Until seven times seventy

[pne]

The Church recently announced the formation of a Seventh and Eighth Quorum of the Seventy, due to the large number of brethren in the Fourth Quorum and the large geographical area served by the Third Quorum.

This initially puzzled me since I thought I had remembered a scripture which provided for only seven quorums… after reading through D&C 107:93–96 again, I suppose that the until seven times seventy may apply to the other seventy besides the first seventy to whom [the seven presidents of the Seventy] belong, thus providing for a total of eight quorums. That is, the "seven times seventy" applies to the additional quorums chosen by the presidents, rather than to the number of quorums after the additional ones have been added to the first. Still, I found the news a little disconcerting.

Comments

[node-ue.livejournal.com]

I thought you were a Lutheran... why do you find it disconcerting?

[pne.livejournal.com]

I thought you were a Lutheran

Nope, never have been.

why do you find it disconcerting?

Because I initially interpreted D&C 107:93–96 as referring to a total of seven quorums of Seventy, and found that reading logical; hearing that an eighth quorum is called sounds as if the church is not keeping to the organisation that was prescribed through revelation.

Modern-day revelation does mean that God can and does reveal new things, so this could be part of this—but I guess I felt that this scripture provided for enough expansion. (Even a second quorum of the Seventy wasn't established until around 1970, I think, or 140 years after the organisation of TCoJCoLDS.)

Re: Until seven times seventy

[(Anonymous)]

I think the more logical reading of "And these seven presidents are to choose other seventy besides the first seventy to whom they belong, and are to preside over them; And also other seventy, until seven times seventy" is that when the term "seventy" is used it is equivalent to "quorum of seventy". Thus the presidents choose other QUORUMS of the seventy until seven times seventy QUORUMS have been chosen. So we've got 482 more to go. And that's only if you take the 7 * 70 as a literal number -- many new testament scholars say that Christ's injunction to forgive "seven times seventy" times is actually a commandment to forgive forever, as the term "seven times seventy" means a very large number, not necessarily exactly 490.