{"id":41937,"date":"2021-07-08T21:24:14","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T02:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/?p=41937"},"modified":"2021-07-08T21:24:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T02:24:14","slug":"they-cannot-come-worlds-without-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2021\/07\/they-cannot-come-worlds-without-end\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThey cannot come\u00a0worlds without end\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the methods that paleontologists use to understand the age of a fossil in relation to other fossils at a site is by looking at layers, or strata.\u00a0 The basic idea is that layers build up over time, with organisms becoming part of the sediment layers as the organisms die and get buried while the sediments continue to build up, then become fossilized over time.\u00a0 Since layers build upwards, older layers will generally be found lower in the strata levels, with the newer layers being superimposed on top.\u00a0 Thus, each layer provides a snapshot of what was living (and dying) at a given time period, with fossils found deeper in the layers coming from earlier periods and fossils found higher in the layers coming from more recent eras.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 A question that become important in interpreting Joseph Smith\u2019s revelations is whether we can approach studying the ideas presented in them in a similar way\u2014with each revelation functioning as a fossilized snapshot of a dynamic and evolving theology\u2014or whether every revelation should be treated as an individual presentation of a unified, unchanging theology.<\/p>\n

A doctrinal debate in the Church that is heavily impacted by which route you take in interpreting Joseph Smith’s revelations is the idea of progression from kingdom to kingdom in the afterlife.\u00a0 In other words, after resurrection and judgement, can individuals who were assigned to the Telestial Kingdom continue to progress and repent to the point that they eventually are admitted to the Terrestrial Kingdom or even to the Celestial Kingdom?\u00a0 There\u2019s not a clear answer to this question and a variety of opinions, partly because of what the revelations and the records of Joseph Smith\u2019s sermons say.<\/p>\n

The very idea of a tripartite heaven with the Telestial, Terrestrial, and Celestial kingdoms is laid out in the 16 February 1832 revelation we\u2019re studying this week (D&C 76 to Saints today, but known in its time simply as \u201cthe Vision\u201d).\u00a0 The text of the revelation is an attempt at recording a series of visions the Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon experienced, displaying four possible destinations in the afterlife (a place for the \u201csons of perdition\u201d being the other option).\u00a0 Conditions for entering each destination are given\u2014sons of perdition have known the Lord\u2019s power \u201cand have been made partakers thereof and have suffered themselves through the power of the devel to be overcome unto the denying of the truth.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Those bound for the Celestial kingdom \u201creceived the testamony\u00a0of Jesus and believed on his name were\u00a0baptized\u00a0after the manner of his buriel \u2026 and\u00a0receive the holy ghost by the\u00a0laying on of the hands\u00a0of him who is ordained\u00a0and sealed unto this power and who overcome\u00a0by faith and are sealed by that holy spirit\u00a0of promise.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Those assigned to the Terrestrial Kingdom \u201care they who died with\u00a0out Law and also they who are the spirits of men\u00a0kept in prison whom the son visited and preached\u00a0the gospel unto \u2026 who received\u00a0not the testamony of Jesus in the flesh but\u00a0afterwards received it.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, \u201cthese are they who\u00a0are honorable men of the earth who were\u00a0blinded by the craftiness of men.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Finally, those bound for the Telestial Kingdom are \u201care they who receive not the gospel\u00a0of christ neithe[r] the testamony of Jesus these are they\u00a0who deny not the holy ghost, these are they who are thrust\u00a0down to hell.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Later in the text, it is noted that those in the Telestial Kingdom \u201cshall be servants of the most high\u00a0but where God and christ dwels they cannot come\u00a0worlds without end.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 This last quote would seem to indicate that there are not opportunities to transfer between kingdoms later on (or at least the Telestial to higher kingdoms), though the picture becomes more complicated.<\/p>\n

Four years later, a separate vision shifted how we understand assignments to the Terrestrial and Celestial kingdoms.\u00a0 In the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Joseph Smith experienced a vision where he saw \u201cthe\u00a0celestial kingdom\u00a0of God,\u00a0and the glory thereof.\u201d\u00a0 Among the people who Joseph reported seeing in that place was \u201cmy brother\u00a0Alvin\u00a0that has long since slept.\u201d\u00a0 He openly expressed surprise about this, stating that he: \u201cmarvled\u00a0how it was that he had obtained\u00a0this<\/span>\u00a0an inheritance <?in?>\u00a0this<\/span>\u00a0<?that?> kingdom, seeing that\u00a0he had departed this life, before the\u00a0Lord <?had?> set his hand to gather Israel\u00a0<?the\u00a0second time?> and had not been baptized for the\u00a0remission of sins.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 Based on the 1832 Vision, people like Alvin \u201cwho received\u00a0not the testamony of Jesus in the flesh but\u00a0afterwards received it\u201d would be assigned to the Terrestrial, rather than the Celestial Kingdom, hence Joseph Smith\u2019s surprise. [8]<\/a>\u00a0 In the 1836 vision, Joseph reported hearing the voice of the Lord explaining that: \u201call who have died with[out] a knowledge of this gospel, who\u00a0would have received it, if they had been\u00a0permited to tarry, shall be heirs of the\u00a0celestial kingdom\u00a0of God.\u201d[9]<\/a>\u00a0 This set up scenarios where individuals who would have been assigned to the lower kingdoms based on the text of the 1832 Vision would have opportunities to be assigned to the Celestial Kingdom based on God\u2019s knowledge of those individuals.<\/p>\n

The implementation of proxy baptisms for the dead in 1840 may have opened the possibility for fluid destinations in the eternities even further in Joseph Smith\u2019s mind.\u00a0 At the funeral of Seymour Brunson on 15 August 1840, Joseph Smith read from 1 Corinthians 15, then declared that: \u201cIt is the privilege of [members of] this Church to be baptized for all their kinsfolk that have died before this gospel came forth. . . . By so doing, we act as agents for them, and give them the privilege of coming forth in the First Resurrection.\u201d[10]<\/a>\u00a0 On a later occasion Joseph Smith added that: \u201cIt is no more incredible that God should save the dead, than that he should raise the dead. There is never a time when the spirit is too old to approach God. All are within the reach of pardoning mercy, who have not committed the unpardonable sin.\u201d[11]<\/a>\u00a0 He further elaborated that: \u201cGod has made a provision that\u00a0the spirits of our friends and\u00a0<\/em>every spirit in that eternal world can be ferreted out and saved, unless he has committed that unpardonable sin which can\u2019t be remitted to him, whether in this world or in the world of spirits. God has wrought out salvation for all men, unless they have committed a certain sin.\u201d[12]<\/a>\u00a0 Through baptism for the dead, salvation seemed to be opened to almost all the unbaptized deceased.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

That, at least, was how many Church leaders who knew Joseph Smith personally understood the point.\u00a0 Wilford Woodruff, for example, proclaimed that: \u201cThere will be very few, if any, who will not accept the gospel. Jesus, while his body lay in the tomb, went and preached to the spirits in prison, who were destroyed in the days of Noah. After so long an imprisonment, in torment, they doubtless gladly embraced the gospel, and if so they will be saved in the kingdom of God.\u201d[14]<\/a> \u00a0Lorenzo Snow echoed this sentiment, stating that: \u201cThe great bulk of those who are in the spirit world for whom the work has been done will receive the truth. The conditions for the spirits of the dead receiving the testimony of Jesus in the spirit world are a thousand times more favorable than they are here in this life.\u201d[15]<\/a>\u00a0 Preaching in the spirit world and proxy work for the dead were understood by Woodruff and Snow to allow salvation in the kingdom of God for the vast majority of God\u2019s children.<\/p>\n

The question, of course, is whether that salvation in the kingdom of God is equivalent to exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom, no matter where you start out.\u00a0 In his most famous sermon, Joseph Smith taught that: \u201cIt will be a great while after the grave <\/em>before you learn to understand<\/em> the last [principle of the Gospel], for it is a great thing to learn salvation beyond the grave and it is not all to be comprehended in this world.\u201d[16]<\/a> \u00a0This can be interpreted to mean that even the noblest and best human would have a lot of progress ahead of them after death before they were exalted. \u00a0On another occasion, one woman recorded that Joseph Smith taught that: \u201cAfter death the spirit enters the lowest [heaven], and constantly progresses in spiritual knowledge until safely landed in the Celestial.\u201d[17]<\/a> \u00a0If accurate, this statement represents a change from the limitations expressed in the 1832 vision, where those in telestial kingdom cannot come to higher kingdoms, \u201cworlds without end\u201d (D&C 76:112). \u00a0Instead, basically every human being could eventually progress to the Celestial Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Again, there are early Church leaders who understood the idea this way.\u00a0 President Brigham Young, for example, believed very much in the idea of progression after death:<\/p>\n

If a person is baptized for the remission of sins, and dies in a short time thereafter, he is not prepared at once to enjoy a fulness of the glory promised to the faithful in the Gospel; for he must be schooled, while in the spirit, in the other departments of the house of God, passing on from truth to truth, from intelligence to intelligence, until he is prepared to again receive his body and to enter into the presence of the Father and the Son. We cannot enter into celestial glory in our present state of ignorance and mental darkness. \u2026<\/p>\n

Do not become disheartened, give up your labours, and conclude that you are not to be saved. All is yours, if you will but live according to what you know, and increase in knowledge and godliness. \u2026 Let every man faithfully stand to his post, and they will ultimately be worthy to enter into celestial glory. This is all the business we have on hand at present.[18]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On another occasion, he stated that those who initially \u201cinherit another kingdom\u201d instead of the Celestial Kingdom would \u201ceventually have the privilege of proveing themselves worthy & advanceing to a Celestial kingdom but it would be a slow progress.\u201d[19]<\/a>\u00a0 To Brigham Young, progression in the eternities was necessary since we do not all die ready for exaltation.<\/p>\n

Returning to the initial thought about whether the revelations and teachings of Joseph Smith should read as fossilized snapshots of a dynamic theology, with later teachings and revelations superseding earlier ones or whether everything has to align with established scriptures and proclamations of prophets, President Young was very much in favor of the living prophet trumping all that came before.\u00a0 Amid one of his ongoing arguments with Elder Orson Pratt on the subject, Young recalled a time when Hyrum Smith had preached about the importance of the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants.\u00a0 When he followed Smith in preaching, \u201cI took the Books and piled them all up on top of Each other. I then said that I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for all those books for my salvation without the living oracles. I should follow and obey the living oracles for my salvation instead of anything Els.\u201d[20]<\/a>\u00a0 This approach\u2014relying on the current prophet and more recent revelation above all else\u2014may have contributed to Brigham Young\u2019s approach to ongoing progression in the afterlife in the face of the statement in the 1832 revelation to the contrary.<\/p>\n

This idea of progression from kingdom to kingdom also had currency among the second generation of Church leaders.\u00a0 For example, Elder B. H. Roberts wrote that:<\/p>\n

The question of advancement within the great divisions of glory celestial, terrestrial, and telestial; as also the question of advancement from one sphere of glory to another remains to be considered. In the revelation from which we have summarized what has been written here, in respect to the different degrees of glory [D&C 76], it is said that those of the terrestrial glory will be ministered unto by those of the celestial; and those of the telestial will be ministered unto by those of the terrestrial\u2014that is, those of the higher glory minster to those of a lesser glory. We can conceive of no reason for all this administration of the higher to the lower, unless it be for the purpose of advancing our Father’s children along the lines of eternal progression.[21]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While he admitted that any discussion of the topic was conjecture, Roberts himself felt that the Vision put those, like Alvin, who did not receive the gospel in mortality into the Terrestrial Kingdom because \u201ctheir development in spiritual knowledge and experience is not such as may warrant us in expecting that they are prepared to inherit the same degree of glory with those who have received the law of the gospel, faithfully observed all its requirements and through their obedience have become sanctified by it, and inherit the celestial glory.\u201d\u00a0 He believed, however, that they would still have opportunity for progression: \u201cI know of nothing that is written, however, which prevents us from believing that they may, eventually, enter the celestial kingdom.\u201d[22]<\/a>\u00a0 This sidesteps the statement about people in the Telestial Kingdom in the Vision: \u201cwhere God and christ dwels they cannot come worlds without end.\u201d[23]<\/a>\u00a0 But overall, Roberts seems to have personally been in favor of the idea of progression from kingdom to kingdom.<\/p>\n

As these points of reference indicate, when the revelations and teachings of Joseph Smith are read as fossilized snapshots of a dynamic theology, with later teachings and revelations superseding earlier ones, it can result in an expanded view of salvation. The result in this case is a theology that points towards salvation being open to almost everyone, even after death, with opportunities, even, to progress from one kingdom of glory to another.[24]<\/a><\/p>\n

Different approaches to reading the scriptures and teachings of prophets, however, result in different conclusions. \u00a0An example of a different approach is the one Elder Bruce R. McConkie took (which aligns with many other Church leaders, like Joseph Fielding Smith and Spencer W. Kimball). \u00a0Elder McConkie believed that: \u201cTruth is always in harmony with itself. The word of the Lord is truth, and no scripture ever contradicts another, nor is any inspired statement of any person out of harmony with an inspired statement of another person. \u2026 When we find seeming conflicts, it means we have not as yet caught the full vision of whatever points are involved.\u201d[25]<\/a> \u00a0 Reading with this approach to exegesis, the Book of Mormon, various visions and revelations, and other teachings of Joseph Smith are not snapshots of an evolving theology, but expressions of truth that all need to be reconciled to each other.<\/p>\n

The results of this reading in Elder McConkie\u2019s theology is a more limited salvation. He did accept proxy work for the dead as an opportunity for salvation, but placed limitations on those who would benefit from this work based on Joseph Smith\u2019s earlier revelations of the 1820s and 1830s:<\/p>\n

There is no such thing as a second chance to gain salvation. This life is the time and the day of our probation. After this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.<\/p>\n

For those who do not have an opportunity to believe and obey the holy word in this life, the first chance to gain salvation will come in the spirit world. If those who hear the word for the first time in the realms ahead are the kind of people who would have accepted the gospel here, had the opportunity been afforded them, they will accept it there. Salvation for the dead is for those whose first chance to gain salvation is in the spirit world. \u2026<\/p>\n

There is no other promise of salvation than the one recited in [D&C 137]. Those who reject the gospel in this life and then receive it in the spirit world go not to the celestial, but to the terrestrial kingdom.[26]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thus, Elder Bruce R. McConkie believed that there is indeed a time when the spirit is too old to approach God and not everyone can be saved in the fullest sense of the word in the afterlife.[27]<\/a><\/p>\n

This approach does have a decent amount of support in the scriptures.\u00a0 In addition to the statement in D&C 76 and the statement from the Book of Mormon referenced in McConkie\u2019s words, we have the statement in the last recorded revelation from Joseph Smith about those who do not have marriages sealed by the Lord\u2019s authority:<\/p>\n

When they are out of the world, they neither\u00a0marry nor are given in marriage, but are appointed angels\u00a0in heaven,\u00a0which angels are ministering Servents to minister\u00a0for those, who are worthy of a far more and an exceding and\u00a0an eternal weight of Glory,\u00a0for these angels did not abide\u00a0my law, therefore they cannot be enlarged, but remain\u00a0separately and Singly without exaltation in their Saved Condition\u00a0to all eternity and from henceforth are not Gods,\u00a0but are\u00a0angels of God for ever and ever.[28]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Written in 1843, this revelation does seem to indicate that there are limits to progression in the eternities that cannot be overcome.<\/p>\n

In any case, because of the lack of clarity resulting from different approaches to the scriptures and words of Church leaders, we simply do not have a clear answer to the question of whether or not individuals who were assigned to the Telestial Kingdom can continue to progress and repent to the point that they eventually are admitted to the Terrestrial Kingdom or, from there, progress to the Celestial Kingdom.\u00a0 As Joseph L. Anderson, Secretary of the First Presidency, wrote in 1952: \u201cThe brethren direct me to say that the Church has never announced a definite doctrine upon this point. Some of the brethren have held the view that it was possible in the course of progression to advance from one glory to another, invoking the principle of eternal progression; others of the brethren have taken the opposite view. But as stated, the Church has never announced a definite doctrine on this point.\u201d[29]<\/a>\u00a0 Whatever approach is taken, it is ultimately conjecture, and we\u2019ll likely have to learn the reality of the situation through personal experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Footnotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> I recognize that there are some other things that can happen to complicate studying strata, but bear with me for the analogy.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> “Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76],” p. 3, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 4, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/vision-16-february-1832-dc-76\/3<\/a><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> “Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76],” p. 5, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 4, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/vision-16-february-1832-dc-76\/5<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> “Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76],” p. 7, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 4, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/vision-16-february-1832-dc-76\/7<\/a><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> “Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76],” p. 7, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 4, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/vision-16-february-1832-dc-76\/7<\/a><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> “Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76],” p. 9, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 4, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/vision-16-february-1832-dc-76\/9<\/a><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> “Visions, 21 January 1836 [D&C 137],” p. 136, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 4, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/visions-21-january-1836-dc-137\/1<\/a><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> “Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76],” p. 7, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 4, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/vision-16-february-1832-dc-76\/7<\/a><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> “Visions, 21 January 1836 [D&C 137],” p. 137, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 4, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/visions-21-january-1836-dc-137\/2<\/a><\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Vilate\u00a0M. Kimball to Heber\u00a0C. Kimball, Oct.\u00a011, 1840, Vilate\u00a0M. Kimball letters, Church History Library; spelling and capitalization standardized.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> \u201cThe Doctrine of Baptism for the Dead,\u201d A Sermon Delivered on 3 October 1841 (from\u00a0Times and Seasons<\/em>\u00a0[Nauvoo, Illinois] 2 [15 October 1841], 24:577.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Stan Larson, \u201cThe King Follett Discourse: A Newly Amalgamated Text,\u201d\u00a0BYU Studies<\/em>\u00a018, no. 2\u00a0<\/em>(1978), 13.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> This paragraph is being recycled from a previous post I wrote to get towards a slightly different end point: https:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/harchive\/2020\/05\/saving-alvin\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Wiford Woodruff and G. Homer Durham (ed.), The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff: Fourth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1946, 1969),<\/em>\u00a0158.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Lorenzo Snow, in Millennial Star,<\/em>\u00a0Oct.\u00a06, 1893,\u00a0718<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Larson, King Follet, 9.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Franklin D. Richards, \u201cWords of the Prophets,\u201d Church History Library, Charlotte Haven, 26 March 1843, \u201cA Girl\u2019s Letters from Nauvoo,\u201d The Overland Monthly <\/em>16.96 (December 1890): 626. http:\/\/www.olivercowdery.com\/smithhome\/1880s-1890s\/havn1890.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> Brigham Young, 8 October 1859 sermon, in Richard S. Van Wagoner, editor. The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young: Volume 3, 1857 to 1861<\/em> \u00a0The Smith-Pettit Foundation. Kindle Edition.\u00a0 See also Journal of Discourses 7:331-334<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> In Kenny, Wilford Woodruff Journal<\/em>, 5 August 1855.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> From \u201cMinutes of a Meeting of the Presidency[,] Twelve[,] Presidents of Seventies[,] and Others assembled in President Youngs Council Room at 6 oclok,\u201d in Scott G. Kenney, Wilford Woodruff\u2019s Journal: 1833-1898<\/em>, 27 January 1860.<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> B.H. Roberts, Outlines of Ecclesiastical History<\/em> (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon & Sons Company, 1893), 426-427.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> B. H. Roberts, The Gospel: An Exposition of its first principles; and Man\u2019s Relationship to Deity, <\/em>3rd<\/sup> ed. (Salt Lake City: Desert News, 1901), 35-36.<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a> “Vision, 16 February 1832 [D&C 76],” p. 9, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 4, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/vision-16-february-1832-dc-76\/9<\/a><\/p>\n

[24]<\/a> See, for example, Fiona Givens and Terryl Given,\u00a0The Christ Who Heals<\/em>\u00a0(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017), 118-126.<\/p>\n

[25]<\/a> Bruce R. McConkie, \u201cFinding Answers to Gospel Questions,\u201d cited in\u00a0Teaching Seminary: Preservice Readings\u00a0<\/em>(Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004), 43.<\/p>\n

[26]<\/a> Bruce R. McConkie, \u201cThe Seven Deadly Heresies,\u201d BYU speech 1 June 1980,\u00a0https:\/\/speeches.byu.edu\/talks\/bruce-r-mcconkie_seven-deadly-heresies\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[27]<\/a> Last two paragraphs also recycled from https:\/\/www.timesandseasons.org\/harchive\/2020\/05\/saving-alvin\/<\/p>\n

[28]<\/a> “Revelation, 12 July 1843 [D&C 132],” p. [2], The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 8, 2021, https:\/\/www.josephsmithpapers.org\/paper-summary\/revelation-12-july-1843-dc-132\/2<\/a><\/p>\n

[29]<\/a> Joseph L. Anderson, Secretary to the First Presidency in a 1952 letter.\u00a0 Cited in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought<\/em>, Vol.15, No.1 (1982), 181-182, https:\/\/www.dialoguejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sbi\/issues\/V15N01.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the methods that paleontologists use to understand the age of a fossil in relation to other fossils at a site is by looking at layers, or strata.\u00a0 The basic idea is that layers build up over time, with organisms becoming part of the sediment layers as the organisms die and get buried while the sediments continue to build up, then become fossilized over time.\u00a0 Since layers build upwards, older layers will generally be found lower in the strata levels, with the newer layers being superimposed on top.\u00a0 Thus, each layer provides a snapshot of what was living (and dying) at a given time period, with fossils found deeper in the layers coming from earlier periods and fossils found higher in the layers coming from more recent eras.[1]\u00a0 A question that become important in interpreting Joseph Smith\u2019s revelations is whether we can approach studying the ideas presented in them in a similar way\u2014with each revelation functioning as a fossilized snapshot of a dynamic and evolving theology\u2014or whether every revelation should be treated as an individual presentation of a unified, unchanging theology. A doctrinal debate in the Church that is heavily impacted by which route you take in interpreting Joseph […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2895,18,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-come-follow-me-currculum","category-general-doctrine","category-scriptures"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41938,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41937\/revisions\/41938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}