D&C 84 (2020 Repost)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:15] Speaker B: Welcome to the weekly Deep Dive podcast on the Add on Education Network. The podcast where we take the weekly Come follow me discussion and try to add a little insight and unique perspective. I am your host, Jason Lloyd. Here with me in the studio, this show's producer and my friend, Nate Pifer. [00:00:32] Speaker A: What's up? [00:00:33] Speaker B: Hey, Nate. How you doing? [00:00:35] Speaker A: I'm glad that I'm your friend. [00:00:37] Speaker B: I'm glad you're my friend, too. [00:00:39] Speaker A: Thanks, buddy. [00:00:40] Speaker B: Thanks for being here, Nate. [00:00:42] Speaker A: I'm all here. [00:00:44] Speaker B: Sweet. Hey, where you headed this weekend, though? [00:00:48] Speaker A: It's my daughter's birthday, so we're probably going to go up to our little Idaho spot. [00:00:54] Speaker B: Nice. [00:00:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Spend some. Spend some fam time up at the hot springs. [00:00:59] Speaker B: It's always nice to get away and take a little bit of time off, be with the family. [00:01:02] Speaker A: Oh, for sure. [00:01:04] Speaker B: Well, in this week, we're diving into one of my favorite sections of all of Doctrine and Covenants, Section 84. You know, it's a good section when the come follow me discussion only has one section that you're covering. [00:01:19] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. It means there is a lot going on or that there are 300 verses in the section. [00:01:26] Speaker B: Yes, it does. And in this one, there is definitely a lot going on. This is going to get us into the oath and covenant of the priesthood. It is going to dive into Moses a little bit, and it almost even gets to your favorite part of all scripturedom, the begatting. It's not quite begatting, but it's close. [00:01:51] Speaker A: How close? Does he use the word beget? [00:01:54] Speaker B: No. Then whatever, man. But it does go through genealogies. All right, so if we are going to be talking about Moses, we are going to be talking about the priesthood, we are going to be talking about the line of authority, we are going to talk about the oath and covenant of the priesthood. But because Moses plays such an integral part in this section, I feel like we need to take a little bit of a detour to talk about Moses. And it's interesting to me that Moses, if you were to reference one thing that he is known for in Jewish history, it's that he is the lawgiver. You look at the Bible, you've got the law, Torah, the words the karavim and the prophets, the navim and Torah, the first five books, is the law. That's what Moses is known for, is he is the one that goes into the mount, gets the commandments, that gives the people, the law, that establishes Israel and establishes this law among the people. But what I find so unique and interesting about this is his start, when he has that moment that pulls him away from his Egyptian heritage. His Egyptian family sends him out into the wilderness for 40 years, where he goes and lives the shepherd life, if you will, and goes back to Israel to redeem them, to set them free. And the crux of that was because he slew an Egyptian. Right. He was a killer. So how does a man who kills another man. And when we're talking about the commandments, and we went to the law and doctrine and covenants, 40, I believe it was 42 they're talking about, God went to great lengths. I think he even repeated that commandment three times. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not kill. And yet here you have Moses who slays an Egyptian and he says, you, you're perfect. Come here. You're going to be the one that gives the law to the people. And by the way, thou shalt not kill. So why does Moses get a pass on slaying? Why is the lawgiver a person who's got this past or history of maybe not being quite so lawful? [00:04:18] Speaker A: Here's a question. [00:04:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:20] Speaker A: Just so that I can remember. I mean, the dude that he killed was an Egyptian, like, slave driver, right? That was like beaten up on somebody. Or is that just Charlton Heston? [00:04:32] Speaker B: No, no, I'm pretty sure you're right. You've got this Egyptian overlord that's smiting a Hebrew, and Moses sees this happening, kind of infuriated, and he smites the Egyptian. [00:04:47] Speaker A: Did he kill him on purpose or was it accidental? Did he mean to punch him or whack him or whatever, and then he accidentally killed him? Or did he set out with like, I'm going to kill this dude? [00:05:02] Speaker B: I don't think he set out to kill this dude. I think he acted in anger in the moment. He kind of. He saw injustice and he acted. [00:05:10] Speaker A: Do you think. Do you think that he even in anger, wanted to end the life of this other dude? [00:05:19] Speaker B: It's a good question, because I just. [00:05:21] Speaker A: Feel like that's probably still important in context of thou shalt not kill. [00:05:26] Speaker B: Yeah, okay. [00:05:28] Speaker A: That's all. I'm just throwing that out there. [00:05:30] Speaker B: Well, and I think in today's society, we are a little bit removed from what it was like in yesterday's society, if you will. In yesterday's society, if we are talking about Moses time, if you are talking about the law of Moses, who was the one responsible for carrying out judgment? Who was the one that executed that judgment? Because in today's society, I mean, we had the firing squad where maybe a couple people had live rounds and most people had blanks. So you weren't sure who did it. Right. And you didn't want to carry that guilt or that burden, which is very different from in the Old Testament times. We talked about this with. If you killed somebody on accident and you had to flee to the city of refuge, it was the next of kin. It was their responsibility to carry out judgment. It is not that you had to go to court and you had to get the sentencing passed and then you got permission to go slay the person. It was your responsibility to act in that moment to chase this guy down and kill him if he was guilty. And it was the people that had the burden of executing someone. And you talk about stoning someone to death. It's not that one or two people had a stone and everyone else was throwing styrofoam blocks that may or may not hurt someone. Right? Yeah. Everybody had a live round. Everybody could have been the one that killed him. [00:07:04] Speaker A: Okay. [00:07:05] Speaker B: And, and, and I think there was a responsibility or a burden there that we've kind of shifted off of ourselves. If you're going to execute somebody, you are the one that's going to be looking at them when you do it. And maybe that makes you all the more careful to know that you are doing the right thing, that you're not just killing an innocent person. [00:07:29] Speaker A: That is actually kind of interesting. That is interesting. The idea that, like, you. If. If you. If you can shift that burden on someone else, it makes it a lot easier for you to be like, oh, yeah, kill him. Because you don't have to. You don't have to own any of it. You don't have to. You know what I mean? You don't have to. Like you said, you don't have to carry any of the weight of that. It is kind of a really interesting. An interesting, I don't know, thought exercise. [00:08:00] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think it's relevant. I think it's important that we do this. And I think. I mean, honestly, I guess that's why we're starting with this topic, this conversation, talking about Moses as the lawgiver and having to own that decision and knowing that maybe he was legally authorized to do what he was doing because he was executing somebody who was guilty of. Of killing. And what's the punishment for killing? If this Egyptian is killing a Hebrew and he is breaking the law, then the sentence is death for himself. And so he should be executed. And who's the one that should execute him? Is it not the next of kin. If Moses is another Hebrew, he's got the responsibility over any other Egyptian to carry out that punishment. Maybe he's a little bit justified in doing what he's doing. And the reason I bring that up is because I want to take this to Nephi. Nephi slays Laban. And I think this is an issue that some people have when they read the Book of Mormon. Is God commanding him to kill Laban? [00:09:07] Speaker A: I know for sure of people that have told me in conversation they have an issue with this. [00:09:13] Speaker B: And there's a law in Israelite history, and it's not just Israelite history. This is Babylon, this is the Canaanites next to them. This is pretty universal for the entire Near Eastern region, that if you falsely accuse somebody of a crime and they find out that it was false, the accusations, then the punishment is whatever punishment you sought for the innocent person. [00:09:44] Speaker A: Really. [00:09:44] Speaker B: Uh huh. So go back to the case of Nephi, when Laban says, you are a robber and a thief and I will slay you. He's accusing him not just of trying to steal, but robbery. This idea of armed robbery, that here he comes trying to, with a weapon, extort Laban into getting the plates. It's a false accusation. [00:10:17] Speaker A: And he tries to kill him. [00:10:19] Speaker B: Yes, because armed robbery, the punishment is death. So he is asking his servants. Who are his servants? Laban is a captain of 50. He's not asking just normal people to go arrest him. He's asking, if you will, the police force of Jerusalem at the time to execute Nephi and his family for armed robbery. So it's a false accusation that carries the death penalty. [00:10:44] Speaker A: From a position of power too? [00:10:46] Speaker B: From a position of power. So according to Israelite law, according to the Babylonian law, Laban has committed a sin in accusing someone. He has broken the law by falsely accusing someone of being an armed robber. And the punishment that he sought was death. Therefore the punishment that Laban deserved according to the law was a death sentence. [00:11:11] Speaker A: Interesting. [00:11:12] Speaker B: And who was the one that is supposed to carry that out? It is the one that was offended. Nephi had the legal burden of executing Laban from a legal standpoint, and now he is going to. And it is interesting because the story of Laban, excuse me, the story of Nephi and the story of Moses parallel each other. And you will see Nephi bringing up Moses as he's talking to his brothers. Because Moses is going to take his people and he's going to cross the sea and establish a new nation in a promised land. And what's Nephi doing, he's following the same path. And the path starts with murder. For whatever reason, the path starts with murder, but it starts with justified murder. [00:11:58] Speaker A: Yeah, not murder, but a justified killing. Right. I'm just saying if we're. I'm saying in theory, it's not murder if it's. If it's a justified killing. [00:12:08] Speaker B: Right, right. [00:12:10] Speaker A: Interesting. [00:12:11] Speaker B: And it's interesting because he's in essence being the Moses for this new people. He's going to be. This is the moment that kind of crystallizes him as their leader, as their Moses, if you will, as he's going to take them across the sea just as Moses crossed the sea, and he's going to establish them in the promised land. And there's a lot of parallels and similarities and we kind of get hung up looking at Nephi killing Laban. But what we is there are parallels to the story of Moses. That it's fascinating how the scriptures do this and the symbolism and how much they parallel each other. I just find it cool. [00:12:48] Speaker A: It's awesome. That's fantastic insight. [00:12:52] Speaker B: So Moses is going to be not just the lawgiver, but we're going to talk a little bit about priesthood here. So let's go into doctrine and Covenants 84. We are going to talk about the importance of a temple being built. The Lord says. Well, Joseph Smith says that the reason why the Lord has gathered any people in any dispensation was always for them to get together to build a temple. But in order for them to build a temple, there is going to need to be priesthood, to be able to worship, to be able to sacrifice, to be able to carry on these ordinances. So that is kind of the context of this revelation as we are getting there. And by the way, if we look at the Israelites, the Levites are the ones with the priesthood, right? The sons of Moses, the sons of Aaron. And this is the reason why I started with Moses in this killing is the parallel paths, if you will, is because I think another issue that people might take as they're reading the Book of Mormon and looking at this is Lehi does not descend from Moses or Aaron and Moses and Aaron descend from Levi. Lehi is not a Levite. He descends from Manasseh. So if he descends from Manasseh, how do they have priesthood in the Book of Mormon? You've got this line of people, and yet you have all this talk about sacrifice. You have this talk about the rites, the rituals, the priests and all of this priesthood throughout the Book of Mormon. Where does it come from if you have no Levites, if you have no priesthood. And I think that's kind of a weird point or a difficult point for some people. So that's why I like doctrine covenant section 84 so much, because it helps us understand this priesthood and where it comes from. Let's go to verse 5. For verily, this generation shall not pass away until a house shall be built unto the Lord and a cloud shall rest upon it, which cloud shall be even the glory of the Lord which shall fill the house. And the sons of Moses, according to the holy priesthood, which he received under the hand of his Father in law, Jethro. And Jethro received it under the hand of Caleb, Caleb received it under the hands of Elihu, Elihu under the hand of Jeremy, Jeremy under the hand of Gad. Gad under the hand of Isaias. Isaias received it under the hand of God. Esaias also lived in the days of Abraham and was blessed of him, which Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek, who received it through his lineage of his fathers, even till Noah, and then from Noah till Enoch to the lineage of his fathers, and from Enoch to Abel, who was slain by the conspiracy of his brother, who received the priesthood by the commandment of God, by the hand of his father Adam, who was the first man which priesthood continue within the church of God to all generations. So this is the priesthood that Moses had. This is different from the priesthood that Aaron had because it says here in the next verse. Let's see. And the Lord confirmed a priesthood also upon Aaron and his seed through all their generations, which priesthood also continueth and abideth forever. So the priesthood of Aaron, Levitical priesthood, Aaronic priesthood, is different from the priesthood that Moses had. And notice, I mean, we look at this line, we know the Old Testament is the family history of Jesus Christ from Adam all the way down through the King list in Judah to where you get down to in the New Testament, it picks it up and gives this lineage all the way down to Joseph and Mary. And then you have Christ. So the Old Testament is this family history of Christ. But look at this priesthood line a little bit closer. Moses receives it from Jethro. Who is Jethro. Jethro Toll, Not Jethro. Not Jethro Toll. [00:17:03] Speaker A: Dude that plays the flute. [00:17:05] Speaker B: Flautist, not the flautest. [00:17:08] Speaker A: All right, well then who is he? [00:17:10] Speaker B: That's a great question. He's got several different names. Jethro might not even be his name. It might be a title. Because the Hebrew Jethro Means he that has an abundance or the excess, the surplus, or superior wealthy, or he who's doing well, his excellence. Right. So it's kind of a title. He was a priest of Midian, but if you look at it, he receives it from Caleb, Caleb from Elihu, Elihu from Jeremy, Jeremy from Gad, Gad from Esaias, and then Esaias received it under the hand of God. This does not tie into Abraham's family. Esaias lived in the days of Abraham, but Abraham is not the one that gave the priesthood to Esaias. This is a whole different line. And so something that is interesting is this. Back in the day you had the patriarchal order where the patriarch had the priesthood and ruled over his family and gave it to his son and to his son. And you had almost these silos of priesthood authority, not this universal church that acted under the direction of God with the presiding high priest. You had a presiding patriarch and these different families had these different priesthoods. And the priesthood that Moses got, interesting enough, did not come from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob down the line to him. It was from a different family outside of Israel. [00:18:54] Speaker A: When did he get that priesthood conferred? [00:19:00] Speaker B: Good question. Jethro is the one that gave it to him. I can't remember if it was in the 40 years while he was living there, before he went back and pulled the people out, or if it was after he pulled the people out and revisited his father in law. I want to say it was in that 40 year period when he was residing with the priest of Midian. [00:19:19] Speaker A: Okay, interesting. [00:19:22] Speaker B: But he is pulling it from a line outside of Israel. So this idea of the Israelites and a lot of people looking at this and saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, where is this Aaronic priesthood coming from? They are not from the family there. Way before the priesthood was given to Aaron, the lesser priesthood, mind you, there was a greater priesthood that existed that was had from different families all over the place. So for Lehi to be this new family line that receives the priesthood from. However it is, whether it is like Isaiah is here, who receives it under the hand of God, or whether Lehi received it under the hand of another prophet that had Melchizedek priesthood, this is not Aaronic priesthood. When the priesthood shows up in the Book of Mormon, these ordinances, these priesthood that we are talking about, it is a higher priesthood. It is the Melchizedek priesthood. They're not Aaron's descendants, they're not Levites, they're not officiating in a traditional sense. But this is not something new. Look at the story in The Old Testament. This is something that you see with these different families that had the priesthood and preserved it from generation to generation. And it carries on over into the Book of Mormon. [00:20:36] Speaker A: Amazing. [00:20:37] Speaker B: And that's why when I was. When I was studying the Canaanite history and ancient Near Eastern studies, I'd read about all of these Canaanite gods, and there was a common theme among all of them. These gods would dwell in a tent. And the word for tent was oh, hel in Hebrew, which also was a word that they used for temple. And the idea was God had a permanent residence or a temple that he lived in in heaven, his heavenly temple. And when he would visit here on Earth, he would be more of like a camping trip. He would be a temporary visitor. He would be living in a tent, a temporary abode while he was here on Earth. But there's also reason to believe that way back when, with these nomadic people, you had a lot of tent dwellers. And if they dwelt in tents, then their God also dwelt in tents. So this idea that in the ancient world, God dwelt in a tent, not just in a tent, but a tent at the base of a mountain next to a river of water, then this idea that the river of water flowed out from him to feed the whole Earth, that he was the source of living waters to the whole earth. And it was unique, or not unique. It was interesting to me to see this pattern over and over again with these different Canaanite gods and the structure. But then you look at Lehi when his family leaves Jerusalem, all of a sudden, it follows the same architecture, the same type. They're traveling by the borders, which are near the borders of the Red Sea. And that's a weird thing to say. The borders which are near the borders. How are borders near the borders? Well, in Hebrew, borders is also the same word to say mountains. So if you were translated as mountains rather than borders, they traveled in the mountains which were near the Red Sea, which. Near the borders of the Red Sea. The mountains that were bordering the Red Sea. And as they came out of these mountains into a valley, there was a river of water that flowed into. And Lehi makes this big point about this river of water being the fountain of all righteousness. And then Nephi makes this big point that his dad was dwelling in a tent in this valley next to this river. And what's Lehi doing here? He's officiating. He's offering sacrifices. He's acting in a priest role, representing this God. The priest represents God. But it also represents the people and the symbology of this ancient world just meeting in this crux of Lehi, taking on this position of a father of a new generation and telling God's story again as it flows into the Book of Mormon. To me, it's just fascinating to see how it merges so interestingly into that old world. [00:23:30] Speaker A: It would definitely be hard to make that up, like, just the depths of the parallels. I'm just going to throw that out there. [00:23:39] Speaker B: You're absolutely right. And you've got these chiasmus structures that are talking about the river of water and the valley, and at the center of this chiasmus, this altar that stands and this idea of sacrifice and this. [00:23:53] Speaker A: Yeah, it's going to say, the more. The more. The more that we. The more that we continue to just learn about the Book of Mormon, the more I'm continually convinced that you don't have a young dude making this up. [00:24:10] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. Yeah. [00:24:13] Speaker A: I don't mean to derail you, but I'm just. [00:24:14] Speaker B: You're not derailing. [00:24:15] Speaker A: I'm just saying things like this. Things like this is just like that. It's. That's a little too much to be, you know what I mean, coincidental and just pulled out of nowhere. [00:24:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's one thing I gather out of this as I'm looking at this lineage. To me, it's so fascinating that you have this line unconnected, or, excuse me, unbroken, from Adam down to Christ in this lineage. That's just perfect. But yet when you're talking about the priesthood, there's a rupture. Why isn't Jacob mentioned? Why isn't Isaac mentioned? Why did it stop with Abraham? Now all of a sudden you have this jump to this family over here. Well, this line is actually where Moses gets it from. And then it brings it, weaves it back into Israel. But now it's not Melchizedek. Now they have the lesser priesthood. So now we have Aaron, which is an unbroken line that goes on for a long, long time. So, I don't know. It's interesting to see these hops. But there is one other thing here that I find super amazing. If you can hang with me a little bit longer. Sorry. [00:25:20] Speaker A: Oh, I'm hanging in, man. I'm hanging in by the seat of my pants. [00:25:25] Speaker B: Okay. Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek, who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah, from Noah, till Enoch, through the lineage of their fathers from Enoch to Abel. This is where. This is where there's something else. That I don't know if you catch. Abel was not part of the line. Cain slew Abel before Abel could have kids. Well, maybe Abel had kids because there are stories that Cain married Abel's daughter. I guess it's not really here nor there. But if Abel had kids, they're not mentioned in this line. It's Seth that Adam bears afterwards and then Seth has a child. And from there you get the lineage to Noah, and from there you get the lineage to Abraham through Seth, not through Abel. So why is the priesthood going to Abel and not through Seth? In the Old Testament, if someone were to die and not have kids, it was the responsibility of the brother to marry the wife of the person that died and raise up posterity for them, give them kids so that their line can continue even though they died. And it is interesting to me to see this. Abel was the one that was blessed with the priesthood and his line wasn't able to continue. Maybe he conferred the priesthood before he died, but it is not likely because Adam says, or Genesis says, after Abel had died, Adam and Eve were sad and they went and knew each other and conceived another son in Seth. And then Seth conceived his son. So how could Abel pass on the priesthood to his grand or to his nephew? It would be if his younger brother wasn't even born yet by the time that he had died. But I think what's going on here is Abel is being adopted into this line. This line is adopted rather unto Abel. This is posterity being brought up to him even though he had died. That sense of if you die, your brother has kids that are raised up for you to keep your name going. Does that make sense? I wish I would have hit this last week because we were talking. Let's see, the last section, 83, talks about the importance of taking care of the widows and taking care of the fatherless. And God cares about them. And so much so that there is a standing law in the Old Testament that the firstborn son receives a double inheritance. And the reason why they receive a double inheritance is so that they can take care of any unwed sisters or anyone that needs to be taken care of that doesn't have a person that they can claim and hold on to that's going to provide that so they receive twice as much as everybody else. So you look at this, it's as if Abel is receiving Seth's inheritance as well as it runs into each other. And this idea of a double inheritance plays itself out a couple times. Going back to the symbolism that we see in The Book of Mormon, Nephi, you hear of Nephites, you hear of Jacobites, you hear of Josephites, Zoramites, even the servant who wasn't even part of the family. You hear of Zoramites, you hear of Lamanites, you hear of Lemuelites. But when have you ever heard of Samites? They don't show up at all. There's no. It's not even mentioned once in the Book of Mormon. What happened to Sam? [00:29:27] Speaker A: Yeah, what happened to Sam? [00:29:29] Speaker B: What in the world happened to Sam? They said he followed Nephi. They said he was righteous. And Lehi blesses him at the end of his life and blesses that his posterity will be counted with Nephi's. And so it's almost as if Nephi is receiving a double portion. He's receiving two inheritances, his line and his brother's line. And this idea that he is receiving the birthright after his father passes away. And you see this in Israel, Joseph, when you look at the 12 tribes and their inheritance, you've got Naphtali and Gad and all of these different tribes that are inheriting, right? Joseph gets two portions in Israel, one for Ephraim and one from Manasseh. Everybody else gets one. He's getting the double portion. So you kind of see these double portions play out. And I think that's what we're seeing here. Instead of taking it back to Seth, you have this Old Testament tradition where if you die, your brother raises up seed unto you, it counts for you. And then Seth and Abel is almost like the double portion. You have three sons, Cain being wicked and being cast out, but then Abel receiving the double portion, being inherited. With Seth, the two thirds, and also this idea of the two thirds. Righteous Christ being the firstborn, he inherits the two thirds that come here to Earth, where Satan gets cast out. He is getting a single portion compared to Christ's double portion. [00:31:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:05] Speaker B: All right. [00:31:06] Speaker A: Very, very cool. [00:31:08] Speaker B: That's. [00:31:09] Speaker A: Dude, how cool would it be to be named Gad? [00:31:11] Speaker B: Gad seems like a great name, doesn't it? [00:31:15] Speaker A: I mean. I mean, maybe I need to have another kid just to name him Gad. [00:31:20] Speaker B: What about Naftali? [00:31:22] Speaker A: I mean, Naftali is pretty dope, too, actually. You know what? You're right, dude. Naftali is even doper than Gad. Maybe I could name him Naphtali Gad, but not Dan. I mean, Dan's kind of like, Dan's a cool name, but it's just Dan. It's not Naftali or Gad. [00:31:43] Speaker B: There's some interesting names back then. [00:31:45] Speaker A: There's some pretty great names back then. [00:31:47] Speaker B: Well, and the weirdest thing about the names back then, I mean, for us, it's. It's a step removed. We look at it and it's a name. To us, Dan or Joseph, it's a name. But to them, it literally meant something like Daniel, God is my judge, or judged of God, or all of these names. [00:32:11] Speaker A: What about Gad? [00:32:14] Speaker B: I can't think of what Gad is off the. [00:32:16] Speaker A: What about Naphtali? [00:32:17] Speaker B: I'm not sure. What is this ether off the top of my head? [00:32:22] Speaker A: To me, they're just dope names. [00:32:24] Speaker B: Elijah, whose name was Eliyahu, and it kind of gets shortened to Elijah. [00:32:29] Speaker A: Okay. [00:32:29] Speaker B: El means God, Eli means my God, and Jah means Jehovah. So my God is Jehovah. [00:32:37] Speaker A: Oh, awesome. [00:32:38] Speaker B: So if you're ever going to go talk to Elijah, I mean, to us, we just say Elijah and it's a name, but back then you're saying, hey, how's it going? My God is Jehovah. [00:32:47] Speaker A: I mean, we call people now Christian. Christian's a very common name. [00:32:52] Speaker B: That's true. Or faith or hope. [00:32:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:55] Speaker B: Or charity. [00:32:56] Speaker A: I'm just. It's funny because I sometimes think that the name Christian we forget actually means, you know what I mean, a follower of Christ. But it is a funny thing that Christian doesn't, you know, like, I don't think we even think of it, though, when we call somebody Christian. [00:33:16] Speaker B: Yeah. No, I don't think it sinks in. We've moved ourselves. Like, it becomes a name, it becomes something else rather than. It almost loses its power, its symbolism. [00:33:27] Speaker A: Somehow, which bums me out. I'm a big name guy. Names are cool. I'm a big believer in naming. [00:33:41] Speaker B: Attaching meaning to it. [00:33:42] Speaker A: Exactly. That's what I mean to say, is attaching meaning to a name and, and hopefully doing our part to bring honor to names as well. [00:33:52] Speaker B: I think it's spot on. [00:33:55] Speaker A: I'm a big name guy, man. [00:33:56] Speaker B: I. I'm with you. I agree. I'm. I'm right there with you. [00:34:00] Speaker A: Which is why I'm naming my next kid Gad. Yeah. Or Nap Tally. [00:34:07] Speaker B: There we go. [00:34:08] Speaker A: What's his name? [00:34:08] Speaker B: Naftali. You're right, dude. [00:34:12] Speaker A: The name Naptali would be cool. Other than if my kid was just freaking napping all the time. He'd be like, what do you want me to do about it? You named me this. And I would say, you know what, Nap Tally? You're right. I did. [00:34:28] Speaker B: I guess that's what you get. All right. [00:34:32] Speaker A: Why isn't my name Naptali? All right, sorry. [00:34:37] Speaker B: Hey Nate. Nate does mean gift? [00:34:40] Speaker A: Yeah. What is Nathaniel, wasn't that some prophet that called? I think it was. That came and told King David he needed to get right. [00:34:49] Speaker B: Nathan means gift. [00:34:51] Speaker A: Okay, Give. [00:34:52] Speaker B: Nathan is to give. [00:34:53] Speaker A: Is that true? [00:34:54] Speaker B: Uh huh. [00:34:55] Speaker A: I am a gift man. [00:34:57] Speaker B: And Nathaniel means gift of God. God's gift. [00:35:00] Speaker A: What's up? What's up? All right, never mind. I don't want Naptali. Thank you parents for reminding the world that I am God's gift. [00:35:12] Speaker B: You know that is going to be in the introduction next week. [00:35:14] Speaker A: Oh yeah, it better be. We might need to re record the introduction this week. [00:35:22] Speaker B: All right, well, I am going to slide names aside for a minute and I am going to come, whatever man. I am going to come back to the priesthood. All right, Sorry, sorry. [00:35:32] Speaker A: No, that's me. I'm the only person like 100% derailing you on all of these things. But I don't know, it's a curiosity, man. [00:35:41] Speaker B: I'm glad you are. I think everyone would be asleep if you didn't. [00:35:44] Speaker A: All right, let's keep going. [00:35:46] Speaker B: All right. So while they're making a distinction about priesthood, he says this priesthood continues forever. The Lord confirmed a priesthood on Aaron also, which is a lesser priesthood. But he's going to start describing the differences between these. And this is where I think it's very powerful. He says, and the greater priesthood administered the gospel and holds the keys of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God. And the knowledge of God to me is not just I know God lives, I have a testimony. And they're putting it in parallel. The key of the mysteries of the kingdom of what is the mystery of the kingdom? It says even the key of the knowledge of God. And to show that it's not just a testimony, it's beyond that. In verse 20 it says, Therefore in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest. So this idea of the power of godliness knowing God, verse 21, and without the ordinances thereof and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh. And then here's the key. For without this, no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live. So what does it mean to have a knowledge of God? Verse 23. For without this, no man can see the face of God and live to know God, not just a testimony, but to see God. And where do you find that in the ordinances thereof. And so what are the ordinances of the Melchizedek priesthood? [00:37:28] Speaker A: I think I know. [00:37:29] Speaker B: Go for it. [00:37:30] Speaker A: Is it the temple work? [00:37:32] Speaker B: That's it. You look at the ordinances of the church. Baptism is Aaronic priesthood. [00:37:36] Speaker A: Yes. [00:37:37] Speaker B: Sacrament Aaronic priesthood. A lot of the ordinances that we do outside of the temple are Aaronic priesthood ordinances. The bishop presides over the ward, the bishop presides over the Aaronic priesthood. The Melchizedek priesthood are the ordinances that you see in the temple. And if you think about the Melchizedek priesthood, ordinances to be washed, to be anointed, to be endowed, and to know God or to come into the presence of God, that is the whole purpose of the Melchizedek priesthood. And so when you talk about a preparatory priesthood, because they say that the Aaronic priesthood is preparatory, I hear that all the time. But you almost want to ask, preparatory for what? Oh, for the Melchizedek priesthood. No, it's beyond that. It's just not. It's not preparatory for just another priesthood. What's the purpose of the Melchizedek, then? The purpose of the Melchizedek is to take you into the presence of God. Therefore, the Aaronic priesthood is to prepare you to enter God's presence. And the Melchizedek priesthood is supposed to bring you into his presence. This. And so if I keep going. 23. Now, this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God. But they hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence. Therefore, the Lord, in His wrath for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fullness of his glory. What is his rest? It's not just going to Zion. It is going into his presence. It is being with God. It is the temple. Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst and the holy priesthood also. [00:39:36] Speaker A: So because the children of Israel, who I know everybody always wants to have sympathy for, but I think they're the ultimate knuckleheads, because they were the ultimate knuckleheads. Moses originally came down off Mount Sinai, right, to basically say, here are. Here are the temple ordinances, the saving temple ordinances, and came down to find them being idiots. And God was basically like, no way. And so it's. And so if I'm understanding you correctly, I'm, I'm. I'm trying to make sure that I'm understanding this. Right. Because I do remember in the Scriptures, it was Moses's desire to have, like, all of the children of Israel see God. [00:40:31] Speaker B: Yes. [00:40:33] Speaker A: And now I think that. I think. I think I'm understanding you correctly. What that is probably very specifically saying was not even to necessarily just, like, with their eyeballs be like, oh, hey, here's God. But Moses was prepared to come down and give authority to perform basically the temple ordinances to the children of Israel. But because of their knuckleheadness, he was just like, no way. [00:41:02] Speaker B: Yeah. The four chapters leading up to the golden calf experience, Moses coming down from the mountain, are four chapters of God revealing to Moses the structure for the temple. [00:41:15] Speaker A: Crazy. [00:41:17] Speaker B: And then afterwards, they go and they build the temple. It is all surrounded with temple instructions. The Lord was preparing his people to enter into his presence, to enter into his rest. But instead, now only the high priest can enter the holy of holies once a year. Not Israel. But one person that represented Israel could go in once a year for. For them, because they said to Moses, we don't want to. You represent us. You talk to God and you tell. And so now we get this pattern of, okay, the high priest will represent you, and instead of entering into my rest, I will pull that priesthood from you. I will pull those temple ordinances. You get a preparatory. Preparatory for what? Preparatory for entering into the presence of God. And this comes full circle. When Christ is sacrificed on the altar and allowing us to return to the presence of God, what happens in the temple? The veil is rent. And now that the atonement's been made, allowing people to enter into his presence again. [00:42:34] Speaker A: Why do you think that? I mean, I have thoughts, but I. I'm sure you could probably articulate it better. Why. Why did the children of Israel not want to have the responsibility of entering into the presence of God? [00:42:48] Speaker B: You know, it's a good question. And I think we have to remember the situation that these people are coming from hundreds of years of servitude in Egypt where they're not their own people, they're not taking care of themselves. They're not free. They're not used to making decisions for themselves and wanting to do all of that. I think there's a curve, a learning curve for them. They can't just go right into Canaan. That whole generation has to die off in the wilderness before you get a new generation that has a changed mindset that. I don't know. Those are just my thoughts off the top of my head. But that's just. That's just a guess. I don't. I don't actually know. [00:43:38] Speaker A: I just sometimes wonder if that kind of, sometimes parallels to us and the idea that there is a lot of responsibility that comes with making certain covenants. Right? [00:43:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:54] Speaker A: There's a lot of personal responsibility that. And just a higher way of living that we kind of commit to. Right. [00:44:05] Speaker B: We kind of touched it last week. Right. The idea that we're much is given, much is expected. [00:44:11] Speaker A: I sometimes just wonder again, just to feed into my kind of general disdain for the children of Israel. I sometimes just have to laugh at the idea where they're just like. Well, we kind of also just like doing whatever we want to do. I mean, we're stoked, you know, like, we're really glad God got us out of there. So, hey, can you go and be the righteous one so that we can kind of do whatever we want? But hey, you go be really righteous so that we can, you know, we can do our thing but still have somebody putting in a good word for us. And that might. That's. That's probably me just being grumpy at these knuckleheads. [00:44:53] Speaker B: Well, you look at religion in general over the years, this idea that don't worry about your salvation, that's what you pay us for. We will take care of you. We will make sure that you get saved and kind of match that mindset with somebody right off the bat in the beginning. Don't worry. I don't want a single person to be lost. I will make sure that you don't get lost. Put the burden on me and I will make sure everyone gets saved. You don't need to worry about, about your salvation. I will take care of it. Versus no. Now all of a sudden, we all need to own. We have our agency. What are we going to do? [00:45:30] Speaker A: What decisions are you going to make? How are you going to actually live your life? [00:45:36] Speaker B: And the idea that we today have a temple and ordinances that allow us to go back into the presence of God, to walk back, back into his home, to Eden, to paradise, if you will, to where God was in the cool of the day with his people, how often are we taking advantage of that and seeking God? Do we seek his face? Do we go to the temple expecting to see him, hoping that as we part the veil that we will be in his presence? Are we constantly going back and seeking that when we have it? Or are we satisfied to let someone else take care of that for us? [00:46:15] Speaker A: Well, imagine the responsibility that we already have by just the testimonies that we have wherever those are on the journey. Right. Can you imagine the responsibility that you would have if you did see God? You know, I mean, like, that. I. I can. It maybe, maybe this is a better way to say it. Maybe in this one instance, I think I actually do kind of maybe understand and actually maybe sympathize a little bit with the knuckleheads. And that is. Yeah, it is. That is kind of a scary prospect. What? The question that you just asked. And maybe when I go to the temple, I am absolutely not looking to see God. And then I'm like, crap, that's exactly what the children of Israel said. You know what I mean? [00:47:03] Speaker B: Maybe there's more Israel in us. [00:47:04] Speaker A: I know, that's what I'm saying. Like, dang it, maybe I'm one of these knuckleheads. But it's interesting you asked that question. And my response is like, no, no way. I'll let the prophet do that for me. And then I'm like, oh, oh, no, I've heard this before. [00:47:23] Speaker B: I'm glad you said that. And we get to this oath and covenant. If I turn the page, it says 33. For whoso is faithful unto obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling and sanctifying by the Spirit and the renewing of their bod. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham and the church of the kingdom and the elect of God. And also all they who receive this priesthood receive Me, saith the Lord. For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me. And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father. And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father's kingdom. Therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him. And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood. The whole priesthood is really about bringing people to God. That's the whole purpose of it. The Aaronic priesthood is preparing you to enter God's presence. The Melchizedek priesthood is to take you into God's presence. And if you receive these servants, they're authorized to represent God, to make promises on his behalf to bring you into his presence. That is it. That is the whole purpose, the whole oath and covenant. Everything about the priesthood is to bring you to God. That's it. Amazingly simple, yet powerful. [00:48:52] Speaker A: I love also too that both men and women officiate in the Melchizedek priesthood ordinances in the temple. [00:48:59] Speaker B: Not only do they officiate, but correct me if I'm wrong. Are you not ordained to Be priests and priestesses. [00:49:06] Speaker A: I love it. I just, I know that, I know that that is also and can be a sensitive topic and something that maybe someday we can get into a little bit more. Because I think that usually it's a sensitive topic because there's not a lot of explanation or understanding what you just said, which is the priesthood is for really truly one thing, and that is to prepare for people to see God and be brought into his presence and then actually to bring people into the presence of God, all done and officiated by both men and women being ordained to be priests and priestesses. [00:49:50] Speaker B: And regardless or irregardless, I should say, of who's actually officiating, the priesthood benefits all, whether it is a male or female or whatever the case may be. It is all people that receive the blessings of the priesthood, not just for males to enter into the presence of God, all of God's children. The priesthood is here on earth not to bless some people because of their race or some people because of their sex. It is to bless all people irregardless of who is officiating or providing that service. It is for all people to come unto God. [00:50:28] Speaker A: Love it. [00:50:30] Speaker B: All right, there's something fascinating here. I'm telling you this section, I love this section. But as we move forward a little bit, let's maybe go to verse 43. And now I give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life. For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. For the word of the Lord is truth. And whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is spirit. Even the spirit of Jesus Christ. The talk about spirit and light and truth and these concepts that I don't know that I fully understand, I don't know that anyone fully understands. And you talk about light, what is light? And I think even science has a hard time comprehending what light is. For a long time you get to this, is it a wave or is it a particle? Because it has this wave particle duality and it does some weird things. And you get to this, if you don't mind me, just bouncing down the science road a little ways. [00:51:44] Speaker A: Just do it. I'm ready. [00:51:47] Speaker B: The dual slit experiment. If you ever want a mind blowing experience, look up the dual slit experience, the experiment and this idea that you have these two slits and if you're sending light through it, if it's a wave that goes through the two slits, then it's going to create a New wave on each slit. And each new wave is going to have an interference pattern where the waves the crest. Let's see the peaks and the valleys. The peaks are going to hit another peak and it's going to be twice as high. But when a peak hits a valley, it's going to kill, cancel out, and be low. So you get this interference pattern on this back wall from the waves coming through these two slits. And so it'll be a series of bars or lines all across the wall. Maybe it's hard to visualize this as I'm trying to explain it through a podcast, when really you just need to see it. But if you were to shoot particles rather than waves through these two openings, then you're only going to get two lines on the back wall, because that's the only way these particles can pass through here is on this wa. So when they're trying to understand the nature of light, they try to see what's going on. They start sending them through these two slits and you get this interference pattern and they say, okay. So light's a wave and they say, okay, but let's slow it down and send it through it one photon at a time. And if you're sending it through one photon, then the photon can either go through one slit or the other. But it can't interfere with itself. Right? There's nothing that it can do. So they do this and they still get the wave interference pattern on the back wall. And like, how is that happening? Is it going through both slits at the same time and interfering with itself? How can a particle be splitting itself up? This doesn't make sense. So they said, we need to monitor this and see what's actually happening. So they put a detector on one of the slits, so if a photon goes through it, they'll be able to positively identify the photon went through this slit. We got it. So now we know that it went through this one, and then we can hopefully see if it went through both or what behavior is doing. So they set the experiment up, ran it again, and now all of a sudden, instead of an interference pattern on the back wall, they have two lines match perfectly on the back wall. And you can measure every time it goes through one or the other. And it's behaving exactly like a particle. It's not behaving like a wave anymore. The simple act of observing it changed its behavior. [00:54:27] Speaker A: That is mind blowing. [00:54:28] Speaker B: Like, why? How? If I watch it, then I know, then it behaves one way. If I'm not watching it behaves Another way. And this uncertainty, certainty. And it gets weird. It gets a lot weirder than this. [00:54:43] Speaker A: I've looked at this stuff before and I've gone down like the quantum physics rabbit hole. Believe it or not, for as terrible as I am at math, I do love that certain things can either exist or non exist, whether or not you observe them or not. [00:55:00] Speaker B: Yes. [00:55:00] Speaker A: It's so bizarre to me. [00:55:02] Speaker B: And so it gets back to this question of what is light? And something so basic, so essential to life that we discovered thousands of years ago, and the sun, and it needs light for photosynthesis and plants, yet something so simple can be so complex and so mysterious. I don't know. I love these. Christ is light. And what does that mean? What does it mean to be light? And truth is light. And fascinating to me is the idea that I cannot see anything around me. I can't see the microphone or the door, the wall, the carpet, the rug. All I can see is whatever light reflects off those objects and hits those sensors, those rods and cones in my eyes and creates electrical signals to. What I think I'm seeing in the world around me is actually an image created inside of my head, allowing me to understand what's around me based solely on the light that reaches my eyes. That light is what illuminates us. It's not the table, it's the light reflecting off of it. That all truth is this light, this analogy of Christ and God, that through him you might know all things, through him you can understand the truth of all things, that he is light. And everything we know about the stars, we can't look at them up close. It all has to do with the light that is traveling and how it travels. And the red shift or the blue shift or when we look at what chemical properties it makes up, we dissect the light and see, we study the light to understand everything in the world around us. It's amazing to me. [00:56:52] Speaker A: And of course, like all of the kind of the ideas that light can always push away darkness, but darkness can never consume light. [00:57:04] Speaker B: Yes. Because darkness is really just the absence of light. [00:57:09] Speaker A: And it is kind of a. You know, it's a nice Instagram quote. [00:57:18] Speaker B: Because, you know, I used to think about this as a kid. I used to wonder, you know, I don't know, I was a weird kid, but I think if God, if there's an opposite in all things and there's a God that's all powerful, then I would think and wonder, is there like the opposite of God that's super powerful on the opposite side of the spectrum and who tempted Satan to fall in the first place, Is there this other being that he's. And then I come to realize as I was wondering about these things, it's not so much that there's an opposite in. There's something equal or greater over here as much as there is and there isn't. God is light, God exists. God is knowledge. And there's lack of knowledge. There's darkness, there's an absence, there's a void. It's an opposite in being versus not being. [00:58:08] Speaker A: Awesome. I mean, that is some profound insight. [00:58:15] Speaker B: Well, I love this in verse 46. And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world. And the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit. And everyone that hearkeneth to the voice of the spirit cometh unto God, even the Father. And again, we see this coming to God and this light is what's illuminating us and drawing us and bringing us to God. And the light should be taking us to the point where we get this priesthood will allow us to enter into his presence. That everything is about returning to God. [00:58:48] Speaker A: Even letting our light so shine isn't necessarily even anything that we are necessarily doing other than hopefully letting our, you know, testimony of Jesus or whatever that is. But it is interesting that when, even when you reread those scriptures of let your light so shine, understanding when Jesus says, I am the light and I am, I am those things, then it kind of puts a better twist on it too. It's like, okay, if that light is supposed to be illuminating our way back to God, then what is. What does that commandment then mean to let your light so shine? Like, what perspective shift can, can you take away from that? It's just like, oh, we need to be doing our part to be good examples. We need to be doing our part to very specifically be, you know, hoping. Hoping that we can, you know, harvest souls back to, you know, God. Yeah. [00:59:53] Speaker B: Like I say, no, no man lights a candle, then puts a bucket over it. I butcher that in modern terms. [00:59:59] Speaker A: No, but I think, I think, I guess I'm just saying it's like very specifically what you just said is if light is to. Is. Is to illuminate your way back to God, then letting our light so shine should be. Should be a very specific, deliberate purpose. Not just us going, hey, I believe in Jesus, but hey, what are you actively doing to bring others unto Jesus? Like, what are you. What are you actively doing to. To help other People have their paths illuminated back as well to illuminate the. [01:00:33] Speaker B: World around people, to almost be that that lighthouse that shows the rocks or. [01:00:39] Speaker A: Points are more important, the lower lights. Because the lighthouse. Jesus does a great job of being the lighthouse. And what we're commanded to do is we don't have to have that powerful of a beam on our own. We are all of the feeble lamps to combine together. [01:00:58] Speaker B: That's such a great song, too. Well, going into this idea of light and darkness, it builds on this. And now we're going to kind of get the opposite. Verse 53. And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, that the whole world groaneth under sin and darkness even now. And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief. And because you have treated lightly the things which you have received, which vanity and unbelief has caused. The whole church hath brought the whole church unto condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon all. Or, excuse me, upon the children of Zion, even all. And look how they use darkness in here. So before this idea of light. And he enlightens man and he gives more light to man. But because you've treated lightly the things which I have given you, now there's darkness, you're losing that light. And the world groaneth under sin. And you have been darkened, your minds have been darkened. You are losing that light. How are we losing that light? What are we doing that says vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church in condemnation? It says because you have treated lightly the things which you have received. Thoughts on that, Nate? [01:02:23] Speaker A: I just think that it's funny that light and lightly. You know what I mean? It's a bummer that one of them is such a great thing and this one is like you. It's fun. It's just funny that I just can't get over that. It's the same root word. [01:02:36] Speaker B: But, yeah, it's interesting that the idea of light not having any bearing to it. They're not having a lot of weight. Yeah, it is funny. [01:02:46] Speaker A: I don't know. I don't have any other thoughts on that. I got nothing. [01:02:51] Speaker B: So what are the things that we treat lightly? And I think we can look at that in our lives and say, okay, what are we treating lightly? I mean, just a second ago we were talking about the temple, this idea that we can actually enter to the presence of God. Are we treating that lightly? Do we take that serious? But it's more than that, because they're talking about he who receiveth My servants receiveth me. And the words of my servants receiveth me. And this path that by listening to the servants, you are directed to Christ, who directs you to the Father. This path, this oath and the covenant. And it tells us in verse 57, and they shall remain under condemnation until they repent. And remember the New Covenant, even the Book of Mormon. So you are going to be under condemnation, under darkness. You are not going to have the light you need until you remember the New Covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments. So if the New Covenant is the Book of Mormon, then former commandments in my mind would be the Old Testament, the New Testament. That really, he who receiveth my servants, receiveth me is reference to the Scriptures. Are we diving into the Scriptures? Are we trying to read these? Are we receiving Christ through studying the Scriptures? And it says, even the former commandments, which I have given them not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written. Not just talk about it. Anybody can talk about it. Anybody can quote a verse. But are we internalizing these and acting on them? And how can we act and internalize them if they are not part of our regular examination? Are we looking? Are we studying? And that is what is keeping us in darkness. And we will remain in darkness until we turn to them. They will give us the light that we need. And from that light we will receive more and more and more light because it will take us to Christ. He who receiveth my servants receiveth me. He who receiveth me receiveth my Father. All right, last thing. I mean, there's so much more we could talk about, and I feel like I've already talked too long. So I'm going to try to wrap this up with maybe one more thing that I thought was really cool. The Lord talks, or they say that they're going to sing a new song. Verse 98. Until all shall know me who remain even from the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of. Of the Lord and shall see eye to eye and shall lift up their voice with the voice together and sing a new song. So you're all about singing, Nate, this is. This is right up your alle. The words are a little different. It says, the Lord hath brought again Zion. He hath redeemed the people Israel according to the election of his grace. I'm going to fast forward to the part that I found is super interesting. Satan is bound, time is no longer. The Lord hath gathered all things in one. He hath brought down Zion from above 101. The earth hath travailed and brought forth her strength, and truth is established in her bowels. The earth hath travailed and brought forth her strength. Truth is established in her bowels. What is the earth giving birth to? Truth. So how is the earth giving birth to truth? As we're talking about this travail, and this is what I think is so amazing. The Book of Mormon comes from the earth. The idea of these prophets speaking as if it was from the dust of the ground, right? And Joseph Smith unearths this Book of Mormon in this time of restoration, and the Lord opens up a dispensation and reveals truth upon the earth, but it is born from the earth. And for years and years, I mean, you go to the Book of Mormon and you read about how they were burying their treasures in the ground and they couldn't find them anymore. The earth was hiding them up, they couldn't discover them anymore. And all of these treasures, people digging all over and trying to find it, how rare is it that you find these archaeological treasures? But now here, all of a sudden, Joseph Smith unearths this great truth. But it's not just the Book of Mormon, because the whole earth is telling us these things that is just shaking everything of what we believe. The first D dinosaur bone is credited to being discovered in the 1600s. And. And the guy thought it was a bone from a giant, a massive human. It's not. It's not associated correctly to a dinosaur until the 1800s. And paleontology starts to exist in the 1800s, the mid to late 1800s, as people start looking at the earth and seeing these different strata, they start challenging the traditional belief of how old the earth is and saying, this is a lot older than we thought. And the earth is telling us stories that we didn't even realize existed. Archaeology, paleontology, all of these are exploding. Charles Darwin takes his voyage in the 1800s, the same time that Joseph Smith is restoring the church. All of these different things, understanding the earth is starting to be unearthed. The earth is travailing and delivering all of these facts from before these strata, these layers, this history and the history challenges the belief at the time. And what greater symbol of challenging so hard what everyone believed about how old the earth is, about the history of the earth, about everything we thought we knew. Not only did the earth change and that now all of a sudden they're thinking that the earth is millions of years old. Now all of a sudden they're looking at it and seeing all of these different Histories and all of these different things that are just challenging everything of what they thought the earth was. But at the same time, new heavens are being born. And the time they thought that the earth was the center, that the sun revolved around the earth, that the Earth was God's creation and everything revolved around God's creation to now all of a sudden, countless stars out there, and we are just a little speck in almost nothing. A new heaven and a new earth is being poured out all over the place at the same time that the gospel is being restored. And to me, it's almost this sign that just as the Lord is challenging everyone's beliefs on what the history of the earth was, the Lord was unearthing a very simple gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith that would challenge everyone's religious beliefs about what they thought God was. Now all of a sudden, God as God is man may become as God once was, as man is now God once was, that God became man so that man could become God. This whole theology changes, and it's so disruptive, and all of this spewing forth from the earth the same century. I don't know. To me, it's fascinating. Maybe I'm just seeing this. [01:10:35] Speaker A: That's awesome. [01:10:35] Speaker B: Maybe I'm seeing this all funny or weird. But I don't think it's just a coincidence that paleontology that. That all of this change happens at the same time, that the Earth is unearthing all of these truths and shocking people, shocking the world, shocking what we believe and making us challenge our assumptions and realize we can't just rest on what everyone else has been saying. We need to find out for ourselves. We need to know God. We need to find that light that will bring us to him and find his priesthood to return back to his presence again. [01:11:16] Speaker A: It's awesome, man. Great stuff, great stuff. What are we talking about next week? [01:11:23] Speaker B: Next week is. I know it starts in doctrine of Covenants 85, but I haven't looked. [01:11:28] Speaker A: We don't know where it's going after 85. [01:11:30] Speaker B: All right. I'm not sure where we're going from there. [01:11:32] Speaker A: All right, well, then I guess it'll be a surprise for next week. [01:11:36] Speaker B: All right. [01:11:37] Speaker A: All right. Until next week. [01:11:38] Speaker B: See ya.