“Write the things which ye have seen and heard,” Jesus told His Nephite disciples, “and behold, all things are written by the Father.”  (3 Ne. 27:23, 26).

I once quoted this to Marjorie, and marveled at the sheer amount that He would have to write.  “How many people does that keep busy being scribes in heaven?” I conjectured.

She responded, “Oh, surely they have computers there by now!”

We take great pride in our technology.  The world has made giant leaps in its technological advancements, but mankind’s technology is still in its infancy in comparison to heaven’s.

I’m interested in a phrase used frequently by the Lord.  He admonishes us to “give heed to (His) word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword…”  (D&C 14:2).

There was a time when the invention of two-edged swords became a huge technological advancement for mankind.  With a two-edged sword a warrior could do damage with both his stroke and with his back stroke.  When an army showed up on the battlefield for the first time armed with two-edged swords, the opposing army was surely struck with as much fear and amazement as were the Lamanite armies when they first encountered Moroni’s army dressed in breastplates, arm-shields, head-shields, and heavy clothing.  The Book of Mormon says the Lamanites were “exceedingly afraid.”  (Alma 43:21).

I admire Moroni because he always stayed one technological step ahead of the Lamanites.  Following their defeat at the hands of the better-equipped Nephite army, the Lamanites carefully armed themselves with breastplates and shields and heavy clothing thinking that would put them back on equal grounds with the Nephites.  They confidently marched off to attack the weakest Nephite city, “But behold, to their uttermost astonishment, they were prepared for them, in a manner which never had been known among the children of Lehi.”  (Alma 49:8).  Moroni had fortified the cities with “a ridge of earth round about them, which was so high that the Lamanites could not cast their stones and their arrows at them that they might take effect.”  (Alma 49:4).

“How great was their disappointment.  …The chief captains of the Lamanites were astonished exceedingly.”  (Alma 49: 4, 5).

Moroni’s preparations were his best attempts at technology, but they were infantile in comparison to the technology of heaven.  The Nephites’ last king, Mosiah, had been in possession of the Urim and Thummim.  This was an instrument provided by the Lord through which a seer could look and receive revelation or translate ancient records.

We don’t have anything like that even today.  Computers, and all that they do, seem like magic to me; but to those who build them, they make perfect sense.  The Urim and Thummim would seem like magic to the builders of computers, but I’m sure that natural laws and processes govern the way the instrument works.

The same is true for the Liahona, another heaven-provided technological instrument that in Captain Moroni’s day was still in the keeping of the current prophet.  The Liahona was a sophisticated compass that didn’t simply show north and south.  Neither was it a global positioning system that might sometimes tell a person to make a wrong turn.  It unerringly told Lehi’s family the best way to go whether they knew where they were going or not.  It also gave written instructions and revelations about all kinds of things according to the people’s needs.

Nephi beheld that the Liahona worked “according to the faith and diligence and heed which” they gave to it.  (1 Ne. 16:28, 29).

Mankind, with all of its advancements, has still not learned how to harness the power of faith.  Mankind, in general, never will; but some individuals among us are making good strides in that direction.

Mankind has invented lasers, and uses controlled bursts of concentrated light for many purposes; but not even the most faith-filled people around us know how to control and use light like the angel Moroni did.  When he’d concluded his initial visit with Joseph Smith, Joseph “saw the light in the room begin to gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking to me, and it continued to do so until the room was again left dark, except just around him; when, instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended till he entirely disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before this heavenly light had made its appearance.”  (Joseph Smith—History, 1:43).

“A pillar of light” (ibid, verse 16) was also the method of conveyance used by the Father and the Son when they first appeared to Joseph.  Mankind hasn’t a clue how that is done.  Our technological advancements in the realms of computers, electricity and lasers are surely as infantile in comparison to heaven’s technology as Moroni’s preparations for war are to today’s radar and guided missiles.

If I was a young student preparing myself for life’s vocation, I think it would be fascinating to learn everything I could about light.  I might become a physicist and make light my life’s work.  Jesus is the source of light.  It comes from within Him.  (See Topical Guide, “Jesus Christ, Light of the World”).  He uses it for conveyance.  He can install it in 16 small stones and cause them to shine continuously.  (Ether chapter 3, and 6:2, 3, 10).  He uses it to light the world.

Yes, Marjorie, they could have computers in heaven now, but I doubt it.  They’re more advanced than that.  Neither do we have much need in our modern world anymore for two-edged swords.