Doctrine and Covenants has key role
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Nearly 1,000 people filled the chapels at two meetinghouses at the Salt Lake Institute of Religion for the Doctrine and Covenants Symposium and feasted upon the spiritual insights of various scholars and teachers.
Those attending included several hundred gospel doctrine teachers hoping to pass on the things they learned to thousands more in their respective wards."We had a great crowd," said S. Kenneth Robbins, administrator of the Ogden, Utah, BYU Center and coordinator of the Doctrine and Covenants Symposium at the University of Utah. "We were not counting on any more than 500 or 600 people."
The symposium, an event held each January and sponsored by BYU Continuing Education, focuses on the course of study for gospel doctrine classes. Delivering the keynote address was Gerald Lund, zone administrator for the Church Educational System.
"We all recognize the place of the Book of Mormon," said Lund, talking about last year's course of study. ". . . The Doctrine and Covenants has a very significant place, too. It has a central role in our lives and the work of the kingdom."
Lund held up a copy of the Jan. 7 issue of the Church News and read quotes from President Ezra Taft Benson's April 1987 conference address on the Book of Mormon as the keystone and the Doctrine and Covenants as the capstone of the gospel. Lund emphasized President Benson's point that the Book of Mormon brings people to Christ and the Doctrine and Covenants brings them to Christ's kingdom. Lund also quoted from the back page of the Church News and the statements made about the Doctrine and Covenants by other presidents of the Church.
"A number of doctrines are clarified in the Doctrine and Covenants, particularly relating to the Church and its organization," Lund explained.
He said one of the most common themes in the Doctrine and Covenants is power. He said the word "power" or forms of the word are used about 250 times in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Section 121 shows Church members how to receive the powers of heaven. In that section, Joseph Smith seemed to call out to the Lord to help the saints in their trials and persecutions. In answer to his prayer, Joseph Smith was taught a valuable lesson by the Lord. Lund said that, especially in the final verses of the section, the Lord explains the principles for controlling the powers of heaven.
