I admire and appreciate your research more than words can tell. God bless you in your work. Keep it up 👍🏻.

Interestingly, your channel appeals to both active members and ex-Mormons, both looking for ammunition. 🤣 I've watched most of your videos (I went down a Connor Boyack rabbit hole about three months ago). My faith has been strengthened and weakened, in cycles, about 20 times. But I usually find myself with more faith when the dust settles. The Mormon Church is fascinating. It's such a unique blend of Christianity and cosmology. I grew up in the Church and have no plans or desire to leave. I boarded this train long ago and I'm not getting off. That said, the leadership and the Church are flawed on many levels. I see the Church as a vehicle that helps me better understand the gospel. I have no regrets about being a member or raising my family in the Church. But I've become more understanding of those who struggle with their faith. Life is meant to be a rollercoaster of physical, mental, and spiritual experiences, and it's an opportunity to learn how to build a relationship with God through faith. Without the Church, I don't think I'd navigate the chaos as well. The essence of the gospel is to love God and love our neighbors. In a nutshell, that's it. Everything else will fall into place over whatever time we have left on this earth and throughout eternity.

I will have to find the lectures on faith and read them. Thank you! ❤

A committee quietly removed the Lectures on Faith, with no vote from the church members.

Thank you! I have wondered what the history of the Lectures on Faith was and why it was taken out. Also, interesting that 101 was the only other de-canonized scripture from the D and C. I believe the Church will eventually take out 132. It conflicts with all other scriptures even itself. We learn of the Law in 42 and no one talks about 132 along with the lesson. Baffling! So sad to see Michelle leaving YouTube! I hope you stay!

So excellent, thank you. FULL of important, needed delineations. I love clarification of any topic, ESPECIALLY within their respective contexts.❤ Lectures on Faith (Doctrines of the Church) had a big impact on me growing up with needed foundation closer to the trunk from which other things branch. Videos like this help with the placement and arrangements and prioritizations of doctrines, and also the separation from the bureaucratic rearrangements which can often damage understandings. Every time things are branched, something is lost. Pure and precious things.

The Lectures on Faith are also in the 1844 edition of the Doctrine & Covenants.

I beleve Joseph. I believe what Joseph taught and said. I believe the Lectures on Faith are THE DOCTRINE.  I have the 1835 Lectures on Faith on my bookshelf as Scripture.

I don't think it matters who wrote the lectures because Joseph clearly endorsed them, Sidney didn't sneak them into the D&C. I'm glad Conner touched on this. Personally, I think we've been reading the lectures wrong, particularly lecture 5. If you look at lecture 3 & 4 they address the characteristics and attributes of God and I think that lecture 5 continues this framing. D&C 130 is specifically addressing the corporeal nature of the Godhead but I don't think that is the case in Lecture 5 or any of the lectures. Look up the meaning of the word "personage" in an 1828 dictionary, it had alternate meanings and I think this is what people get the most tripped up over.

It doesn't say that the Father is a being made up of spirit with no body and that the Son is a being of flesh with a body. The words spirit and mind are used interchangably. There's a distinction being made between the Father and the Son that I think we misinterpret. When Lecture Five refers to the Father as “a personage of spirit, glory, and power,” and the Son as “a personage of tabernacle,” it’s not making a scientific claim about tissue and substance. It’s describing roles, presence, and how each is known.

When you look at the lectures it seems that they are saying, "Think of God in this way, frame God this way in your approach, and your faith will be effective." Rather than trying to pull God down from heaven and put him in a box, the lectures are about ascension. Rather than trying to define God, the lectures are providing a foundation for faith by giving us a simple paradigm in which our faith can be centered and start to grow.

It's not a "complete" view of God and there isn't any human description of God that is "complete." The lectures inform us of God's character and attributes and provide a framing of the Godhead that we can center our faith in.

I'll give you just one example. Thinking of the Spirit as the mind of God is far more practical than I think we realize. Titles of divinity can be used interchangably. Think of confirmation and swap out "spirit" for "mind": "We confirm you a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and say unto you, receive the [Mind] of God." And the sacrament, "That they may always have his "Mind" to be with them. The Greek word for repentance means "a change of mind."

We see this idea of the mighty change of heart/mind in the scriptures all over. Receiving God's mind is the essence of repentance and our growth towards becoming one with God. Sure, framing the Spirit as the shared mind of God might not be the technical reality of things, but framing it that way is very practical and provides a way for us to approach God and exercise our faith in ways that can be incredibly fruitful. Now apply this same pattern to the idea of the Father as a personage of Spirit, Power, and Glory and the Son as a personage of Tabernacle. Interesting new ideas begin to occur.

We are saved by grace and not by works, lest any man should boast..Apostle Paul.

Thank you bringing up and pointing out these discrepancies. It's a blow to what we thought we understood, and I say that with reservation because there is so much in the doctrine of the Church that conflicts with scripture. It's good to bring these things up in order to search then ponder, pray and clear up false doctrine and truth. True and correct principle.

Truth is independent in its own sphere. It will jibe with other truths and truthsvwill bear witness of each other. Counterfeit doctrine gets easier and easier to spot as we take a closer look and analyze it from a scriptural and correct principle standpoint. "Teach them correct principle and let them govern themselves." We need to have a discerning eye to spot the difference between true and false doctrine.

This subject of the tabernacle of the Godhead has been on my mind for some time. Those things taught in the Book of Mormon square closely with the Lectures on Faith. Something indeed to carefully consider. I really appreciate your Sunday Musings Connor.

Could not get the right words to come to my mind.

More than strongly suggests. Joseph signed his name to them as scripture to be included in the Doctrine & Covenants as our doctrine on faith and the Godhead. Joseph also wrote elsewhere in his own handwriting that he takes full accountability for the truth of those documents.

Thank you, Connor.

Regarding the comment about omissions in the Bible of the Jehovah's Witnesses, these are verses that most Bible scholars agree to be later additions since they aren't found in the earliest biblical texts.  Many modern translations also omit them or only include them in brackets with a note that they are later additions. The KJV is not the most accurate version of the scriptures, but was what was available in Joseph Smith's day. And he acknowledged that there were faults in it.
We would also do well to try to eliminate later additions to our scriptures, especially the Doctrine and Covenants.  The current version has many additions and alterations which can easily be fixed since we have the originals in the Joseph Smith Papers

I see you're reading Denver Snuffer. Good for you!

In light of Michelle Stone’s post today, is anyone worried Conner will be put on the chopping block?

Rob Fotheringham did a great video on the this topic.

The Father is both Spirit and tabernacle combined.  After all if we kill off our tabernacle what is left, the spirit.  What is the resurrection, a spirit being endowed with a tabernacle.  Yes to both ideas that the father is a spirit and yes he has a tabernacle of glorified resurrected flesh.

“…behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.

27 And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.” 1 Nephi 13