00:59:27.969


and for many days I could



00:59:28.009 --> 00:59:29.169


rejoice with great joy.



00:59:29.650 --> 00:59:30.530


The Lord was with me,



00:59:30.890 --> 00:59:32.011


but I could find none that



00:59:32.051 --> 00:59:33.591


would believe the heavenly vision.



00:59:34.152 --> 00:59:34.712


Nevertheless,



00:59:34.992 --> 00:59:36.733


I pondered these things in my heart,



00:59:37.173 --> 00:59:38.314


which is incidentally the



00:59:38.354 --> 00:59:40.335


same thing that Mary said when she...



00:59:40.995 --> 00:59:42.936


realized that an angel had



00:59:42.976 --> 00:59:44.577


visited her now a couple of



00:59:44.617 --> 00:59:45.877


comments about this account



00:59:46.097 --> 00:59:47.398


of the first vision which



00:59:47.458 --> 00:59:48.939


is the earliest recorded



00:59:48.959 --> 00:59:49.819


account the only one



00:59:49.859 --> 00:59:51.020


recorded in joseph smith's



00:59:51.140 --> 00:59:55.361


own words and i really just



00:59:55.401 --> 00:59:57.002


want to say that first of



00:59:57.102 --> 01:00:00.364


all the fact that joseph



01:00:00.404 --> 01:00:01.624


smith could remember that



01:00:01.724 --> 01:00:03.305


entire soliloquy that was



01:00:03.385 --> 01:00:04.626


delivered by jesus christ



01:00:04.686 --> 01:00:05.826


is pretty impressive i mean



01:00:05.846 --> 01:00:07.167


that was a long soliloquy



01:00:07.227 --> 01:00:08.847


to remember all of those



01:00:08.927 --> 01:00:09.828


words word for word



01:00:11.046 --> 01:00:14.008


Secondly, the language that Joseph uses,



01:00:15.789 --> 01:00:16.850


we see this language



01:00:16.930 --> 01:00:17.830


throughout the Book of



01:00:17.850 --> 01:00:19.351


Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants.



01:00:19.832 --> 01:00:21.313


And it's pretty clear to me



01:00:21.373 --> 01:00:22.613


comparing that account of



01:00:22.634 --> 01:00:24.395


the first vision to his



01:00:24.475 --> 01:00:27.597


later writings and the voices match.



01:00:28.745 --> 01:00:30.586


So the likelihood that he



01:00:30.686 --> 01:00:31.686


translated the Book of



01:00:31.706 --> 01:00:33.907


Mormon as opposed to just wrote it.



01:00:34.407 --> 01:00:36.948


I know a lot of apologists will say, oh,



01:00:36.988 --> 01:00:38.389


there's no way Joseph Smith



01:00:38.429 --> 01:00:39.449


could have come up with all



01:00:39.469 --> 01:00:40.189


of those names and



01:00:40.209 --> 01:00:41.830


characters and dates and places.



01:00:42.710 --> 01:00:43.691


And there's no way that he



01:00:43.731 --> 01:00:44.591


could have quoted from



01:00:44.651 --> 01:00:46.972


memory from the Bible all that much.



01:00:47.792 --> 01:00:49.373


And all of that aside,



01:00:49.513 --> 01:00:50.613


I just want to say the



01:00:50.653 --> 01:00:52.214


language in his own writing



01:00:52.254 --> 01:00:53.334


from the first vision and



01:00:53.354 --> 01:00:54.194


the language in the Book of



01:00:54.214 --> 01:00:55.255


Mormon and the Doctrine and



01:00:55.275 --> 01:00:56.895


Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price,



01:00:57.376 --> 01:00:58.116


the voices match.



01:00:58.805 --> 01:00:59.970


That's all I want to say about that.



01:01:00.790 --> 01:01:02.350


The other thing is that it



01:01:02.390 --> 01:01:03.511


just is starkly different.



01:01:03.571 --> 01:01:04.591


It's objectively different.



01:01:04.651 --> 01:01:05.711


If you take the two accounts



01:01:05.772 --> 01:01:06.872


side by side and you



01:01:06.912 --> 01:01:08.392


compare the facts of what was said,



01:01:08.992 --> 01:01:10.013


the first vision account



01:01:10.053 --> 01:01:11.253


that is the most notable



01:01:11.433 --> 01:01:12.113


and the one that's been



01:01:12.153 --> 01:01:13.314


canonized by the Church of



01:01:13.334 --> 01:01:14.314


Jesus Christ of Latter-day



01:01:14.374 --> 01:01:16.475


Saints clearly says Joseph



01:01:16.555 --> 01:01:17.735


went into the woods to pray



01:01:17.875 --> 01:01:19.756


as a boy of 14 years old



01:01:20.236 --> 01:01:23.217


that he was overcome with the spirit.



01:01:23.317 --> 01:01:24.597


A pillar of light came down.



01:01:24.697 --> 01:01:26.138


He saw two personages.



01:01:26.778 --> 01:01:28.378


One introduced the other saying,



01:01:28.438 --> 01:01:29.659


this is my beloved son.



01:01:29.759 --> 01:01:30.199


Hear him.



01:01:30.799 --> 01:01:32.521


and then Jesus Christ told



01:01:32.581 --> 01:01:33.482


Joseph his sins were



01:01:33.522 --> 01:01:35.004


forgiven and then told him



01:01:35.384 --> 01:01:36.806


that all of the churches on



01:01:36.846 --> 01:01:37.447


the earth were an



01:01:37.487 --> 01:01:38.528


abomination and that he



01:01:38.568 --> 01:01:39.509


should join none of them.



01:01:40.950 --> 01:01:42.552


Joseph's own account only



01:01:43.862 --> 01:01:44.883


first of all says when he



01:01:44.923 --> 01:01:47.344


was 16 it does mention the



01:01:47.364 --> 01:01:48.665


pillar of light but it only



01:01:48.705 --> 01:01:50.267


mentions one being it says



01:01:50.347 --> 01:01:53.549


the lord and he does say



01:01:53.609 --> 01:01:54.509


that joseph's sins are



01:01:54.529 --> 01:01:55.950


forgiven he says that



01:01:56.111 --> 01:01:57.131


nobody on the earth is



01:01:57.191 --> 01:01:58.873


doing good he doesn't



01:01:59.273 --> 01:02:00.654


mention anything about any



01:02:00.714 --> 01:02:02.795


churches he just tells him



01:02:02.855 --> 01:02:05.957


to go and you know go go



01:02:05.998 --> 01:02:06.758


your way and keep my



01:02:06.798 --> 01:02:07.939


commandments and walk in faith



01:02:09.115 --> 01:02:10.057


So I just wanted to point



01:02:10.097 --> 01:02:10.839


out those two things.



01:02:11.280 --> 01:02:12.021


The missionaries,



01:02:12.061 --> 01:02:13.465


when they come to visit you in your home,



01:02:13.625 --> 01:02:14.607


are not going to give you



01:02:14.667 --> 01:02:19.518


that first version of the first vision.



01:02:20.833 --> 01:02:22.013


in fact they're not going to



01:02:22.033 --> 01:02:22.834


tell you that there's more



01:02:22.874 --> 01:02:24.554


than one version of the



01:02:24.594 --> 01:02:26.455


first vision and if you



01:02:26.475 --> 01:02:28.035


bring it up they probably



01:02:28.075 --> 01:02:29.776


will tell you the same sort



01:02:29.796 --> 01:02:30.956


of apologetic answer that



01:02:30.976 --> 01:02:32.257


we read on the church's



01:02:32.277 --> 01:02:33.257


website because that's



01:02:33.737 --> 01:02:34.917


that's the official story



01:02:35.218 --> 01:02:36.518


and we're not to question



01:02:36.558 --> 01:02:38.399


the official story and i



01:02:38.439 --> 01:02:39.679


also want to note that back



01:02:39.739 --> 01:02:42.100


on the church's website they reference



01:02:43.140 --> 01:02:44.884


the validity of the



01:02:44.944 --> 01:02:46.667


canonized version with



01:02:46.968 --> 01:02:48.611


three things that are put



01:02:48.711 --> 01:02:49.553


out by the church.



01:02:50.294 --> 01:02:51.276


Let's just go back and look



01:02:51.296 --> 01:02:52.157


at that one more time



01:02:52.177 --> 01:02:53.861


because I think it is pretty important.



01:02:56.331 --> 01:02:57.292


okay so in the middle of



01:02:57.332 --> 01:02:58.673


this paragraph it says



01:03:01.296 --> 01:03:02.297


since that time these



01:03:02.357 --> 01:03:03.098


documents have been



01:03:03.138 --> 01:03:04.439


discussed repeatedly in



01:03:04.599 --> 01:03:06.821


church magazines in works



01:03:06.941 --> 01:03:08.863


printed by the church and



01:03:09.144 --> 01:03:10.505


church affiliated presses



01:03:11.145 --> 01:03:12.667


and by latter-day saint



01:03:12.767 --> 01:03:14.749


scholars so they give four



01:03:17.133 --> 01:03:19.154


reference points that are



01:03:19.274 --> 01:03:20.015


all things that are



01:03:20.055 --> 01:03:21.116


produced by the church



01:03:21.356 --> 01:03:22.897


church magazines works



01:03:22.957 --> 01:03:24.318


printed by the church owned



01:03:24.478 --> 01:03:25.779


and church affiliated presses



01:03:26.667 --> 01:03:28.228


and Latter-day Saint scholars.



01:03:28.448 --> 01:03:28.569


Now,



01:03:28.609 --> 01:03:30.370


the church has a committee that's



01:03:30.410 --> 01:03:31.671


called the Correlation Committee.



01:03:32.151 --> 01:03:33.713


They meet and make sure that



01:03:33.953 --> 01:03:35.274


all of those things match



01:03:35.354 --> 01:03:36.695


and are giving the same message,



01:03:36.795 --> 01:03:37.656


that there's nothing in the



01:03:37.696 --> 01:03:39.117


magazine that isn't



01:03:39.177 --> 01:03:40.438


corroborated also by the



01:03:40.458 --> 01:03:41.558


church-affiliated press,



01:03:41.839 --> 01:03:42.539


that isn't also



01:03:42.619 --> 01:03:44.581


corroborated by Latter-day



01:03:44.641 --> 01:03:45.381


Saint scholars.



01:03:45.742 --> 01:03:46.402


And that's one of the



01:03:46.442 --> 01:03:47.963


reasons why a lot of people



01:03:48.043 --> 01:03:50.245


who study church history



01:03:50.265 --> 01:03:52.067


end up leaving the church



01:03:52.107 --> 01:03:54.548


is because the church wants you to



01:03:55.986 --> 01:03:57.327


keep with the official message,



01:03:57.627 --> 01:03:59.389


even if the historical



01:03:59.429 --> 01:04:00.650


documents don't support it,



01:04:00.790 --> 01:04:02.051


or even if the historical



01:04:02.091 --> 01:04:03.372


documents support another



01:04:04.272 --> 01:04:05.673


version of events or



01:04:06.234 --> 01:04:08.856


another documentation of a



01:04:08.936 --> 01:04:10.217


different narrative.



01:04:10.844 --> 01:04:10.964


Now,



01:04:11.004 --> 01:04:12.548


this doesn't just go for the first



01:04:12.608 --> 01:04:12.949


vision.



01:04:12.969 --> 01:04:14.994


It also goes for any of the



01:04:15.074 --> 01:04:16.136


other lessons that the



01:04:16.176 --> 01:04:17.480


missionaries are going to teach you.



01:04:18.021 --> 01:04:19.103


And I will go through those



01:04:19.163 --> 01:04:20.707


discussions in depth as well.



01:04:22.050 --> 01:04:23.671


if it's even interesting to anybody.



01:04:24.972 --> 01:04:27.374


My main interest is just informed consent.



01:04:27.454 --> 01:04:28.675


I want people to have the



01:04:28.715 --> 01:04:29.676


whole truth before they



01:04:29.716 --> 01:04:30.817


make a life-altering



01:04:30.877 --> 01:04:31.998


decision like joining the



01:04:32.018 --> 01:04:32.999


Church of Jesus Christ of



01:04:33.039 --> 01:04:33.719


Latter-day Saints.



01:04:34.340 --> 01:04:34.940


I think that it's



01:04:34.980 --> 01:04:36.461


disingenuous to teach



01:04:36.521 --> 01:04:38.183


people just parts of things



01:04:38.363 --> 01:04:40.124


and to not bring up both



01:04:40.184 --> 01:04:41.726


sides of the story and to



01:04:41.926 --> 01:04:43.407


basically tell people not



01:04:43.447 --> 01:04:44.548


to read anything that



01:04:47.090 --> 01:04:48.790


conflicts with the official narrative.



01:04:49.110 --> 01:04:50.431


As a child,



01:04:50.651 --> 01:04:52.191


I was taught that anything that



01:04:52.231 --> 01:04:53.531


conflicted with the



01:04:53.931 --> 01:04:56.292


official narrative was anti-Mormon lies.



01:04:56.812 --> 01:04:57.972


And so when someone would



01:04:58.012 --> 01:04:59.052


bring up the fact that



01:04:59.092 --> 01:05:00.092


Joseph Smith had a



01:05:00.132 --> 01:05:01.573


different version of the first vision,



01:05:02.573 --> 01:05:03.793


I was taught to dismiss it



01:05:03.913 --> 01:05:05.053


as anti-Mormon lies.



01:05:05.333 --> 01:05:07.134


And imagine my surprise to



01:05:07.174 --> 01:05:08.514


find out later as an adult



01:05:08.594 --> 01:05:09.894


that what was yesterday's



01:05:10.014 --> 01:05:11.354


anti-Mormon lies are now



01:05:11.415 --> 01:05:12.335


being published on the



01:05:12.375 --> 01:05:13.475


official church website



01:05:14.335 --> 01:05:17.057


as truth and as truth that



01:05:17.137 --> 01:05:18.558


conflicts with the truth



01:05:18.579 --> 01:05:19.519


that i was taught as a



01:05:19.559 --> 01:05:22.522


child so i felt a lot of



01:05:22.722 --> 01:05:24.103


anger over that betrayal



01:05:24.443 --> 01:05:26.164


that i was taught to



01:05:26.225 --> 01:05:27.325


dismiss things that made



01:05:27.385 --> 01:05:29.327


logical sense to me in



01:05:29.407 --> 01:05:30.288


favor of the official



01:05:30.328 --> 01:05:32.409


narrative and i later found



01:05:32.529 --> 01:05:33.931


out that the things that



01:05:33.951 --> 01:05:35.332


made logical sense actually



01:05:35.412 --> 01:05:37.113


were true they weren't lies



01:05:37.633 --> 01:05:39.315


so it was really confusing to me and



01:05:39.940 --> 01:05:40.641


I think that's one of the



01:05:40.681 --> 01:05:41.904


reasons why so many people



01:05:41.924 --> 01:05:42.725


who leave the church are



01:05:42.845 --> 01:05:44.529


angry is because they feel betrayed.



01:05:45.722 --> 01:05:47.083


So just to finish up this



01:05:47.143 --> 01:05:50.164


first discussion from the missionaries,



01:05:51.064 --> 01:05:52.625


after all of that,



01:05:52.805 --> 01:05:54.005


there are still two more



01:05:54.085 --> 01:05:55.666


principles they want to discuss with you.



01:05:56.106 --> 01:05:57.027


One is that the Book of



01:05:57.047 --> 01:05:58.327


Mormon is another testament



01:05:58.367 --> 01:05:59.187


of Jesus Christ.



01:05:59.788 --> 01:06:00.988


They'll tell you that Joseph



01:06:01.068 --> 01:06:02.669


Smith found the gold plates



01:06:03.129 --> 01:06:03.989


buried in a hill.



01:06:04.129 --> 01:06:05.210


He was directed there by an



01:06:05.330 --> 01:06:06.430


angel and that he



01:06:06.490 --> 01:06:07.711


translated those plates



01:06:08.311 --> 01:06:10.052


into what is now the Book of Mormon.



01:06:10.692 --> 01:06:11.633


And that's another rabbit



01:06:11.673 --> 01:06:12.773


hole that we can go down



01:06:12.793 --> 01:06:13.754


and that I will go down,



01:06:13.794 --> 01:06:15.015


just not today because it's



01:06:15.175 --> 01:06:16.575


already getting a little long here.



01:06:17.156 --> 01:06:18.296


But I just want you to know



01:06:18.537 --> 01:06:19.657


that this is the next thing



01:06:19.677 --> 01:06:20.698


they want to teach you is



01:06:20.738 --> 01:06:21.718


about the Book of Mormon,



01:06:21.778 --> 01:06:23.399


how it came about,



01:06:24.040 --> 01:06:25.120


and that the Book of Mormon



01:06:25.721 --> 01:06:27.181


teaches about Christ and



01:06:27.241 --> 01:06:28.502


about Christ's visit to the



01:06:28.562 --> 01:06:31.764


people on this continent after he died,



01:06:31.884 --> 01:06:34.986


but before he was resurrected.



01:06:36.225 --> 01:06:36.986


if that makes sense.



01:06:37.006 --> 01:06:38.347


So there's a lot to unpack there.



01:06:39.048 --> 01:06:40.189


And the final point of this



01:06:40.249 --> 01:06:41.710


discussion is that the Holy



01:06:41.770 --> 01:06:43.331


ghost is a witness of truth.



01:06:43.472 --> 01:06:44.352


And they're basically going



01:06:44.372 --> 01:06:45.493


to teach you how to receive



01:06:45.533 --> 01:06:46.695


a witness of the Holy ghost.



01:06:47.255 --> 01:06:48.356


As we discussed before,



01:06:48.436 --> 01:06:49.197


they're going to teach you



01:06:49.237 --> 01:06:50.818


how Mormons pray over here.



01:06:51.319 --> 01:06:52.380


And we'll go through that as



01:06:52.460 --> 01:06:53.841


well in another episode.



01:06:54.542 --> 01:06:55.803


And basically they're going



01:06:55.823 --> 01:06:57.765


to leave you that day with



01:06:57.805 --> 01:06:58.705


a commitment that you're



01:06:58.745 --> 01:07:00.247


going to read some passages



01:07:00.287 --> 01:07:01.128


in the book of Mormon.



01:07:01.908 --> 01:07:02.329


In fact,



01:07:03.867 --> 01:07:05.208


I believe they're listed here.



01:07:05.288 --> 01:07:06.148


Commitments, yes.



01:07:07.009 --> 01:07:07.729


Remember during this



01:07:07.769 --> 01:07:09.030


discussion that the



01:07:09.070 --> 01:07:10.130


investigator should commit



01:07:10.170 --> 01:07:11.251


to read in the Book of



01:07:11.271 --> 01:07:13.292


Mormon and pray to know that it is true,



01:07:13.792 --> 01:07:14.713


pray to know that Joseph



01:07:14.733 --> 01:07:15.633


Smith was a prophet,



01:07:16.234 --> 01:07:17.234


and to set up an



01:07:17.274 --> 01:07:18.815


appointment for the next discussion.



01:07:18.915 --> 01:07:19.776


So at the end of this,



01:07:19.816 --> 01:07:20.536


they're going to say,



01:07:21.096 --> 01:07:22.337


are you free next Tuesday



01:07:22.457 --> 01:07:23.538


or are you free tomorrow?



01:07:23.598 --> 01:07:24.338


They like to get these



01:07:24.378 --> 01:07:25.939


things done as quickly as possible.



01:07:26.479 --> 01:07:27.159


And then they're going to



01:07:27.200 --> 01:07:28.960


commit you to do your homework.



01:07:29.081 --> 01:07:29.641


And then they're going to



01:07:29.661 --> 01:07:30.341


close with a prayer.



01:07:30.381 --> 01:07:31.622


They're going to invite you to pray.



01:07:32.423 --> 01:07:34.745


and get you to say how you



01:07:34.785 --> 01:07:36.046


felt after that prayer so



01:07:36.087 --> 01:07:37.007


that it's going to end up



01:07:37.068 --> 01:07:38.489


on a really spiritual note.



01:07:38.789 --> 01:07:41.713


So that's what would have



01:07:41.753 --> 01:07:43.214


happened in the 80s if you



01:07:43.254 --> 01:07:43.855


had invited the



01:07:43.895 --> 01:07:45.176


missionaries into your home.



01:07:45.256 --> 01:07:47.499


Nowadays, it's a much shorter,



01:07:47.659 --> 01:07:48.700


streamlined message.



01:07:48.900 --> 01:07:49.000


And



01:07:50.318 --> 01:07:51.978


To my mind, honestly,



01:07:52.018 --> 01:07:52.919


that's a little worse



01:07:53.119 --> 01:07:54.419


because rather than giving



01:07:54.459 --> 01:07:55.319


you comprehensive



01:07:55.359 --> 01:07:56.940


information in the first discussion,



01:07:57.380 --> 01:07:58.060


they're just going to give



01:07:58.080 --> 01:07:59.640


you a little snippet of information,



01:08:00.080 --> 01:08:01.201


try to get you to feel the



01:08:01.261 --> 01:08:03.741


Holy Ghost and commit you



01:08:03.861 --> 01:08:05.542


to coming back to coming to



01:08:05.562 --> 01:08:06.982


church with them on the following Sunday.



01:08:07.062 --> 01:08:08.403


And then let's say that you



01:08:08.663 --> 01:08:09.763


invite them in on a Monday.



01:08:10.964 --> 01:08:11.745


they're going to try to set



01:08:11.805 --> 01:08:12.786


up another meeting for you



01:08:12.806 --> 01:08:13.747


like the next day.



01:08:14.528 --> 01:08:16.971


And Sunday may be a few days away.



01:08:17.031 --> 01:08:18.272


So it's possible if you keep



01:08:18.352 --> 01:08:19.013


inviting them back,



01:08:19.053 --> 01:08:19.954


you could have two or three



01:08:19.994 --> 01:08:21.076


or four of these lessons



01:08:21.476 --> 01:08:22.938


before you ever even visit



01:08:22.958 --> 01:08:23.999


a Mormon congregation.



01:08:24.560 --> 01:08:26.622


So that's all for today.



01:08:26.762 --> 01:08:27.923


It's a lot to unpack.



01:08:28.464 --> 01:08:29.364


If you're new to the channel,



01:08:29.424 --> 01:08:30.705


please subscribe.



01:08:30.885 --> 01:08:32.005


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01:08:32.865 --> 01:08:34.426


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01:08:34.886 --> 01:08:36.006


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01:08:39.287 --> 01:08:40.088


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01:08:43.129 --> 01:08:45.289


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01:08:47.630 --> 01:08:49.952


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01:08:49.992 --> 01:08:50.632


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01:08:58.979 --> 01:09:00.940


If you have the means to join as a member,



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I do members-only content.



01:09:03.843 --> 01:09:05.404


I do live Q&As once a week.



01:09:05.904 --> 01:09:06.865


And I'd really love to have



01:09:06.905 --> 01:09:07.766


you be a part of our



01:09:07.806 --> 01:09:09.167


community over at Third Verse.



01:09:09.627 --> 01:09:11.128


If you're interested in coaching,



01:09:11.568 --> 01:09:12.468


if you're interested in



01:09:12.508 --> 01:09:13.828


learning more about the LDS



01:09:13.868 --> 01:09:15.469


Church or managing your own



01:09:15.549 --> 01:09:16.669


faith crisis or



01:09:17.069 --> 01:09:18.330


decluttering your house or



01:09:18.430 --> 01:09:20.410


navigating difficult family relationships,



01:09:20.951 --> 01:09:22.351


I do coaching on a limited



01:09:22.391 --> 01:09:24.572


basis a few days a week to



01:09:24.732 --> 01:09:26.132


individuals who are members



01:09:26.192 --> 01:09:27.693


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You can email me at megan at



01:09:29.673 --> 01:09:31.714


third-first.com or you can



01:09:31.734 --> 01:09:34.495


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01:09:34.655 --> 01:09:37.116


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01:09:37.797 --> 01:09:39.121


at third underscore verse.



01:09:39.161 --> 01:09:40.284


Thanks for being here today.



01:09:40.304 --> 01:09:42.511


And as always, be good to each other,



01:09:42.832 --> 01:09:43.896


but even more importantly,



01:09:43.916 --> 01:09:44.653


be good to yourself.