When the Church was organized in 1830, members didn't understand the plan of salvation the same way we do today. The first generation of Saints brought ideas from their old faiths as they joined the Church. Christians had been arguing about the afterlife for centuries. And American Christians in Joseph Smith's America debated back and forth, how does one get to heaven? What is life like there? They gleaned from biblical passages about there being a heaven and there being a hell, and they debated what those might mean for individual followers of Jesus. But a near consensus existed among American Christians: Heaven was small. It was for the elect. Most people wouldn't be there. "I was taught that Christ would have a mere few trophies of His mission to the world, while His antagonist would have countless millions. My situation appeared more precarious than a ticket in a lottery." Caleb Rich. In February 1832, while working on their inspired translation of the Bible, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had a remarkable vision of the afterlife, organized not into a single heaven and hell but into degrees of glory. When he printed the revelation, William W. Phelps assumed most Saints would rejoice over it. "The Vision is the greatest news that was ever published to man." William W. Phelps. Other Saints, like Phoebe Peck, encouraged their friends to prayerfully consider the new teachings. "These things are now in print and are going forth into the world. You perhaps will have an opportunity of reading for yourself. And if you do, I hope you will read with careful and a prayerful heart." Phoebe Peck. But not everyone found it easy to accept the new revelation. As missionaries went out to the branches, they sometimes encountered serious concerns. "Ezra Landon in Geneseo denied the Vision, and other members joined him. Brother Landon said the Vision was of the devil, and he believed it no more than he believed the devil was crucified." John Murdock. It may seem strange to modern Latter-day Saints why the Vision prompted such strong reactions among early LDS converts. But we have to recognize that that Vision was received in a time of deep theological debate and argument. Rival Christian groups--the old-guard Calvinists and a renegade group of Christians--fought over the question of the afterlife. Those renegade Christians were called Universalists because they taught that God's power and His patience, His mercy, would eventually save the entire human family. And this was an idea that was radical. Universalists challenged traditional Christians, and traditional Christians fired back. They argued that this could lead to social or religious chaos. What would it mean to moral order if people thought no matter what they did, eventually they'd be saved? Even Brigham Young initially had concerns about the Vision's teachings. "My traditions were such, that when the Vision first came to me, it was directly contrary and opposed to my former education. I said, Wait a little. I did not reject it; but I could not understand it." Brigham Young. The 21st section of the Doctrine and Covenants encourages us to follow the prophet in patience and faith. We sometimes forget the patience part. Like Brigham and perhaps others of the day, we can sometimes benefit by realizing that we have to grow into the revelations. We have to grow in understanding, in patience, which will strengthen our faith and help us to realize that the Lord does, in fact, direct His Church. Rather than rejecting the Vision or leaving the Church, Brigham Young took time to wrestle with it and ponder its teachings. "I used to think and pray, to read and think, until I knew and fully understood it for myself." Brigham Young. It seems, in retrospect, that the people were not nearly so much afraid of what the Vision actually said as what they thought it might mean. The 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants neither teaches the kind of Universalism where everyone will be saved without the need for obedience, nor the kind of restrictive salvation where only the very few elect are saved. It clearly reveals to us our loving Father in Heaven, who truly desires to give all of His children all of the blessings and knowledge and joy He has, depending on the laws each of us is willing to obey. It wasn't until Nauvoo, when the Prophet Joseph Smith and others started teaching about exaltation in more precise and more dramatic ways, did Doctrine and Covenants section 76 take on a new light. And they could come back to that revelation with new questions: What does human potential actually look like? What does God have in store for His children? What has Christ made possible for all of the human family? No text in all of our revelations presses that question more poignantly than Doctrine and Covenants section 76.