“And the Lord said unto him: Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this?” Ether 3:9
“And never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after mine own image” Ether 3:15.
Does this mean that the Brother of Jared was the first man to see God?
What about Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah D&C 107:48-54?
What am I missing here?
One thought that comes to mind is that Joseph Smith taught that Elohim is always plural. Like Seraphim, Nephilim, Cherubim. These are classes of beings. Elohim is plural for gods. Reading the Old Testament with that in mind, it becomes a more complex narrative.
ReplyDeleteMaybe when we see the phrase "the Lord" in D&C 107, it is talking about one of the Elohim, not necessarily Christ. Maybe when Enoch walked with God, and the Lord appeared to Adam, it is being generic -- one of the Elohim walked with them.
Maybe the Brother of Jared was actually the first man to see the spirit of body of Christ/Jehovah, whereas others before him had interacted with a different member of the Elohim class.
Technically speaking, all children of God are part of the Elohim class. If you see a spirit being, (or an exalted being with a body) you have seen a member of the Elohim. For that matter, when you see another human, you are seeing an embodied Elohim. As the Psalms say, and as Christ quoted in the New Testament to the unbelieving scribes: "ye are gods."
If we take this broader view of the Godhead -- that there are "gods many and lords many", it doesn't become such a problem to say that Adam walked with God or walked with "the Lord", while at the same time saying that the brother of Jared was the first to see Christ's spirit body.
If we believe Brigham Young when he says that Adam was God the Father prior to coming to earth, then we have even more reason to take the word "God" as being a class of being rather than referring to one specific person.
If Adam is our Heavenly Father, then it would seem that the "Lord" that came and spoke with him could have been any member of the Elohim (a class containing billions of beings), acting as messengers, rotating through as placeholders while our God the Father was under the veil of mortality.
Maybe Christ (Jehovah) did not directly interact with human beings until the brother of Jared showed forth his great faith, and the veil was pulled aside for the first time in that regard.
When Christ came to earth, he taught us to pray to our Father which is in Heaven-- whereas the Israelites had be praying to the pre-mortal Christ/Jehovah (a member of "the Elohim").
It makes sense that Christ would tell them to stop praying to Jehovah and start praying to a different member of the Elohim, since Jehovah was now descended to earth, undergoing a mortal trial, partially separated from his previous glory and power.
If God the Father came to earth as a mortal Adam to populate the earth, then it would make sense that he and his children would pray to (i.e., petition help from) a different member of the Godhead while he (Adam) was separated from heaven and was on earth. And then when Jehovah descended to redeem all the Elohim who had come to experience mortality, it would then be proper to start petitioning our Father who was back in Heaven, since he had completed his mortal sojourn..
This might bring additional meaning to the commandment to honor our parents. If Adam and Eve were our Heavenly Father and Mother, we should honor them as both our earthly creators and our heavenly parents.
In 3 Nephi 19:23 it says that we can become one with God -- reunited with the eternal and perfect Elohim class -- in the regard it would seem that the Godhead will one day include all righteous men and women who complete mortality with godlike honor. The mysteries of God - how great they are, as Joseph Smith said.
I don't claim to understand these things perfectly or have definite answers yet, but I am seeking. Thank you for your blog and your questions. We are supposed to seek to understand the mysteries. A man is saved no faster than he gains knowledge.
Translate; Transcend; Transfigure Time Travel; Space Travel; "State" Change
ReplyDeleteWhich being did Mahonri witness?
Here are the corrections made in our new scriptures that answers “our question” :)
ReplyDeleteSee:
http://scriptures.info/scriptures/bofm/ether/1.12-13#12
Ether 1:12
And never has man come before me with such exceeding faith...
And none of those now living have come before me with such exceeding faith...
Ether 1:13
And never have I shewed myself unto man whom I have created for never has man...
And to none of those now living whom I created have I appeared, for none have...