What would you do if I dropped all the parts to a contraption made in the early 1800s called a ‘spinning mule’ and asked you to restore it? What if there were no remaining pictures? What if nobody existed that had ever seen one? What if all you knew was that you could use it to cloth people of the early 1800s?

How would you know that you had restored it? How would anyone know that you had restored it? Would it matter if it was restored to its original state for us to call it restored? Would it matter if it didn’t cloth people? Would it matter if it didn’t have the same name? Would it be ok if you added parts? What if it was like many other spinning mules but not precisely like the one from which these parts were taken? What elements would need to exist for us to call it a restoration?

If interested, check out pictures of spinning mules

The apostolic definition of the restoration of the Church

Thankfully, President Nelson, The First Presidency, and The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared a restoration proclomation in April 2020 to provide some guidance on our challenge of restoration. The leading sentence of the proclamation of the restoration announces the love of God and that His love is universal, which establishes the founding feature of the restoration.

We solemnly proclaim that God loves His children in every nation of the world.

Interestingly, they reference only two scriptural passages in the proclamation, Acts 3:21 and Ephesians 1:10. Neither verse uses the word restoration. There are 57 verses with the word ‘restore’ and 31 verses with ‘restoration’, and none were referenced in their proclamation. The two New Testament verses referenced both seem to be describing a relationship with the Godhead through Christ and the Holy Ghost.

Acts 3:21 provides the phrase ‘restitution of all things’, which is a more precise understanding of the scriptural meaning of ‘restoration’. When reading the definition of restitution, we see a different picture than an act of replacing to a former state as restoration is defined. Restitution is the act of returning or restoring to a person some thing or right of which he has been unjustly deprived.

To whom and what right are we restoring?

Our day is the time when we, as a people, return to Christ and the Father what is rightly Theirs - a loving family. Restitution helps me think of our work as relationships rather than possessions. In restitution, we give our love and work to God. In restitution, we create a better future than any church at any time of the earth’s existence. We are held to our current relationship with God, not mimicking an edifice or structure that existed in ancient days.

I like how Alma explained restoration to his son Corrianton in Alma 41:13 where we come to understand that our character and emotion are what is restored.

the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish—good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous; just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful.

We grow into our abilities in this life and are given all that Christ has concerning our skills and potential. As Mormon 9:36 shares, we seek a ‘restoration to the knowledge of Christ’ and to have Him ‘restore [us] from [our] lost and fallen state.’ as explained by Nephi in 2 Nephi 25:17.

What ‘knowledge of Christ’ needed to be restored?

The restoration proclamation states,

We gladly declare that the promised Restoration goes forward through continuing revelation. The earth will never again be the same, as God will “gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).

I like the American Standard Version translation of Ephesians 1 that uses the phrase ‘sum up all things in Christ’.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ,

Ephesians 1 continues to explain what it means to ‘sum up all things in Christ’ as it talks about heaven and earth and then explains the role of the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

in whom ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.

The proclamation focuses on God’s work to restore to Joseph Smith the priesthood authority to initiate the gift of the Holy Ghost as the sealing power that empowers earthly ordinances to enact eternal bindings of our body, spirit, and family. Bruce R. McConkie explained this Holy Spirit of Promise as referenced in D&C 132:7 in this manner.

“The Holy Spirit of Promise is the Holy Spirit promised the saints, or in other words the Holy Ghost. This name-title is used in connection with the sealing and ratifying power of the Holy Ghost, that is, the power given him to ratify and approve the righteous acts of men so that those acts will be binding on earth and in heaven.

So the ‘knowledge of Christ’ is not explicitly referencing book knowledge as in the Bible, or even the vast and varied doctrines in the restored Church but the lived knowledge of the physical changing of our being such that we know Him because we are as He is. The Holy Ghost’s sealing and ratifying power allows Christ’s love to become our love as we grow into His presence.

Then what is our job in this restoration?

For some reason, I have often imagined the restoration as a possession. A thing much like the spinning mule I referenced above. I saw the restoration of the gospel as work to replace parts and restore the shine to fixed truths that existed previously. I am sure there is some of that; Especially concerning God’s character and His priesthood. However, the restoration includes more. Joseph Smith explains knowledge that ‘has not been revealed since the world was until now’ and mysteries ’that have been kept hid from the foundations of the world’ to help us understand that the restoration includes new truth based on ’the gift of the Holy Ghost’ as we seek with ‘fervent prayer and faith.’ He says,

We are called to hold the keys of the mysteries of those things that have been kept hid from the foundation of the world until now. Some have tasted a little of these things, many of which are to be poured down from heaven upon the heads of babes; yea, upon the weak, obscure and despised ones of the earth. . .

And now, brethren, after your tribulations, if you do these things, and exercise fervent prayer and faith in the sight of God always, He shall give unto you knowledge by His Holy Spirit, yea by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now. (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 Vols. 3:296)

It is our job to seek these truths and build on the foundations set by the authority of God through His priesthood. The point is that we must build on authoritative foundations and not on our own foundations. To me, building is adding more or moving forward in the restoration. Joseph provided a warning as we move forward in the restoration,

when men come out and build upon other men’s foundations, they do it on their own responsibility, without authority from God; and when the floods come and the winds blow, their foundations will be found to be sand, and their whole fabric will crumble to dust. (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols. 6:477, 478-79)

So it is our responsibility to partner with God in building truth in this restoration. In our building, how do we know when we have built on sure foundations or on other men’s foundations?

Could storms be an integral part of the ‘process of the restoration’?

The building principles of wise and foolish men

Jesus provides a parable that almost all of us understood in the early days of our believing lives. After learning we are children of God and that we should love one another, building on the rock comes next in the liturgy of primary doctrines. Although, I wonder if an armful of popcorn balls or speaking rivers that give might be in a close race for third in the liturgy.

The song is catchy and helps all of us remember some truths from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. The tune aligns with the words in Matthew the best. Read Matthew and see if you can get through the verses without starting into the song’s rhyme.

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:24-27)

The song doesn’t incorporate the other details we get from Luke about Jesus’ teachings on wise building. Notice Luke’s reference to ‘digging deep’ and ’laying a foundation’ for the house ‘on a rock’ as he explains the wise man. Then, the foolish man’s home is described as one ‘without a foundation’ that has ’earth’ not rock beneath it.

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:46-49)

Much of wisdom comes from a previous building on sandy foundations

As we build on the foundational teachings taught to us by our parents, leaders, or religious teachers, some will be sand, and some will be rock. The beauty is that storms come to allow us to figure out the quality of those foundational teachings. The pain comes when we have a lot of other beliefs built on the sandy foundation, as they will collapse as well.

I remember one of my youth Sunday school teachers teaching our class some bizarre doctrines about Christ visiting him. I knew that was a sandy foundation from the start and never built any other beliefs on that teaching. However, I had built on a few sandy doctrines during my life that hurt when the storms proved much of those beliefs to be foolish.

We can let our prophets and apostles root out the sandy foundations without condemning them for trying to ’lead the thought to a truer expression.’¹ In our recent past, President Nelson’s emphasis on the name of the Church is a beautiful example. It is ok that Joseph Smith and President Hinckley both had an affinity to the word Mormon. We used that cruder term because society didn’t respect minority groups and their requests. Previous prophets didn’t have President Nelson’s liberty due to our current societal relationships.

As another example, our Church’s ban on priesthood ordination to those of African descent was one of those sandy foundations that had quite a bit built on top of it over almost 150 years. That ban and the turmoil that ensued left the current Church to ‘disavow [sandy foundation] theories advanced [by church leaders and members] in the past’.²

We can be careful to challenge our own beliefs to ensure that we are not selling sandy foundations to our children and students. Challenging our current foundations is a meticulous but straightforward process. It requires that we let scripture speak in its own words and not the culture of our family, ward, or class. We are left to decide what historical teachings hold as much weight as scripture and which might be at ‘cruder stages of development.’¹

We can ask questions that push others (including our leaders in private) to refocus onto their foundations so that they might evaluate their foundations for their soundness. However, we should not take it upon ourselves to be the floods and the winds to the foundations of our parents or leaders. Being thoughtful is much better than being torrential. Keeping our focus on relationships instead of a partially sandy foundation will bless all parties.

The relationship and journey matter as much as the purity of the doctrine. Perhaps the context of the relationship and the journey is what Wilford Woodruff meant when he said, ‘The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray.’³

Our goal focuses on our community cooperating in the works of the spirit to bring truth to a more genuine expression. If we lose confidence in our leaders’ ability to guide the journey, we are pulling away from this cooperation, and we are ‘on the road to apostasy.’⁴

We can allow those around us to get their questions answered as they try to understand sandy and sure doctrines in their lives. We can accept them as a journey partner instead of pushing them off the bus because we think we are the owners of every truth. God and time own the truths, and we should not take it upon ourselves to push friends off of a moving bus.

I am grateful for a God who keeps me on the bus because he values my long-term potential and ability to be restored over my erring in beliefs. I am thankful for a God that is willing to answer my questions about my beliefs. I have come to appreciate the storms that help me find weak doctrinal foundations in my life. I love Him because He continues the restoration in His Church and in me.

• truth
• principles
• wisdom
• relationship