Which is Which? | D&C 84 | CFM 2025 Jul 28-Aug 3 | Primarily Scripture with Cindy Young

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Join Cindy Young as she shares a study tip for decoding which kind of priesthood is being talked about in Doctrine and Covenants 84. But this tip isn't only good for this week's reading - you can use it any time the scriptures are talking about two things at once! 

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Don't forget the parable of the snowball:  listening to someone else talk about the gospel is like having snowballs thrown at you. Reading the scriptures is like making your own snowball. Taking the time to search, ponder, and pray about what you've read is like rolling the snowball around and around so that it grows and grows. So don't just listen to me - please go read for yourself so your knowledge and testimony can grow and grow!!

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Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Hello, hello, and welcome back toanother episode of Primarily Scripture.
I'm your host, Cindy Young.
We follow Come Follow Me, and this yearwe are in the Doctrine and Covenants.
But what we're mostly doing here islearning techniques that you can use
to study the scriptures on your own.
Whether you're in Doctrine andCovenants, Book of Mormon, Bible, any
of the scriptures, you can use thesetechniques and study on your own.

(00:26):
So today we are in Doctrine andCovenants section 84, and we are
talking about the priesthood.
One of the things you might runinto as you study the scriptures is
that the scriptures sometimes talkabout multiple things at the same
time, and it can be hard to decode.
Are you talking about this or about that?
And that happens in section 84.
We're talking about the Aaronicpriesthood and the Melchizedek priesthood.

(00:50):
So these are two differentkinds of priesthood.
The Aaronic priesthood is called thelesser priesthood, and the Melchizedek
priesthood is the greater priesthood.
And we get more details aboutboth in this section, but we
have to decode it and figure outwhich one they're talking about.
Something that we can watch forthat will help us know if it's
this or that, the Aaronic or theMelchizedek, is connecting words.

(01:13):
We'll see places where it's obviouslytalking about one of them and then
there's another part and we're notquite sure if it's this one or that one,
so look to see, has it started a newtopic or has there been a connecting
word, like "which" or "therefore"because those connect them together.
For instance in verse 18, "the Lordconfirmed a priesthood upon Aaron,"

(01:36):
obviously the Aaronic priesthoodand I'm going to mark that in blue.
This priesthood of Aaron... was given"throughout all their generations, which
priesthood..." So there's that connectingword, "which," so we're still talking
about Aaronic... "which priesthood alsocontinueth and abideth forever," so we
can know that that priesthood abidethforever "with the priesthood, which is

(01:59):
after the holiest order of God." Didyou notice that transition right there?
It went from talking about theAaronic priesthood to talking
about a new kind of priesthood.
So you have to really watch closefor when those switches happen.
Sometimes when it switches, itmentions the name or kind of
priesthood that it's now talking about.
And sometimes there is a word likethis word "with," that helps you know

(02:21):
that what you were just talking aboutis being paired with something else.
So then it switches totalking about Melchizedek.
Do you see that?
Let's change to red and we'll markMelchizedek in a different color.
" After the holiest order of God."Okay, so we found both Aaronic
and Melchizedek in the same verse.

(02:42):
Even though it didn't say Aaronic,it said Aaron, and it didn't say
Melchizedek, it said highest.
So that's how we can know thedifference between the two.
Let's keep going and we'll watchto see if there are any more
connecting words that help us decodewhich one we're talking about.
Verse 19 says "this greaterpriesthood..." okay, so there it's
obvious we're talking about Melchizedek.

(03:03):
"Greater priesthood administereth thegospel," that's something that it does.
"And holdeth the key of the mysteriesof the kingdom." That's something
else that belongs specificallyto the Melchizedek priesthood.
"Even the key of the knowledgeof God." There we go.
So we've got three thingsthat belongs specifically to
the Melchizedek priesthood.
Verse 20 starts with, "therefore..."oh, do you remember that therefore

(03:27):
is one of our connecting words?
Because that's a connecting word,we can know we're still talking
about the Melchizedek priesthood.
"Therefore, in the ordinancesthereof," of the Melchizedek, "the
power of godliness is manifest." Thatis an amazing promise right there!
One that I really hope you'llgo to your scriptures and mark.
It's so important!And if you go on my worksheets, you'll

(03:48):
see another study activity that helpsyou delve into this idea and really
think about what that means, thepower of godliness in the ordinances.
Such an amazing thing!But that's not what we're talking about
right now, so we're gonna keep going.
Let's actually skip to verse 26, okay?

26 says this (04:07):
"and the lesser priesthood," do you remember
which one's the lesser priesthood?
That's right.
It's Aaronic, so I'm gonnaswitch back to my blue.
"The lesser priesthood... holdeththe key of the ministering of
angels." There's something thatthe Aaronic priesthood does.
I'm gonna underline that in my blue.

And what else does it (04:25):
"and the preparatory gospel." So that is
the things that will help us beprepared for the higher ordinances.
That's why the Aaronic priesthood isthe lesser or preparatory, because
it does these things that help usprepare for the Melchizedek ordinances.
27 starts with another connecting word.

(04:45):
Do you see it?
"Which gospel..." there'sour connecting word, which.
We're still talking about whatwas talked about right before.
"The preparatory gospel. Which gospelis the gospel of repentance and of
baptism, and the remission of sins,and the law of carnal commandments."
Now, what in the worldis carnal commandments?
That basically just means the 10commandments that the Lord gave to

(05:09):
Moses way, way, way back in the Bible.
Okay?
Those are the commandments that helpus to prepare for the higher ordinances
of the Melchizedek priesthood.
And I'm gonna underline these preparatorygospel principles, repentance, baptism,
remission of sins, and the commandments.
Okay?

(05:29):
Do you see how we learned aboutthe Melchizedek and the Aaronic
priesthood even though there wasnever the word Melchizedek and
there was never the word Aaronic.
if we back up a littlebit and look in verse 17.
The Lord says this about thepriesthood: "which priesthood continue
with in the church of God in allgenerations and is without beginning

(05:50):
of days or end of years." Now, whichpriesthood is he talking about?
There's a connecting word there that sayswhich, you can look back up to verse 14.
You can tell that he's talking about theMelchizedek priesthood, but men cannot
receive the Melchizedek priesthood if theydon't already have the Aaronic priesthood.
So this verse 17 is talkingabout both of them together.

(06:12):
And so this is something that I loveto do when I mark my scriptures.
If I'm looking for two differentthings, I like to pick two different
colors, but I usually pick primarycolors: red, yellow, or blue.
Because then if there's any versethat talks about both of them at
the same time, I can combine the twocolors together to make another color.
So now I'm going to mark verse 17in purple because that's what you

(06:35):
get when red and blue are combined.
The priesthood "continueth in thechurch"- if God has set up his church
on the earth, the priesthood is in it.
"In all generations, and iswithout beginning or end."
The priesthood blesses our lives so much,and understanding the differences between

(06:55):
the Aaronic priesthood and the Melchizedekpriesthood can help your testimony grow.
And when you see those differencesand those blessings of the priesthood
in your own life, then you canshare that knowledge with others.
But sometimes you have to do a littlebit of decoding in the scriptures
in order to find that doctrine.
So I hope that you will usethis when you are studying.
Look for those connecting words to figureout which thing we're talking about.

(07:18):
Is it this or is it that?
There're so many ways for you tostudy the gospel, but be sure that
when you are studying, you studyprimarily, which means mostly,
firstly, most importantly, scripture.
I'm Cindy Young.
I'll see you next week.
Bye guys.
Thanks for tuning into PrimarilyScripture with Cindy Young.
Don't forget you can subscribe to thenewsletter and download free worksheets

(07:40):
on the website, primarily scripture.com.
And if you like the channel,be sure to subscribe, like,
share, and leave a review.
See you next time.