At a conference of missionaries in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June 1931, the elders were invited to ask their mission leaders anything they wanted to. Someone took notes; the list of questions – but without answers – is reproduced below.
This set of questions fascinates me. Few of the questions relate specifically to mission work (an exception is the one about collecting unpaid accounts owed for the mission newspaper; the one about being on the rolls of two churches may have arisen in mission experience, too), but most of them are doctrinal questions that tell us what the elders were turning over in their minds
Without trying to answer the questions – too many of them are unanswerable with any degree of authority – what do you think of these questions? Would you ask any of them of a general authority visiting your stake conference? or do they seem trivial or improper or embarrassing for any reason? You probably recognize most of these questions as ones discussed in your lifetime – are any of them currently big issues for you or people you know? Do any of the questions make you laugh? or surprise you?
1. Regarding the Resurrection and Restitution. (I think the note-taker may not have had his pencil and paper ready at the beginning of the question and answer session.)
2. What is the meaning of Heb. 10:22? “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
3. Is there anything particularly wrong in a person’s name on the books of two different churches?
4. Have the ten Lost Tribes been discovered and identified? Are we still expecting them to come from the north country in a group?:
5. When Christ comes will he come first to his Temple in Jackson County or to Jerusalem?
6. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden did they have blood in their veins, i.e., before partaking of the forbidden fruit.
7. John the Baptist holds the Aaronic Priesthood. Without the Melchizedek Priesthood we cannot enter into the highest degree in the Kingdom of Heaven. John was a righteous man, why should he not enter the highest degree, or if he will, by what means?
8. The statement is often made that in our Church we have all truth. How can this statement be verified?
9. What is the stand of the Church, if any, towards Communism and the Communistic movement?
10. Does the prophecy in Isaiah about the “voice speaking out of the dust” and the book taken to the learned man and the unlearned man refer specifically to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, or is it a metaphorical generalization?
11. Why can’t the negroes hold the priesthood?
12. Can anyone get into the Celestial Kingdom? Can unmarried women get in?
13. What if any of the laws pertaining to the law of Moses must we abide by today?
14. Can there be 24 apostles on the earth at one time, or more? For example: The twelve Nephites that were chosen. Can they claim the title of Apostles?
15. Will animals be resurrected?
16. Do we know where the kingdoms of the two lower degrees of Glory will be located? Where in the scriptures can we find that all spirits who receive bodies on this earth shall always live here.
17. Will those that lived before Christ be resurrected before those that died after?
18. Will there be more than one church on earth during the Millennium? Who is Christ bringing with him? Who are the 144,000?
Question #8 takes the prize.
When I was a missionary, such Q&A sessions occasionally elicited questions like this, but they were quickly slapped down as inappropriate and we learned that only questions about how to become a better missionary were welcome.
I remember when a general authority 70 visited my mission, and took questions at the end of zone conference. He prefaced the Q&A period with “Now, we can talk about whether the pearly gates swing or slide, or we can talk about missionary work — which is it going to be?” Most of these questions seem like pearly gates questions — they’re the sort of thing I really wanted to figure out once, and I still find them interesting, but after realizing that even GAs don’t agree about things like “intelligence” vs. “intelligences,” I mostly resolved that I could answer my own questions from the scriptures and other revelations as well as anyone else could.
Interesting to know that the question about race and priesthood was pressing on the minds of missionaries in Denmark in 1931.
The question about unmarried women getting in to the celestial kingdom is surprising. Why would that ever be in doubt, and why for women specifically? I guess there are aspects of the endowment and sealing that might create more questions about women needing to be married than about men (and some conflation between D&C 76 and D&C 131). Still, was the endowment not done for unmarried women? Not even for the dead? I think my answer would be that nothing in the scriptures suggests that anyone needs to be married to be an heir of celestial glory, and that it is therefore possible for a woman to be saved without marriage — but not for a man to be saved in ignorance.
During a meeting of the Missionaries at the Mission Home in SLC we met in the Solemn Assembly room in the SLC Temple. We had President Lee present since President Smith was ill. It was a Q&A session and one brave Elder asked President Lee if he had ever seen the Savior. President Lee answered that was too personal of a question to ask anyone. But He did testify that he knew the Savior and testified of his mission and role. Pretty much put the lid on too far out questions. I hope I spelled every thing correctly.
“The statement is often made that in our Church we have all truth”
Wow, “often”? By whom? Clueless missionaries?
An observation about the race and the priesthood question: This question is similar to others asked in the first part of the 20th century: People want to know “Is it true that …” or “Why is it that …” People just want to clarify what they’ve heard, but the wording always indicates an acceptance of things as they are.
Immediately after World War II, that all changes. There are just as many questions, but people ask “When is it going to change?” and their “Why?” suggests that the questioner doesn’t think it is fair, or that they are at least uncomfortable about the status quo. After World War II, people no longer take it for granted that the restriction is just.
It’s really quite a stark difference in questioning.
The pressing question, of course, is not whether Adam had blood; it’s whether Adam had a navel. There’s got to be some old bunch of semi-awake high priests somewhere who have definitely answered
that question in quorum meeting.
Having not served a mission, I didn’t have one of these Q&A opportunities until just a few years ago in a stake conference priesthood leadership session. Our visiting GA 70 spoke for just a few minutes, then opened the rest of the meeting for questions. I don’t recall any “pearly gates” kinds of questions, mostly real life situational questions you might consider helpful in your calling as an Elders Quorum president or HP group leader. I only thought of the question that I wanted to ask after it was really too late, which is “Why aren’t the Relief Society Presidencies invited to this meeting?”
I had the same opportunity as Mex Davis (a Q&A with Pres. Lee in the Solemn Assembly room; this was in Sept 1972). I honestly don’t remember any of the questions; what I do remember was at the end, Pres. Lee looked out at us and said (accurately) “You will notice that I responded to every question with something out of the scriptures. Let that be a guide to you on your missions.”
bfwebster: I think it would have been 1973, but my dad had a Q&A with Pres. Lee in the same room, and frequently told us the same thing about him making a point of answering all the questions from the scriptures.
My missionary meeting in the SL Temple was in 1978, and I also don’t remember much of what was asked. We didn’t have a general authority; it was the temple president or perhaps one of his counselors. One thing I can remember is that someone asked where Lucifer came from in the endowment. The temple president misunderstood the question and talked about how temple workers are assigned their roles in the ceremony.
I think the question about unmarried women is suggesting that unmarried men can’t enter the celestial kingdom and perhaps unmarried women can, rather than the reverse. Section 131:2 says that ” in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood” [emphasis added]. “Highest degree” in that passage is usually understood to refer to a highest degree within the Celestial Kingdom, rather than the Celestial Kingdom as the highest of the three degrees. But this being a reference to the Celestial Kingdom as a whole is also a plausible reading.
I suspect the limitation on unmarried men in the highest degree is being interpreted to not include unmarried women.
I just remembered another thing from my missionary temple meeting. This may or may not have been part of the answer I already referred to. We were told that Lucifer’s apron depicts symbols of “worldly things.” We had our meeting between temple sessions, and at the second session everyone was craning their neck to get a look. At the time, the apron used in live sessions included a series of masonic icons. I haven’t been to a live session in years, but as I recall, they’ve useed a plain black apron for quite awhile now, both in Salt Lake and Manti.
My session with President Lee was in OCT 1971, the mission home was in the Layette Elementary School near the new RS building site. I remember the question because I thought that was pretty bold. Also Pres. Lee did refer to scripture for all his answers but never opened his scriptures. Again, I thought that was pretty cool. It seems some of us are rather old RMs, The 70s decade rocked with the old discussions, blue paper back BoMs, all day PDay, film strips, language training at Knight Magnum Hall BYU and live temple sessions.
I had to laugh at the last one, a bit like the spoof gospel trivia question I sometimes ask, “Who were the stripling warriors? Name them all.”
This reminds me of Q and A sessions with general authorities on my mission. I quickly learned that general authorities are experts on how the Church is administered and the official doctrines and positions of the Church. Most of them don’t know, let alone care, about a lot of the questions that some of thought were important. They were too busy administering and ministering to speculate about Adam’s belly button.