When reading the Words of Mormon after the book of Omni my thoughts turned to Joseph Smith since he was part of the publishing of the works all these authors were striving to complete.
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| https://www.lds.org/manual/book-of-mormon-video-guide/chapter-2-1-nephi-9?lang=eng |
When only 14 years old, he prayed and God the Father came down and answered his prayer in person. It was God the Father who introduced Christ.
Who is he?
A few scriptures come to mind:
A few scriptures come to mind:
D&C 132
Another similar one is:JST John 6
The last scripture that came to me was:
D&C 130
D&C 130
From what I understand of the life of Joseph Smith, he had not yet come to the word of Christ or followed His law to come to the Father. It would seem, that God the Father came down to an individual that had not kept the laws required in order to enjoy such company and instruction. Hence a blessing was gained without the law kept to enjoy such blessing.
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| (Palmyra New York Temple stained glass window) |
It is my understanding that God's law requires an individual to be baptized in order to start the path back to the Father. At least in this respect, I know Joseph had not done this as of yet.
I also understand there are other covenants that must be made and kept in order to have this grand glory of God the Father's presence upon an individual. I study a lot of anti-Mormon works and I have yet to find a critic to bring this up.
Yet truth stands tall and in my heart and mind I know that God the Father did come down to Joseph Smith. It was the Father who introduced Joseph to Christ, not Christ introducing Joseph to the Father. So how could this be? I have a few thoughts but cannot in any way answer this entirely or say that I am absolutely correct. That is why I love this question, "Who is Joseph Smith?"
A few of my thoughts on this question...
The only prevailing answer I have for myself, is that Joseph must have already made and gained every covenant needed to enjoy the presence of God. He had already earned His presence.
Like Christ who was born here a God with privileges we wish we could enjoy during mortal life, so to does everyone else come here from an eternal history of existing and living and being obedient or disobedient in our pasts. We are the product of our choices to laws set up so we have been receiving blessings upon blessings or punishments upon punishments without a beginning of days or end of years. We are as infinite as God when measuring our existence.
Like Christ who was born here a God with privileges we wish we could enjoy during mortal life, so to does everyone else come here from an eternal history of existing and living and being obedient or disobedient in our pasts. We are the product of our choices to laws set up so we have been receiving blessings upon blessings or punishments upon punishments without a beginning of days or end of years. We are as infinite as God when measuring our existence.
If we lived before this earth was made then we all come to earth bringing with us our gained gifts and talents and associations (friends or enemies).
It must be that the First Vision was all done without God our Father breaking any laws or He would cease to be God (Alma 42:13). If we imagine God our Father could bend the laws or break them to His will, then we have imagined a scary being who has created arbitrary laws and selects individuals at His whim to forgive and exalt. I understand that He, God, invented sin with the creation of laws and that these laws were made before the earth was formed. He also provided a Savior that overcame all things including all my sins so that my breaking of laws are powerless to hold me down so long as I strive to keep the Law of Christ which is full of mercy and grace.
- Since God cannot break His own laws or He would loose everything...
- Since no blessing can be obtained except by obedience to the laws upon which it is predicated...
- Since Joseph Smith came to this earth and enjoyed the blessing of the presence of the Father of Heaven without doing what is required for me to do to gain such a blessing...
PS
If we look at D&C 132:12 we see that 'no man can come to the father except through Christ' is not an eternal law but a commandment to Joseph Smith. The necessity of this commandment suggests Joseph had the power to reveal the Father to whomever he liked. Something to ponder on. It's almost like Christ was saying, "Joseph, stop showing the Father to people unless they have done these things."
