incorporate more of the principles of Zion...

"Only a Zion people can bring in a Zion society. And as the Zion people increase, so we will be able to incorporate more of the principles of Zion until we have a people prepared to receive the Lord."

President Ezra Taft Benson, "Jesus Christ—Gifts and Expectations"

Dec 10, 1974

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/ezra-taft-benson_jesus-christ-gifts-expectations/

I'll have more to say about this talk in future posts, but for now I wanted to point out how the Church and LDS people generally continue to incorporate more of the principles of Zion.

Here are a few of the principles of Zion that have been incorporated just since 1975:

- The Perpetual Education Fund 
- Development of Just Serve
- Development of Family Search
- Development of Self Reliance Initiative
- Worldwide expansion of temples
- Worldwide expansion of missionary work
- Worldwide expansion of stakes
- Worldwide expansion of Book of Mormon translations
- Digital scriptures and other resources (millions of uses every month)
- Joseph Smith Papers (more accurate and complete understanding of Church history)
- Return to understanding of Book of Mormon covenant land

Let's each strive to "incorporate more of the principles of Zion" in our individual lives, in our wards and branches, in our respective organizations, in our respective callings, and in every other way.

Process vs goals

One way to evaluate organizations and leaders is by seeing if they focus on processes or goals. It's the difference between "systems thinkers" and "goal thinkers."

I've described the four missions of the Church as process oriented, not goal oriented. This is not criticism. Process or systems thinking is the best way to achieve improvement. A system consists of things you do every day that lead to better outcomes, such as studying the scriptures and praying.

Let's say you set a goal of reading the Book of Mormon in 3 months. This is not really a goal; having read the Book of Mormon in 3 months is not the point. Instead, this "goal" is really the establishment of a system that will lead to better results, even if you don't know ahead of time what those results will be.

In like manner, the four missions of the Church set up systems that will lead to better results.

The reason I advocate a "Fifth Mission" that is goal-oriented is because a system without focus or purpose can become rote and even meaningless. It risks becoming a set of rules and performances that people come to resent.

Think of the law of Moses. It was intended to lead people to look to the Messiah, but it became too much system and not enough goal. People began to think the performing of the ceremonies and observance of the rules was the point. Consequently, they didn't recognize the Messiah when He came.

I think there's a risk of a similar thing happening with the four missions of the Church. We're not preaching the Gospel to get baptisms or to persuade people to choose our church or religion over another one; we're preaching the Gospel to give people an opportunity to come to Christ and help build up Zion.

Lots more to say about this, but I wanted to clarify the point that process-oriented missions are very important and more effective than goal-oriented missions, but process-oriented missions still need an ultimate objective.

Hence, the Fifth Mission.

The Book of Mormon and the Fifth Mission

People have asked me why I wrote so many books about Church history and the Book of Mormon.

For many years, it has been apparent to me that one of the biggest impediments to widespread acceptance of the Gospel is the problem with historicity of the Book of Mormon. I've discussed this with Muslims in the Middle-East, Hindus in India, and Christians in the United States and Europe. 

Because I believe the Book of Mormon is the tool the Lord prepared and provided for spreading the Gospel throughout the world, I think it is unacceptable for confusion to reign in the Church about the setting.

I think most people who read the Book of Mormon, or who think about reading it, want to know where the events took place. When you put yourself in the position of an investigator, it's easy to see why. You're expected to believe there was an ancient civilization in the Americas that taught Christianity before Christ was born in Israel, that Christ visited them after his resurrection, and that the literate civilization was wiped out with no trace but a volume of sacred scripture written on gold plates and concealed in a hill in New York.

That's not an easy thing to believe, but you're told the man who translated the record, Joseph Smith, was a prophet and the Book of Mormon is evidence of his prophetic calling.

But then you're expected to believe the people were actually a small group in the midst of the decidedly non-Christian Mayan civilization, that Joseph Smith, who translated the plates and interacted with ancient prophets, including Moroni, misled the Church about the setting of the Book of Mormon. You'r expected to believe that Oliver Cowdery, who wrote the Book of Mormon as Joseph dictated it and who was the only other witness to the restoration of the Priesthood, was reliable and credible in everything he wrote except when he said the Hill Cumorah was in New York.

That's a bridge too far for many--I think most--investigators. Certainly it doesn't come up in the first discussion, but it comes up on the Internet, and we can't expect investigators or members to remain oblivious of what is on the Internet. 

In my view, the Book of Mormon geography must be resolved before the world will accept it. And I don't think that geography can be resolved by casting doubt on the credibility and reliability of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

Based on my historical research, I think it's clear that Joseph and Oliver translated two sets of plates; that the plates of Nephi came from the records repository in the Hill Cumorah in New York, described by Mormon (Mormon 6:6); that Mormon and Moroni wrote their abridgments "not far" from Joseph's home near Palmyra; that the Book of Mormon text describes North America, from Florida to Missouri to New York; and that Joseph Smith never once wrote, said, or endorsed any statement that linked the Book of Mormon to Central or South America.

Consequently, in my view, any proposed geography that puts Cumorah somewhere other than in New York is simply false. Perpetuating these theories does enormous damage to faith in the Book of Mormon and is an impediment that must be removed.

This is not to say it is improper or destructive for people everywhere to liken the Book of Mormon to themselves. Nephi likened Old Testament scriptures to his people (1 Nephi 19:23), even though they lived a continent away from the events to which he referred. But Nephi never claimed Moses lived in America, which people ought to keep in mind when doing these comparisons.

Yet we have LDS scholars and educators actively promoting and teaching the idea that Cumorah is not in New York. They are trying to persuade the youth of the Church, and members generally (as well as nonmembers), that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery misled the Church by stating it was a fact that the final battles of the Nephites and Jaredites took place in New York. 

I hope these LDS scholars and educators cease their efforts and instead begin to work on establishing the veracity of what Joseph and Oliver said. If they refuse, they will continue impeding the accomplishment of the missions of the Church, but ultimately it won't matter because people are already seeing through their tactics.

The North American setting--what I call Moroni's America--supports Joseph and Oliver. It encourages people to read the Book of Mormon and find the spiritual messages and support the book offers. And it makes the Book of Mormon real in the lives of those who read it.

What is the Fifth Mission?

Joseph Smith once said, "We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object." 

Why?

Because "when wars come we shall have to flee to Zion. The cry is to make haste. The last revelation says ye shall not have time to have gone over the Earth until these things come."

(You can see the original version of these statements here: http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-between-circa-26-june-and-circa-4-august-1839-a-as-reported-by-willard-richards/8.)

This concept of Zion as a refuge is both metaphorical and literal. Zion is the ideal society of peace, equality, equity, and happiness that most people aspire to. They just don't know where to find Zion or how to become part of it.

Too often, the LDS missionary program is perceived of--by leaders, missionaries and investigators--as trying to get people to join our church instead of another, or to adopt our religion instead of another. I call this "shopping cart" missionary work because it tends to focus on features instead of outcomes. We're not just trying to get others to "switch." 

Instead, we're inviting them to join with us to establish Zion. 

Same with the mission of perfecting the Saints. Too often, members think they need to complete a checklist to be "worthy." That leads to all kinds of stress and a judgmental attitude. That's not the point of perfecting the saints. We strive to perfect the saints so we can establish Zion. Instead of looking inward and "working on" weaknesses, we look upward and forward as we are drawn to the united goal of establishing Zion. We become of one heart as we work together on this ultimate goal.

I'll discuss this much more in future posts.

As I'll show in this blog, the four missions of the Church are process oriented. They describe what we do, but not what our ultimate goal is. 

If our "greatest object" ought to be "the building up of Zion," then how do we accomplish that when we don't have that uppermost in our minds?

The purpose of this blog is to discuss the building of up Zion from multiple perspectives. I hope people will find useful ideas and inspiration here as we work together to fulfill Joseph's ideals.