1/27/2019 - Section 134:1-12

January 27, 2019

Section 134:1-12

Governments of nations, Early Saints in Missouri, Rights of Governments, Responsibilities of Governments, Responsibilities of Citizens to Governments.

Interestingly, this is not a revelation. This was written as a rebuttal to the many accusations against the saints that were not true. They had been accused as being opposed to law and order, and having set up laws that were contrary to the laws of the United States. Smith and Sjodahl Commentary states: “It should be noted that in the minutes, and also in the introduction to this article on government, the brethren were careful to state that this declaration was accepted as the belief, or ‘opinion’ of the officers of the Church, and not as a revelation, and therefore does not hold the same place in the doctrines of the Church as do the revelations.”

While Joseph Smith did not write this document, he certainly did write concerning governments of the world: “We need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah. He will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information, and His inscrutable designs in relations to the human family.”

Elder David O McKay said: “That government is best which has as its aim the administration of justice, social well-being and the promotion of prosperity among its members,” April 1930 Gen Conf

And finally from George Sutherland [whom E McKay cited and who became a US supreme court justice: ”The individual…has three great rights equally sacred from arbitrary interference: the right of his life, the right to his liberty, and the right to his property. The three rights are so bound together as to be essentially one right. To give a man his life, but deny him his liberty, is to take from him all that makes life worth living. To give him liberty, but take from him the property which is the fruit and badge of his liberty, is to still leave him a slave.”

V 3 speaks of making sure we choose righteous leaders. From the First Presidency of the Church in 1928: “Laws which are enacted for the protection of society have no value except when they are administered in righteousness and justice, and they cannot be so administered in righteousness and justice, if dishonest men occupy administrative offices.   The Lord says ‘When the wicked rule, the people mourn.’ Wise men, good men, patriotic men are to be found in all communities, in all political parties, among all creeds. None but such men should be chosen….”

As to the early church and slavery, I found this very interesting: “Although the Church teaches that slavery is wrong and counter to the fundamental rights of an individual, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that when slavery is tolerated by a government, it is not the Church’s position to try to overthrow that established order: ‘It should be the duty of a Elder, when he enters into a house, to salute the master of that house, and if he gain his consent, then he may preach to all that are in that house; but if he gain not his consent, let him not go unto his slaves, or servants, but let the responsibility be upon the head of the master of that house, and the consequences thereof, and the guilt of that house is no loner upon his skirts…But if the master of that house gives consent, the Elder may preach to his family, his wife, his children  and his servants, his man-servants, or his maid-servants, or his slaves. ‘ (History of the Church, 2.263]   In 1834, when this statement was written, the Saints in Missouri were often accused by their enemies of seeing to overthrow slavery. Since Missouri entered the Union as a slave state, this question inflamed the Missourians and doubtless contributed to the spirit of persecution and violence against the Saints. Doctrine and Covenants 134:12 was a reply to these accusations.”

11/17/2021 – D&C 134:1-4

This section is given as “a declaration of belief regarding governments and laws in general, and adopted by unanimous vote at a general assembly of the Church held at Kirtland, Ohio, August 17, 1835.”  The horrific situations that the saints in Missouri lived through or died in, were things none of them would never forget. They were not only forced out of their homes, but also had many of their household goods stolen or burned with the house, and that included their wagons and their horses. The Missourians who did these things also, in their mob activities, raped women, and injured and/or killed men, women and children. Instead of protecting the saints and their rights, the State of Missouri did nothing to help them. In fact, the state of Missouri sent its militia in to help the mobs chase the saints out of their homes, and into severe winter weather with only the clothes on their backs. 

Joseph Smith, and the Church as a whole, wanted to make a clear statement as to the responsibilities that the states, and the national government owed to its people. This was called “Declaration on Government and Law”

Church leaders presented the failure of the government to enforce these laws as a crisis of dire proportions. In a petition sent to Governor Dunklin, the new Missouri governor, they wrote, “Believing, with all honorable men, that whenever that fatal hour shall arrive that the poorest citizen’s person, property, or rights and privileges, shall be trampled upon by a lawless mob with impunity, that moment a dagger is plunged into the heart of the Constitution, and the Union must tremble! Assuring ourselves that no republican will suffer the liberty of the press; the freedom of speech, and the liberty of conscience, to be silenced by a mob, without raising a helping hand, to save his country from disgrace.” (“To His Excellency, Daniel Dunklin,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Dec. 1833, 115.) 

I think this section can be put under four general categories:

#1 Governments should preserve freedom of conscience and worship (v’s 1-4)

Governments should be for the benefit of the people “both in making laws and administering them for the good and safety of society” (v1). The people should be protected in their efforts in “control of [their] property, and the protection of life” (v 2). They should “administer the law in equity and justice” (v 3). “religion is instituted of God” and should be protected “unless their religious opinions prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others” (v 4). 

This is also stated in the Articles of Faith: “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they many.”  

And there is this from Joseph Smith: 

“I have the most liberal sentiments, and feelings of charity toward all sects, parties, and denominations; and the rights and liberties of conscience, I hold most sacred and dear, and despise no man for differing with me in matters of opinion.”

“The Saints can testify whether I am willing to lay down my life for my brethren. If it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a ‘Mormon,’ I am bold to declare before Heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a good man of any other denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter-day Saints would trample upon the rights … of any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves.”

“It is a love of liberty which inspires my soul—civil and religious liberty to the whole of the human race.”

11/18/2021- D&C 134:5-8

#2 All men should uphold their governments, and owe respect and deference to the law (v’s 5-8)

This is also what the 12th Article of Faith declares: “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”

The words in these verses are beautiful. And at the same time they bring memories of the pain of so many of the saints in Missouri, as the laws of the nation and the state were utterly dismissed and abandoned.

Elder Oaks spoke of these things when he addressed the Annual Sacramento Court/Clergy Conference in October of 2015: “While all believers revere divine law, most also acknowledge that civil law is also ordained of God. The Lord Jesus Christ directed, ‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s’ (Matthew 22:21). So taught, we must, to the extent possible, obey both systems of law. When there are apparent conflicts, we must seek to harmonize them. When they are truly irreconcilable, we should join with others of like mind in striving to change the civil law to accommodate the divine. In all events, we must be very measured before ever deciding—in the rarest of circumstances—to disregard one in favor of the other.   In that context, I say to my fellow believers that we should not assert the free exercise of religion to override every law and government action that could possibly be interpreted to infringe on institutional or personal religious freedom. As I have often said, the free exercise of religion obviously involves both the right to choose religious beliefs and affiliations and the right to exercise or practice those beliefs. But in a nation with citizens of many different religious beliefs, the right of some to act upon their religious principles must be circumscribed by the government’s responsibility to protect the health and safety of all”

11/19/2021 – D&C 134:9-12

#3 Religious societies should not exercise civil powers (v’s 9-10)

 Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder and Anthon H. Lund can speak on these verses far better than I ever could: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds to the doctrine of the separation of church and state; the non-interference of church authority in political matters; and the absolute freedom and independence of the individual in the performance of his political duties. … “We declare that from principle and policy, we favor: The Church upholds the principle laid down by the Constitution of the United States that religion and government should be kept separate. 1907 “The absolute separation of church and state; “No domination of the state by the church; “No church interference with the functions of the state; “No state interference with the functions of the church, or with the free exercise of religion; “The absolute freedom of the individual from the domination of ecclesiastical authority in political affairs; “The equality of all churches before the law.”

#4Men are justified in defending themselves and their property (v’s 11-12)

 Redress means to make something right. Citizens should be allowed to ask their government for “redress” if they have been wronged. This verse includes a declaration that citizens are justified in defending themselves and others when there is an urgent need and the government is unable to help.

Elder Erastus Snow: “Anarchy—shall I say, is the worst of all governments? No: Anarchy is the absence of all government; it is the antipodes of order; it is the acme of confusion; it is the result of unbridled license, the antipodes of true liberty… .One monopoly is better than many; and the oppression of a king is tolerable, but the oppression of a mob, where every man is a law to himself and his own right arm, is his power to enforce his own will, is the worst form of government.”

President N. Eldon Tanner: “Abraham Lincoln once observed: ‘Bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible; still, while they continue in force, they should be religiously observed.’ “This is the attitude of the Church in regard to law observance. … “There is no reason or justification for men to disregard or break the law or try to take it into their own hands. “It is the duty of citizens of any country to remember that they have individual responsibilities, and that they must operate within the law of the country in which they have chosen to live.”

This is from the First Presidency of the church in April 1942: “When, therefore, constitutional law, obedient to these principles, calls the manhood of the Church into the armed service of any country to which they owe allegiance, their highest civic duty requires that they meet that call. If, harkening to that call and obeying 

those in command over them, they shall take the lives of those who fight against them, that will not make of them murderers, nor subject them to the penalty that God has prescribed for those who kill, beyond the principle to be mentioned shortly.”

Russell M Ballard in Oct 2003: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

And from President Hinckley in the Nov 1986 Ensign about religious freedom: “There is [a] war that has gone on since before the world was created and which is likely to continue for a long time yet to come. ...That war ... is the war between truth and error, between agency and compulsion, between the followers of Christ and those who have denied Him. His enemies have used every stratagem in that conflict. ...It is as it was in the beginning. ... The victims who fall are as precious as those who have fallen in the past. It is an ongoing battle....The war goes on. ... It is waged in our own lives, day in and day out, in our homes, in our work, in our school associations; it is waged over questions of love and respect, of loyalty and fidelity, of obedience and integrity. We are all involved in it. ... We are winning, and the future never looked brighter”