Better to Have Prayed Amiss than not to Have Prayed
Most people wanted to talk about the lost 116 pages so that is what we discussed. It was strong and went like this.
No matter how badly you screwed up, you probably haven’t permanently lost over a hundred pages of scripture.
God makes it possible to have meaningful choices but also to not do unrecoverable damage. He has route-arounds. This is how he can give us meaningful choices but also not have us be damned, which is what our unfettered choice would leave to.
It is better to ask amiss than not to ask at all!
The small plates were Plan A, not Plan B. (This felt very right to me on many levels.) Repentance is the plan. Repentance is why his purposes cannot be frustrated.
Because of the lost 116 pages Joseph grew as a prophet–it may be part of why he was so forgiving throughout the rest of his life, even to a fault. At a profound level, Joseph did not come to restore a set of doctrines and practices but to make us all into Josephs. It is extremely significant that part of our foundational story is that there is truth we could know but don’t, that there is more out there.
For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words—
Yet you should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble.
This assurance is to you also.
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Zen
February 3, 2025
Well done.
Of course, research suggests it was probably closer to the current size of the Book of Mormon, or perhaps even larger.
There is a prophecy by J Smith Sr that we will see them again.
And there is one guy who (plausibly) claims to have seen the pages years afterwards.
I hope we will see them before we get the Sealed Portion.
E.C.
February 3, 2025
We talked about how we make covenants of obedience, how that’s easy, or hard, or sometimes both – and I came to the realization that all of those involved learned more about that covenant of obedience – from Nephi, writing those small plates ‘for a wise purpose’, to Mormon, who found them and appended them to his record, to Martin Harris and Joseph Smith, who both learned not to ‘fear man more than God’, and took that lesson with them through the rest of their lives.
I also told a story about a difficult calling I had a while back, which I almost asked to be released from due to the amount of stress it caused in my life, and how when I was set apart for that calling the man who blessed me also blessed my family that they would be well and healthy.
I stayed in that calling exactly as long as I needed to; my sister’s failing liver sustained her through one final pregnancy – both mother and baby survived against all odds, she received a new liver through a multitude of miracles; my other sister survived a geriatric pregnancy that was also painful and dangerous; and my father recovered from a bout of amnesia.
I was never very good at that calling, but just this Sunday, during just that Sunday School lesson, I realized the calling was perhaps more about obedience and willingness than ability. I learned to trust the Lord and His support a little better in those incredibly stressful two years.
sute
February 4, 2025
What stuck out to me is how Martin Harris was labeled as a wicked man in July of 1828 and as the Lord’s servant by March of 1829.
God is all forgiving and it’s never too late to come back in be in good graces.