Is the Restoration ongoing?

[mordorbund]

Back in 1829? or do you mean when the keys were restored in 1836?

[Windseeker]

Back in 1829? or do you mean when the keys were restored in 1836?

 

When the keys were restored. I don't have time but I will read that talk by Elder Uchtdorf when I get a chance. 

[Maureen]

Well, for one thing, as I discovered recently, the sacrifice of animals....

Why would animal sacrifices need to be restored?

 

M.

[The Folk Prophet]

Why would animal sacrifices need to be restored?

 

M.

 

Because all things must be restored.

 

“The sacrifice of animals will be done to complete the restoration when the temple spoken of is built; at the beginning of the millennium, or in the restoration, blood sacrifices will be performed long enough to complete the fulness of the restoration in this dispensation. Afterwards sacrifice will be of some other character.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 3:94.)

[The Folk Prophet]

More from Joseph Fielding Smith on the ongoing restoration:

 

"We are living in the dispensation of the fullness of times into which all things are to be gathered, and all things are to be restored since the beginning. Even this earth is to be restored to the condition which prevailed before Adam’s transgression."

[Maureen]

There was a reason for animal sacrifices and a reason why they are not practiced anymore. Is there a reason given why they would need to be restored?

 

M.

[The Folk Prophet]

There was a reason for animal sacrifices and a reason why they are not practiced anymore. Is there a reason given why they would need to be restored?

 

M.

 

I honestly don't know, beyond that the Lord has said that all things must be restored.

[Just_A_Guy]

There are, I believe, a couple of tantalizing hints that Joseph Smith may have offered animal sacrifice once or twice in Kirtland; and I believe Brigham Young made a passing reference suggesting that the Salt Lake Temple might include an altar dedicated for the purpose (which altar was never built).

It is conceivable to me, though, that the sacrifice be done outside the aegis of the LDS Church. Ezekiel saw a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem--with animal sacrifice, if I'm not mistaken--and there are Jewish groups that have already made the requisite implements and claim to have identified legitimate heirs of the original priestly families. The modern interpretation of D&C 13 is that the offering to presented by the sons of Levi will be a broken heart; but I wonder if that's how Joseph Smith interpreted it?

[mordorbund]

Maureen, you raise a good point, but I'd like to take it back even further. Why was animal sacrifice discontinued after the Atonement? It was in practice from the time of Adam, so it's not exclusive to the lower, mosaic law. It served as a foreshadowing of the great and last sacrifice to come, but why should such a remembrance cease? We are every bit removed from the culture and time of the Savior as was old Israel. And on top of that, we continue with rituals that point back to the Atonement (baptism and sacrament readily come to mind), why should this be given and not the ones that already existed?

 

I'm not trying to be snarky, I just haven't ever thought past the standard "it changed after Jesus was resurrected" explanation.

[mordorbund]

I honestly don't know, beyond that the Lord has said that all things must be restored.

 

Are you looking forward to the Feast of Tabernacles too? (rubs hands together in excitement)

[mordorbund]

Are you looking forward to the Feast of Tabernacles too? (rubs hands together in excitement)

 

Actually, that brings to mind a followup question (for both completionists and ongoers): Do you consider Millennial events a part of the Restoration, or do you consider that as a new dispensation?

[The Folk Prophet]

It is conceivable to me, though, that the sacrifice be done outside the aegis of the LDS Church. Ezekiel saw a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem--with animal sacrifice, if I'm not mistaken--and there are Jewish groups that have already made the requisite implements and claim to have identified legitimate heirs of the original priestly families. The modern interpretation of D&C 13 is that the offering to presented by the sons of Levi will be a broken heart; but I wonder if that's how Joseph Smith interpreted it?

 

This seriously conflicts with the concept of proper priesthood authority, which one does not receive simply through inheritance. Ultimately we all trace our lineage back to the 'priestly' families of Noah and Adam. And, to be clear, the teaching on animal sacrifice is specifically NOT a restoration of the Mosaic law, but a restoration of animal sacrifice as given to Adam.

[The Folk Prophet]

Are you looking forward to the Feast of Tabernacles too? (rubs hands together in excitement)

 

Only if it's a turkey dinner with all the fixins.

[The Folk Prophet]

Actually, that brings to mind a followup question (for both completionists and ongoers): Do you consider Millennial events a part of the Restoration, or do you consider that as a new dispensation?

 

Off the top of my head....part of the restoration. But that's really just off the top of my head. It seems like some restoration events are scripturally set after the return of Christ...but, mayhaps there shall be an interim state between the return of Christ and the official start of the millennium. ???

[Guest]

Actually, that brings to mind a followup question (for both completionists and ongoers): Do you consider Millennial events a part of the Restoration, or do you consider that as a new dispensation?

 

If this is the last dispensation, then it won't be another dispensation, would it?  It would be a culmination... or some such.

[Just_A_Guy]

This seriously conflicts with the concept of proper priesthood authority, which one does not receive simply through inheritance. Ultimately we all trace our lineage back to the 'priestly' families of Noah and Adam. And, to be clear, the teaching on animal sacrifice is specifically NOT a restoration of the Mosaic law, but a restoration of animal sacrifice as given to Adam.

So you think Ezekiel's temple will be owned by the LDS Church?

[Maureen]

8:13 When he speaks of a new covenant,²⁵ he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.²⁶

 

9:1 Now the first covenant,¹ in fact, had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary.

 

9:11 But now Christ has come¹⁵ as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, 9:12 and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured¹⁶ eternal redemption. 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled consecrated them and provided ritual purity,¹⁷ 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our¹⁸ consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

 

9:15 And so he is the mediator¹⁹ of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised,²⁰ since he died²¹ to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant.

 

9:23 So it was necessary for the sketches²⁵ of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices,²⁶ but the heavenly things themselves required²⁷ better sacrifices than these. 9:24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands – the representation²⁸ of the true sanctuary²⁹ – but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us. 9:25 And he did not enter to offer³⁰ himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, 9:26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice.

 

He does away with⁹ the first to establish the second. 10:10 By his will¹⁰ we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 10:11 And every priest stands day after day¹¹ serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again – sacrifices that can never take away sins. 10:12 But when this priest¹² had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand¹³ of God, 10:13 where he is now waiting¹⁴ until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.¹⁵ 10:14 For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. 10:15 And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after saying,¹⁶ 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put¹⁷ my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds,”¹⁸ 10:17 then he says,¹⁹ “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no longer.”²⁰ 10:18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

 

Here in the book of Hebrews, it says that the covenant of animal sacrifice has become obsolete that Christ has done away with the first covenant to establish a better covenant. A covenant that makes the believer holy before God, where there is complete forgiveness of sin. Why would something so lacking and considered obsolete like animal sacrifice need to be restored? Restoring it make no sense when reading the words of the NT.

 

M.

[Just_A_Guy]

Maureen, the trouble with this interpretation is that Ezekiel foresaw the construction of a temple that would include provision for burnt sacrifice (Ezekiel 40).  Peter speaks of a "restitution of all things" (KJV) or "the time all things are restored" (NET Bible) (Acts 3:21).  So, which part of the Bible are we to dismiss as misleading--Hebrews 8-9, or Ezekiel 40 and Acts 3?

 

Or could it be that they're both right--that the Lord intended for the Mosaic law to be generally fulfilled through the Atonement of Christ; but that He still allows for a limited restoration of the principle of animal sacrifice in the last days?

[The Folk Prophet]

So you think Ezekiel's temple will be owned by the LDS Church?

 

Of course.  Here's McConkie on it:

 

"By what power and under whose authorization shall the work be done? There is only one place under the whole heavens where the keys of temple building are found. There is only one people who know how to build temples and what to do in them when they are completed. That people is the Latter-day Saints. The temple in Jerusalem will not be built by Jews who have assembled there for political purposes as at present. It will not be built by a people who know nothing whatever about the sealing ordinances and their application to the living and the dead. It will not be built by those who know nothing about Christ and his laws and the mysteries reserved for the saints. But it will be built by Jews who have come unto Christ, who once again are in the true fold of their ancient Shepherd, and who have learned anew about temples because they know that Elijah did come, not to sit in a vacant chair at some Jewish feast of the Passover, but to the Kirkland Temple on April 3, 1836, to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The temple in Jerusalem will be built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “They that are far off,” [Zech. 6:12-15.] they that come from an American Zion, they who have a temple in Salt Lake City will come to Jerusalem to build there another holy house in the Jerusalem portion of “the mountains of the Lord’s house.” (D&C 133:13.)

[Just_A_Guy]

I was not aware of that, TFP; thanks.

From the quote you offer, McConkie seems to imply that the Jerusalem temple will be for standard LDS ritual work, not for animal sacrifice.  Is that an accurate inference?  Because it would seem to contradict Ezekiel, Chapter 40.

[The Folk Prophet]

I was not aware of that, TFP; thanks.

From the quote you offer, McConkie seems to imply that the Jerusalem temple will be for standard LDS ritual work, not for animal sacrifice.  Is that an accurate inference?  Because it would seem to contradict Ezekiel, Chapter 40.

 

Not sure why it couldn't be both.

 

For more info on it plus a whole bunch of other info read here. I haven't read through this all yet, but maybe further info on your question is forthcoming. :)

[Roseslipper]

in the past conferences issue of the ensign magazine page 58 this is great talk given it is are you sleeping through the restoration it is a great read

[Roseslipper]

in the past conferences issue of the ensign magazine page 58 this is great talk given it is are you sleeping through the restoration it is a great read

[Roseslipper]

sorry mistake didn't mean to put it in 2 times