Education week report

[wtfluff]

Did you ever have a testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel?
When did you first begin to sense the work was true? Can you describe that occasion? What did it feel like? What thoughts accompanied those feelings? Wants them to remember what they felt.
What convinced you that the book of Mormon was another testament of Jesus Christ?
How much of a factor in your spiritual conviction was your intellect?
What part of your testimony was solely dependent on facts and propositions?
When did you begin to feel that it was not true and what led you to that conclusion?
Have you earnestly prayed about this matter?
Has God revealed to you by the power of the holy spirit that all that you believed is not true?
Has never met a person where God told them the church is not true. Not unheard of but not common.
Are you now persuaded that your marriage in the temple is meaningless and that you are no longer sealed to your wife and children?
What will the effect of this decision of yours have for your family? Affects so many facets of our lives.
To what extent has your recent period of questioning and doubt required you to go back and reinterpret your past?  What I felt before was just a coincidence etc...
Are you now prepared to conclude that the numerous occasions on which you felt the spirit and the ratifying power of the God were not genuine?

Man, I would LOVE to got through this list of questions and answer them with a believer. (I'm pretty sure it would still be pigeon chess, but I'd still like to do it...)

[LostGirl]

The rise of temple consciousness 1870-1884 the st George temple
Richard e Bennett

Mentioned that the class tomorrow will talk about plural marriage and will show what the church was willing to give up for the it temples.

Didn't mention yesterday that the endowments done in the council house in SLC were only done by invitation, and we're done once a week.

SLC temple took 40 years to build.  BY knew he was not going to live to see it finished.  Hence the st George temple.

Something happens in 11 Jan 1877 that changes church history and all temple work after it.
1 Jul 1845 Brigham taught that Joseph had not received everything connected with the doctrine of redemption but had left the key with those who understand how to obtain and teach to this great people all that is necessary for their salvation.

Wanted to emphasize that development of temple work was a process.

JS in 1843 said the main objective of gathering was to build a house unto the Lord to teach the people the ways of salvation and prepare for endowments, washings and annointings.

BY 1854 said we would probably build two or three more temples for the express purpose of redeeming the dead.

No endowments for dead performed in nauvoo, or  in council house.
Endowment house had baptismal font.

1872  BY says that we were baptizing for the dead and sealing for the dead, and that if we had a temple we would be doing endowments for the dead too.

The railroad had come which made it easier for people to get back to ancestral home to get genealogical records, which probably explains the increase in interest in work for the dead in this period.

Almost 140k baptisms and confirmations happened on endowment house 1855-1889.
70k sealings
Almost 60k endowments

BY 1863 said there are more advanced ordinances that can't be administered in the endowment house. Can only administer the first ordinances of the priesthood pertaining to the endowment.  There will be hundreds of temples.

BY was also in no hurry for the SLC temple as he thought they would go back to Missouri. When it became clear they would not be going back he got serious about the temple.

Joseph young 1857, said endowments for dead will not happen without a temple.

1871 temple announced in st George.  Was safer from the government. Further from the railroad. Closer to the lamanites. Feeling that the people were more faithful and better able to build a temple. Took six years to build.  Had to replace the tower.

Also built a magnificent tabernacle.

Wilford woodruff 1877 diary.  Said Solomon built a temple for the purpose of giving endowments but actually gave few, if any, endowments.  Said we have now built a temple to commence work therein which has not been done since the days of Adam. (Endowments for the dead)

BY also said it was the first temple to do these ordinances since Solomon's temple.
Whole new paradigm developing here.

Wilford woodruff was entrusted with much of the temple work.  First temple president in the history of the church. Also member of quorum of 12. Daniel h wells president of endowment house which was not a temple.

Heard the quote again that the devil had him marked because he knew that if he got into the church he would write the history.

BY recognised that Wilford had a passion for temple work and asked him to be the president of the st George temple and initiate the coming changes.

11 Jan 1877 endowments for the dead commenced. 72 people received endowment.  Done by the direction of Brigham young through Wilford woodruff.  Significant because previously they could only go once, now they can go all the time.  Changes the way they thought about the temple.

* increased service opportunities
* need for more temple
* need more genealogical records
* no longer a one time experience

1877 Wilford woodruff said he saw the spirits of the dead gathered around him wanting to know why they did not redeem them.  These were the signers of the declaration of independence. Ww said he had not previously thought about it because they were focussed on family and friends.

Orson Pratt points out that temples evolved as their knowledge increased.

First person to do proxy endowment was Susie Amelia young dunford (Susie young gates), 20 years old daughter of Brighams 22nd wife.
Called them dead endowments.

Expanding role of women in temple work
Changed things for women. Gave them significant work to do.

Up to 1898 a total of 2 million ordinances in 4 temples, st George, Manti, Logan, SLC, majority ordinances for the dead.

Chart had 2nd annointings 5201 living 3423, listed as "other" and he said we are not supposed to talk too much about that and didn't want us to take a photo of that slide.  Information used by permission of the church. Will be in his book though.

1880 canonization of temple related revelations 2, 13, 109, 110, 121, 122, 123, 132.  Done under direction of Orson Pratt.

Logan temple dedicated 1884, then Manti, then finally SLC temple.

[LostGirl]

How can we "know brother joseph" today? Debunking Mormon myths, legends, and lore
Dr Keith a erekson

Stories ppl told about Joseph that are not true
Recognize stories that don't pass the sniff test.
We are making history today.

Referenced story told by elder Holland about the missionary who found his wayward older brother.
True part is that he went away for 20 years, came home and got sealed. But he came back before the younger brother left.
KE pleased that the family came forward to correct the story.
Many of the stories that we will talk about today, the most ardent supporters are the descendants.

History skills
1. Ask questions
2. Identify specific details
3. Trace details to specific sources
4. Evaluate the reliability of the sources

Walking on water.
Earliest legend about js. Began during his life.  Details vary on location, year, pond or river, punchline was that he had put something like planks or ropes under the water and was playing tricks on people.  Foiled by sawing or removing planks or ropes.
Circulated in local newspapers.  They would republish stories from other papers and add their own comments, would keep going for months.
In 1933 even added a historical marker near the roadside in Pennsylvania.
Also in latter Day saint newspapers. Rebuked other newspapers for printing the story.


Paralyzed assassin
After josephs death, William daniels had a dream that Joseph came to him and they went on a hike. Joseph gave him a blessing to tell the truth about what happened.  Tried to and was threatened.  Convert to church. Then publishes 24 page account of what happened at carthage.  Murders of general Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith at carthage.  Image in pamphlet. Man was going to sever Joseph's head when a light burst upon the scene and they were struck and terrified.  Arm of man fell powerless. Unable to move.
William Daniels called to testify at trial and admits was careless with the facts, then says he did not write it or authorise it to be written.  Blamed it on the printer. 
Much later another story surfaced of 2 missionaries who saw a corroborating letter but the missionaries cannot be found.
History.lds.org/missionary
Story ends up in the  hands of c c a Christensen who painted the panorama of church history and turned the story into a painting.


Fate of persecutors - book written
-Grotesque and untimely deaths
-Eaten alive by worms
-Eyeballs fall out
-Flesh falls off
Very loose definition of persecutor.  From different times and locations.
Rarely see first hand witness accounts.
In late 1700s there were stories about the governed of Massachusetts Samuel Sewell died by rottenness after persecuting the Quakers.
Nathaniel Hawthorne writes a novel with the same theme.
Latter Day saints start telling a bigger version of that same story and relate it to their situation.
Looking at the people who were tried for the murder of Joseph Smith.
Levi Williams- continued raiding Mormon property until 1846. Made postmaster.
Mark Aldrich- gold digger, got lots, went to Tucson, elected to state legislator and died at age 73.
William Grover bragged he was the first one to shoot Joseph. Became successful lawyer. Was still alive 50 years later.
Thomas sharp - continued as lawyer, judge, mayor, school principal, legislator,  died 50 years later
Robert Smith-  made brigadeer general,  great leader of union army.
3 defence lawyers - went on to distinguished careers.
The only people that had terrible things happen to them were the people that were helping Joseph - sheriff and prosecutors.

Temple worker
Couple of versions. Js on site or Kirtland temple and wondering around who should build it.
Someone recommends millet who is not a member
Joseph sends Brigham  to Canada to get him, they baptised him and bring him back with money to contribute to the temple.
Truth is millet was baptised, was invited to help on the temple by the building committee, not BY, and he worked on the exterior, not the whole temple.
Story was first told by Artemis Millets granddaughter.  Published in SS curriculum by Lorenzo young who said he was the one that got sent to get Artemis, and the granddaughter said he was wrong and provided the BY version.

The bodyguards
Many ppl claim their ancestor was a bodyguard.
Nauvoo legion swore an oath to protect Joseph, so this likely morphed into them being bodyguards.


The elusive photograph - trying to find a photo of Joseph smith

Death mask
We do have a courtroom sketch.
Sutcliffe maudsley painting
Another painting by unknown artist
Ephraim hatch wrote a book about it

Sniff tests
- details too vague or contradictory
-  citations missing or inadequate
- Sources distant from the subject
- Feels too good, too simple, too many coincidences.

[Wonderment]

God could have an opinion on social issues. (If he existed.) Those who claim to speak for him are allowed to have an opinion on social issues. These baseless opinions should bear no weight on the governance of a civil society, its laws, or its courts of law. If god wishes to appear himself as an expert witness in court, after he demonstrates his credentials he might be allowed to present his evidence. If Price can conclusively demonstrate that he speaks for god, he might have more relevance.

Otherwise, yes it is the Church's issue. They don't get the prerogative of imposing their rules upon others in civil society. They can impose their rules on those who willingly submit to them as part of the Church's membership.

Outstanding responses. Thank you, Jeffret. In general, throughout American history, the reasons given by churches for resisting social change and trends towards equality of marginalized groups, is that the church ( any number of churches) speaks for God, and therefore, God is opposed to whatever social change is being proposed. It's not just the LDS church, but other conservative churches, such as the Roman Catholic church, evangelical fundamentalist churches, and so forth. They all claim to know "the will of the Lord", and once that is debunked in a courtroom, such as the case in Prop. 8, then the power of the church to interfere with social issues in a secular, civil society, is greatly lessened. Thanks again, from Wndr.

[Jeffret]

Says this is not the churches issue. Is God allowed to have an opinion on social issues.

Totally irrelevant. A non-sequitur.
God could have an opinion on social issues. (If he existed.) Those who claim to speak for him are allowed to have an opinion on social issues. These baseless opinions should bear no weight on the governance of a civil society, its laws, or its courts of law. If god wishes to appear himself as an expert witness in court, after he demonstrates his credentials he might be allowed to present his evidence. If Price can conclusively demonstrate that he speaks for god, he might have more relevance.

Also, god doesn't seem to have near as much interest in the question as Joseph Price does.

[Wonderment]

Also, I want to thank Lost Girl for taking excellent notes and for providing all this information for our conversation here. Thanks for such an organized presentation, Lost Girl ! It's very interesting to hear what is being said at these meetings and some of the responses to the many questions that are presented by those members in faith transition and those members who have already left. Much appreciated. - Wndr.

[Corsair]

I almost feel late to this party, but I also want to sincerely thank Lost Girl for doing this invaluable work taking notes at Education Week. This is arguably the most mainstream view of faithful LDS thought today. The full scale apologetics of FairMormon is a few steps beyond this. Education Week is directed towards believers without worrying about confronting critics directly.

I have heard some local apologists assert that the "Meat" of the LDS gospel is presented at Education Week. They reluctantly admit that the "Milk" is really the only thing served from the LDS menu each Sunday in your individual wards. Education Week is where the faithful get the serious gospel once you are looking for more than faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost. FairMormon itself is a bit more edgy since many orthodox believers are not interested in dealing with those anti-Mormons directly.

Lost Girl's accounts of these talks has been a gripping narrative for me, especially seeing Robert Millet show up and mischaracterize the apostate experience. I hereby promise to buy the first round of drinks at the Judgement Bar for, and in behalf of, Lost Girl.

[LostGirl]

You are all very welcome. I have found it a most fascinating experience, not only hearing what the church historians and scholars are currently thinking and working on, but also getting some insight into the Utah Mormon experience. I feel for those of you who live in such concentrated communities. I think we all fear the loss of friendships if we were to leave, but I have realised that this must be infinitely harder when 90% of your neighbourhood and colleagues are also members, when all of your kids friends are also members, and where you can't walk down the street without being seen by members. It also feels like a bit of a dichotomy in that despite having such a concentrated lds membership, you also have a much larger number of scholars and historians available to you who must be teaching classes in the local wards. Many of them are at least willing to talk about a lot of the issues, even if their conclusions may not agree with yours or mine. No one even contemplates any of this stuff where I come from and if you try to talk about it you get labelled a troublemaker. What I wouldn't give to have someone like Ugo perego in my ward. He said things from the podium today at byu about scripture not being literal and I wanted to stand up and applaud.

Anyway, on to the final reports.

[LostGirl]

Lost teachings of the prophets and apostles from the council of fifty record
Gerrit j dirkmaat

Political contentions that led to the martyrdom led to the saints seeking to leave the United States.
Looks seriously at the republic of Texas until it was annexed to the United States. At that point they stopped considering it.

Sentiments shared in the council meetings that we did not have access to until last year.

Mar 1844 forms the council of fifty.  Met regularly in the last month's of Joseph's life.  High profile apostacies. Things chaotic.

Determine that anywhere they go they will need a government. But they want a place where the kingdom of God can flourish. Idea was that Jesus is coming soon and he could assume control of the already functioning kingdom.  Formed various committees. Some looking for new location. Some negotiate with other leaders. One committee tasked with writing new constitution for new kingdom.

Proper function of councils-  they talk a lot about this
The only point of getting together is to actually say what you think.  Joseph: he wanted all of the brethren to speak their minds... say what was in their hearts... whether it was good or bad... would consider them doughheads if they did not.  Account by William Clayton.

Joseph explains further that the reason why men always failed to establish important measures was, because in their organisation they could not agree to disagree long enough to select the pure gold from the dross by the process of investigation.

I don't want any man to ever assent to anything in this council and then find fault with it.  Don't decide in favor of any thing until you know it.  Joseph.

The constitution committee asked Joseph to tell them what it should be.  He tells them that their assignment is to bring forth all of the  intelligence that they could, and then he would review it and let God approve the document.  The effort itself is part of what makes us part of the people of God.

BY totally devoted to Joseph Smith.  It took him time to reached his conversion but once he did he never looked back. Said D&c is a starting point and there is much more to come.  Refers to Joseph as God's agent, sent to act in his name. If Joseph were to translate the book of Mormon 40k times it would be different every time.  God speaks to people according to the capacity that they have at the time.

John taylor: this nation is as far fallen and degenerate as any nation under heaven.

Hyrum Smith.  Believed the time was at hand and the nations would flock to the standard of God.
We have more power than Enoch and a greater power than Enoch and we will accomplish it.

Porter Rockwell said of Joseph, I was a friend to Joseph Smith while he lived. I am still his friend. He can't avenge his wrongs himself, but I mean to avenge them for him, and if I get into trouble I want you to help me if you can without criminating  yourselves. If not, let me go. I love my friends and hate my enemies. I can't love them if I would.

John Taylor-  people talk about law and justice I go in for giving them the same kind of justice they give us.  I go in for a company being sent out to find a place where we can establish the kingdom,  erect the standard and dwell in peace, and have our own laws.

Governor Ford told them that an army was coming. With a view to hastening their removal they were told an army was coming.  They thought that as soon as the ice broke they would be attacked and exterminated rather than being allowed to leave. So they left much too early, resulted in unnecessary suffering.

They decided to go to Mexico. They didn't know that eventually that land would become part of the United States.  Planned to baptise the Indians.
Samuel Brandon wrote to BY telling him not to settle in salt lake and that they should come to San Francisco.  BY says if we were to go there, in no time we would be drowned out by gentile settlers.  Said they needed to go somewhere where there is no one else.

BY 1845 talked about how they must carry out Joseph's measures. Sweeter to me than all the honey of the honeycomb. 
Talked about how they needed to go behind the mountains to avoid jealousy from other nations, could sustain themselves comfortably. Thought the mountains would help control the weather.

Church is working on articles that distill the records into shorter articles.

Some things Joseph said.
Discussing whether to let in a member who has been disciplined several times for intoxication.  Joseph said we have no right to complain of others while we are as corrupt as they are.... went on to instruct council of principles of sobriety.

Joseph feels very strongly about religious freedom, probably because he has been on the opposite end of it for most of his life. Gave a lengthy sermon on this topic.  Noted that there were non lds members of the council.  Equal rights and universal freedom to all man.  Should not despise someone because they are infirm but love them because of their infirmity.  Lecturer applied this to loving those who leave.

[LostGirl]

A history of the church in 33 objects.  20th century to current day
Casey griffiths

Act well thy part stone

Heber j Grant paperweight. Was given a chest of 1000 one dollar coins to his bi4thday. Turned into paperweight and sold to raise money for the primary children's hospital

Pres Kimball microphone

1899-1950 expansion
Worldwide church 1951- present  church membership 15m

Joseph and annie Laura Merrill - having family home evening and he noticed his wife was fluent in scriptures.   She had been to church university and learned from talmage. He had no church education.  Most lds students going to public schools with no religious instruction.  He came up with the plan of building a seminary across the street from granite high school. Talked leaders into $2500 to start it.   Chose Thomas j Yates as first teacher, went to Cornell. Was friends with Andrew white (pres of uni) who was friends with Leo Tolstoy who asked him about the mormons. story ended up in the book a marvellous work and a wonder.  Object is the first class roll book. Student Mildred bennion, mother of Henry b eyring.  Was a sculpture of Thomas Yates in the building for years, has a shiny nose because the students would rub the nose on the way out for luck.

Jesus the Christ manuscript.  Talmage.
Also right the house of the lord.  Written in response to a guy who tried to blackmail the church with photos of the inside of the temple.
Wrote Jesus the Christ after that. Wrote in 7 months. Written in the salt lake temple. Rumour that he never left the temple is false.  Steered away from ideas at the time that scriptures were embellished and saw them as literal. Endorsed by FP in 1915.  Codified latter day saint beliefs about Christ. Marked a move from defending Joseph Smith to focusing on Christ.

Joseph f Smith scriptures.
Section 138 received 1918 at the end of world war 1. Flu epidemic.  His son Hyrum dies, was a brilliant scholar of the scriptures. Joseph f consumed by grief. There are markings in the book of Peter 3 and 4 where is talks about Christ in the afterlife. Expands into a vision of the spirit world. Possible he was seeing his son in this vision. Saw it as both a personal vision and a vision for the whole church.

Vans dance hall mirrorball. In delta.   Has the salt lake temple statue on top of the mirror ball. 1940s dance hall. Owner was not a member but was obsessed with lds architecture. Also little statues of angel Moroni. Arts can be used to uplift people.
BY built a theatre saying it was a great way to communicate ideas of morality.
Compare to news articles after Lincoln assassination at theatre saying he was in the wrong place.

Church college of new Zealand.  Pointed out in nz the gospel resonated far more with Maori than pakeha. Currently 70% Maori members. Tore down buildings from campus and turned library into a church history library.  Object is a plank where students had written their names and missions.  Also a statue of Moroni made out of cement, made by nigerian people who read the book of Mormon and loved it and started their own church without even talking to the missionaries.  Joseph William Billy Johnson was president. Newspaper in Nigeria Was publishing negative info about church to discourage them, in particular the priesthood restriction. They have the radio that he was listening to when he heard the Spencer w Kimball announcement that blacks could receive priesthood. Eventually baptised and became patriarch.

Noted originally Moroni statue was just a generic angel, not specifically Moroni.

The Christus statue.   100 years ago this would have been seen as a protestant symbol.  Originally from Denmark.  First seen by Stephen  l Richards during trip in 50s (future member of first presidency).  Late 1950s they were thinking about renovating temple square. Knew the outside world didn't think we were Christian. He purchased a replica and donated it to the church anonymously. Died before it was placed there.

Church temples in 1930.
As late as the 60s primary graduates had to memorize names of all temples.
David o McKay temple dedication suit and film projector from temple.
Photo of him with Charlton Heston and Cecil b demill.  Demill donated an Oscar to the church with his papers.
Part of reason small number of temples was language issues. McKay asked Hinckley to come up with new way to present endowment. He came up with idea to film and dubb it. First one bern Switzerland.
Pres Kimball expanded temples from 15 to 36. Also made it common for temples to have angel Moroni. Built temple in South Africa. They wanted to put up a tapestry with Adam and eve depicted as black.
Noted that when they say the church is stronger than ever it means there are more endowed members than ever.
Hinckley era.
Object is temple preliminary sketch for a small temple after he visited northern Mexico - colonia juarez. Hinckley had told them if there were 20k members they could have a temple. But on the drive back reflected on what could be done for them, and came up with the idea of smaller temples. No laundry, cafeteria needed. First small temple in Monticello.  Immediately before that, the 50th temple, st Louis was dedicated.  The smaller design allowed for dramatic increase in number and location of temples.
Points to temple growth as real indicator of church growth.

[LostGirl]

Recalled significance of st George temple where they could now do endowments for dead.
At least 70 women including jane Austen appeared to Wilford woodruff in August 1877. See his diary for names.

Wanted to make very clear that Brigham young was faithful to his understanding of temple work as he knew it from Joseph Smith.

He told a story here that he asked us to be careful about sharing and I am going to honor his request. My conclusion from the story is that he has been able to see things in the archives that he has not been able to share.

BY senses his time is short.  Needs to dedicate more  temple sites.  Logan and Manti sites dedicated.  
We had to catch up with our understanding of temple work in our doctrine. Reclaim that which has been given before. Canonization of scripture in 1880 by Orson pratt. Section 109 and 110, 2, 13, 132. Visions in Kirtland temple.  It was in our history but not in our scripture.  138 was similar, given in 1918 and added to d&c in 1976. Teacher was at the solemn assembly where they voted to add it to the d&c.  Said possible the proclamation on the family could be added at some point.  This church is a living church.

1852-90 the struggle to preserve the "principle" or practice of plural (celestial) marriage.
He struggles with it. Almost doesn't want to talk about it. But it was something of great significance. We can reclaim our past faithfully.

Quote from Joseph f Smith. Curse on those who will not keep the law - it was often called the law.

By the way did you know we just changed our curriculum. Foundations of the restoration. We no longer skirt around our history we plough right through it.  We know more about our history than our critics do.  Mentioned all of the controversial issues, says we teach them now.  Let's talk about the difficult subjects.

Why the continued commitment to plural marriage?
* most of saints in Utah felt that Joseph gave his life in defense of the principle
* it was a commandment of God affirmed from the pulpit in 1852 by Brigham young and Orson Pratt. Apparently interesting story there.
* many believed it brought the promise of eternal life, a full and complete exaltation
* a spiritual refinement, test of faithfulness and humility. Living it would hasten the second coming.  Kathryn daynes more wives than one book recommendation.
* to raise up large families of faith
* to curry the favor of God and save the nation and it's constitution.
* expectation of church membership,  certainly of church leadership.
* Distinguished them from the rlds church
* a sanctifying law

Quote that it is the duty of every elder in Israel to take wives and raise up a righteous family.  Heber c Kimball.
John Taylor who dies in hiding in Kaysville.  Was one of the greatest crosses that was ever taken up. If this principle was not introduced,  this church and kingdom could not proceed.

WW the kingdom and government cannot be perfected without that law. No man can obtain a fullness without it.

The twin relics of barbarism
1856 Republican platform
Slavery and polygamy
Civil war with the south. Once that was over they went after polygamy
Assassination of lincoln 1865 had an effect on the saints.  Leaves the country devoid of leadership and leaves radical people in charge.  Punishment of the south.

1862-1890 anti polygamy crusade.

1862 Merrill anti bigamy act.
Illegal for church to own property more than 50k
Lds church disincorprated.
Signed by not enforced by abraham Lincoln. Said had bigger fish to fry

Poland bill 1874
Dismantled Utah judicial system
Moved power to district courts appointed by non members

1877 George Reynolds case.
Test case to Determine constitionality of anti bigamy act
Convicted

1882 Edmunds act
Defined unlawful cohabitation as supporting and caring for another woman
Ineligible for public office
Barred from jury service if you even believed it

Raid era 1880s. 
Hundreds of men taken to prison.
Had smoke signals etc to alert one another that they were coming

In defense of the principle

1887 Edmunds Tucker act
Govt officially dissolved the church as political and economic entity
All property over 50k to be forfeited
Including temples, BY academy, tabernacle.
Temple square  and buildings in receivership, church rented them back
Dissolved perpetual education fund
Loss of voting rights
Utah schools under direction of supreme court
Act upheld by supreme court 5-4.

1882 John Taylor dies fighting it all the way, called the double martyr.

Wildford woodruff is president next but not for 3 years because of this great difficulty.
Woodruff said that the principle had fulfilled its purpose and was a subset to the higher principle of eternal marriage.
Decided they would sacrifice plural marriage for everything else.
The manifesto resulted.  Presented in the tabernacle for vote. Was not unanimous.  John e Taylor and Matthias Cowley left the church over it. Most people just didn't vote. They didn't know what to do.
Some thought he was capitulating to pressure.

Which is the wisest course for the saints to pursue? To continue to attempt to practice plural marriage they would lose temples, ordinances etc.
Says he saw what would happen if nothing was done.

1893 ending of the law of adoption and beginning of the genealogical society.
WW also ended this practice.  Says they had felt that there was more than was previously received.  Let every man be adopted to his own father. Wanted the saints to trace their genealogies. When you get to the end let the last man be sealed to the prophet Joseph.

[LostGirl]

How to know brother Joseph today: exposing unfriendly fakes, frauds and forgeries
Keith Erekson, director of church history library

Js  history 1:33 name had for both good and evil

Forgery - manufacture new work

Fake - add to or alter an authentic work. E.g. buy painting from 1850s, remove paint and paint over it.

Provenance trap - alter the documented history of an object. Trying to build the story around your item to convince people.

Misattribution - expert convinces buyer or seller that work is of greater or lesser value

Has written articles in ensign and on church website about how to understand church history. The biggest challenge to understanding the past is ourselves, our own assumptions and our preconceived notions.
E.g. assumption that prophets can't be tricked D&c 10:37 cannot always tell the wicked from the righteous.  Kings to example of Jacob in old testament as well. Birthright, tricked that son is dead.

116 pages.  Sep 1827 gets plates.  Feb 28 Martin shows characters to scholars.
June. Martin takes manuscript. 3 wks later Joseph, learns about it and loses plates. Sep plates received back.  Joseph chastised and told he should not fear man more than God.
Some speculated the wife burned the manuscript. Mh wife had him sign an agreement that whatever money he gave to Joseph would be blocked out of her dowry.
When it was published in 1830 there was a warning about what had happened printed at the front of the book.  116 is an approximation.  Oliver was told to recopy the whole thing and they only sent a few pages to the printer at a time so they could not get stolen.
Community of Christ has the printers copy.
About 20% of the original has survived.
In the printers manuscript the book of Mosiah starts at page 117.
Told us that he gets attempts all the time from people who say they have leads.

Kinderhook plates
Outright forgery.  Blacksmith in Kinderhook made 6 plates.
Engravings made by another guy using beeswax and acid.
Assumption is that BoM plates done using a stylus and something to put pressure on it.
Another guy Robert while buried the plates in an Indian mound.  Discovered them in front of lots of witnesses the next day.  Unitarian minister the go between guy.
May 1 1843 Joseph views them, translates a portion.  Announced in times and seasons.
May 7 1843 js discusses plates with visitor.
Parsley p Pratt wrote letter corroborating above info.
24 Jun 1843 broadside published with a note that the full translation will be published later. Nothing further ever heard.  1850s some missionaries in England mention them and apologists defended them up until the 1960s.  Some confessions made by conspirators. Shown forgery in 1980s.

His best guess
1. Joseph compared characters and saw similarities
2. Planned a translation
3. Lost interest

James strang
Most forgeries come because the group that is deceived really wants to know something.  More susceptible.
Baptised Feb 1844 by Joseph
Ordained elder a week later by hyrum.
James then says that when he left nauvoo that they asked him to see if Wisconsin could be a good place to move and that he sent a report by letter.  Says Joseph sends a letter back in June but he did not receive it until July.  Has a vision that James interpreted to mean that he was Joseph's successor.  Also says he had a vision on June 18th in which he was carried to the top of a mountain. 2nd vision on day of assassination when Joseph came to him and ordained him successor.

4 theories on succession
- First presidency- sidney
- Quorum of the twelve  - brigham
Problem is they are equal in authority
- Familial succession - more persuasive when Joseph third is older
- need a new prophet,  so James found plates and translated them, saw angel, got urim and thummim.  Lucy Mack followed with many others, whitmers, Hiram page, John c Bennett, William marks.

Looked at the postmark, seemed ok.
Handwriting very clearly not Joseph's.  Suspect mid of forged piece and authentic piece.
There are still followers of James strang today.

Mark Hoffmann documents and murders
Served a mission in England
Wanted to harm the church and saw history as the way to do it.
Very skilled forger.  Documents in 1980s.
Was trying to juggle multiple buyers and things were unraveling so he built bombs. Trying to kill himself with the third bomb but it did not work.
Said he found the Anthon transcript.   Anthon denied confirming the translation.
While Mark was a missionary he bought a bible from the 1600s and wrote Samuel Smith in it. Then took a known version of the characters and made them vertical and made it look like Anthon said.  Folded it up. Glued it shut and stuck it in the family bible. Went to the library and they helped unstick it all and got excited. April 1980. Church announced the find.  Nibley looked at it and called it a link to the dead sea scrolls.  July 1980 ensign had photos of them.  Pictures are not on lds.org version of the article.
Made Another document text of blessing from  Joseph to Joseph Smith third appointing him successor.  Handwriting of Thomas bullock.  Offers it to church, then to the rlds church.  Rlds publish it in 1982.
Another letter from Martin Harris to w w Phelps in Oct 1830. Salamander letter.   Steve Christensen agreed to buy it and donate it to the church.  Validated by document specialist.
Many other documents.  Hymnal with poem by Martin Harris in the back.
Docs by Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton etc...

His objective was to forge the 116 pages, was planting Martin Harris handwriting in a build up to that.

Book victims by Richard e turley

Document analysis
Content
Provenance
Physical appearance
Microscopic
Ultraviolet

[LostGirl]

Can science coexist with religion
Ugo perego.  Phd, Bishop in Rome.

Mentioned it is his personal interpretation  of scriptures and quotes not an absolute truth.
Had Dr Scott Woodward(biologist) as bishop when returned from study abroad in Jerusalem. Had to get an ecclesiastical endorsement, was asked how would deal with the topic of evolution. At time had a literal reading and interpratation of the scriptures.   Sparked a lot of study.

Has taught biology and evolution at college level.
Topic brings together science background and religious background.  Currently teaches seminary and institute teachers in Rome what to teach.
Showed cartoon of scientific method vs creatist method.  People think we have to pick a side.

Ldsperspectives podcast 2 days ago.. biology professor Steven peck. A religion of both prayers and pterodactyls.  Talks about how to approach the question, not to answer it.

What is a theory.  Lots of scientific jargon misunderstood.  Different meaning to layman and scientists.  Some people thing evolution is just an idea with no proof. But a scientific theory means there is a lot of evidence to support it. It is a conclusion or evaluation  of a series of experiments and observations from multiple disciplines. E.g. geology, carbon dating.  Overwhelming evidence that evolution actually took place.

Lord has provided us multiple ways to know truth. 
Scientific method vs spiritual faith or how vs why things were made.
Scientific method is not the only way to know truth, can't be used to evaluate morals or the supernatural or spiritual world.
Not going to kneel and pray to ask what the podium is made of.

Science tells us how the world was created, genesis and other scriptures tell us why.
Learn whether church has an official position  on
Age of earth
Evolution
Book of Mormon geography
Book of Mormon population dynamics

He has not closed presentations with in the name of Jesus Christ because he doesn't know if Jesus would agree with what he said.

If there is no official position, seek to understand why.

We have access to a greater world view if we consider both viewpoints.
God is the great scientist who uses science as much as he uses religion.
Need to think about the new generation. Think about the teachings that they receive at school and on the internet.  Questions about science come up all the time.  Young people think scientifically.
If we teach in a church setting that dinosaurs don't exist or Satan made them , or god used material from  other planets and try to find non scientific explanations, kids will feel they have to make a choice and may not believe anything you ever say.  Be very careful what we teach. It should not be a choice between science and religion.

Lds bible dictionary about the fall of Adam and eve. Seems official. Strong wording. Literal fall.
3 approaches. As a scientist he has some issues with it. Found in a book we use to teach.
1. Ignore it
2. Analyse it. Before fall no death.  Physical death or spiritual death? Words have more than one meaning sometimes. We tend to interpret things based on our preconceived ideas such as the earth being 6000 years old. If we are more open minded we seek to interpret.
3. Understand value of the statement in the context in which it was given.
He does not embrace the statement that the fall was a historical literal event. Said maybe he is a heretic but Mentioned the church has still allowed him to become a bishop and seminary teacher.

BY statement there is no true science without true religion and vv.

Albert Einstein made similar statement

D&c 88:42  God has given a law unto all things

D&c 101:32-34 about gathering at Adam ondi ahman.   Said bring a big notebook to this gathering.  All things to be revealed.  All things in and upon the earth.
Means that all of the info that we have is still incomplete.
Science provides some answers and in the gaps is God's power.
Science seeks to remove the gaps which eliminates God.

Statement from 1909 the origin of man is given to all byu students when they start at byu. Church leaves room open for a combined approach. Avoids conflicts between different departments. Mentions that we are capable of evolving into a God.
We have a belief in spiritual evolution but have a hard time with physical evolution.
We are ourselves the product of a physical evolution - foetus to grown person.
When this statement came out they got numerous letters from high priests asking whether they were saying that evolution did not take place.
Answer in improvement era 1910 offered 3 options but said we don't know the answer. Not in the revealed world of God.

Creation accounts
Genesis
Moses
Abraham
Temple

B.R.Mc statement about the length of the days of creation. 
Day could even be a billion years.

Pillars of creation
Nebula seen through Hubble telescope. Now ways to see what is inside. Stars are being born inside right now.  We are witnessing creation.  Picture of galaxy being formed with a sun in the middle.

Fifth day of creation.  Abr 4:20-23
Says he thinks about science when watching the video in the temple, and how it happened.
Nibley - let us prepare the waters to  bring forth abundantly - not immediate - they created the potential.

What is a man.
Temple. Father asks Jehovah and Michael at the end of creation a question. They had the capability to create. What prevented them from creating man. Why was God's intervention required to create man? They could not provide a spirit to go into that man. Notice man created same day as other mammals.
Physical creation first, then puts the breathe of life in it, and that is elohims part.
Egyptian nine part soul
Body
Spirit
Name
Intelligence
Heart
Shadow
Etc,
What if a part was missing?
What is the difference between us and other animals?  They also have spirits. Not children of God though.  Can God place spirits in physical bodies? Yes. Christ had the power to take evil spirits from one body and put them in another. Pigs. 

New era. 2016. What does the church about dinosaurs.
Says scientific evidence says that dinosaurs did exist.
The accounts of the creation in the scriptures are not meant to provide a literal, scientific explanation of the specific processes, time periods or events involved.

Is the new era considered less important than ensign.  Church rep said no.  Same correlation committee reviews all of them. Approved by FP.

Joked that maybe the church was giving up on adults and focusing on the youth.

A few months later a statement came out saying the church has no official position on evolution.  Nothing has been revealed about how Adam and eves bodies were created.
He says maybe we don't know how their physical bodies were created but we do have a knowledge of our spiritual origin.
There were no spirit children of heavenly father on earth before Adam and eve were created.
New era October 2016
 What could this mean? No one with priesthood?  Adams role to bring priesthood to everyone else.

Bible dictionary introduction says it is not intended as an official statement of church doctrine. If you know who wrote it you understand their backgrounds. It is ok to not completely agree with everything in there.

Finished with a slide about DNA that I don't completely understand, but says Neanderthals were our ancestors.
Michelangelo was inspired to place a belly button on Adam in his painting.

[Jeffret]

Can science coexist with religion
Ugo perego.  Phd, Bishop in Rome.

This looks like it was a pretty decent talk. He accepts science and evolution. Evolution is taught at BYU. Many members of the Church believe that Church doctrine denies evolution, but as he notes the Church is officially neutral on the subject. Even before the official statement was released a number of significant leaders and institutions were on record as accepting evolution.

BY statement there is no true science without true religion and vv.

Albert Einstein made similar statement

That latter part doesn't really work. Einstein's said something like that but reading in context he definitely didn't mean that science cannot exist without Mormonism. His statements stand in opposition to Mormonism. Here is his full article the quote comes from: Science and Religion.

In this sense religion is the age-old endeavor of mankind to become clearly and completely conscious of these values and goals and constantly to strengthen and extend their effect. If one conceives of religion and science according to these definitions then a conflict between them appears impossible.

The rest of the article proceeds based upon that definition of religion.

The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

But, remember how he defined religion. And Einstein was a mathematician and scientist, so working from definitions was essential.

This quote could be more clearly phrased as, "Science without compassion is lame, compassion without science is blind."

Later in the article, he states

The main source of the present-day conflicts between the spheres of religion and of science lies in this concept of a personal God.

This would put Einstein in opposition to Perego. Perego's religion, Mormonism presents the epitome of a personal god, one who was a person and who a person may one day become. For Einstein this conception was wrong and unsustainable. He saw it as in conflict with science.

Einstein believed in a cosmic spirituality, a deep reverence for the wonders of nature of the universe and a mature striving for the best of human virtues. In that sense, Einstein would support the calls to betterment and compassion within Mormonism. He certainly wouldn't support the need to adhere to religious authorities or practices.

[Linked]

Apparently my SIL went to education week. I mentioned that I had read about some of the talks (Thanks LostGirl!) The one that she was really excited about was a devotional from Tuesday I think. It was about how people like to avoid taking responsibility, and listed a bunch of ways people do it. Now they call each other out as a family for doing the things from the list. I guess the goal is to be better at taking responsibility for things.

I think the message my SIL took away was that all those left-wing activists need to start taking more responsibility and stop blaming others for their woes. But this whole responsibility thing can cut in all directions. We discussed the situations where one is the victim of another's actions, like my wife's car being hit while she was parked.

LostGirl, did you catch that one?

[LostGirl]

LostGirl, did you catch that one?

No I was being a heathen and used it as a rest break.

[2bizE]

BTW Lost Girl,
I really enjoyed reading through your education weeks notes. Thank you for sharing.