Headlines/Takeaways:
-The Prophet Joseph restored significant doctrine that witnessed to the reality of the Savior
-Priesthood authority and church organization necessary to establish the Kingdom of God in this dispensation were restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith
-The Lord works through the weak things of the earth to accomplish his purposes
1. The Lord declared that the people in this dispensation would receive His word through Joseph Smith.
Comments on Section 5: Soon after translation was to recommence (after losing the 116 pages), Martin Harris approached Joseph saying that he needed more significant evidence, specifically he wanted to see the plates. Section 5 shows the Lord lovingly coaching Joseph on how to deal with Martin. In verses 23-4 the Lord explains that pride and a lack of humility is driving Martin's request and indicated that he will overcome this he will get to see the plates (which he did as one of the Three Witnesses). In verses 7-10 the Lord makes it clear that this dispensation (our generation) would have his word through Joseph.
We had discussion in class around the truth that the Lords way of providing evidence is that we are to believe first, then we're provided the evidence. It has always been the case that man has wanted it the other way around, that is, provide the evidence then I will believe.
I shared the story of Bertrand Russell, famous philosopher and mathematician (and atheist) who was asked at the end of the life what he would do if he would say to Lord after his death if it turned out he was wrong. He quipped, "I would ask him why he didn't give me better evidence".
It has ever been thus. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazurus (Luke 16), the Rich Man asks Abraham to send Lazurus to his 5 brothers (five was a symbol for the mosaic law) to tell them to live better and avoid his fate. Father Abraham tells him that if they wouldn't believe Moses and the Prophets, they wouldn't believe one even if they had come back from the dead.
I also shared with the class my view that our current secular world was even more prone to the need to see physical evidence than Jesus or Martin Harris' day, this being a prominent feature (maybe the most prominent) of our secular, science driven age. The Lord foresaw this so gave us evidence that couldn't be deconstructed, that required us to have faith. For example, many want to see the plates, but they are given a blue paperback book instead. There are no physical objects to deconstruct as there are with the Bible (we can't complain about not having original documents).
Yet the evidence is overwhelming. After a careful reading of the Book of Mormon alone I personally don't see how this great work can be ascribed to a semi literate young man in his 20's. The Lord does work through the weak things of the earth. Referring to "the weak things" inn no way sleights the accomplishments of the Prophet but rather points to the magnitude of what the Lord brought through him.
The class then discussed why the Lord would work in this fashion, that is, why wouldn't he just show us the plates and make it easy. We teased out that just showing us the physical evidence wouldn't create willing hearts that could learn to love, but rather would compel us to believe which is much closer to Satan's plan. We come toward what we love and that can only be done by a willing heart.
Comments on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible:
This great achievement is not adequately appreciated in the Church. 3410 verses were changed and the resulting manuscript, generated through an intense effort for the three years from last 1839 to the summer of 1833 yielded a manuscript of 477 pages.
Joseph believed this to be an important part of his calling and it was clear that the Lord was directing this effort as confirmed in Sec 45:60-61 where the Lord instructed the Prophet to leave the Old Testament on move on to the New, which Joseph's diary recorded that he did the very next day. More than half of the revelations in the D&C were given in the period that he was working on the Bible and several were crucial doctrinal revelations such as Section 76 (The Vision).
Philo Dibbles description of what it was like to watch Joseph and Sidney receive The Vision can be found here: http://www.sedgwickresearch.com/philo/testimony.html
It should also be noted that Joseph's translation of the Bible was, as noted by historian Mark Staker as a translation of ideas and not of words.
Scan of my messy notes on the Lesson from the manual can be found by clipping the following URL into your browser: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B78D5btorZEeMEQ0NVdKdGYtcWc
