Abraham

Although the Book of Moses is first in order in the Pearl of Great Price, I want to begin with the Book of Abraham.  I believe it is reference to this book that the connection with a pearl of great price was made.

Jesus gave a short parable as recorded in the Book of Matthew which compares Heaven with a man who has been seeking a Pearl of Great Price and, when he finds it, he sells all he has to purchase it.  This is an appropriate analogy to the Book of Abraham and the story of how Joseph Smith acquired it.

One day, early in the history of the Church, Joseph was approached by a man named Michael Chandler who said he had some Egyptian mummies and papyri.  Chandler had been traveling around the country to exhibit his possessions.  The mummies had been discovered in Thebes and acquired by Antonio Labolo who was working on the dig.  Labolo sold the mummies to Chandler in 1833.

Chandler's reason for bringing the papyri to Joseph was that he had heard of Joseph translating ancient American documents - the Book of Mormon.  He was hoping that the young prophet could make sense of his documents from Egypt.  At that time, no one in America was able to translate Egyptian text.  The Rosetta Stone had been discovered in 1799 but it was years before the code was broken.  It wasn't until 1850 that the ability to read Egyptian hieroglyphs was a reality.

After Joseph examined the scrolls and found them to be of worth, Joseph Coe and Simeon Andrews purchased the four mummies and at least five papyrus documents for $2400 and gave them over to Joseph's care.

After Joseph's death, the scrolls and mummies remained with Joseph's mother, Lucy Mack Smith and, after her death, were given to Joseph's widow, Emma Hale Smith Bidamon.  Emma later sold the mummies and documents and they were given eventually to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  A few of the fragments were later acquired by the LDS Church in 1969.

There was among the documents what Joseph considered to be a Pearl of Great Price: the writings of the great patriarch, Abraham, while he was in Egypt.  Joseph wrote in the his preface to the Book of Abraham: The Translation of some ancient Records, that have fallen into our hands from the catacombs of Egypt - the writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt. written by his own hand upon papyrus.

Some scholars have looked at the fragments acquired by the Church and have identified portions of the Book of Breathings from the Book of the Dead - what some have called an Egyptian endowment.  They claim no resemblance to the Book of Abraham.  To them I would say, "Keep in mind the number of hands through which these documents have passed.  They in no way represent the entire collection of documents Joseph had to peruse."  The best testimony of the origin of the book is not through scholarly examination of the hieroglyphs but, rather, through the content of the book itself. I will share my personal journey with you.

© Gebara Education

The Sections

Someone once asked a BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture, Joseph McConkie, how in the world could they teach a full semester class on such a small book.  His answer was to outline for the person (and for all of us) how much gospel meat can be found in that small volume.  Here is what he wrote:

• Moses
• Moses' experience with God on the mountain
• Moses' experience with Satan on the mountain
• The Creation
• Pre-existence
• The Fall
• Adam and Eve Post Fall
• Enoch
• Noah
• Abraham
• Abraham in Egypt
• Abrahamic Covenant
• Priesthood
• Kolob
• Council of the Gods, Pre-existence
• Facsimiles
• Abraham on the Lion's Couch
• Hypocephalis
• Abraham on Pharaoh's Throne
• The Olivet Sermon (Matt. 24) - Joseph Smith Translation
• Christ's Last Days at His Temple
• Christ's Prophecies for the Jews, immediate
• Christ's Prophecies for our day
• Joseph  Smith History
• First Vision
• Visit of Moroni
• Visit of John the Baptist
• Restoration of the Priesthood
• Oliver Cowdery's account of the same visit
• Articles of Faith

Tomorrow, the journey begins.

© Gebara Education

The Pearl of Great Price

 

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold^\all that he had, and bought it

(Matt. 13: 45-46)

 

In the cannon of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there are four books of scripture that are referred to as the standard works.

• The Bible
• The Old Testament or Covenant
• The New Testament or Covenant
• The Book of Mormon
• Another Testament or Covenant
• The Doctrine and Covenants
• The Pearl of Great Price

 

The Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants all record the covenants between God and His children, the central focus of which is Jehovah/Jesus Christ, the ultimate covenant and redeemer.

 

But The Pearl of Great Price is a totally different book.  It is, in fact, a collection of sacred writings gathered and published together.  Each section of this book is a stand-alone book of scripture. 

It is the smallest of the standard works and, therefore, many people hesitate to give it much study.  But like that precious pearl, it has depths of iridescence that begs for in-depth and prayerful study.  I hope you will join me for the next few weeks as I seek that pearl of great price that a man found through actively seeking.

 

 

© Gebara Education, May 30, 2016

 

 

                      

Missing my best friend.

 

 

Remembering on Memorial Day.  Missing my dad and both husbands.  All were Air Force Veterans.

God Gave Eve Lives

It is Mothers' Day - a day when we express gratitude for our mothers an all that they have done for us with phone calls, candy and flowers, But as I look at the cards I wonder if we really understand the full gift we receive from our mothers.

 

I have been teaching cellular biology to our junior high students.  Inside every cell of your body is a nucleus and several mitochondria; the nucleus of the cell contains all of the genetic material passed down through generations of ancestors, male and female.  But the mitochondria (seen below as little "dead pink and purple cockroaches) contain their own DNA coming directly from their mother and the whole female line of ancestors before her.  The mitochondria in each cell contain the divine spark of life.  Without them, the cell could not live.  Neither could we.

 

 

 

Scientist who study cellular reproduction have, at least theoretically, traced all human life via the mitochondrial DNA to one female ancestor.  They call her "Mitochondrial Eve."

 

God gave Adam life.  God gave Eve lives.  In Hebrew, Adam means "man."  Eve means "mother."  Perhaps that is why Adam chose that name for her even before she bore a child.  She and only she had the potential to give life.

 

Your nuclear DNA comes from both your parents, but your mitochondrial DNA came only from your mother.  Without her, you would not have that divine spark of life.

 

Remember that today when you thank your mother for your life

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