Joseph Smith Papers

It was cool to read the original manuscript for Doctrine and Covenants section 88. What was interesting to me was to see how many small revisions were made before it was finally published. Most of them were done by Joseph Smith, yet there are a lot of changes made by others who were scribes for Joseph. It was really cool for me to see how although there are a lot of changes, they were only for small grammatical errors really. It helped me to realize even more that Joseph Smith wouldn’t receive a revelation, and then go back and change and rewrite everything he wrote. It’s a testimony to me that these revelations truly are from God. Joseph Smith received these revelations from God, and through mistakes of scribes, or just general grammatical errors, there were a few changes. It’s evidence that the Prophet Joseph Smith did not just sit and contemplate what was going to be written. He didn’t sit and write, then scribble out a few sentences to make it sound better. He would sit and read what the Lord would dictate he should read. Although I haven’t studied many of the other revelations, I assume they’re very similar in nature. No real major revisions. It gives me hope that I can read the Doctrine and Covenants and know that it’s the undefiled word of God.