The miracle of modern-day printing

Thomas Jefferson once said, “I cannot live without books.” Most of the ideas that fueled Jefferson’s outlook on life, and consequently those of our nation’s revolution, came out of books written by philosophers of the time like Rousseau and Locke. Joseph Smith’s First Vision and encounter with God came after he prayed at the behest of a book, in this case the Holy Bible.
The ability of the common layperson to read the scriptures on his own was one of the most important spiritual developments of the Christian era. For more than a thousand years, the Roman Catholic church dominated religious thought in Western Europe. The Vulgate from which they preached was written in Latin and kept mostly in the hands of ministers, who were also usually the only ones who could understand Latin. The translation of the Bible into vernacular languages and its mass-production allowed ideas to diversify. Martin Luther, the most famous of the so-called “Reformers,” questioned the sale of indulgences and other church practices upon his own inspection of the Bible. This eventually paved the way for the Restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith.
Knowing this history and its relevance to Latter-Day Saints, I enjoyed attending the Crandall Printing Museum. I was fascinated by the process Guttenberg underwent to make his movable-type printing press functional. I was aware before that Guttenberg did not invent the press, as it came from China through the Mongols. I was unaware, however, of how many innovations and inventions Guttenberg really made. I was amazed by his technique of casting letters and ink making. He had to carve by hand each individual letter out of a solid metal block. He had to experiment by trial-and-error to find the right mixture of metals to make the type. He needed to find the right metal to make the type-mold out of. Then, after Guttenberg figured out how to make and assemble the new type, he was confronted with a paper problem. The paper used at the time was meant to be used with water-based inks, but water-based inks would not stick well or print clearly with the metal type. So, Guttenberg then had to experiment with oil-based mixtures until he found a suitable ink. These are a few of the examples of how much Guttenberg had to innovate to make the movable-type printing press work. I had no idea how much work he put into it to make it work.
I learned how important Guttenberg really was. I knew before that he was one of the most influential men in history, but I didn’t know how much he really innovated rather than just put together existing ideas.
I also had no idea how much of a miracle it was that 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon could be printed and bound so quickly. The printers worked at an unreal rate in order to print the requisite number of pages, and the binding was done in a miraculous amount of time. I know that God had a hand in the development and implementation of the printing press. The spread of the gospel worldwide needed such an invention. Through it, millions of copies of the Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible have been printed and enlightened millions of lives around the globe. I gained a greater appreciation of printing and its impact on history and my own life.

The Nativity

Matthew and Luke were both written with Mark as a guide and other information added. One part of the story of Jesus of Nazareth Mark does not record is about His miraculous conception and birth. Luke and Matthew both tell elements of this story, but the different emphases of each writer is indicative of their respective focuses and target audiences.
Matthew’s gospel is full of fulfillment passages, as his focus and audience was both Jews and Jewish Christians. Matthew begins by citing the genealogy of Christ directly back to King David, who Jews knew was to be a progenitor of the Messiah. Another example of a fulfillment passage in Matthew’s narrative of the Saviour’s birth is in Matthew 1:23 in which he shows that the angel speaking to Joseph in a dream fulfills a prophecy in Isaiah about the name of Christ: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matthew merely mentions where Jesus was born, and moves on to the story of Herod and the wise men when Jesus would have already been a little child.
Luke, on the other hand, is a Greek, gentile convert whose audience is other gentiles. He doesn’t start with a genealogical line since he doesn’t need to establish to his audience that Jesus meets the qualifications set forth by the prophets for the Messiah. Luke takes a very linear approach by going into great detail about Zacharias and Elizabeth’s conception of John. As noted previously, Luke’s linear style of writing is a result of his being a physician and natural historian. He details the pregnancy and birth of John as the forerunner of Christ, then gives a detailed account of the night of Jesus’s birth. He details how the common shepherds were told of the birth and how they worshipped the new baby.
Luke also writes about and details the character of Mary. He shows how pivotal of a role Mary played and how amazing of a woman she was by showing her pure faith and humility compared to Zechariah’s disbelief at angelic tidings. Luke is interested in gender relationships throughout his narrative and shows a strong woman in the birth story.

The four “gospels” of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John provide us with an accurate, precious view of the life of the Saviour. These books are the primary source of our knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth’s life and teachings. As posted before, Mark was a prominent member of the early church. The Last Supper may have been held at his family’s house, he served multiple missions with Paul and Barnabus, and was with Peter in Rome. His sources in writing were primarily Peter and other eyewitnesses of Jesus’s teachings and works. Matthew, to whom the first book in our present compilation of the New Testament is credited, and John were apostles of Christ. Who is Luke?
Luke is never mentioned by name in the New Testament. However, by examining his text and analyzing his words, we can know more about this man. Luke begins his narrative by writing his reasons and qualifications for writing about Jesus. He writes that the records already had (likely the gospel of Mark amongst other things) are true and accurate, but that he is qualified to write additional material because he has done his research. We assume that Luke was a doctor. Doctors then and now could be considered historians of sorts since they think cause-and-effect. When a patient comes into their office with an illness, the doctor asks them their history in the last few days or weeks to try to determine the cause of the ailment. Luke would therefore be a good historian in researching and piecing together the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.
From the early passages of Luke and parts of the Acts of the Apostles, we can piece together where and how long Luke would be doing his research. In Luke 1:3, he basically dedicates the book to his patron, or the one who funded and financially supported him as he wrote. When compared with Acts 1:1, it can be argued that Luke was also the primary author of the this book as well. If this is the case, then Luke is implicitly mentioned in Acts 16:10. When describing the activities and journeys of the people therein, the pronoun changes from “he” and “they” to “we.” So, we can roughly pinpoint the time that Luke rejoins Paul in the ministry. We know, therefore, that Luke was in Judaea and Galilee for two entire years. It is probable that Luke was researching and interviewing people during this span. He likely went to Capernaum and other sites of Jesus’s ministry to get first-hand accounts of what happened. He too wanted to construct his narrative of the Saviour’s life from those who witnessed it for themselves.
Due to his careful research and methodical, linear writing style, we have a different view of Jesus’s life than that presented to us by Mark. We get an account of His birth in Bethlehem, for example. We have a clearer, better picture of Jesus the Christ thanks to a man who never even met him, a physician named Luke.

Death of the Saviour

Throughout the Master's life, he came to the realization more and more that he would be sacrificed for the sins of the world. Starting at least with Satan's temptation in the wilderness after his baptism, Jesus was offered different paths. He was tempted to stray from the narrow path and specific mission the Father sent him to do time and time again, even by his closest friends (Mark 8:33). It must have been extremely lonely for Jesus of Nazareth to have his own apostles not comprehend what his end must be. They still didn't comprehend even when the hour was come. Mark tells us how he told Peter and the others that they would all forsake Him and leave him alone. Despite their denial, they indeed fled their master and left him alone. Mark tells us of his unlawful arrest, illegal trial, and unlawful death sentence. Jesus was condemned to die in a trial during the night so that the people, with whom he had considerable support, could not disrupt the verdict. We read of his familiar hearing with Pilate, the painful torture, and the gruesome crucifixion. Through the Jews and chief priests, Satan tempted Jesus one last time to not complete his mission by tempting him to save himself from the cross and be spared the agony of death. But, as he was all throughout his life, Jesus was faithful to the Father's commandments. Then, after all the prophecies of His life had been fulfilled and His atonement accepted of the Father, Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, Messiah, and Saviour of the world, hung dead. I am grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I am grateful that he completed the agonizing atonement for my sins and prepared the way to eternal life.