- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
So, he will be called to preach repentance to the rich members in Utah. If “dark” is a spiritual condition, it fits. 😈 Benighted, literally, “taken over by night” is meant as a spiritual condition in its LDS use. From the first LDS hymbook and our present hymnal #32, “The Happy Day at Last Has Come”: “The gospel trump again is heard. The truth from darkness has appeared. The lands which long benighted lay have now beheld a glorious day.”
“Dark and benighted” is just a way to emphasize it. It does not refer to the color of a person’s skin.
As I mentioned earlier, “dark and benighted” was used by other religious thinkers before JS to describe the human condition. JS, himself, used the term to refer to the domain of the devil.
John Taylor, during the time when the focus of missionary work was almost entirely the US, Canada, and Western Europe, said, “The light of ages is being revealed to the servants of the Most High, the darkness which has enshrouded the world for ages is being dispersed; and these chosen elders of Israel are sent forth to proclaim these glad tidings of salvation to the dark and benighted nations of the earth.”
Taylor also penned the words to our present hymn 327, “Go, Ye Messengers of Heaven”, in which he admonished in the opening verse, “Go, ye messengers of heaven, chosen by divine command; go and publish free salvation to a dark, benighted land.”
The LDS Church’s current “Old Testament Teacher Resource Manual” quotes BRM that during the exodus, a few of Moses’ followers saw God, but most of the Israelites “remained in their dark and benighted state.”
Wow I didn’t realize that the phrase “dark and benighted” actually comes from the scriptures. It’s clear when I read the reference (D&C 121:4) that is does indeed to spiritual darkness and not pigmentation. My BIL has assumed he would probably go to Africa or something, but I’ll have to point him to that reference so he can understand the spiritual definition and hopefully won’t be as crestfallen if his call doesn’t seem to support his current interpretation. I am more of the opinion that PB come from the patriarch more than God, but he is a faithful young soul and I don’t want to taint him with my unorthodox views. :crazy: DH’s blessing bluntly stated that he would serve a foreign mission .. And he was sent to English speaking stateside. Youngest DD got her PB right before leaving home for college as a 15 year old. She is an Aspergers kiddo who has a life planned out for herself that is not exactly the norm.
Patriarch had done the blessing for our older DD many years before. Seeing him again, I realized that he had decreased in mental functionality enough that I almost canceled the blessing appointment, but didn’t want to take away from DD’s experience. I should have cancelled. He was released 6 weeks later due to failing health. I assume senile dementia.
Her PB was completely generic. There was an encouragement to serve a mission. The rest of the focus was on getting married, and have babies.
I was annoyed. It also made me go back and read my own PB with a different viewpoint. Instead of looking for how my PB needed to guide my life, I looked to see if there was anything that was truly specific to me. My own PB is very generic .. down to telling me as a woman that I need to become a teacher. It made me feel so sad to realize there was nothing customized to me or my life in my PB.
A newspaper horoscope is just as personal as my PB.
Strange tongue? Dark and benighted people? Is this the Boer Wars? :problem:
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.