Establishing Zion

When I was in high school I made a trip to Washington D.C. with my US Government class and while I was there I met a girl from Arkansas who belonged to another Christian denomination.

Throughout high school and my mission, she and I exchanged letters and she wrote one letter to me that challenged our belief that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were building Zion. She said that we were misled because Joseph Smith taught that Zion would be established in Jackson County, Missouri, then it would be established in Nauvoo Illinois and finally it would be established in Salt Lake City, Utah under the leadership of Brigham Young. From her perspective, the Mormons were being fooled into thinking that they could establish Zion and they kept changing their story about where Zion would be built. This was a little perplexing to me at the time because to me at the time, more than anything else, Zion was an awesome National Park in Southern Utah.

I can understand why she was confused about the doctrine of establishing Zion. Because many Latter-day Saints are also confused about the doctrine of establishing Zion.

When President Monson announced last weekend that the church would build a temple in Kansas City, there were many comments posted on blogs and news sites that hinted that it was time for members of the Church to pack their bags and move to Jackson County, Missouri. Obviously, some of them were joking and perhaps teasing other people who may have really had those thoughts; but regardless, it demonstrates a fundamental missunderstanding of what it means to establish Zion.

It is helpful to understand the history of the Church to understand why people would talk about "packing up and moving to Missouri" at the first sign of building a temple there.

The Church first attempted to build temples in Missouri in the 1830s when the early Saints dedicated a temple site in Independence, Missouri in 1831 and farther north in Far West, Missouri in 1838. In 1831, Joseph Smith prophesied that the New Jerusalem (the city of Zion) would be established in Independence, Missouri. Independece is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. Those temples were never constructed, however, as the Mormons were driven out of Missouri persuant to an extermination order issued by Governor Lilburn W. Boggs in 1838.

The Church relocated its headquarters to Nauvoo, Illinois, and then to Salt Lake City, Utah. Today, 13 million Church members are now spread throughout the world and there are more than 140 temples operating.

On the same day of General Conference on October 4, 2008 when President Monson announced the new temple in Kansas City, Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave an excellent talk about what is required to establish Zion.

"Zion is Zion because of the character, attributes and faithfulness of her citizens ... If we would establish Zion in our homes, branches, ward and stakes, we must rise to (a Zion standard). It will be necessary to become unified in one heart and one mind, to become ... a holy people and to care for the poor and needy with such effectiveness that we eliminate poverty among us. We cannot wait until Zion comes for these things to happen. Zion will come only as they happen."

From the Church Website:

"The word Zion appears repeatedly in all the books of scripture of the Church. In latter-day revelation, Zion is defined as "the pure in heart" (D&C 97:21).

"In the early days of this dispensation, Church leaders counseled members to build up Zion by emigrating to a central location. Today our leaders counsel us to build up Zion wherever we live. Members of the Church are asked to remain in their native lands and help establish the Church there. Many temples are being built so Latter-day Saints throughout the world can receive temple blessings.

"The word Zion can also refer to specific geographic locations, as follows:
The city of Enoch (see Moses 7:18–21).
The ancient city of Jerusalem (see 2 Samuel 5:6–7; 1 Kings 8:1; 2 Kings 9:28).
The New Jerusalem, which will be built in Jackson County, Missouri (see D&C 45:66–67; 57:1–3; Articles of Faith 1:10)."

In summary, Zion is being established in Missouri, but until we have established Zion in the Stakes throughout the world where we now live, we do not need to worry too much about the building up on Zion in Missouri, although we should all rejoice in the progress that the Saints in Missouri are making as is evidenced by the fact that the Church is building a temple in Kansas City, MO. Dieter F. Uchdorff said during the Priesthod Session of General Conference on October 4, 2008, "Stand close together and lift where you stand". This counsel is certainly applicable to our mandate and our covenant to establish Zion. You will know that we have established Zion when the members of the Church are united, pure in heart, and there are no poor among us. In the mean-time, let's all strive for that perfect standard by standing close together and lifting where we stand while doing all that we can to be united, to be purified in Christ, and to ensure that there are no poor among us.