NOM

DW and I are going through D&C right now (are you all excited for Sunday School next year??). Last night we read D&C 15, and the section heading got me really excited:

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet to John Whitmer, at Fayette, New York, June 1829 (see the heading to section 14). The message is intimately and impressively personal in that the Lord tells of what was known only to John Whitmer and Himself. John Whitmer later became one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon.

Now, that sounds interesting, doesn't it? I waited with bated breath as we read through the verses, looking for these personal details that Joseph Smith could not possibly know. It's a short section, so I didn't have to wait long:

3 And I will tell you that which no man knoweth save me and thee alone—

4 For many times you have desired of me to know that which would be of the most worth unto you.

5 Behold, blessed are you for this thing, and for speaking my words which I have given you according to my commandments.

6 And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.

Well, that was anticlimactic. The "intimately and impressively personal" part could have been said about literally anyone. Who at that time and place in history didn't wonder about what God wanted them to do with their life? And JS exploits that to guilt John Whitmer into missionary work, the same tactic that's used to this day on all the youth.

As a side note, I've noticed that the chapter headings are often used to add or emphasize things that are not really there. It's especially prevalent in the New Testament, which DW and I just finished reading. The heading would have some bit of particular LDS doctrine, and then when you look for it in the chapter there's only a glancing, twisted reference to it in the actual text. It's all about how you frame things, right? Tell people what you want them to see, and they'll see it.

You're absolutely right. When Daymon Smith wrote about the project to publish new scriptures with computer generated footnotes and committee crafted chapter headings, he emphasized that the whole point of the headings was to direct people towards an LDS specific interpretation via "meta-text". LDS published scripture is largely made up of this meta-text.

This also allowed the COB to make a lot of money from members by selling expensive new leatherbound quads, keeping the printing department solvent.

In my amateur study I learned two new words, exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis is the process of trying to get the original meaning of a text. Eisegesis is trying to make the text fit with one's topic or predetermined meaning. I notice a lot of eisegesis in L.D.S. lesson manuals.

Sparky,

I think your observation is spot on. This is a classic technique used in cold readings known as the Barnum effect or Forer effect.

Probably one of the most pervasive techniques in cold reading is the Barnum effect. It is named after P. T. Barnum, but is also known as the Forer effect, after the psychologist who first described it experimentally. The Barnum effect relies on the natural tendency of people to assign detail and specific meaning to generalized statements or events. Ideas can be presented in such a way that they are pretty much true for everyone or are all encompassing (such as "you are an extrovert but often introverted as well").
The Barnum effect is one of the few techniques that really does not require any feedback at all from the person being read. This lack of a need for feedback leads to the Barnum effect being the most common technique used in written cold readings such as horoscopes [or patriarchal blessing].
(http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Cold_reading)

Also, D&C xv and xvi are identical, except that the name "Peter" is substituted for "David".

LSOF wrote:Also, D&C xv and xvi are identical, except that the name "Peter" is substituted for "David".

Yep, I came here to post this, as we read section 16 last night. Very "intimately and impressively personal" revelation, gotta hand it to Joe.

This is just as profound as the secret decoder message in "A Christmas Story" which turned out to be the the commercial "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine." However, this movie anti-climax does cause Ralphie's shelf to break about his belief in Santa.