Crandall Printing Museum

This past week I visited the Crandall Printing Museum on Center Street in Provo, Utah as part of my Honors Doctrine and Covenants class. I visited the museum once about four years ago (my freshman year in my Honors Book of Mormon class). It hasn’t changed a whole lot since then, but it was definitely a worthwhile experience. Once again, the type-writing letter-casting machine thing was broken. What are the chances of that happening both times I go? He made a reference to his favorite show, The Three Amigos again, but this time he didn’t have the Chinese wooden block prints of the character 林 which he was holding upside down…

This time visiting, I have a much deeper impression about how amazing Gutenberg was, and how many things he had to do to create the printing press. It also amazes me that they were using almost the exact same technology in Joseph Smith’s day for printing as Gutenberg used several hundred years before. That truly amazes me. Gutenberg was a true renaissance man. It was an interesting point that the first printed Bible and the first Book of Mormon were printed in almost an identical manner.

We spent a lot of time talking about Benjamin Franklin this time. I definitely learned some interesting facts about the history of printing in America. I really enjoyed Benjamin Franklin’s epitaph: “The body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer (like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding), lies here, food for worms; but the work shall not be lost, for it will (as he believed) appear once more in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the Author.”

One thing that was definitely not there last time I visited (but that we curiously didn’t even talk about) was the replica Gold Plates. They are made of a gold-silver alloy called electrum, and it was created based off Joseph Smiths and Oliver Cowdery’s accounts of the plates. The top plate even had etching of the Reformed Egyptian characters based off the rubbing that Joseph made of the plates. In most artists renditions of the plates, the sealed portion has a metal band of some sort around it. Oliver Cowdery described it as looking like wood or something, so the replica plates actually use tree sap and beeswax as the seal, if I remember correctly. That was pretty neat!

One thing that was really neat, and pertinent to our class, was when he talked about the printing of the Book of Mormon. He had a famous binder come through several years back, and he asked him about how long it would take to bind 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon. The man said, “You mean 500, right?” He said no one printed 5000 of anything back in those days. But, that’s why Martin Harris had to mortgage his farm to have them printed! It’s also a miracle that the Smith family had moved right up to New York near the Eerie Canal, and that a printer had come right to their small township allowing the Book of Mormon to be printed there.

Overall, it was a very worthwhile experience. They are trying to raise funds to expand their museum right now, so if you have lots of money, you should donate some to them! (Note: This is actually my experience from last year because I didn't attend this year.)

Paul's final journy to Jerusalem

One of the most tragic events in the Book of Acts must be Paul's final journy to Jerusalem. It had been foretold by many that ill awaited him there, but he chose to go regardless. We have learned in our class this semester that Luke's purpose in writing Acts was to show how the Gospel made it to Rome and was preached there by Paul. In spite of warnings of his friends (some went so far as to beg him not to go) Paul decided to continue on his mission to Jerusalem to deliver the funds he had gathered for the poor Saints there. When he got there, the zealous Jews who had converted to Christianity conspired against him because they said that he taught against the Law of Moses. These early converts believed that all Christians had to adhere to the Law of Moses because they did not understand that it had been fulfilled by Christ. In the end, Paul was saved by the Roman soldiers from the mob in the temple (they were ready to kill him), and eventually asked for a trial in Rome. Thus Paul's journy to Rome began with his journy to Jerusalem, and so Luke fulfilled his purpose in it.

The Apostasy

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord" Amos 8:11

All throughout history there has been a pattern between the Lord and man:

• God teaches His gospel to man through His prophets
• The people grow prideful and wicket
• The people reject and kill the prophets
• God does not send prophets among the people for a time
• The people fall into a state of apostasy—living in darkness, not knowing the truth

After the death of Jesus Christ, His Apostles continued to administer the Church and spread the gospel for a time. However, even they knew that another apostasy must soon come. Paul taught, concerning the second coming: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first" (2 Thessalonians 2:3). He also taught: "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:29-30).

For some reason many Christians believe that the great falling away, or apostasy, did not occur for several hundred years after the death of Christ. However, Paul's teachings suggest that apostasy would happen much sooner. Many people falsely and unjustly accuse the Catholic church of perverting the pure doctrine of Christ and bringing about the great apostasy. The Apostles had died and the priesthood authority had been taken from the earth long before that time, however, and many of the plain and precious truths had already been lost. The church had already been lost, and although the children of men still had many great truths within the Bible, the fullness of the gospel would need to be restored through another prophet, following the age-old pattern set forth in the scriputres. I know that our loving Heavenly Father has reached out to us again in these latter-days and has again called prophets upon the earth.

BYU Art Museum

This past week we had the opportunity to do a tour at the Museum of Art here at BYU by Rita Wrights. I attended this same tour a year ago, and one of the most interesting paintings, I thought, that we talked about both in class and at the museum is entitled Exchange No. 8.  It is a painting of two chairs, one lying in front of another that's standing upright.  The one lying on the floor is covered by a red veil, which is draped over the top of it.  The upright one is covered by a white veil.  This simple painting of chairs was one of the most symbol-rich works that we saw, in my own opinion.  It didn't have a single person in the painting, but it was clear that it was about the atonement of our Savior.

First, the chairs are both of a simple design, made of wood.  This typifies the Savior for two reasons.  First, simple wooden chairs remind us as his role as a carpenter, the occupation for which he was trained by his adopted father Joseph.  Second, the simple, inelegant design of the chairs echo Isaiah's words: "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him" (Isaiah 53:2).

Next is the cloth.  The scarlet cloth placed over the fallen chair can represent many things.  The red can represent the mortality of the savior while on earth.  It could represent the scarlet robe placed upon his back by the mocking soldiers, or the blood which he spilt in Gethsemane.  It could represent the ultimate sacrifice of His life on the cross at Golgotha—or it could mean all of these things.  The white cloth reminds us of the linens in which Jesus' body was wrapped for His burial, and which were found neatly folded in the tomb after His resurrection.  It reminds us of purity, and of new life—even life everlasting.  It all points to the atonement.

Finally, there was a light circle around the whole painting.  This suggests that the atonement of Jesus Christ is the center of everything.  All of these symbols point to Jesus Christ—all worked into a painting which, at first glance, may not even appear religious.  This reminds me of an experience I posted about during a previous semester: Bible Culture.

Romans

Dr. H often uses the analogy of using different glasses or lenses to read a text. He says that often when we read a text we are influenced by our modern lenses which we read it through—meaning our culture, previous education, personal experience, and societal expectations. Another major lens is religion. Paul used the scriptures to condemn the Christians as blasphemers before his conversion, but after having his experience with the risen Savior on the road to Damascus, he used the same scriptures to prove that Jesus was the very Christ. Paul was then reading the scriptures with new glasses, or through the Christian lens, and he saw that Jesus was in fact everywhere therein.

I have read the book of Romans before, but not through the same lenses as I do now. Throughout my study of the New Testament this semester I have gained a much greater understanding into the culture, circumstances, and beliefs that persisted at the time that this text was written, and it is a very neat experience reading the text from this new perspective. This is not to say that anything I may have learned when reading the book before was incorrect, but merely that I am now able to gain new and different insights than I gained before.

I heard another great analogy in class that I think applies very well to this situation. Paul quotes the Old Testament in his epistle to Timothy: “For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward” (1 Timothy 5:18). Paul was quoting a passage from the Old Testament and applying it to his current situation. The original passage was most likely meant to be taken literally (it was talking about actual oxen), but Paul applied it to his fellow laborers in Christ. Since he applied this scripture that was literally talking about oxen to people, does that make his interpretation incorrect? No, of course not! As long as the application is sound and in harmony with the Gospel, why would it be wrong? I would apply that same analogy to my previous readings in Romans. That is to say, I made valid applications to my life and learned good lessons from interpretation, but I do not think that I understood as well what Paul’s literal meaning was when he wrote (or, rather, dictated).

A beautiful example of this is found in Romans chapter 3. Verses 23 through 26 teach us an amazing lesson about the way our loving Heavenly Father works. It starts by saying that we have all sinned. We have all transgressed—offended the law of God, or perhaps we could even say offended God in our actions. In the typical Greco-Roman culture of the time, if you believed that you had offended your god then you would offer a propitiation, or in other words, a peace offering. This was a gift meant to appease the gods and curb their anger. Although the Israelites did not hold this same view, they still offered burnt offerings of thanksgiving unto Jehovah, and the specified sacrifices in the temple for the atonement of their people. However, what we see here in Romans is completely different. We have offended God, we have sinned against Him, but instead of us offering a sacrifice to Him, he sacrificed His beloved Son to atone for our sins. Our Heavenly Father provided the propitiation for our sins—His Son Jesus Christ.