I had everyone open their scriptures to the D&C Preface, to the testimony of the 12 witnesses. I asked everyone to check for William McLellan's name. If it was spelled "Wm", they had the 1981 versions. If it was spelled "William" they had the 2013 version. Some people were surprised that they had the updated scriptures, these were android users whose scriptures updated automatically without their knowledge. We discussed the various versions of the D&C, and I explained the general mashup of how the D&C got started, and how and why revisions were made.
Mindful that our lesson was on the restoration of the priesthood, I discussed the changes to the D&C regarding Section 13 that were unveiled last Friday. I received Moliere's info on references to the restoration of both the aaronic and the melchizadek priesthood in the Book of Commandments (none), so I shared some of it, along with speculation on why Jos Smith sometimes did not reveal or discuss some revelation, and why he shared others.
Also mentioned: How the Joseph Smith Papers project is slowly replacing the History of the Church, and why our scriptures are not linking to the HC any more. How the Church is introducing more transparency with the latest 2013 version, but also more transparency to old versions of scriptures, as they have posted photographs of every pages of every version of every book. All in all, it wasn't very spiritual, but still an important point in a wholistic view of a Church canon that is both open and influenced by the notion of personal and latter-day revelation.
I asked someone to read the first sentance of the 2013 version of the intro to Section 13, then I pointed to a class picture of John restoring the Aaronic priesthood and asked the class what was inaccurate about the picture as of last Friday. I also covered the new intro to OD-2, which also concerned the restoration of the priesthood to every worthy male. I also passed around, and posted in our ward library, instructions on how to update digi-scriptures to the 2013 version.
Mindful that our lesson was on the restoration of the priesthood, I discussed the changes to the D&C regarding Section 13 that were unveiled last Friday. I received Moliere's info on references to the restoration of both the aaronic and the melchizadek priesthood in the Book of Commandments (none), so I shared some of it, along with speculation on why Jos Smith sometimes did not reveal or discuss some revelation, and why he shared others.
Also mentioned: How the Joseph Smith Papers project is slowly replacing the History of the Church, and why our scriptures are not linking to the HC any more. How the Church is introducing more transparency with the latest 2013 version, but also more transparency to old versions of scriptures, as they have posted photographs of every pages of every version of every book. All in all, it wasn't very spiritual, but still an important point in a wholistic view of a Church canon that is both open and influenced by the notion of personal and latter-day revelation.
I asked someone to read the first sentance of the 2013 version of the intro to Section 13, then I pointed to a class picture of John restoring the Aaronic priesthood and asked the class what was inaccurate about the picture as of last Friday. I also covered the new intro to OD-2, which also concerned the restoration of the priesthood to every worthy male. I also passed around, and posted in our ward library, instructions on how to update digi-scriptures to the 2013 version.
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