Records

This week our religion class had the opportunity of touring the Crandall Historical Printing Museum, always advocated by our professor. Since I had visited twice before, I didn't visit it this week, but I will make some new obsevations based on what I have learned since that time. I have learned that writing and copying before the printing press was tedious, it was arduous, and fraught with undiscoverable errors. I am so grateful for technology that still is constantly improved as we open new insights into our history. Here is my post with details from my earlier visit in February:

Oh, wow, have we been blessed. This past week, to expand on our knowledge of Church history through the ages and the works of God throughout it all, we visited the Crandall Historical Printing Museum. (See their website) It was a fabulous experience that taught us a ton about how God's hand has moved through history, inspiring the works of many important men.
We started in a room with a replica of Gutenberg's printing press, and we saw how the first instruments were made that made printing possible. We saw how his press revolutionized the world and brought about the Renaissance. Next we entered a room where we could see a replica of a printing press from the American Revolution era, and learned how the printing of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" and The Declaration of Independence among other publications were the real reason that the colonies could be united under the strength of wise individuals seeking freedom, like Benjamin Franklin. Following that, we entered a room that let us envision the exact print shop that was used by Joseph Smith, Jr., the first modern prophet, to publish 5000 of the first copies ever printed of the Book of Mormon. It was amazing to feel the spiritual energy and amazement as we saw that the process could all work out in the Lord's time.
Today, it amazes me that my thoughts, words, and testimony of this true gospel can be processed and broadcast to an unlimited number of viewers at no extra cost. Type has come a very long way. I'm grateful for this gift of the Internet, and all the inspired advanced that make such things possible. I know that all this was not just a natural process of man, but foreseen and foretold by God through his prophets, and through this and other media will all people hear the word of God and be given the choice to live. Have any questions inside you? Find the answers: www.mormon.org

Birth

Now to make a comparison. Some Christians may know that the content of the books of Matthew and Luke are more similar between them than any other two books in the bible, which leads us to believe that they come from much of the same source material, though their differences are notable and the style and themes in each set them apart as masterpieces.

One marked difference between the two is the birth narrative of both books, taking place in the first two chapters of each book.

First an analysis of Matthew:

Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

(A genealogy is given from Abraham to Joseph, Jesus' step-father, to whom the angel Gabriel appeared in a vision, saying of Mary...)

Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

...

Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem

These passages start an illustration of a few common themes in Matthew as it talks about the birth of Jesus and the attention he received:

1. Showing through genealogy that Jesus is the heir of the throne of the King of the Jews, that he is inheritor of the high priesthood.

2. Showing through prophecies and fulfillment of prophecies that Jesus is the Promised Messiah.

Luke's narrative has a particular singularity: It chronicles not only the time before his birth in more detail, but as well as the time directly after his birth, AS WELL AS the parallel and slightly previous story of the prophecies of, conception of, and the birth of John the Baptist! Luke fit a lot into the 132 verses that comprise his first two chapters.

In the end, both stories provide vivid detail into highlights of the Savior's infancy, and his family connection to John the Baptist, and prophecies that frame the whole experience.

We're expecting a baby, and we'll find out the gender soon. Joseph and Mary, Zacharias and Elizabeth were some the extremely lucky few in ancient times to find out their babies' gender before birth. What a miracle!

Luke

I will take this blog to focus on Luke from the content and contet of the New Testament that we learned in class this past week. The Gospel of St. Luke is the third one in the New Testament. It is commonly believed that Luke was a disciple of Jesus Christ. He was a physician who most likely attended to the apostles, and particularly traveled with Paul for a time, learning the stories of Jesus also through interviewing eyewitnesses and leaders of the Church.

He is mentioned by name only in the epistles of Paul, and it is clear from the style of writing and introductions that he wrote both the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Evidence from the time of the apostles indicates that the longest standard scroll for writing was about 38 feet in length from one end to the other, and that would be rolled up. Since both books are about 20,000 Greek words long, it is deduced that Luke had to use up a full scroll for each book, and that is the reason neither of the books is any longer.

We know that Luke spent time on the road with Timothy and Paul. We also know that he spent at least two years in Galilee with James the lesser, an apostle and half-brother of Jesus. This is probably why he knew so well the stories of Jesus' birth and youth, and learned of John the Baptist, too.

Luke wrote a true history, a biography, from birth to death and detailed the resurrection and ascension. He likely got his ability for history and details from his profession, where history is important, and so are the details.

One of the greatest applications of this to present day is the work of so many great scholars, compiling the truth of decades past through the publication of the Joseph Smith papers. This is their website: http://josephsmithpapers.org/Default.htm

What it contains is a detailed account in its different volumes of so many things the modern prophet and teacher touched throughout his time on Earth as the Lord's servant. Here's an excerpt:

The Joseph Smith Papers will be a comprehensive edition of extant Joseph Smith documents featuring complete and accurate transcription with both textual and contextual annotation.

They will present the earliest handwritten and published texts of the foundational documents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including Joseph Smith’s revelations and translations. The Papers will provide insights into Joseph’s life and times through his correspondence, journals, discourses, court cases, and business dealings. In addition, the Papers will contain minutes of important church councils, reproductions of the scriptural canon as it existed during Joseph Smith’s lifetime, official histories, and records pertaining to church institutions that were under Joseph Smith’s direction or that reflect his personal instruction and involvement.

May we all learn more and more of this truth as it relates to us, and appreciate the records we have in ancient and modern scripture and history. Let's also keep a record.

Rescue

What do we know about Jesus' death based on the knowledge from the book of Mark? We know this:

• The dinner Jesus was having with his apostles was probably a Passover dinner, but there was no lamb being eaten, which is a symbol of him being the one whose body (meat, bread) that was broken, his the blood (wine) that was poured.

• “Remember” was always a word used in connection with the Passover. Beforehand, and even for modern Jews, it meant to remember the past in the Exodus from Egypt and God's miracles in saving his chosen people. Now, it meant remember the future and ever-present Atonement, a spiritual exodus as Jesus takes us from the world of sin, filing our lives with miracles wrought as reward of our faith.

• They sang at the dinner, likely the same hymn still sung: Psalm 118, which was a prophecy of the Atonement, where Jesus was singing about himself and the deeds he would carry out in the next few hours.

• He was taken up on a cross to be killed. Being hung alive til dead was a punishment common in many ancient civilizations. Nut just the Romans, but the Jews, too. It describes in Deuteronomy 21 that those hung on a cross would be cursed, hated of God, guilty of sin. Paul elaborates on this fact, helping us to understand, though the Jews did not, that Christ was cursed for our sakes, and suffered to take the punishment for us who are guilty, and whose sins are hated of God.

Now in these last days, the Church of Jesus Christ continues to be led by prophets and apostles. Similarly, many have died in the cause of truth, sealing their testimony in blood with their martyrdoms. Such ones like Joseph and Hyrum Smith, who led the Church just as it was restored to the earth, proclaimed firm testimonies that continue to be rejected among most their native culture, but is being embraced as the Spirit witnesses its truth to millions around the globe.