LDS Freedom Forum

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately is the popularity in alternative Mormon circles of the idea of Second Coming destruction and rebirth events happening within the span of a single generation.


For years, my general understanding of Christ's statement in the New Testament about "this generation shall not pass away until all be fulfilled" was viewed by Christianity deniers as an example of a false prophecy (because when read literally, it seems as if Christ is speaking about the generation he was currently in, 30 AD era), and by Christians as a misunderstood prophecy with a variety of theories on it.

A message from a commentator I pay attention to cited this scripture today and it hit me in a more profound way than it ever had before. I had to dig into this verse.

I found out that the reason the verse stood out to me so much was because it included a Joseph Smith Translation addition to the scripture which--if true--gives us so much additional context to one of the most important moment's of this earth's life; Christ's Second Coming.


So in the regular King James Bible, Luke 21: 31-32 reads;
31. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

32. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.


With the Joseph Smith Translation added, it transforms a mysterious or vague scripture into something far clearer.


31. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

32. Verily I say unto you, This generation, the generation when the times of the gentiles be fulfilled shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.


This is one of, if not the, most prophetic Joseph Smith touches on the Bible I've ever come across. When you couple this with the Book of Mormon that he played a role in coming forth, you can see so much rides on this notion of the fall of the gentiles or the end of their time. And right there, the idea is that when the times of the gentiles are fulfilled in THAT generation, everything is going to happen (be fulfilled) within that generation.

That is so wild. This is a "doctrine" I've seen believed in heavily in alternative Mormon thinking. I never knew there was a JST touch on the Bible that gave so much evidence for this notion to the more vague phrasing it has in the New Testament. It's really spelled out clearly with the JST.

Yes, I noticed this also a while ago.

viewtopic.php?p=1208808#p1208808

I got a little extra help finding it, though, from Edward Umling and one of his prophecies, which is cited in my post. Here it is:

This is an hour of sorrow and
sadness not for buying, selling and rejoicing. That’s
for those in the world. My people put on sack-cloth
For The LORD says Behold, I name these people:
“This Generation”

So not only is it one generation, but, if you believe Umling, we are that generation.

BuriedTartaria wrote: ↑December 22nd, 2022, 7:35 pm

For years, my general understanding of Christ's statement in the New Testament about "this generation shall not pass away until all be fulfilled" was viewed by Christianity deniers as an example of a false prophecy (because when read literally, it seems as if Christ is speaking about the generation he was currently in, 30 AD era), and by Christians as a misunderstood prophecy with a variety of theories on it.

I've never read that.
Previously I assumed that the Lord was referring to the fact that John the Beloved, author of Revelation and the three Nephites were of that generation the Lord was speaking to and He knew they would be around on the earth until the second advent.
I also assumed that the reason He said that was because He knew it would cause a crisis of faith and thus prove the faith of many, which it undoubtedly has.
Looks like He was misquoted and had been perfectly clear, which also makes sense.

Recently I have been checking the JST more and more. Good find.

I wonder if this JST insight explains the phenomenon known as quantum immortality?(see Reddit below)
People have described experiences which indicate they've come near to death only to roll back a few minutes into a new situation where death was not the outcome or not possible. These experiences describe vivid waking memories of injury or impending destruction of the body, then instantly they are elsewhere or in a different reality. Some describe subtle shifts in their surroundings or circumstances following these.
https://www.reddit.com/r/QuantumImmortality

That's a good one. My favorite is the doctrine of the 3 watches in Luke 12. These watches are the dispensations when the Saviors makes an appearance on earth. The first one was with the original apostles, the second watch was when he came to the Kirtland temple and the third watch is when he comes to the New Jerusalem saints.

12:40 Verily, I say unto you, Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching; for he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

12:41 For behold, he cometh in the first watch of the night, and he shall also come in the second watch, and again he shall come in the third watch.

12:42 And verily, I say unto you, He hath already come, as it is written of him; and again, when he shall come in the second watch or come in the third watch, blessed are those servants, when he cometh, that he shall find so doing;

12:43 For the Lord of those servants shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

12:44 And now, verily, I say these things unto you that ye may know this: that the coming of the Lord is as a thief in the night.

12:45 And it is like unto a man who is a householder, who, if he watcheth not his goods, the thief cometh in an hour of which he is not aware, and taketh his goods, and divideth them among his fellows.

12:46 And they said among themselves, If the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through, and the loss of his goods.

12:47 And he said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, Be ye, therefore, ready also; for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

The blogger Watcher writes about this.
http://threewatches.blogspot.com/search ... esults=100

Shawn Henry wrote: ↑December 23rd, 2022, 5:58 pm That's a good one. My favorite is the doctrine of the 3 watches in Luke 12. These watches are the dispensations when the Saviors makes an appearance on earth. The first one was with the original apostles, the second watch was when he came to the Kirtland temple and the third watch is when he comes to the New Jerusalem saints.

This adds a lot of import to the Kirtland temple appearance. I wasn't aware of this.