D&C 93: Come Follow Me with Sam

 Welcome to Section 93! This is such a strange and a unique section, one of the more esoteric expounding of doctrine in the Doctrine and Covenants. Walking into this, there are a couple things to keep in mind.

1. It is really going to help understand this section by reading other sections about light, truth, and intelligence.

2. It is better to look at our current definitions of these concepts as approximations of what god means. For example, when God says 'the Word', it is not the same as what we think of as 'the Word',  God's truth is different from our truth, intelligence, light, etc.

3. extending point 3, in vs 19-20, God specifically says He is giving these teachings to you 'that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship'. The promise for learning this is that you can be glorified in Christ as Christ is in the Father.

Section 93

Intro

The first two verses are a simple introduction to the section guiding the reader to the purpose of the section. These verses have a lot of meaning but are explained in other sections. To understand their import, one needs to study there.

Abinadai's conundrum strikes again

The next few verses are understandably difficult for a rank and file member to comprehend. Jesus says that He and the Father are one in a way that makes them sound like one single personage with different attributes. This has come up with Abinadai, Nephi, and the three witnesses. When you understand the nature of God, there is nothing more natural than the way that God speaks in this manner. It also becomes understandable how there was so great confusion on the topic in the primitive Christian era that led to various trinity doctrines.

A peek into John

I'm pretty excited to get the full record of John. This is the guy that said if all the acts of Jesus were recorded, the world couldn't hold it, which makes that sound like quite a bit of material. Here are a couple points I pulled out.

 - Jesus is the light, the Redeemer, and the Spirit of truth because the world was made by Him and in Him. Truth and existence are somehow tied directly to Jesus through the creation, and fills us from that principle.

-Jesus Himself, the only perfect being and God and Creator of the universe, went from grace to grace to a fulness.

-time to be faithful so we can get the fulness of that next record

Truth

We have a hymn called 'O say what is Truth' which doesn't dare identify it to avoid being wrong. In verse 24, Truth is defined as knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.

I believe this has to do with the 'presence' of God, or, that is to say, that all things present, past, and future are before Him constantly in the eternal Now. I believe the concept of truth is something closer to the Eastern idea of universal oneness than the western idea of a knowledge of all things. In other words, Truth is closer to a state of being than it is a collection of facts.

This bears out well in the scriptures when God says that Christ 'received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth;' that 'no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments', that 'He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things'.

The greatest mystery?

vs 29 says 'Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.

What could this mean and how does this work?

Agency and bringing up children in light and truth

The most compelling part of this section is the strong commandment of God to the brethren, even to Joseph the prophet that they are not raising up their children in light and truth.

There is some question as to how to bring children up respecting their agency while also bringing them up in light of truth. It feels like half the church strictly raises their children, those children rebel, and leave. Meanwhile the other half of the church tells their children that they can make their own choices; the parents will only suggest and be sad if the children choose otherwise. These children see their parents' lack of conviction, become apathetic to the gospel and also leave. Neither of these approaches seems to me what God is asking for when He commands us to bring up children in light of truth.

I believe studying this section in connection with other sections will help parents understand how to fulfill this commandment. While it is not a topic that I feel I can guide on with a strong degree of confidence in the outcomes, I believe that a good place to start would be to remember that education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire; in this case it is the fire of the light of truth which is already in them as a spark (children being innocent remember) and requires only good oxygen of true principles, and the loving heat of charity inside a family that is truly dedicated to living the Savior's Way. I would impress upon them that they are here for a purpose and a responsibility and that if they don't follow this, that spark within them will be absent, making the world that much darker, but that through Christ, they can let their light so shine, acting with gratitude for what has been given, and grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day.