Doctrine and Covenants Class sponsored by BYU Continuing Education, taught by Robert J. Norman Ed. D.

It is time to start a new semester starting this Thursday, August 27, 2009.

Where: The Granite Stake Tabernacle 2005 South 900, Sugar House (SLC)
When: Thursdays, August 27 through December 10 excluding Thanksgiving from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Subject: Second half of the Doctrine and Covenants
Text: The Doctrine and Covenants and The LDS Institute Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual (link here)
Teacher: Robert J. Norman Ed. D.
Cost: $22.50 per semester or $2.50 per class
Register: Call 801-422-8925 (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover) or mail in check to: BYU-Adult Religion Classes, 120 Harman Continuing Education Building, Provo, Utah 84602) or online at http://ce.byu.edu/ed and click on "Adult Religion Classes."

Prepare for the first class by reading Enrichment Section (index) in the Institute Student Manual L (link here) and D&C 78-82, 83, 85, 92, 104 (link here) plus the student manual with these same section numbers (link here).

In this second half of the Doctrine and Covenants we will watch the Saints be driven from the Center Place of Zion. This is heartbreaking to all of us. The Prophet Brigham Young teaches all of us a very important concept as to what it takes to really establish Zion:

A great many people imbibed the same idea which I did in the beginning, and really believed that in Jackson County all the earthly sorrows, afflictions, disappointments, and weaknesses pertaining to the flesh would be at an end, and that every one would be sanctified before the Lord, and all would be peace and joy from morning until evening, and from year to year, until the Savior should come.
The brethren who went then found themselves mistaken, in a very short time. Those who went there, and those who were acquainted with their going and coming, found the world, the flesh, and the devil there, just as much as any where else, unless they had faith to turn every spirit of the world out of doors, that is, out of their hearts. They found the same tempter, the same covetous feelings, and the same allurements there, as in other places.
When our Elders go out to preach the Gospel, they tell the people to gather to Zion. Where is it? It is at the City of the Great Salt Lake, in the Valleys of the Mountains, in the settlements of Utah Territory-there is Zion now. But you perceive when you come here the same covetous feelings imbibed in the hearts of many, as in other places, the same tempter is here, and there are plenty of allurements; and unless the people live before the Lord in the obedience of His commandments, they cannot have Zion within them. They must carry it with them, if they expect to live in it, to enjoy it, and increase in it. If they do not do this, they are as much destitute of Zion here as they are in other places.
(Journal of Discourses, 26 vols., 2:, p.253-)