Genealogy/Family History a tool to keep us distracted??

[mikewoodings]

This morning I am reading a book about Seers and Seer Stones by Ogden Kraut where he mentions a quote from Orson Pratt about using a Urim and Thummim to reveal our genealogy. Below is the quote:

The Most High says—"I deign to reveal unto you hidden things, things that have been kept hid from the foundation of the world." Among these hidden things that are to be revealed are the books of genealogy, tracing individuals and nations among all people, back to ancient times.

It may be inquired—"How can all this be done?" We answer, by the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord God has ordained to be used in the midst of his holy house, in his Temple. You may inquire—"What is the Urim and Thummim?" We reply, it is a divine instrument, prepared in ancient times, by which he who possessed it could call upon the name of the Lord, and receive from him answers to all matters it was necessary that he should know. Aaron, the chief Priest in the midst of Israel, had this instrument in his breast plate, in the midst of rows of stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel; and when he passed certain judgments, he did not do it by his own wisdom, but he inquired of the Lord and received the same, by this sacred instrument. When that instrument is restored to the house of God, to the Temple of the Most High, our ancestry, that is, the ancestry of all the faithful in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be made manifest. Not all at once, but by degrees. Just as fast as we are able to administer for them, so will the Lord God make manifest, by the manifestation of holy angels in his house, and by the Urim and Thummim, those names that are necessary, of our ancient kindred and friends, that they may be traced back to the time when the Priesthood was on the earth in ancient days.

If they could not be traced back, there would be a great chasm, a broken chain in the genealogies, and it would not be perfect, but when the Lord God comes suddenly to his Temple, he will come to a people who have made themselves per fect by obedience to his commandments. They have sought after the redemption of their dead from generation to generation, until they can link on all those who were not officiated for in ancient times, and thus carry it back from one dispensation to another, until it reaches to our father Adam in the Garden of Eden, and then, the saying of Scripture will be accomplished—"The hearts of the children will be turned to their fathers," and the hearts of all those ancient fathers, who lived thousands of years ago, will be "turned to their children, lest the Lord should come," as the Prophet Malachi says, "and smite the earth with a curse."

My parents are both very into genealogy work and have been doing it for years! It's really cool to hear a lot of the stories from my family members but they have both gone back so far that they are at the point where it is like looking for needles in haystacks. I know that family history and temple work is important but I kind of feel that the current method is almost used as a distraction. I mean people searching for old records for hours on end in hopes of finding a birth date of someone in the 1700's when if we actually had seers on the earth that were capable of using the Urim and Thummim we could simply go to the temple like Orson Pratt said and be able to connect our lineages that way. What are your thoughts on this?

[Niemand]

Records are not always accurate. It is estimated that 12% of people do not have the father they think they do. At least in the west. If you take that back further, most of us will have slightly different genealogies from the ones we think we do. I am aware of fairly close relatives of mine who may be in this position.

It depends whether you want to go biological or by adoption.

I have been very thorough in my research but much of it is trashed in a few minutes by people adding or combining names without doing the necessary legwork. FamilySearch these days is a mess.

[Thinker]

Genealogy “work” serves multiple purposes:

1) distraction - too busy to think,
2) indirectly brings in money - by being related to temples which are used to make money (10% of income entrance fee),
3) is used to control (similar to #1),
4) is a source of pride and nepotism,
5) seems to be helping TPTB gather DNA (ie China is known to be in the business of human organ harvesting). Family Search/Ancestry/Blackstone was gathering spit/DNA even before coronavirus fake “tests.”

Spiritually, we are much more than our temporary bodies and biological genealogy. Why not focus on who we really are?