What constitutes a restoration?

[Fether]

My wife and I were discussing this interview where Pres. Nelson said "'If you think the Church has been fully restored you're just seeing the beginning. There's much more to come. Wait till next year and then the next year. Eat your vitamin pills, take your rest. It's going to be exciting". We then got in a discussion about what constitutes something that is "restored"?

She was under the impression that any change made to the church in our day is another form of restoration. But I made the statement that nothing new had been restored for a while yet and that any further restoration since D&C 138 (or maybe even race and the priesthood) is yet to come.

I am under the impression that a restoration meant to bring back what was once lost or corrupted. So in my eyes, the things like changes in the church schedule, missionary age changing, combining of elders and high priests, and even the change in the temple presentation (note, there has been no change in the ordinance itself) were nothing more than just changes in policy or the church adjusting to the needs of our time. To me, something constituting a restoration would be bringing forth of lost doctrine, instituting lost ordinances, or expanding the current form of leadership to include other priesthood offices.


Thoughts? 

[priesthoodpower]

The changes in policy that you mentioned seem to come as a way to counter the lack of interest that the saints are displaying in Church culture. The term "Mormon" was one example of something that is "Church culture" and not "of Jesus Christ".

My ex left the Mormon church...my youth kids have lost interest in church and constantly say "Im not mormon". This mentality is wide spread in former members that left the church, they believe that they are leaving a man made organization.

I believe that the continual restoration of Christs church will involve the unification of ALL Christian churchs. This is how the membership will explode. The LDS church has all the keys and ordinances, our Prophet is now figuring out how to dissolve the Mormon culture....and, might I be bold enough to say, change the perception of what it means to be a follower of Christ. To those of us who are active members we might see it as lowering the bar.

Do you know how mad satan will be if it becomes easier for people to follow Christ? Currently satan is happy that the  rigidity it takes to be a "mormon" keeps people away from Jesus Christ.

 

Edited August 24, 2019 by priesthoodpower

[Vort]

16 minutes ago, priesthoodpower said:

I believe that the continual restoration of Christs church will involve the unification of ALL Christian churchs. This is how the membership will explode. The LDS church has all the keys and ordinances, our Prophet is now figuring out how to dissolve the Mormon culture....and, might I be bold enough to say, change the perception of what it means to be a follower of Christ. To those of us who are active members we might see it as lowering the bar.

My friend, is this really what you think it means to have power in the Priesthood? If so, you're badly mistaken.

[priesthoodpower]

9 minutes ago, Vort said:

My friend, is this really what you think it means to have power in the Priesthood? If so, you're badly mistaken.

not sure what you mean and based on the history of my posts in this forum...no one really knows what I mean either..but thanks for calling me friend! 

[mikbone]

Not this

But this

or this

 

Lots of things going on in a good art restoration.  Removing all the grime that has deposited on to the canvas over the centuries (like the Mormon nick name, etc).  As well as replacing lost material (like the JST, or the Pearl of Great Price).  It takes a great artist though.  Look at what happens when a goofball tries to restore something great.  

Edited August 24, 2019 by mikbone

[CV75]

12 hours ago, Fether said:

Thoughts? 

The Restoration is still unfolding. There are more things to be restored, but since the Restoration heralded the dispensation of the fulness of times, there are things yet to be revealed that never were. Each time something is revealed by virtue of the restored priesthood, whether new or previously lost, it can be considered rooted in he Restoration.

[Fether]

2 minutes ago, CV75 said:

The Restoration is still unfolding. There are more things to be restored, but since the Restoration heralded the dispensation of the fulness of times, there are things yet to be revealed that never were. Each time something is revealed by virtue of the restored priesthood, whether new or previously lost, it can be considered rooted in he Restoration.

Would you consider the missionary age change A restoration? Or the requirement for church leaders to do an abuse training? Or the simplification and changing of the temple presentation? Or are some of these just adjustments to the needs of our time?

[estradling75]

In the D&C the Lord talks about the work Joseph Smith did/was doing.  He repeatedly used the statement "Laying a Foundation"

When I see construction projects I know the foundation is a critical part... but I am generally not wise or savvy enough to visualize from the foundation what the final product will look like.

[CV75]

1 hour ago, Fether said:

Would you consider the missionary age change A restoration? Or the requirement for church leaders to do an abuse training? Or the simplification and changing of the temple presentation? Or are some of these just adjustments to the needs of our time?

I'd say they each fall under the direction of the Restored Keys, and each contributes to our preparations for receiving more restored doctrines, principles, ordinances, and covenants, which in turn prepare the earth for the Second Coming of Christ. What those yet-to-be restored items are to be, I cannot guess for they have been lost, except for those that have been alluded to in scripture (e.g. animal sacrifice, the return of Zion, the healing of Jerusalem, the earth's paradisaical glory, etc.). That they may be seen as adjustments addressing the needs of our time is fine, but our time is also the dispensation of the fulness of times, the setting for the rest of the Restoration.

[Vort]

6 hours ago, mikbone said:

It takes a great artist though.  Look at what happens when a goofball tries to restore something great.

No no no no no no. These cannot be true. Tell me they're fake.

[Jane_Doe]

When I was young, I thought the term "restoration" simply meant re-winding to how things were back in Christ's time.  Like re-winding a VHS tape: you simply go back and it's all the same.

Throughout the years though, my perspective has changed.  Because God and the Gospel is not about going back to some previous state, rather it is about building forward to greater Goodness.  Ultimately the great apostasy was about loss of Priesthood.  The Restoration was/is about the regaining of Priesthood: opening up that channel and letting it change and build us.  It didn't/doesn't happen all at once, but in steps.  Many steps came in Joseph Smith's time, but still continue today, and many more yet to come.

Yep, better take your vitamins.  

[Traveler]

I will look at this a little differently.  Isaiah defined apostasy (turning from G-d) as three things.  #1. Transgressing the Law.  #2 Changing the Ordinances.  #3 Breaking the Everlasting Covenant.  I would define a restoration as the opposite of apostasy - that is #. 1 Obedience to the law (which would include learning the Law and understanding and receiving the proctor so obedience is accurate and complete. #2 renewing Ordinances. #3 Keeping (renewing) the Everlasting Covenant.

If something is not directly related to the 3 elements - it is not (what we sam in mathematics) as necessary and sufficient.

 

The Traveler

[Just_A_Guy]

On 8/24/2019 at 5:40 AM, mikbone said:

Not this

But this

or this

 

Lots of things going on in a good art restoration.  Removing all the grime that has deposited on to the canvas over the centuries (like the Mormon nick name, etc).  As well as replacing lost material (like the JST, or the Pearl of Great Price).  It takes a great artist though.  Look at what happens when a goofball tries to restore something great.  

The one caveat I would offer, is that an art “restoration” is typically done on something that was, at one point, finished or complete.  I don’t think either the body of believers in God, or the revealed corpus of truths they embraced, ever merited that description at any point in human history.  There was always more that was going to happen; more that would be revealed.

I think the metaphor could be improved if we hypothesize an unfinished painting that lies neglected for a few centuries, imagine it getting the sort of care documented in your video—but also imagine that the process is done by the original artist who has miraculously come back from the dead and now completes the painting.  

What the Lord is doing to and through His Church goes beyond “restoration”, even if that’s the word we are stuck using.