Changes to the D&C

The church made some changes to the D&C in 2013. They are only changes to the chapter headings and explanations on the ODs in the back. You can find a side by side comparison on LDS.org here.

The ones that jumped out to me:

1. Section 132 has the word “Doctrine” removed. Evidently the practice of plural marriage was once a “doctrine and principle” is now just a principle. Since Doctrines can never change, their hands were forced on this one.

2. In OD #1, it used to say that “The vote to sustain the forgoing motion was unanimous” it now is silent on the vote. In fact many people abstained from voting, so it was not unanimous.

3. In the preface to the Pearl of Great Price, it used to say “Book of Abraham. A translation from some Egyptian papyri that came into the hands of Joseph Smith in 1835, containing the writings of the patriarch Abraham” . It now says “Book of Abraham. An inspired translation of the writings of Abraham. Joseph Smith began the translation in 1835 after he obtained some Egyptian papyri.” This was is huge! They have complete removed the fact that JS thought he was translating the writings of Abraham from the papyri, and now make a casual connection between the Book of Abraham and the papyri. Sound like the editors have been reading FAIR, and are moving towards the “catalyst” theory.

Will these help you “Stay LDS”?