Lesson 1:"The Keystone of Our Religion"

8/3/2019 Lesson 1:"The Keystone of Our Religion"

1/7

In the 1930s archaeologists discovered 21 ostracons in a guar

room next to the outer gate at Lachish(~25 miles southwest o

Jerusalem). The ostracons were written by Hoshaiah (Nehem12:32, Jeremiah 42:1, 43:2), a military officer stationed near

Jerusalem, and addressed to Joash, the commanding officer aLachish.

They are dated to 588 BC, which is just a couple of years befthe destruction of Jerusalem. The letters describe conditions a

Jerusalem during this time.

Letter IV reads:

May YHWH cause m[y lord] to hear good news on this

day. And now, everything which my lord sent (me in-

structions to do), so your servant has done. I have written in the record according to all (the instructions)which you sent to me. And as my lord sent (asked) concerning the matter of Beth-hrpd: there is no one

there. As for Semakyahu, Shemayahu seized him and made him go up to the city. Your servant is not ableto send the witness there [today]. If (my lord) [cam]e during the morning watch, he would know that we

are watching the signal (-fires) of Lachish according to all the signs (code) which my lord has given (us),

for we cannot see Azeqah.

Gospel Doctrine, Lesson 1: The Keystone of Our Religion

For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price.

This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the e

iest days of Christianity.

Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery o

he Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.

On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and

possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost co

ection of codices mentioned in the Bibles Book Of Revelation.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1371290/70-metal-books-Jordan-cave-change-view-Biblical-

history.html

http://theosophical.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/biblical-archaeology-25-lachish-lette


2/7

#1: President Ezra Taft Benson explained, Just as the arch crumbles if the

keystone is removed, so does all the Church stand or fall with the truthfulnes

of the Book of Mormon...There are three ways in which the Book of Mormon

is the keystone of our religion. It is the keystone in our witness of Christ. It is

the keystone of our doctrine. It is the keystone of testimony (CR Oct. 1986).

#2: President Benson stated, The Lord Himself has stated that the Book of Mormon

contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ (S&C 20:9). That does not mean it

contains every teaching, every doctrine ever revealed. Rather, it means that in the Book

of Mormon we will find the fullness of those doctrines required for our salvation. And

they are taught plainly and simply so that even children can learn the ways of salvation

and exaltation (CR Oct. 1986).

#3:President Benson taught, The Book of Mormon...was written for our day. TheNephites never had the book; neither did the Lamanites of ancient times. It was meant

for us.Each of the major writers of the Book of Mormon testified that he wrote for fu

ture generations.If they saw our day and chose those things which would be of great

est worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should con-

stantly ask ourselves, Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (or Moroni or Alma) to in-

clude that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day a

age? (CR Oct. 1986)

#4: President Benson said, The moment you begin a serious study of [the Book of

Mormon, you] will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to

avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path.When

you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greate

abundance (CR Oct. 1986).

#5: Elder Richard G. Scott tells us, Great power can come from memorizin

scriptures. To memorize a scripture is to forge a new friendship. It is like dis

covering a new individual who can help in time of need, give inspiration and

comfort, and be a source of motivation for needed change. (CR Oct. 2011).


3/7


4/7

The Day of the AmateurHugh Nibley, The New Era, January 1971

A boast of Latter-day Saints is that they have never been afflicted with a professional clergy. To this day, what most

mpresses outside observers is the fact that almost everything the Mormons do is undertaken on a nonprofessional b

isand it is done pretty well at that. Only when they have brought in professional help have they come to grief.

Professionalism is the child of the universities. Its modern rule began with the Sophists of old. Preceding the Sophis

were those wise men called Sophoi, ancient traveling teachers who gave the modern world its moral and intellectual

oundations. They were, to a man, amateurs.

They had to be amateurs, for the same reason that the greatest athletes in the world, the Olympic victors, ancient an

modern, were required to be amateurs; and for the same reason that the people who wrote and directed and acted a

danced in the greatest dramas the world has ever seen were required by law to be amateurs: because what they were

doing was holy business and not to be contaminated by ulterior motives and ambitions.

Then the Sophists, imitation Sophoi, took over and professionalized everything to the highest degree. They were the

reat professors, and since they professed publicly and for a fee, Socrates, the champion of the independent mind annot one of the Sophists, advised students to examine every prospective teachers credentials very carefully and criti-

ally before enrolling with him. That indiscretion cost Socrates his life, for the whole point of professionalism is that

nes credentials should never be challenged.

Rashdall has shown how the medieval universities, beginning with wild lan and spontaneity in the days when anyo

ould get into the act, quickly hardened into the mold of the university system as administration took over.

Official credentials, a foolproof shield against criticism and scrutiny, were naturally coveted most by those who need

hem most: it was the poorly qualified who clamored for the status symbol of the degree. As in the days of the Sophi

chools, the great demand for this valuable commodity caused factories to spring up everywhere, competing for deg

seeking customers by making their product ever easier and cheaper to get. At the same time the degree became the

bjectthe sole objectof education. And when it reached that point, it was, of course, worth nothing.

Learning, forgotten in the universities, was revived in academies, salons, societies, courts and coffee houses where

mateurs came together to revel in things of the spirit and make the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the high

point of western civilization. It was the Age of the Amateur.

Beginning around the mid-nineteenth century, the university staged a comeback, culminating in elephantine growth

wentieth century technology sends everyone to school. During the first half of the present century, college teaching

ffered a safe birth for mild and mediocre souls who in time, by the sacred rule of seniority, ended up ruling their in

utions.

Here they jealously perpetuated their own kind in office and shut out those talented students who might threaten th

wn supremacy in any way. The more intelligent students had always seen through professorial sham, but as the un

versity population soared into the millions, the tension between the two mounted dangerously. It is no paradox tha

ome of the most intelligent students at the best schools have been causing the most trouble. In fact, most students

have been galled by the artificial restraint of professional status.

f the only way to get a professional certificate was to deserve one, there would be little trouble. But there have alwa

been many ways of winning a prize for which the incompetent are willing to pay almost any price. The time-honored


5/7

devices for beating the game are legion, but the most reliable one, since the days of the emperors, has always been

appointment.

Someone (this writer, in fact) has said that anyone can become a dean, a professor, a department head, a chancello

or a custodian by appointmentit has happened thousands of times; but since the world began, no one has ever be

come an artist, a scientist, or a scholar by appointment. The professional may be a dud, but to get any recognition,

amateur has to be good. To maintain his amateur status, moreover, he has to be dedicated, honest, and incorrupti-

blefrom which irksome necessity the professional, unless he cares otherwise, is freed by an official certificate.

Do Americans have to apologize for generations of ingenious amateurs from Franklin to Ford who fathered their

modern technology? Or for Ives and Carpenter, their best composers? Or for Parkman, Motley, Prescott, H. C. Lea,

and the rest of their excellent historians? Is science ashamed of Descartes or Priestley, or Sir William Hershel or Fa

ther Mendel? Arts, science, and scholarship would be in a sorry way today were it not for patrons who were also fir

class practitioners in their own right, e.g., von Bissing, H. Carter, and A. Gardiner in Egyptology.

Of course there has always been protest from the professional side: the greatest discoveries in classical scholarship

were made by a German merchant and a young English architect, each of whom in his time was ridiculed by the pro

fessors. Emerson, the wisest American, was banned from the campus of Harvard for his famous American Schol

address, which proclaimed that one did not have to be a professional to be a true thinker and scholar.

Not long ago one of the worlds greatest violinists was barred from the music faculty of a west -coast university sole

because he did not have a degree, while the head of the department gave whole seasons of concerts and got away w

t, because he did have a degree.

If we have no professional clergy in the Church, it is not because the Church cannot use expert knowledge, but be-

cause all members should be experts where the gospel is concerned, and as such they should make their contributio

All the same contribution? Not at all! The Church is structured for eternal progression, and that takes place as we a

feel our way forward along a broad front. Seeking and searching are among the most common words in our scrip-

tures; we are all supposed to be seeking all the time. Just as missionaries go forth as an amateur army, searching outhe honest in heart in the most scattered and unlikely places, on the widest possible front, so the rest of us increase

knowledge, here a little and there a little, not by trusting a few experts to come up with the answers, but by all of us

searching all along the line, finding out a fact here and a document there, and reporting the discovery to the whole

body.

When he was editor of the Times and Seasons, the Prophet Joseph invited allto contribute.

And the New Era does the sameEditors.

What this world needs is a return of the age of the amateur! exclaimed Hugh Nibley as he chatted in one of his fre

quent visits to the office. All right, said the managing editor, youre the biggest amateur we have in the Churchyou do an article on the topic. Let readers know that it is amateurs who have made the world go round

Indeed, Dr. Hugh Nibley is a true amateur. He has some knowledge on almost everything. His insatiable curiosity i

constantly leading him into areas far removed from his specialty of history.

A year ago he spent several weeks reading science fictionto catch up on things, to see whats ahead, now that we

anded on the moon. As a person he is loved for his kindness and sensitivity and is a legend in the classroom becau

of his wit and unorthodox teaching methods. At the end of a stimulating lecture, however, hell like as not close it

with, Just rememberthese things weve talked about here today arent really that important. What is important i

that you keep the commandments and pray for the Lords guidance.


6/7

TEACHING OUTLINE How exciting to be studying the Book of Mormon this year! I hope as you feel so inclined you will share witus how you gained a testimony of this sacred book.

I have on the board an _______. (arch) When constructed correctly, an arch will remain standing even with

out any mortar!~What holds it together? (keystone)~Lets say that this arch represents the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What would the foun

dation represent? (Eph 2:20, apostles & prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone)~Could an arch stand without a foundation? (no) What is it that apostles and prophets do for the Chur

(receive revelation)~Back to this keystone. What does it represent? (Book of Mormon) Why not the bible?

Lets turn to the Introduction to the Book of Mormon, paragraph #6 (Concerning this record~Why is the Book of Mormon the most correct book? (translated by revelation)

~Why is it the keystone, rather than one of these other stones> (because if its true, it follows that the rof what the Church purports must be true, if not, the arch would crumble.)Quote #1 (Pres. Benson)

place on chalkboard: Witness of Christ

Lets turn to the title page. Do we know who wrote this? (Moroni) In the 2nd paragraph, Moroni gives 3 purposes of the Book of Mormon.

~What are they? -To show the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord did for thfathers.

-To teach the covenants required by the Lord to return to His presence.

-To convince all people that Jesus is the Christ, manifesting Himself to all nations.

Who knows what year Another Testament of Jesus Christ was added to the title of the Book of Mormon?(1982)

~Why is this important? (1 Ne 13:38-41, 2 Ne 29:8, (Law of Witnesses)place on chalkboard: Doctrine

~How is the Book of Mormon the keystone of our doctrine? (D&C 10:45-46, D&C 20:8-12)Quote #2 (Pres. Benson)

place on chalkboard: Testimony~How is the Book of Mormon the keystone of our testimony of the restored gospel?

~If anyone would like to share how they gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon, now would be agreat time!

We have spoken a bit about the law of witnesses.~How many witnessed Christs resurrection? (upwards of 500 in Jerusalem, more in the New World)~How many prophets were sent to warn Jerusalem it would be destroyed in 588 BC? (many, including

Lehi and Jeremiah)~How many prophets were sent to Ninevah? (besides Jonah, many, since this is why he was so afraid of

the Ninevitesthey murdered the prophets in terrible ways)


7/7

~Is Heavenly Father ever stingy with His witnesses? (noHe loves His children and does everything Hecan to help them be worthy to return to Him)

Ether 5:2-4 (importance of witnesses)

Who was the Book of Mormon compiled for? (us) Had Mormon seen our day? (yes)Mormon 8:34-37

Quote #3 (Pres. Benson)

Id like to conclude with some prophetic counsel that is very recentabout two months ago in General Conference. Anyone remember Richard G. Schotts talk? (The Power of Scripture, CR Oct 2011)(read highlightedparts of talk, especially paragraph #7: Great power can come from memorizing scriptures)

I have a good friend that I met in my mid-teens. Because of her enthusiasm for the gospel we would memorconstantly: hymns, inspirational thoughts, poetry, and most importantly, scriptures. She has memorized hundrof scriptures, and they are truly her friends! A few years ago she developed diabetes and lost her eyesight. Noonger able to read, she told me maybe Heavenly Father had blessed her with the drive to memorize scriptures b

cause He knew what lay ahead. Because her filing cabinet is full (see Elder Scotts talk), she has found great comfort and peace during difficult times.

And so, I have a challenge for each of us, myself included! Lets memorize! I will provide a scripture eachweek, (cut out, laminated, and with a hole to place it on a metal ring), and by the end of the year we will haveabout 50 scriptures under our belts! Plus, well be obeying the counsel of a prophet of God, and surely greatblessings, that we cant now imagine, will follow.

If you accept this challenge, come and grab a ring after the closing prayer.

Documents

Lesson 1:"The Keystone of Our Religion"