D&C 51-57: Come Follow Me with Sam

 Here we go again! I'm not going to speak to it here, but the circumstances behind a lot of these sections are crazy!! check out the Follow Him podcast or H&S commentary for a taste of the details.

Section 51

Back to equality

in the last blog post, I made quick reference to the trying verse in 49:20, that it is not given that one man should possess above another. I wrote a couple notes to guide the discussion. here it comes up again so we can talk to it more.

Notice that God does not mention equality in Section 49. In 51, He uses this phrase - wherefore let my servant... appoint unto this people their portions, every man equal according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs.' Notice that God's idea of equality is not equal things. 

What does He mean exactly? H&S propose that if one has a large family, or runs a large business, they will need more resources. they suppose that a perfect society is what man needs and no more. There is an obvious issue with this last part - what do we all need? very, very little. what if we put the entire world on a soy bar and a multivitamin, stuck them in compact housing, gave each building a couple toilets based on a 99.9% utilization model, and had them either a)manage soy farms, b) collect materials for multi-vitamins, c) repair buildings, d) process sewage. I mean, what more do you need right?

That vision is dystopian at best and mindless purposeless slavery at worst :( and obviously not what we are aiming for. I'm still waiting to see the true kingdom of God in this manner, and until then, I remember that everything I have is still God's and He has a greater purpose for it. 

The epilogue of mumon in the famous zen compilation of the Gateless Gate ends with If you are able to edify the wisdom of differences, the universe will be well in at peace.' I think the same applies here.

A follow up from vs 9 

And let every man deal honestly, and be alike among this people, and receive alike, that ye may be one, even as I have commanded you.

Does the bishop work or does the bishop not work?

As if we didn't have enough to sort through already, we have the choice vs 14 which, after explaining that a bishop should maintain a storehouse for the poor, states 'and let him also reserve unto himself for his own wants, and for the wants of his family, as he shall be employed in doing this business.'

Then in Section 52, God states 'Let the residue of the elders watch over the churches, and declare the word in the regions round about them; and let them labor with their own hands that there be no idolatry nor wickedness practiced.' This seems a little contradictory. In most times, it seems like God frowns deeply upon those who are supported by others, and wishes all to labor with their own hands. This was one of the great sins of King Noah's court, and a specific condition of Zion among Alma (that the priests work with their hands).

I thought at first that the bishop was to give himself a stewardship like everyone else, but this seems to be in context of the storehouse itself. Possibly this was a temporal commandment. Whatever it's context, I would be extremely hesitant to implement an arrangement where the guardian of the goods does not work because of its ease of abuse, tendency toward corruption, and warnings from other commandments.

Section 52

The Lord Loves Whom He Chastens.

Lyman Wight is one of the most interesting characters in this part of D&C. In this conference, he was ordained a High Priest and he had a heavenly vision where he saw the Godhead. In this section, at the end of the conference, God warns 'And let my servant Lyman Wight beware, for Satan desireth to sift him as chaff.

Well shiz. This guy is the bee's knees and God's command through the prophet to him is to watch out. It is a great lesson to see that even the most diligent soul must be constantly watchful. It also seems to me that these warnings are not by way of chastisement, but they are actually to great people, that God is showing His care for them by warning them and guiding them from the traps they may fall into.

It turns out that Lyman was a zealous saint but in April 1844, just before the prophet was martyred in June, he was tried for teaching false doctrine. Although he apologized, he ended up leaving the 12 and going with a band to Texas.

Section 53

TBD

Section 54

TBD

Section 55

TBD

Section 56

TBD

Section 57

yep, you guessed it

TBD.

Hopefully I can catch up reading again.