The First 2,000 Years

I have been interested in reading The First 2,000 Years by W. Cleon Skousen for some time now, and that time finally arrived! Some parts of it I found very enjoyable. Some parts I found myself being a little skeptical. But overall, it was a good read and it is definitely thought-provoking. Perhaps everything didn't happen the exact way that Skousen explains it, but it does provide an interesting viewpoint to consider.

However, instead of dwelling on the things I didn't like so much, I want to share some ideas from this book that I enjoyed. I may not agree 100% with these ideas, but I enjoyed them so much because they were new thoughts to me and made me ponder.

Early in the book Skousen talks about the relationship between priesthood and motherhood. He argues that the priesthood is meant to put men on equal footing with women. As mothers, they naturally have more influence on their children than anyone else. This gives women a lot of power in the world. The priesthood gives authority to the men, which allows men and women to then work, equal in authority, to raise their children. I have heard many theories on the priesthood, but this was a new explanation to me.

At another place in the book, Skousen discusses why the Jaredites were commanded to take so many animals with them on their journey to the promised land. Skousen suggests that after the flood, there was no life to be found anywhere in the Americas. The Jaredites were commanded to replenish the life of both animals and humans. While I had never considered this before and it does make sense, I also think that some animals could have migrated to the Americas before the earth was divided in the days of Peleg.

One of my favorite things about this book was how Skousen outlined the lives of the patriarchs. It was so interesting to me to see how many of them overlapped. In fact, Adam and Seth both lived to see the city of Zion built by Enoch before they passed away. When Zion was translated, Methuselah wasn't left on the earth alone. He still had his grandfathers living on the earth. Interestingly enough, Methuselah lived until the year of the great Flood. I had never realized before how much their lives overlapped.

I am excited to read the next volume!