In today's episode of Abide, a Maxwell Institute podcast, we're studying four of Joseph Smith's

revelations.

Three of them, sections 129 through 131, are written in Joseph Smith's own style.

You can hear him teaching the saints.

This makes sense.

They are quite literally teachings from Joseph Smith in both personal and public settings. can hear him teaching the Saints. This makes sense. They are quite literally

teachings from Joseph Smith in both personal and public settings, compiled and made available to the

saints by those who organized the doctrine and covenants and presented them to the church for

canonization. They form a sort of supercut of Joseph Smith's teachings, like watching a YouTube

compilation of an athlete's highlights that is made for quick absorption.

That isn't to say that the principles are easy to absorb or that you can learn all of them in one sitting,

but nevertheless, they're fairly straightforward. They're spoken in a voice that we can recognize as a living, breathing person.

Section 132 is a different matter entirely, at least for many.

It's a revelation that is a sustained

theological document that at times also reads like a legal document. The Voice is the Lords,

and it covers one topic at great length, celestial marriage. It's a section that requires

skill and care to unpack. There's much to gain to be sure, but readers should always recognize

at their comfort level with the revelation, with polygamy, with celestial marriage, and the revelation's implication for individuals, families,

and communities may be different than their own. My name is Joseph Stewart. I'm the public

communication specialist at the Neely Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young

University. I'm joined by Janice Johnson, a Willis Center

Research Associate at the Institute, and we will be discussing each week's block of reading

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