Last week we studied section 93 in the Doctrine and Covenants. As I listened to the different podcasts this week, every one of them quoted a passage from one of Truman Madsen's books about this section that shows how this one passage answered some of the most debated questions in Christian Theology. Rather than summarize what he said, I will quote it, as found in his book Joseph Smith the Prophet (Bookcraft, 1989).
How can something come from nothing? Answer: The universe was not created from nothing. “The elements are eternal.” (v 33)
How can Christ have been both absolutely human and absolutely divine at the same time? Answer: He was not both at the same time. Christ “received not of the fulness at the first, but continued . . . until he received a fulness.” (v. 14)
If man is totally the creation of God, how can he be anything or do anything that he was not divinely pre-caused to do? Answer: Man is not totally the creation of God. “Intelligence was not created or made, neither indeed can be. Behold, here is the agency of man.” (v 29-31)
How can man be a divine creation and yet be “totally depraved”? Answer: Man is not totally depraved. “Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.” (v. 38)
What is the relationship of being and beings, the one and the many? Answer: “Being” is only the collective name of beings, of whom God is one. Truth is knowledge of things (plural), and not, as Plato would have it, of Thinghood. “Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.” (v. 24)
How can spirit relate to gross matter? Answer: “The elements are the tabernacle of God.” (v. 35)
Why should man be embodied? Answer: “Spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy.” (v. 33)
If we begin susceptible to light and truth, how is it that people err and abuse the light? Answer: People are free; they can be persuaded only if they choose to be. They cannot be compelled.
The Socratic thesis that knowledge is virtue (that if you really know the good you will seek it and do it) is mistaken. It is through disobedience and because of the traditions of the fathers that light is taken away from mankind( v. 38-39)
I have studied early Christian theology on several occasions, and these theological questions have been a big deal. Contests on these questions have caused schisms that lead to the creations of all the different creeds and sects. It is amazing that the Lord through Joseph Smith could answer these questions in a single, succinct chapter.
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