As the Book of Mormon prophet Alma preserved sacred records so as to enlarge the memory of his people (see Alma 37:7), so today, the Church preserves its history to deepen the understanding of the Latter-day Saints, the Church historian and recorder said Jan. 13 to a group of departing Church historic site and visitors center directors and their wives.

Photo by R. Scott Lloyd

To make a point about the spirit and power of historic artifacts, Elder Marlin K. Jensen displays wrist watch used by President Gordon B. Hinckley the last 20 years of his life. It tells its own story of punctuality, devotion, excellence, Elder Jensen said.

Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy was the luncheon speaker for the group, participants in a three-day seminar that included new Missionary Training Center presidents, held at the MTC in Provo and at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. His topic was "the spiritual foundation of historic sites."

Elder Jensen recommended the passage in Alma as "a one-verse summary" of that foundation.

"A historic site is a record in a sense," he said. "'Behold, there shall be a record kept' (Doctrine and Covenants 21:1). There are many ways to keep that record, and one of the ways is to preserve a place, a building, an artifact that represents history."

Alma's statement that the records had "enlarged the memory of his people" could justify a very long sermon, Elder Jensen said. Reading the scriptures carefully, especially the Book of Mormon, one comes to know that remembering, not in a passive way, but in a manner associated with change, repentance, action, is a motivation to righteousness, he explained.

"There's something very fundamental about reflecting back on where we've been in God's economy of things," he said, "If we have the stability of history, if we can enter into the peace of the Lord, the rest of the Lord, that can come from a knowledge that our history is secure and solid and true," it can help many good people get past troubling questions that arise on the Internet and elsewhere, Elder Jensen added.

"To get beyond those, and to discover the error of our ways by having a solid history is part of the spiritual foundation that's so critical," he said. "And, Alma concludes, 'it [enlarged memory] brought them to a knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls' (verse 8)."

What can be said about Church history in general can be expressed even more definitively about a Church history site, Elder Jensen remarked, "because it is tangible, tactile, something that can be lived and experienced by those who go there, enhanced by the love and the spirit of those of you who will accompany the guest, the visitor. It can be an incomparable experience. And we need it in this day and age. We need to have our faith deepened and solidified. We need to know that our history is true."

He said that, more than any other church, "we rise and fall with our history."

If Joseph Smith saw what he saw, then the Church is God's kingdom on earth; if not, then it is the largest fraud that has ever been perpetrated, Elder Jensen remarked. "But as a lawyer, I can't help but think that if Joseph had been into perpetrating frauds, he wouldn't list as his first revelation 'behold there shall be a record kept,' because people who want to defraud others don't keep records."

Earlier in his address, Elder Jensen said if historic sites don't have a spiritual foundation, they have no foundation at all.

"You'll find the Spirit literally in place and in things; artifacts can have a spirit," he said, as he displayed a wrist watch that had been loaned to him at the luncheon as a time-keeping aid by Elder Richard G. Hinckley of the Seventy and that had belonged to Elder Hinckley's father, President Gordon B. Hinckley. "To me, this is a dear artifact, as we would call it in the historical world, that tells its own story of punctuality, of devotion, of excellence. All of those things, I think, characterized President Hinckley and his ministry."

He added, "But beyond the brick and mortar you will deal with, the underlying foundation, really, is made up of the people."

Elder Jensen said the Church History Department about 22 years ago formulated a strategic plan for selecting, acquiring and improving Church history sites, essentially those associated with the foundational events of Church history. Most recently approved for restoration, he said, was a site at Harmony, Pa., now known as Oakton, the location of the restoration of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood. A few years ago, the first overseas Church historic site was acquired, the Gadfield Elm chapel near Preston, England.

In addition to Doctrine and Covenants 21, the scriptural mandate for the keeping of Church history is found in Section 69, indicating there is a hierarchy of important things to be preserved, and Section 85, explaining that the Church historian is to give special emphasis to the life, faith and works of the Latter-day Saints, Elder Jensen said.

"From that scriptural base, we have derived our essential work as a department, which is to collect, preserve and share the history of the Church," he said. "Your work in historic sites enables you to be part of all three of those functions."

rscott@desnews.com