EXCLUDED REVELATIONS

Sections From the D&C Not Included In the T&C

The following is a list of sections from the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) that were not included in the current Teachings and Commandments (T&C), as well as a brief synopsis of why they were not included. All section numbers are cited first to the LDS D&C and secondarily (in parentheses) to the Community of Christ (formerly RLDS) D&C, when such sections are found in their scriptures.

Sections 2, 4-7, 9-28, and 20—23(2—21) are extracts from the Joseph Smith-History (JSH); the full JSH has been included in T&C 1, and these sections are found there. D&C 20(17) the organization of the church is included in the JSH only for historical purposes and is not considered binding.

• 101, regarding Marriage — as found in the 1835 edition — is not a product of either Joseph or Hyrum Smith.
• 107 (104) is an amalgamation of content, with only one portion traceable to a revelation received before the 1835 publication of the D&C. That portion has been preserved in T&C 154.
• 110 is unverifiable as a true revelation/vision. A replacement revelation was received on 14 July 2017 and has been added as T&C 157:25–32.
• 111 is believed to be a false revelation, based on the fact that Joseph did not include it in the 1844 D&C, as well as the content of the revelation. It was first published in the Deseret News on 25 December 1852 and subsequently placed in the 1876 D&C.
• 126 was not included in the 1844 D&C by Joseph, and the content of the revelation is not relevant to our day.
• 129 was transcribed in shorthand that is too difficult to reconstruct into complete sentences. (See The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian’s Press, 2011), Vol. 2:257–258, 258n373; Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833–1898: Typescript, 10 vols., ed. Scott G. Kenney (Midvale, UT: Signature Books, 1983), 1:341. Herein cited as WWJ.)
• 130 and 131 were written from notes taken by Willard Richards and William Clayton that are fragments, and they do not agree on many points.
• 132 (112) is a copy of a copy of a manuscript dated 12 July 1843; the handwriting does not match that of any of Joseph’s known scribes. A replacement revelation was received on 14 July 2017 and has been added as T&C 157:33–43.
• 134 is a declaration on laws and government that was written by either Oliver Cowdery or Sidney Rigdon, not Joseph Smith.
• 135 (113) is the announcement of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum.
• 136 was written by Brigham Young.
• 138 is Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the dead; no original manuscripts are available to verify the text, which appears to have been altered.

Several revelations were considered for inclusion in the T&C and put to an online vote of the general assembly from July 5-11, 2017; the following revelations failed to pass by a majority:

• A “Song by the gift of Tongues,” dated 27 February 1833 (See The Joseph Smith Papers (Salt Lake City: The Church Historian’s Press, 2009), Revelations and Translations, Facsimile Edition, 508–511, herein cited as JSP.
• A Letter to the Church, “The Elders of the Church in Kirtland to their Brethren Abroad,” a serialized letter published in three installments appearing in the February, March, and April 1834 issues of The Evening and Morning Star, Kirtland, Ohio.
• A Joseph Smith discourse, dated 12 November 1835; “Discourse, 12 November 1835,” 30, JS, Journal, “Sketchbook for the use of Joseph Smith, Jr.,” Sept. 1835 – Apr. 1836, JSP, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-12-november-1835/1
• Two additional accounts of the First Vision; and
• A revelation recorded in the Council of Fifty Minutes regarding the name of the Council. (Council of Fifty, Minutes, 14 March 1844, in JSP, CFM:48.)

Additionally, the following were considered by the scripture committee for inclusion in the T&C but were ultimately discarded:

• A revelation received in 1829 regarding the selling of a copyright to the Book of Mormon in Canada in which the original manuscript proved to be unreliable (JSP, Revelations and Translations, 31-33);
• Revelations to individuals that contained strictly personal instruction with no broader application:
  • 31 August 1831 to John Burk, David Elliott, and Erastus Babbitt;
  • 27 February 1832 about Lincoln Haskins; and
  • 22 December 1841 with instructions concerning Amos Fuller and John Snider;
• A revelation recorded in the minutes of an assembly of church leaders, dated 5-6 December 1834, rebuking the church and its leaders; and
• A revelation dated 28 January 1842, written by Willard Richards in the Book of the Law of the Lord; this source document proved to be extremely questionable.