Filled with Light

Although the same revelations lie on both sets of pages, examining the material in two places almost leaves me with the feeling of two sets of scripture. What a blessing to have truth from two marvelous perspectives! The most recent modern 2007 edition that I have is beautifully typed and bound, extremely cost-effective, and it fits comfortably in my hands. The other, found in the newly released The Joseph Smith Papers Revelations and Translations book is a place where I can see the handwriting of the earliest leaders of the church. The pages were much larger, hand written, and expensive. The sweat, tears, and heartache of the manuscript pulls you into the page.

It increased my testimony to see the detail that went into the manuscript editing. What may seem like small changes done by Joseph Smith and others can have potentially huge doctrinal impacts. Reading the pages you can see obvious points (especially when turning pages) where it looks like a sentence was repeated by Joseph (for clarity when translating) but was accidentally copied twice by the scribe and had to be crossed out later. This reminded me of our class trip to Special Collections where we learned about the tedious and rigorous scribe process. This was an extremely time consuming process which reinforces the sacredness of the work of the Kingdom.

I really enjoyed being able to see the combination of original words, edits, and who changed what. Scratch-outs offer insights to other possible scripture pronunciations for our benefit and learning. For instance if I were trying to study a certain principle in the Doctrine and Covenants, I might try looking in the manuscripts to see what words were there originally. God made sure what He wanted was there in the end, but surely similar words and concepts were confused at first. (Footnotes, almost!)

Studying the actually manuscript increased my awareness of the words on the page. At one point it references the “curtain of heaven” being drawn and reading from the original pages drew my mind to the temple. This was a connection I hadn’t thought of before! Language can be such a powerful thing when not taken so casually. Words have actual meanings and implications. They have a history and tradition! For instance, on page 295, a change was made from “celestial spirit inherits celestial body” to “celestial spirit inherits body.” You get what you are! Certainly your body is made of whatever spirit you are.

One of my favorite passages on page 299 read: "that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.” God opens our understanding as we fill our lives with His truth and goodness.