D&C 93. The doctrine of our
potential for godhood had already been revealed in 1833 and is recorded in
section 93 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The very first verse of the revelation
teaches that all may approach God—and know him: “Verily, thus saith the Lord: It
shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me,
and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments,
shall see my face and know that I am” (D&C 93:1).
“Section 93,” one
scholar has written, “is an introductory text on how to come into the Lord’s
presence and become like him” (Steven C. Harper, Making Sense of the
Doctrine and Covenants: A Guided Tour through Modern Revelations [2008],
345). Truman often taught that the objective of the missionary program is “to
get Mr. and Mrs. Brown on their knees.” God is not “the Great Oblong Blur”
constructed by the creeds—he is our Father. He is approachable and knowable (see
John 17:3).
Indeed, the Lord
himself explained why he gave the revelation recorded in section 93: “that you
may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may
come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fullness” (D&C
93:19).
“Section 93,” Truman noted,
was received “when Joseph was twenty0seven years old. It defines beginningless
beginnings, the interrelationships of truth, of light, of intelligence, of agency,
of element, of embodiment, of joy. Every sentence, every word, is freighted
with meaning” (TGM, Joseph Smith, the Prophet [1989], 140-41 n. 27).
Based on this
revelation alone, we need not be, as Kierkegaard suggested, “crucified on the
paradox of the absurd.” “in one fell swoop,” Truman observed, “it cuts many Gordian
knots.”
For example: How can
there [be] something come from nothing. Answer: The universe was not created
from nothing. “The elements are eternal.” [v. 33]
How can Christ have
been both absolutely human and absolutely divine at the same time? Answer: He
was not both at the same time. Christ ‘received not of the fulness at first,
but continued . . . until he received a fulness. [vv. 12-14]
If a man is totally the
creation of God, how can he be anything or do anything that he was not divinely
pre-caused to do? Answer: Man is not totally the creation of God. “Intelligence
. . . was not created or made, neither indeed can be. . . . Behold, here is the
agency of man.” [vv. 29, 31]
How can man be a divine
creation and yet be “totally depraved”? Answer: Man is not totally depraved. “Every
spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from
the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.” [v.
38]
What is the relationship
of being and beings, the one and the many? Answer: “Being” is only the
collective name of beings of whom God is one. Truth is knowledge of things
(plural), and not, as Plato would have it, of Thinghood. “Truth is knowledge of
things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.” [v. 24]
How can spirit relate
to gross matter? Answer: “The elements are the tabernacle of God.” [v. 35]
Why should man be
embodied? Answer: “Spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness
of joy” [v. 33]
If we being susceptible
to light and truth, how is it that people err and abuse the light? Answer:
People are free; they can be persuaded only if they choose to be. They cannot
be compelled. The Socratic thesis that knowledge is virtue (that if you really
know the good you will seek it and do it) is mistaken. It is through
disobedience and because of the traditions of the fathers that light is taken
away from mankind. [v. 39] (Ibid.)
These doctrines from
section 93, cutting through the paradoxes of orthodox theology, are at the core
of Eternal Man. No wonder one reader wrote, “I can only express the
feeling that came to me as I read your book as though someone had turned on the
light in a dark room. Everything I had been wondering about found its answers
in your book” (Richard Fairbanks letter to TGM, 21 March 1979; Journal 1979). (Barnard
N. Madsen, The Truman G. Madsen Story: A Life of Study and Faith [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book, 2016], 309-11)
Further Reading
Blake Ostler on Christology and Christification in Mosiah 15 and D&C 93
