In the pursuit of absolute truth, history as a purely flesh based discipline must never be relied upon or trusted to reveal or affirm in the absolute sense, what is truth, and what is error. Even within the historical essays produced by LDS historians, one may find the flaws, logical fallacies, and human biases of the authors. Thus, while those history-based works may be interesting and informative, without the addition of revelation, they remain unreliable as sources of truth. Thankfully the authors sometimes recognize the limitations of their works as evidenced their using qualifying terminology such as; apparently, probably, etc.
That being the case, what part does revisionist history play in the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ and the higher overarching mission of God, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children?
That thought has been my companion over the past few years as I have observed the flesh heavy historical and academic organizations gaining prominence and acceptance even among the spiritually in tune. Sunday, as I pondered over the presentation by Elder Cook and his two LDS historian companions, I finally got a glimpse of one possible role of history in God’s mission of salvation….that of the schoolmaster.
Just as the lesser Levitical law, (given to the children of Israel because they were unwilling to become sanctified and thus incapable of living the higher law), became what Paul referred to as the schoolmaster whose purpose was to prepare them for the time when they could receive and live the higher law, so too history can act as a type of schoolmaster. History can reach out to those in a flesh reliant world where human wisdom, with all its inherent flaws, still rules supreme. History can speak to those who prefer Google over God and who trust research over revelation. History with a pro Church perspective can be valuable in reaching the flesh reliant souls who would simply reject a direct spirit-based approach. History can interest, attract and guide them to a place where they will be more amenable, more open, to the only trustworthy source of truth, revelation from God. Such histories may also shore up the faith of those whose testimonies are frail or waning, bringing them a measure of earthly peace as they continue to seek truth in revelation from God.
Imagine a spirit-centric messenger of God, entering into the great and spacious building of flesh reliant academia, preaching boldly that the inhabitants ought to acknowledge their human flaws, set aside their degrees, philosophies, and theories and turn to God directly to know absolute truth. The hearers would, and do, mock her to scorn. However, imagine a flesh savey, yet spirit guided messenger from God entering the human centric halls of history, embracing their degrees, learning the corrupted language of man’s wisdom, and gaining credibility, respect, even esteem among the Doctors and Masters of flesh reliance. Then in a moment of opportunity she suggests the better, higher, perfect way to come to know absolute truth. Such an approach might actually be successful. At the very least, such a mission has a far better chance of saving at least some of the residents of that great and spacious tenement, whose souls are so sought after by God.
So, if the learning of the philosophies of men, if the mastery of the flesh-centric standards of truth required by modern academia, if the hours, even years spent on pursing degrees and status recognized by those who generally see the things of God as foolishness, brings in the end even one soul to exchange their raucous home and empty lifestyle for the fruit of the tree, it would be worth it. Therein lies the true value of history, not as the source of truth, but as a schoolmaster to lead God’s children to that source. Of course, in such celestial calculous we must also be sure that in the gaining of that one soul, we do not somewhere else lose another one, or even many souls, because of those same efforts.
Next:.........The Spiritual Pitfalls of Deifying History