let us beat our swords into ploughshares
This is a commentary to Isaiah 2 (2 Nephi 17) that I posted today on latter day satyagraha. I have been thinking about this for a long time: in what way do we as a latter day movement embody the hopes of Isaiah for the millennium? There is no doubt that the House of the LORD is central to this vision. In my search for a new community of Saints, I insist on expanding on our understanding of the place our mormon temples occupy in a latter day context, and a priori there are both similarities and differences in the approaches to temple building within our movement. I speak as a former LDS member, so I welcome comments that might help me understand the CofC approach:
Become a people of the Temple – those who see violence but proclaim peace, who feel conflict yet extend the hand of reconciliation, who encounter broken spirits and find pathways for healing. Fulfill the purposes of the Temple by making its ministries manifest in your hearts…. Let it stand as a towering symbol of a people who knew injustice and strife on the frontier and who now seek the peace of Jesus Christ throughout the world. —Doctrine and Covenants 161:2a-b (Community of Christ)
and it shall come to pass in the last days…
The scripture below is one of the most quoted scriptures in the Latter day Saint movement and of the Peace movement! Both movements have Isaiah’s prophetic words about the coming millennium in common. LDS seldom realize this, and neither do peace activists. LDS believe that Isaiah’s words are to be interpreted literally, and for that reason LDS temple ceremonies are connected to the most-quoted millennial scripture in the peace movement “and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks”:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall 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; And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore”.
But for some reason, it does not seem to work well for Utah-mormons that the very single scripture in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon that talks about modern-day temples, as we approach the new Millennium, links LDS templebuilding to peacebuilding and disarmament. In his Conference Address This Great Millennial Year in the newly built Conference Center of Salt Lake City, Gordon B. Hinckley said:
As I contemplate this marvelous structure, adjacent to the temple, there comes to mind the great prophetic utterance of Isaiah: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. “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. … “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Isa. 2:2–3, 5).
The late president did not cite verse 4 in his keynote address: “they shall beat their swords into ploughshares”, and “the nations shall not lift sword against nations”. I am guessing that either the “rank and file” members of the LDS Church are not ready for the Church to embrace its millennial calling and/or it is omitted for reasons of a lack of commitment in the LDS Church to peace. In the same way that religions are ambivalent to the use of violence, they are also ambivalent to nonviolence as a tool for social change. Peace is mainly understood as inner peace, the fruit of the Spirit and the result of repentance – as the End of the journey, and not as the Way. Even though Mahatma Gandhi once said: “There is no way to peace. Peace is the Way!”
Hinckley explains the link: “I believe [Isaiah's] prophecy applies to the historic and wonderful Salt Lake Temple. But I believe also that it is related to this magnificent hall. For it is from this pulpit that the law of God shall go forth, together with the word and testimony of the Lord. May God bless us as a people. We have found a new stride in this great millennial year. May we walk in the footsteps of the great Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”.
I can hardly wait!
Swords to ploughshares
“Swords to ploughshares” is a widely understood concept in the field of peace operations in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications. The plowshare is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit mankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by the sword, a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use. The common expression “beat swords into plowshares” has been used by disparate social and political groups.
Ploughshares actions are made by people committed to peace and disarmament and who nonviolently, safely, openly and accountably disable a war machine or system so that it can no longer harm people.
Ploughshares activists are given training in safety and nonviolence and form groups for long-term support. Ploughshares is an enactment of the Biblical prophecies to ’beat swords into ploughshares’ but is now no longer a Christian movement but one which embraces people from many different faiths or from none at all. The underlying appeal is the universal call to peace, to abolish all war and to find peaceful ways to resolve our conflicts. It recognises the abuse of power that war always is, and the deep immorality of threats to kill (taken from Trident Ploughshares website).
One must ask: Do mormon temples have anything to do with establishing peace between and within nations, and with redirecting our spending from military operations to peaceful and constructive activities? I think they do, but the link is not apparent – as you can imagine. In speaking of the Salt Lake City Temple, Gordon B. Hinckley expressed:
“Inside the temple a further sense of peace is experienced. The world is left behind with its clamor and rush. In the house of the Lord there is tranquillity. Those who serve here know that they are dealing with matters of eternity. All are dressed in white. Speech is subdued. Thoughts are elevated. This is a sanctuary of service. Most of the work done in this sacred house is performed vicariously in behalf of those who have passed beyond the veil of death [...] This sacred edifice becomes a school of instruction in the sweet and sacred things of God. Here we have outlined the plan of a loving Father in behalf of His sons and daughters of all generations. Here we have sketched before us the odyssey of man’s eternal journey from premortal existence through this life to the life beyond…”
I have written another article on temples: structures of peace, where the idea of the temples as schools of instruction (HoPE – Holistic Peace Education) is exemplified and may in the future be employed as a potential mormon social change theory. The idea is, as I understand it, to create temple communities around the world, communities made up of individuals, families and neighborhoods that will live up to their sacred covenants and who will in that way “establish Zion”. But over the years, Zion has become less and less what it used or was meant to be. We talk now of Zion as the Kingdom of God on earth, that being the LDS Church.
So the vision of a different and better society is fading. The temple becomes “a refuge from the storm”, “a haven in the midst of chaos”: a form of mormon isolationism in some sorts. The beauty of it all is that no church or social movement operates in a vacuum. Should violence continue unabated to destroy society, we might all conclude – and let us hope we will before it is too late – that we too must lay down our weapons. So that the word of Isaiah might be fulfilled. In this light, one may add that there are welcomed changes in LDS Church policy. I make in particular reference to the new-found “purpose” of the Church “to care for the poor and the needy” (it is not a new idea, but the emphasis is). This rediscovered emphasis is good, but it does not as yet provide the vision of a different and better society.
February 23, 2010 at 12:05 am
As you may or may not know, our Temple in Independence is dedicated to the pursuit of peace. That dedication was made known before the ground was even broken.
February 23, 2010 at 12:28 am
“I welcome comments that might help me understand the CofC approach”
So would I. Margie’s statement is correct, but we have very little given to us as to what that means.
I have a letter from one of the former members of the 12 who expressed some concern that we were placing too many “eggs” of the church in the “particular basket” of the Temple, so I’m not sure that there was a particularly good understanding of the purposes of the Temple even among the leadership. There still may not be, if we read between the lines of recent revelations.
This seems to be a build-it-on-faith-figure-out-what-to-do-with-it-later action. Maybe you’re asking these questions at just the right time.
February 23, 2010 at 6:37 am
“There still may not be, if we read between the lines of recent revelations”.
In this case, what revelations are you referring to… It might add additional light to my understanding, if I were able to read those. Are there any links to those revelations, especially those that relate directly to the Temple (Kirtland, Independence)?
February 23, 2010 at 12:26 pm
We have held Peace Colloquys there ever since it was built. I have attended many of those and have taken friends who are interested in the concept of peace. One is a senior judge. He and his wife and sister-in-law have attended several times and look forward to them each year. Those may help the church come to an understanding of it’s mission of building peace in homes, neighborhoods, communities and even the world. Peace is going to be hard to build in a world basically ruled by men. They seem to be all about power and war.
I believe we have entered into many wars that could have easily been avoided just because we as a nation have been imperialistic.
February 23, 2010 at 12:29 pm
The last two sections of our Doctrine and Covenants may be helpful.
http://www.cofchrist.org/OnlineResources/DocCovenants/section162.asp
http://www.cofchrist.org/D&C163/section163.asp
February 23, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Section 163
8a. The Temple is an instrument of ongoing revelation in the life of the church. Its symbolism and ministries call people to reverence in the presence of the Divine Being. Transformative encounters with the Eternal Creator and Reconciler await those who follow its spiritual pathways of healing, reconciliation, peace, strengthening of faith, and knowledge.
b. There are additional sacred ministries that will spring forth from the Temple as rivers of living water to help people soothe and resolve the brokenness and pain in their lives. Let the Temple continue to come to life as a sacred center of worship, education, community building, and discipleship preparation for all ages.
c. As these ministries come to fuller expression, receptive congregations in the areas around the Temple and throughout the world will be revived and equipped for more effective ministry. Vital to this awakening is the understanding that the Temple calls the entire church to become a sanctuary of Christ’s peace, where people from all nations, ethnicities, and life circumstances can be gathered into a spiritual home without dividing walls, as a fulfillment of the vision for which Jesus Christ sacrificed his life.
Thank you for that Margie! What are the additional sacred ministries that will spring forth from the Temple as rivers of living water? Is this a prophecy about something to be revealed sometime in the future? And can you talk about making “binding covenants for time and eternity” in the same way in the Community of Christ both through the baptismal “covenant” as well as through “sacred temple covenants”? What I am asking is: is there a covenant spirituality within the Community of Christ as well, like the LDS link it to Moroni quoting Malachi’s words to Prophet Joseph about “the hearts of the children being turned to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to their children”?
February 23, 2010 at 3:29 pm
They will be coming forth and revealed as we continue to work for peace as a church.
February 23, 2010 at 9:43 pm
mg:
The history of revelations concerning the modern temple begins with Section 149 of our D&C. We’re pretty bad about getting our scriptures on-line, and because we do add new revelations to the canon relatively frequently, most members paste in new sections page by page rather thasn buy new copies of the entire D&C; but Margie has already linked Section 162 and 163, and the proposed 164 is up on the main CofChrist.org website. If Kirsten in Oslo can’t loan you a reasonably up-to-date D&C, there is a fundamentalist RLDS (anti-CofChrist) site that has posted most of our Sections since Section 145 here.
Does anyone know an on-line source for Section 160 and Section 161 for mg?
February 23, 2010 at 10:05 pm
I believe they are all available on Wikipedia here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_and_Covenants
February 23, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Maybe that’s just a description of the content of the section.
February 25, 2010 at 3:48 am
Here is a link to a pdf copy of our Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon that you can download.. Someone made them and shared the link a couple of years ago.
http://www.box.net/shared/x7067y9dqo
and
http://www.box.net/shared/4qqksyabqe
February 25, 2010 at 7:18 am
Jeswitts! Thank you so much for that. This is as good as having the scriptures online!
February 25, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Thanks, also, Jeswitts.
mg, in case you are not aware of it, the text of the LDS and CofChrist Books of Mormon are essentially identical, but the denominations do NOT remotely break up the chapters and verses with the same numbering. (We have many fewer, much longer chapters.) If the PDF version of ours is not searchable, you may find it easier to use the LDS version on-line and then hunt down the corresponding citation from the CofChrist version from story context.
Of course, the D&C’s have very different contents entirely, and the Sections we share are often ordered differently.
February 23, 2010 at 10:10 pm
I think 160 is the only one not posted there. I’ll see if I can find it elsewhere.
February 24, 2010 at 6:58 am
Thanks, this is really helpful. Looking forward to going through some of the later revelations. Are there other sources, besides the D&C sections mentioned above, that might be able to shed additional light? This is cool!
February 24, 2010 at 12:26 pm
There may be some articles in the Restoration Studies books published by John Whitmer Historical Association. When I have some time later in the day, I’ll look and see.
This is so new to us…a little over ten years..that more and more information will be forthcoming in the years to come.
February 24, 2010 at 4:38 pm
I am happy to be able to help.
February 24, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Pardon the blatant self-promotion but I have the two Herald articles I wrote for the Doctrine and Covenants Section 163 Commentary series archived on my Web site. The first served as a general introduction to the entire section, while the second one specifically focused on the Temple:
August 2007 Herald, “The Future Beckons: Do Not Be Afraid.”
December 2008 Herald, “The Temple Calls.”
Both can be found on the church’s Web site, as well, here, along with the 22 other feature articles.
February 24, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Rich:
These are good articles.
I must confess that the Temple in Independence will never be a particularly sacred place to me because of personal experience. While a guide in the Temple my father stumbled backward over a loose carpet, fell against some kind of brick planter, and broke his neck. Both he and my mother were severely restricted by the necessity of his care for the rest of his life.
I do think that points out that sacred spaces are made sacred and given power by the experiences peoples have there. I have those experiences in connection to Kirtland, but others will have to build them in Independence.
February 24, 2010 at 8:22 pm
“I do think that points out that sacred spaces are made sacred and given power by the experiences peoples have there.”
FireTag: That is one of the most important truths possible regarding the Temple (as well as other places held to be sacred) but too often overlooked or downplayed, sadly. Imagine if Velma Ruch’s quoted words at the end of my 2008 article had been heeded more than 20 years ago:
“Now is the time—the time to learn the way to the Temple…. It can be accomplished only by people who have experienced the redemptive power of Christ in their own lives and who, in the response of their discipleship, seek to be true ambassadors” (“The Way to the Temple,” Herald, September 1988).
February 24, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I have not been able to find section 160 anywhere on the web. Does anyone know why?
February 24, 2010 at 5:05 pm
It’s just as I thought. Every restoration Studies volume since 1988 have at least one and sometimes several articles on the church becoming a peace church.
However, I don’t believe those articles are to be found online.
March 6, 2010 at 1:19 pm
MG, we never answered this question of yours:
“And can you talk about making “binding covenants for time and eternity” in the same way in the Community of Christ both through the baptismal “covenant” as well as through “sacred temple covenants”? What I am asking is: is there a covenant spirituality within the Community of Christ as well, like the LDS link it to Moroni quoting Malachi’s words to Prophet Joseph about “the hearts of the children being turned to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to their children”?
My chiropractor is an LDS bishop, and we have had wonderful conversations over the years. Some time ago, I asked him if I would be accurate in saying that when it comes to doctrine, that the LDS church would take a more physical or literal approach, whereas the CofC would take a more spiritual approach (without implying that one was better than the other), he thought that was a fair assessment.
CofC members make only one eternal covenant, and that is in the waters of baptism. We do nothing by proxy, and we do not hold that marriage or family are eternal. We have no sacrament performed in our temple that is not freely performed in a variety of other locations. We only “bind” ourselves to each other in the free bonds of love, and those bonds extend to all who will accept them with us.
Hope this addresses some of your question.
March 6, 2010 at 6:30 pm
I should add that most of us do expect to live with our loved ones in the afterlife (excepting some outliers like Margie and me who envision it differently from others and from each other), but that expectation is not sealed in a temple rite.
March 7, 2010 at 12:06 am
Dear Doug and FireTag,
That was really helpful. As a newcomer to CofC, you come to wonder what the differences are between the two Churches in the movement and over time I will probably come to appreciate the differences as well. The eternal covenant of baptism – I like that. It is interesting in fact to see the prominence of the issue of baptism in the new counsel given to the Community by Veazey. Coming to understand better the centrality of that covenant in the Community will probably be important for me and thank you for giving me a pointer in that direction. Do children get baptized at the age of 8? Is that common in CofC?
I think also that your assessment is fair, as to the the literal/physical vs. spiritual interpretations… And within a religious movement you are likely to find all types of combinations. But they apply as a general rule. From my studies, R. Scott Appleby taught, in the Ambivalence of the Sacred, that there are mainly three ways of interpreting God’s will in the world today:
1) Conversionist: I would say that the LDS church tends to be found in that category. It is a lot about proselytizing missions. It is the expression of an eternal battle between the children of light and the children of darkness, etc… Violence is inevitable in an imperfect world, when the world is the stage for the battle between two opposing forces. The focus is on changing behavior – get people on your side!
2) Liberationist: Liberation theology (from Latin America, from the Feminist and the Gay movement) is a good example of that. It means that justice is a primordial value and challenging injustice in the world becomes outmost important – the expression of your Christian faith. It is the meaning of our existence and God’s will for humankind to deliver the captive and to stand on the side of the oppressed. The focus is on changing conditions!
3) Spiritualist: These tend to be believers who are committed to nonviolence as a guiding principle. They are not literalists, they believe that the warrior imageries of the Bible for example or in any other religion are metaphors for the inner struggle of men and women in attaining perfection and communion with God. The focus is on changing attitudes through being attuned to the Spirit!
I would think that a Christ-centered peace and justice theology like the one the Community of Christ is developing/discovering is more in the lines of nr. 2 and 3.
The LDS Church, I have heard being said, might be caught up in the mathematics of morality – due to the strong focus on behavior (physical/literal, the visible world). While the CofC is more and more trying to understand how to change conditions and attitudes (a spiritual approach, changing the underlying conditions and assumptions that humans make for and about each other), a change that will ultimately lead to a change of behavior as well, but more importantly lead the way towards sacred community.
In a sense, I see all three as LDS/RLDS change theories: not necessarily mutually exclusive…
March 7, 2010 at 1:14 am
We hold the concept of the age of accountability for baptism as do the LDS. We allow baptism “normally” on or after the eighth birthday. I’ve never been quite sure whether the LDS age is at the beginning or the end of the eighth year (i.e., at the ninth birthday.
I tend to see more type two than type three in our theology — but that may be a bias that comes from living in a very liberal part of the US, and there may be more type 3 in the “heartland”.
March 7, 2010 at 1:18 am
In fact, that is in itself another difference: our “wards” have a lot more variability from place to place.
March 24, 2010 at 6:52 am
How would you place place Pres. Bensons’s and Pres. McKay’s quotes in this context –
‘The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.
“Human nature can be changed, here and now,” said President McKay, and then he quoted the following:
“You can change human nature. No man who has felt in him the Spirit of Christ even for half a minute can deny this truth. …
“You do change human nature, your own human nature, if you surrender it to Christ. Human nature has been changed in the past. Human nature must be changed on an enormous scale in the future, unless the world is to be drowned in its own blood. And only Christ can change it.
In my mind, it seems the LDS church incorporates all three ways…, but admittedly with more emphasis on 1 nad 3, and perhaps a little less on 2.
March 24, 2010 at 7:15 am
Hello Joanna!
Yes, I used that quote when outlining the potential for a mormon peacebuilding strategy, and according to my thinking we, as LDS/RLDS, tend to downplay our liberationist (structural change) and our spiritualist (attitudinal change) interpretations of the Restored Gospel quite a bit. Leonard Arrington once wrote: that [in Mormonism] ‘institutions are unworkable as reform instruments, if they are too far above the moral plane of the society to which they are given. Men must first organize their own lives; then they might be united into a more perfect social and economic order. Faith is the instrument of change – not institutions’. The emphasis is therefore on proclaiming the Gospel and on personal/individual change before we can talk about societal change. For more info on how a mormon peacebuilding strategy would look like, check out the following: http://mormongandhi.com/2009/05/16/mormon-peacebuilding/