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That’s exactly how I see it, mom3, and I’ve been glad to hear something similar mentioned more than once in General Conference lately – not in those exact words, always, but praising the people who sacrificed to contribute to the situation that existed when Joseph was growing up. In a couple of cases, it has been even more direct. Fwiw, I also see the Atonement (the process of making us one with God and each other) as FAR more expansive (both in scope and in timeline) than we normally describe when talking about it.
Perhaps the restoration continues today…through reformists and apostates…much like the reformists and apostates such as Martin Luther and Joseph Smith did in their time? Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
cwald wrote:Perhaps the restoration continues today…through reformists and apostates…much like the reformists and apostates such as Martin Luther and Joseph Smith did in their time?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
I like what Richard Bushman says about Joseph Smith’s detractors – that he considers them to be doing a service because they keep the conversation going and some of them actually elevate it.
According to Jacob 5, the tree will continue to be pruned right up until the end – and I see that as a pruning of incorrect traditions and misunderstandings, not as a pruning of people. It doesn’t make sense, in the actual context of the allegory, to make it about people. Therefore, anyone who assists in proper pruning, undertaken at a pace and in a way that doesn’t damage the root, is part of the Restoration, imo. Pruning to maximize production can be tricky, as anyone who has lived in orchard country knows (or even in application to business organizations), so it generally can’t be done through radical surgery or, often, by removing every bit of infection all at once. “Here a little, there a little” works far better in many cases. There have been a few times in Church history when radical surgery was necessary (ending polygamy and the Priesthood ban, for example), but their was extensive collateral damage, as well. It was necessary, but risk management includes minimizing damage and maximizing recovery – not just eliminating infection.
Long-winded way of saying that I believe many who agitate, to varying degrees, are part of the Restoration – while others (those who insist on too radical changes too quickly) are part of the Destruction. I can’t always know exactly where that line lies, so I tend to err on the side of allowance – but if I believe someone is firmly over the line, I don’t mind the pruning shears being taken away from them. Above all else, I believe in pruning my own tree to the best of my ability and not insisting on pruning others’ trees for them or being in charge of the overall pruning of the orchard. I’ll express my views to the directors and managers of the orchard, but I won’t try to grab their shears and start pruning for them.
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