Blessings of Ephraim

[Gregory]

In Sunday school today it was said that people of the lineage of ephraim have the blessing to be able to discern the truthfulness of the gospel better than people from any of the other tribes.

I have never heard this before. Is this really church doctrine and if so can anyone provide sources?

I have searched and have come up empty so far.

Thanks!

[gfchase]

In Sunday school today it was said that people of the lineage of ephraim have the blessing to be able to discern the truthfulness of the gospel better than people from any of the other tribes.

I have never heard this before. Is this really church doctrine and if so can anyone provide sources?

I have searched and have come up empty so far.

Thanks!

I am not aware of anything that says that Ephraim can discern BETTER. That being said, it makes some sense in that in the past more of Ephraim has been converted than the other tribes. The Bible, in Genesis I believe, (without looking it up)tells us that Ephraim initially would receive the restored gospel and it is to Ephraim that the other tribes will flow. As I have seen the growth of the Church over the years, it was first Ephraim and now from what I understand more of Manasseh are converted because the conversions in Central and South America are outpacing that of Ephraim and there in Central and South America, large numbers of Manasseh are found. Additionally we are seeing more and more of the other tribes. Primarily It is Israel that will accept the gospel with only a smattering of gentiles accepting it.

Confusion sometimes comes into play because tribes other than Judah are sometimes referred to as gentiles, perhaps because the bloodlines of Judah would remained more pure. Gentiles with no blood of Israel are adopted into one of the tribes upon conversion.

Jerry

Edited February 24, 2014 by gfchase

[Just_A_Guy]

There is a notion called "believing blood" (Googling "believing blood lds" will get you a couple of interesting hits, including one from Elder McConkie and one from non-LDS scholar Jan Shipps) that boils down to the idea that certain lineages/bloodlines will be more predisposed to accept the Gospel. I've heard it applied to the literal seed of Abraham in general, and the progeny of Joseph Smith, Senior in particular.

In the modern Church's rush to forget the former ideas that certain cursings were once believed to be passed on through particular bloodlines; we're also forgetting that certain blessings can also come down through particular bloodlines.

Edited February 24, 2014 by Just_A_Guy

[Seminarysnoozer]

In Sunday school today it was said that people of the lineage of ephraim have the blessing to be able to discern the truthfulness of the gospel better than people from any of the other tribes.

I have never heard this before. Is this really church doctrine and if so can anyone provide sources?

I have searched and have come up empty so far.

Thanks!

What tribe does Adam and Eve belong to? ... I want to know as I am related to them and have their blood.

[Gregory]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I will do the google search and see what I find on believing blood.

I am wondering if this is one of those traditions that some people grab onto, like maybe someone heard it in a talk or fireside or whatever and may hold some truth to it, but is not really taught in the scriptures or by prophets other than people drawing conclusions from things they have heard.

My impression was that some of the folks in the class did not agree with the comments but not sure enough like myself to correct it. In fact I am still not that sure but and will keep my ears open on this topic.