Saturday, February 24, 2007

Zion, the new Jerusalem

OK, so a commenter named balthome left a comment on my post entitled "Mitt Romney and the 10th Article of Faith."

To summarize the post, George Stephanopolis interviewed Mitt Romney and asked him about Mormon's belief that Jesus will come to the United States. Mitt said that we believe He will come and reign in Jerusalem. George later talked to a Church spokeperson, who said that George was right, Mitt was wrong. So, on to the comment:

My comments, hopefully, will clear up this apparent contradiction. The beliefs of the LDS Church on this issue, I feel, are being misrepresented. Further, I have no doubt that Governor Romney not only learned this in Primary, but memorized all 13 Articles of Faith.

Please see Isaiah 2:3, Micah 4:2 and (in The Book of Mormon) 2 Nephi 12:3. These explain, as I understand them, that there will be two capitals, from which come the law of the government (Zion, the New Jerusalem) and the word of the Lord (Jerusalem), respectively.


OK, let's look up the scriptures:

Isaiah 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us ago up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Micah 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

2 Nephi 12:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

OK, well, it does say that out of Zion will go the law, and the word will come from Jerusalem. (Was it really neccessary to go through 3 verses that say the exact same thing? Probably not.) However, we have this from The Doctrine and Covenants:

D&C 84:2-4 Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem.
3 Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased.
4 Verily this is the word of the Lord, that the city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at this place, even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation.

So, we have the D&C giving us that the saints will be gathered in New Jerusalem, Missouri. Mitt Romney says that the gathering will be at the Mount of Olives in old Jerusalem.

-Bob

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Christ will make several appearances when He returns. One of them will be at the Mount of Olives where He splits it in two (I hope CNN covers that)