Sections 127-130

Thanks to all that came to scripture class on Tuesday.  We had a good time and a great discussion.  I'm not going to go into detail about each section.  I will just briefly recap some of the ideas and comments.

Section 127-128
These two sections are epistles written by Joseph Smith while he was in hiding.  There had been a serious attempt on Governor Boggs life.  Orrin Porter Rockwell was being charged of the crime and Joseph was being falsely accused of being his accessory.  It was apparently a ploy to bring Joseph back into the hands of the Missouri mobsters.  Although the persecutions were beginning again, Joseph seems to be in good spirits and content with whatever the future holds.  His optimism reminds me of President Hinckley.  Like Joseph, we may live in perilous times, but we have so much to be thankful for!

During these years in Nauvoo, temple ordinances and the work for the dead weighed heavily on Joseph's mind.  These two sections focus primarily on baptisms for the dead.  Verse four seemed to speak to me.  Just like the saints in Nauvoo, our temple work must "continue on and not cease".  We would do well to redouble our efforts in attending and serving in the temples of the Lord.  Joseph also explains the importance of keeping accurate records and the law of witnesses.  We will be judged from the "other books" (our earthly records) and the Book of Life (the records kept in heaven).  It is vital to the Lord's plan that our records (particularly those concerning temple ordinances) are accurate and exact. 

Section 129
This section discusses the keys to discerning between good and evil spirits.  The phrase "spirits of just men made perfect" refers to translated beings.

Section 130
I loved this excerpt from the D&C institute manual about the concept of time (it's probably the scientist in me trying to get out). 

Lael Woodbury, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications at Brigham Young University, talked about man’s perception of time and God’s perception of time in an address sponsored by the Church Educational System:
“The evidence suggests that God . . . perceives time as we perceive space. That’s why ‘all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things’ [ D&C 88:41 ]. Time, like space, is ‘continually before the Lord.’ . . .
“. . . Right now we perceive music in time as a blind man perceives form in space—sequentially. He explores with his fingers, noting form, texture, contours, rhythms. He holds each perception in his mind, one by one, carefully adding one to the other, until he synthesizes his concept of what that space object must be like. You and I don’t do that. We perceive a space object immediately. We simply look at it, and to a certain degree we ‘know it. We do [not] go through a one-by-one, sequential, additive process. We perceive that it is, and we are able to distinguish it from any other object.
“I’m suggesting that God perceives time as instantaneously as we perceive space. For us, time is difficult. Lacking higher facility, we are as blind about time as a sightless man is about space. We perceive time in the same way that we perceive music—sequentially. We explore rhythm, pitch, amplitude, texture, theme, harmonies, parallels, and contrasts. And from our perceptions we synthesize our concept of the object or event—the musical artwork—that existed in its entirety before we began our examination of it.
“Equally complete now is each of our lives before the Lord. We explore them sequentially because we are time-blind. But the Lord, perceiving time as space, sees us as we are, not as we are becoming. We are, for him, beings without time. We are continually before him—the totality of our psyches, personalities, bodies, choices, and behaviors.” ( Continually before the Lord, Commissioner’s Lecture Series [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1974], pp. 5–6.)
Einstein’s theory is only a theory, although it is being substantiated again and again as a valid representation of reality. How God operates through the vastness of space and the eternity of time has not been revealed in specific detail, but what information man has been given can be harmonized with what physicists are discovering about the interrelationship of space and time

Obviously these sections are packed full of good stuff.  This is just a sampling.  What impressed you?

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