Episode 56: D&C 67-70

Ben and Shiloh discuss how God pours through the pages of modern revelation even while sometimes awkwardly through the voice of those who receive and dictate the revelation. During this time in Church history, Joseph Smith and others had been compiling the revelations together to print them in the Book of Commandments. As the time approached to write the preface for the Book of Commandments, there was some disagreement among the early leaders of the Church as to who should write it. A few brethren did not like the language Joseph used. These brethren were then challenged to write a preface and revelation of their own that they thought surpassed Joseph. It didn’t go well, and Joseph’s preface stood (see our first podcast of the year—Episode 32—for more insights into the subtle intricacies of Section 1: The Preface and in what it means for the Book of Commandments). While much of Joseph’s own vernacular, idioms, and popular phrases entered into much of the early revelations, and while we see much in the Doctrine and Covenants (as well as scripture in general) of how the Lord spoke directly to the needs of the early Saints in their own time and understanding (which is quite different than our own), it is up to us to glean and interpret what God’s meaning is for us today through these scriptures by the companionship and voice of the Holy Spirit.