Moroni 10:1-7
10:1-3 - Here we are in the home stretch. I’m super short on time so let’s just see how far we get. Moroni finishes up the records that were entrusted to him by addressing “my brethren, the Lamanites,” and I would assume all the rest of us who will read this saying, “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.” This is a really interesting concept because essentially, what I’m hearing here is “you should be grateful to have the Book of Mormon,” and honestly, before I started this blog, I would have thought, “yeah right, the Book of Mormon doesn’t even have that much stuff in it that’s important.” I literally thought that once, shameful, I know. But being on this side of the learning experience, I know now what an amazing blessing the Book of Mormon is and that it was made for the benefit of mankind, so that we can learn and be happy and grow closer to Heavenly Father. The other issue that I’ve had with this statement is back when I thought that God was a misogynist, a terrible master, and I’ve had other men say this to me, bad men, “you’re so lucky I… for you.” And I’ve always hated that, it’s made me furious, how dare they tell me how lucky I am to be mistreated by them, and that’s the way that I’ve read this verse before. If God was the awful monster that I thought that he was, this verse would have been very much a “you’re so lucky I gave you the Book of Mormon,” and while I was suffering, it was implied that my suffering didn’t matter because didn’t I know how lucky I was. I know it probably doesn’t make any sense, but to me, a suffering girl at the time, it made perfect sense and totally fed into the whole “God is just like every other man” mantra that I followed. However, knowing Him as I do now, I know that that’s not the case. The IM quotes Elder Gene R. Cook as teaching, “The last five words of (Moroni 10:3) offer an important admonition –‘ponder it in your hearts.’ What is the antecedent of ‘it’- the thing that we are to ponder? It is ‘how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things.’ We are to remember how loving, how provident, how good, how forgiving our Heavenly Father has been toward us. What usually happens when we begin to ponder how merciful the Lord has been to mankind? To us personally? What happens when we count our blessings, or perhaps our sins for which we must ask his forgiveness, and recognize his hand in our individual lives? Is it not true that our hearts turn to the Lord in love and gratitude? Do our faith and humility increase? Yes, and that, in my judgment, is the impact of verse 3- following the counsel therein helps us to become more humble, more willing and ready to receive new information and knowledge with an open mind.” I think it’s interesting that the admonition isn’t to go out and preach the gospel to everyone or to sell your house and give the money to the church, it isn’t anything extreme like that at all, the request is that we think about it, and that’s pretty incredible. Moroni’s telling us that God is incredibly merciful and wants us to succeed because he loves us, and with that information, we’re not being asked to follow blindly, in fact it’s exactly the opposite, we’re being asked to think about what’s being taught, and to pray about it, to receive the information for ourselves, and I can’t be in a religion that is any other way.
10:4-7 – Here we get to the climax of the whole Book of Mormon, when Moroni says, that we should read and ponder the Book of Mormon, “and when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” The IM quotes President Boyd K. Packer as teaching, “When I first read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, I read the promise that if I ‘would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if (the things I had read were) true; and if (I would) ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he (would) manifest the truth of it unto (me), by the power of the Holy Ghost.’ I tried to follow those instructions as I understood them. If I expected a glorious manifestation to come at once as an overpowering experience, it did not happen. Nevertheless, if felt good, and I began to believe… I learned that anyone, anywhere, could read the Book of Mormon and receive inspiration… My experience has been that a testimony does not burst upon us suddenly. Rather, it grows…Do not be disappointed if you have read and reread and yet have not received a powerful witness. You may be somewhat like the disciples spoken of in the Book of Mormon who were filled with the power of God in great glory ‘and they knew it not.’ Do the Best you can.” The IM continues by quoting Elder Bruce R. McConkie as teaching, “There is another and simpler test that all who seek to know the truth might well take. It calls for us simply to read, ponder, and pray- all in the spirit of faith and with an open mind. To keep ourselves alert to the issues at hand- as we do read, ponder, and pray- we should ask ourselves a thousand times, ‘Could any man have written this book?’ And it is absolutely guaranteed that sometime between the first and thousandth time this question is asked, every sincere and genuine truth seeker will come to know by the power of the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the mind and will and voice of the Lord to the whole world in our day.” I liked this simple test, the simple question, “could any man have written this book?” There’s a lot that goes into that question, considering the Book of Mormon simply as a piece of literature, there’s multiple writing styles, multiple plot points, multiple time tables, references to many different ancient cultures that were pretty unknown at the time of Joseph Smith. So it’s a valid question, there’s really only two possible sources, Joseph Smith was so smart that he knew how to weave this complicated tapestry of testimony of Christ and teachings of His doctrine that are compatible with the Bible, and had such a vast knowledge of ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Egyptian culture that he could base the writing structure, speech patterns, names, and references on them. It is either that, or that this is a book written thousands of years ago by the prophets of God, made especially for our day, prepared and preserved by the hand of the Lord as a testimony of Him for the benefit and guidance of his people in these latter days. 10:4- - It’s interesting because I didn’t want to just brush over the whole “this is how you find out if the Book of Mormon is true” thing without putting any thought into it, so I thought about it today and lo and behold, guess what happened? The talks that I listened to from the October 2009 general conference talked specifically about personal revelation and the critical nature of the Book of Mormon to our faith. In “Prayer and Promptings” President Boyd K. Packer begins with, “Every child of our Father sent to earth is provided with the Spirit of Christ, or the Light of Christ. We are, none of us, left here alone without hope of guidance and redemption.” To begin with we were all sent here with some capacity to connect with the truth, and as long as we don’t beat that to the ground with our wickedness, that’s a gift that remains intact, kind of like little suctiony feelers that reach out for any bit of light to hold onto. Speaking of how we can receive knowledge and information from the Holy Ghost, President Packer continues, “That sweet, quiet voice of inspiration comes more as a feeling than it does as a sound. Pure intelligence can be spoken into the mind. The Holy Ghost communicates with our spirits through the mind more than through the physical senses. This guidance comes as thoughts, as feelings through promptings and impressions. We may feel the words of spiritual communication more than hear them and see with spiritual rather than with mortal eyes.” When we pray to know of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, I think many of us are expecting fire and brimstone and a burning bush as an answer, and sometimes it comes in that manner, but for the most part it’s more subtle. And even if it is an intense moment of truth, just because we have a small foundation of a testimony doesn’t mean that it’s cemented in us or anything like that. When I prayed to know if the Church was true, my answer was very clear, very direct, for me, it was definitely a “burning bush” type of moment for me, and that has been an important component of my testimony, that confirmation, but I still fell away, I still held the Book of Mormon as something of little importance, and I saw God as a woman hater. If I could have that type of witness and still have all those feelings and do all those things, then surely it is not a matter of the intensity of the experience, but the building up of the testimony over time. I might have known mentally that the Church was true, but it wasn’t until I was able and willing to listen to the Spirit speaking quietly to me, teaching me things, it wasn’t until I was open to “pure intelligence” that I was actually able to receive and love it and understand it and be grateful for it. He continues, “the gift of the Holy Ghost operates equally with men, women, and even little children. It is within this wondrous gift and power that the spiritual remedy to any problem can be found. ‘And now, he imparteth his words by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned.’ The Lord has many ways of pouring knowledge into our minds to prompt us, to guide us, to teach us, to correct us, to warn us. The Lord said, ‘I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.’ And Enos recorded, ‘While I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind again.’ You can know the things you need to know. Pray that you will learn to receive that inspiration and remain worthy to receive it. Keep that channel- your mind- clean and free from the clutter of the world.” Learning to receive inspiration, I find it interesting that he doesn’t say, “pray for inspiration,” but rather, “pray to learn how to receive inspiration,” kind of a “don’t pray for fish, but pray to learn how to catch fish.” We are all able to receive personal revelation, God wouldn’t have sent us here if we weren’t able to, that would be setting us up for failure and we know that God doesn’t want that. Telling of Oliver Cowdrey’s experience with attempting to translate but being unable to, the Lord said, “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it is not right you shall have no such feelings.” This goes back to what Moroni was talking about when he said that we must ponder the Book of Mormon in our hearts, and THEN ask if it is true. Think about it, pray about it, try it out, like Alma said, as a little seed of faith, and as it grows, so does the testimony. I just have to add in here a little story that is in the talk, I’m not exactly sure how it fits, but I loved it anyways. President Packer says that the above mentioned “principle is illustrated by the story of a little girl. She was upset with her brother, who built a trap to catch sparrows. Unable to get help, she said to herself, ‘Well, I’ll pray about it.’ After her prayer, the little girl told her mother, ‘I know he is not going to catch any sparrows in his traps because I prayed about it. I’m positive he won’t catch any sparrows!’ Her mother said, ‘How can you be so sure?’ She said, ‘After I prayed about it, I went out and kicked that old trap all to pieces!’” I love that, I’m not exactly sure how that fits in with personal revelation, I can’t imagine that the Spirit told her to destroy her brother’s trap, but I can see how it would relate to “pray like it’s up to the Lord and work like it’s up to you.” Anyway, I thought that that was a really cute story and wanted to share it. The next talk that blew my mind was from the Priesthood session of the October 2009 general conference talk entitled "Becoming More Powerful Priesthood Holders," when Elder Walter F. Gonzalez taught, “Just as in the days of old, we can be more powerful priesthood holders by using the Book of Mormon. The process of bringing to light the Book of Mormon cannot be compared to any literary work by any author in human history. We could say that it is a book that was shepherded by the very find of our God… I am a member of the Church thanks to the Book of Mormon. I will never forget my feelings when, as a young boy in Uruguay, I read this sacred book for the very first time. I did not have to read much from 1 Nephi to experience such a joy that it cannot be expressed with words. It was as if the book was permeated with the Spirit of the Lord and made me feel closer to God. This experience added meaning to the statement made by the Prophet Joseph Smith about this book when he declared that ‘a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.’ I also recognize the relevance of President Thomas S. Monson’s promise when he said that ‘as we read the Book of Mormon and the other standard works, as we put the teachings to the test, then we will know of the doctrine, for this is our promise; we will know whether it be of man or whether it be of God.’ These promises bring up joy now and in our future. Once I received a testimony of the Book of Mormon, the natural feeling that followed as a desire to apply the teachings of the book by making covenants.” I’ve often wondered what it would have been like to read the Book of Mormon for the first time as an adult or as a person with no background knowledge of it, like I’ve heard stories, much like this one, where someone starts reading it and can’t put it down or feels so pulled to Christ by its content that it overwhelms the spirit. I wonder if I would have had that reaction if I hadn’t grown up with a “read this book everyday!” mindset. So I guess the question is, why the Book of Mormon? I mean I have a testimony that it's true, that it was brought forth through the power of God, but I'm going to have to think more about why this book specifically. If I were to write or command to be written, a book that was for the benefit of my people at a certain period of time, what would I write? Well, God, as the best author, knows that there is a huge difference between a directional book and one with a plot line, God used a story line to illustrate his points. We have characters, wicked and righteous, and everywhere in between, we have war and peace, we have hate and love, freedom and bondage, prophets and anti-Christs, prophecy and fulfillment, doctrine and apostasy, and we have a step by step process of how to avoid the bad and how to obtain the good in between. It is there to either draw us closer to God, strengthen our faith and our testimonies, or to stand with God at the judgment day and testify that we had the opportunity to learn, but refused. Interesting, so much of it makes sense now. Elder Gonzalez continues "God, in His infinite wisdom, reserved the Book of Mormon for our benefit. Its purpose is not to become a best seller. Nevertheless, we can turn this sacred book into a best-read and best-applied book in our life." The IM also references the time when President Gordon B. Hinckley said, in 2005, "I offer a challenge to members of the Church throughout the world and to our friends everywhere to read or reread the Book of Mormon... Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God." When this statement was read in sacrament meeting, I was in a small branch in Idaho, on vacation with my daughter and extended family. I was living in Hawaii at the time, my husband at the time was in an army school in Texas for a few months and my daughter was 2 months old. I listened as the bishop read the challenge to the congregation and all my family got really excited about doing it, I said, "I'm just coming back to church, I'm not ready for all that yet." I had only been back to church for about 3 weeks at the time. My family all eagerly started reading, but I did not. I had some friends online who were members of the Church and some of them were doing it, and a couple of them said something like, "well this challenge was issued because at the end of the year something really weird is going to happen and you'll only understand it if you've read the Book of Mormon according to the challenge." This is what intrigued me, this is what convinced me to take on the challenge, because I wanted to be in on whatever weird thing was going to happen. So I started reading, and because I started several weeks late, I had to read a lot to catch up, I took my Book of Mormon everywhere with me, I read it in between classes at school, I read it during down time at home, I read it before I went to bed, I read it pretty much any time I had a chance. And it was a miracle because I did receive an added measure of the Spirit, I did commit to stay stronger in the Church, I quit drinking during that time and never took it back up again, I became committed to the gospel again, and I had several other sacred experiences. But then I got busy in school, and took another break from reading for a few weeks, and I found myself in my mother in law's living room on New Years Eve, anxiously reading the 30 pages that I had remaining in the Book of Mormon, I made it, it was incredible, and honestly, it was life changing. I had never thought of it before but if I didn't have that experience with the Book of Mormon when I first came back to Church, I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to get back into the habit of reading the scriptures, and thus have not only missed out on those blessings but I definitely wouldn't have been prepared for the time when my then husband went back to Kuwait for over a year and I had a baby and was going to school full time. I needed the spiritual strength for that time that I grew while I was still in Hawaii, and the Book of Mormon challenge was the catalyst that I needed for that growth. Finally, the IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as commenting on "Real Intent," saying, "Moroni did not promise a manifestation of the Holy Ghost to those who seek to know the truth of the Book of Mormon for hypothetical or academic reasons, even if they 'ask with a sincere heart.' The promise of Moroni is for those who are committed in their hearts to act upon the manifestation if it is received. Prayers based on any other reason have no promise because they are not made 'with real intent.'" It's interesting because it never occurred to me that commitment to the revelation had to be a part of the reason for asking, I mean, I guess if makes sense, but I've always imagined that some people pray about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon believing that if they receive it, then they will just carry on their lives the way that they are. If someone asks to know if the Book of Mormon is true, but doesn't have the intention of changing their lives to be in compliance with that knowledge, then knowing but not doing places them in a state of danger, as far as condemnation goes. Interesting, I'm going to have to think about this.
10:4-7 – Here we get to the climax of the whole Book of Mormon, when Moroni says, that we should read and ponder the Book of Mormon, “and when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” The IM quotes President Boyd K. Packer as teaching, “When I first read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, I read the promise that if I ‘would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if (the things I had read were) true; and if (I would) ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he (would) manifest the truth of it unto (me), by the power of the Holy Ghost.’ I tried to follow those instructions as I understood them. If I expected a glorious manifestation to come at once as an overpowering experience, it did not happen. Nevertheless, if felt good, and I began to believe… I learned that anyone, anywhere, could read the Book of Mormon and receive inspiration… My experience has been that a testimony does not burst upon us suddenly. Rather, it grows…Do not be disappointed if you have read and reread and yet have not received a powerful witness. You may be somewhat like the disciples spoken of in the Book of Mormon who were filled with the power of God in great glory ‘and they knew it not.’ Do the Best you can.” The IM continues by quoting Elder Bruce R. McConkie as teaching, “There is another and simpler test that all who seek to know the truth might well take. It calls for us simply to read, ponder, and pray- all in the spirit of faith and with an open mind. To keep ourselves alert to the issues at hand- as we do read, ponder, and pray- we should ask ourselves a thousand times, ‘Could any man have written this book?’ And it is absolutely guaranteed that sometime between the first and thousandth time this question is asked, every sincere and genuine truth seeker will come to know by the power of the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the mind and will and voice of the Lord to the whole world in our day.” I liked this simple test, the simple question, “could any man have written this book?” There’s a lot that goes into that question, considering the Book of Mormon simply as a piece of literature, there’s multiple writing styles, multiple plot points, multiple time tables, references to many different ancient cultures that were pretty unknown at the time of Joseph Smith. So it’s a valid question, there’s really only two possible sources, Joseph Smith was so smart that he knew how to weave this complicated tapestry of testimony of Christ and teachings of His doctrine that are compatible with the Bible, and had such a vast knowledge of ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Egyptian culture that he could base the writing structure, speech patterns, names, and references on them. It is either that, or that this is a book written thousands of years ago by the prophets of God, made especially for our day, prepared and preserved by the hand of the Lord as a testimony of Him for the benefit and guidance of his people in these latter days. 10:4- - It’s interesting because I didn’t want to just brush over the whole “this is how you find out if the Book of Mormon is true” thing without putting any thought into it, so I thought about it today and lo and behold, guess what happened? The talks that I listened to from the October 2009 general conference talked specifically about personal revelation and the critical nature of the Book of Mormon to our faith. In “Prayer and Promptings” President Boyd K. Packer begins with, “Every child of our Father sent to earth is provided with the Spirit of Christ, or the Light of Christ. We are, none of us, left here alone without hope of guidance and redemption.” To begin with we were all sent here with some capacity to connect with the truth, and as long as we don’t beat that to the ground with our wickedness, that’s a gift that remains intact, kind of like little suctiony feelers that reach out for any bit of light to hold onto. Speaking of how we can receive knowledge and information from the Holy Ghost, President Packer continues, “That sweet, quiet voice of inspiration comes more as a feeling than it does as a sound. Pure intelligence can be spoken into the mind. The Holy Ghost communicates with our spirits through the mind more than through the physical senses. This guidance comes as thoughts, as feelings through promptings and impressions. We may feel the words of spiritual communication more than hear them and see with spiritual rather than with mortal eyes.” When we pray to know of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, I think many of us are expecting fire and brimstone and a burning bush as an answer, and sometimes it comes in that manner, but for the most part it’s more subtle. And even if it is an intense moment of truth, just because we have a small foundation of a testimony doesn’t mean that it’s cemented in us or anything like that. When I prayed to know if the Church was true, my answer was very clear, very direct, for me, it was definitely a “burning bush” type of moment for me, and that has been an important component of my testimony, that confirmation, but I still fell away, I still held the Book of Mormon as something of little importance, and I saw God as a woman hater. If I could have that type of witness and still have all those feelings and do all those things, then surely it is not a matter of the intensity of the experience, but the building up of the testimony over time. I might have known mentally that the Church was true, but it wasn’t until I was able and willing to listen to the Spirit speaking quietly to me, teaching me things, it wasn’t until I was open to “pure intelligence” that I was actually able to receive and love it and understand it and be grateful for it. He continues, “the gift of the Holy Ghost operates equally with men, women, and even little children. It is within this wondrous gift and power that the spiritual remedy to any problem can be found. ‘And now, he imparteth his words by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned.’ The Lord has many ways of pouring knowledge into our minds to prompt us, to guide us, to teach us, to correct us, to warn us. The Lord said, ‘I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.’ And Enos recorded, ‘While I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind again.’ You can know the things you need to know. Pray that you will learn to receive that inspiration and remain worthy to receive it. Keep that channel- your mind- clean and free from the clutter of the world.” Learning to receive inspiration, I find it interesting that he doesn’t say, “pray for inspiration,” but rather, “pray to learn how to receive inspiration,” kind of a “don’t pray for fish, but pray to learn how to catch fish.” We are all able to receive personal revelation, God wouldn’t have sent us here if we weren’t able to, that would be setting us up for failure and we know that God doesn’t want that. Telling of Oliver Cowdrey’s experience with attempting to translate but being unable to, the Lord said, “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it is not right you shall have no such feelings.” This goes back to what Moroni was talking about when he said that we must ponder the Book of Mormon in our hearts, and THEN ask if it is true. Think about it, pray about it, try it out, like Alma said, as a little seed of faith, and as it grows, so does the testimony. I just have to add in here a little story that is in the talk, I’m not exactly sure how it fits, but I loved it anyways. President Packer says that the above mentioned “principle is illustrated by the story of a little girl. She was upset with her brother, who built a trap to catch sparrows. Unable to get help, she said to herself, ‘Well, I’ll pray about it.’ After her prayer, the little girl told her mother, ‘I know he is not going to catch any sparrows in his traps because I prayed about it. I’m positive he won’t catch any sparrows!’ Her mother said, ‘How can you be so sure?’ She said, ‘After I prayed about it, I went out and kicked that old trap all to pieces!’” I love that, I’m not exactly sure how that fits in with personal revelation, I can’t imagine that the Spirit told her to destroy her brother’s trap, but I can see how it would relate to “pray like it’s up to the Lord and work like it’s up to you.” Anyway, I thought that that was a really cute story and wanted to share it. The next talk that blew my mind was from the Priesthood session of the October 2009 general conference talk entitled "Becoming More Powerful Priesthood Holders," when Elder Walter F. Gonzalez taught, “Just as in the days of old, we can be more powerful priesthood holders by using the Book of Mormon. The process of bringing to light the Book of Mormon cannot be compared to any literary work by any author in human history. We could say that it is a book that was shepherded by the very find of our God… I am a member of the Church thanks to the Book of Mormon. I will never forget my feelings when, as a young boy in Uruguay, I read this sacred book for the very first time. I did not have to read much from 1 Nephi to experience such a joy that it cannot be expressed with words. It was as if the book was permeated with the Spirit of the Lord and made me feel closer to God. This experience added meaning to the statement made by the Prophet Joseph Smith about this book when he declared that ‘a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.’ I also recognize the relevance of President Thomas S. Monson’s promise when he said that ‘as we read the Book of Mormon and the other standard works, as we put the teachings to the test, then we will know of the doctrine, for this is our promise; we will know whether it be of man or whether it be of God.’ These promises bring up joy now and in our future. Once I received a testimony of the Book of Mormon, the natural feeling that followed as a desire to apply the teachings of the book by making covenants.” I’ve often wondered what it would have been like to read the Book of Mormon for the first time as an adult or as a person with no background knowledge of it, like I’ve heard stories, much like this one, where someone starts reading it and can’t put it down or feels so pulled to Christ by its content that it overwhelms the spirit. I wonder if I would have had that reaction if I hadn’t grown up with a “read this book everyday!” mindset. So I guess the question is, why the Book of Mormon? I mean I have a testimony that it's true, that it was brought forth through the power of God, but I'm going to have to think more about why this book specifically. If I were to write or command to be written, a book that was for the benefit of my people at a certain period of time, what would I write? Well, God, as the best author, knows that there is a huge difference between a directional book and one with a plot line, God used a story line to illustrate his points. We have characters, wicked and righteous, and everywhere in between, we have war and peace, we have hate and love, freedom and bondage, prophets and anti-Christs, prophecy and fulfillment, doctrine and apostasy, and we have a step by step process of how to avoid the bad and how to obtain the good in between. It is there to either draw us closer to God, strengthen our faith and our testimonies, or to stand with God at the judgment day and testify that we had the opportunity to learn, but refused. Interesting, so much of it makes sense now. Elder Gonzalez continues "God, in His infinite wisdom, reserved the Book of Mormon for our benefit. Its purpose is not to become a best seller. Nevertheless, we can turn this sacred book into a best-read and best-applied book in our life." The IM also references the time when President Gordon B. Hinckley said, in 2005, "I offer a challenge to members of the Church throughout the world and to our friends everywhere to read or reread the Book of Mormon... Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God." When this statement was read in sacrament meeting, I was in a small branch in Idaho, on vacation with my daughter and extended family. I was living in Hawaii at the time, my husband at the time was in an army school in Texas for a few months and my daughter was 2 months old. I listened as the bishop read the challenge to the congregation and all my family got really excited about doing it, I said, "I'm just coming back to church, I'm not ready for all that yet." I had only been back to church for about 3 weeks at the time. My family all eagerly started reading, but I did not. I had some friends online who were members of the Church and some of them were doing it, and a couple of them said something like, "well this challenge was issued because at the end of the year something really weird is going to happen and you'll only understand it if you've read the Book of Mormon according to the challenge." This is what intrigued me, this is what convinced me to take on the challenge, because I wanted to be in on whatever weird thing was going to happen. So I started reading, and because I started several weeks late, I had to read a lot to catch up, I took my Book of Mormon everywhere with me, I read it in between classes at school, I read it during down time at home, I read it before I went to bed, I read it pretty much any time I had a chance. And it was a miracle because I did receive an added measure of the Spirit, I did commit to stay stronger in the Church, I quit drinking during that time and never took it back up again, I became committed to the gospel again, and I had several other sacred experiences. But then I got busy in school, and took another break from reading for a few weeks, and I found myself in my mother in law's living room on New Years Eve, anxiously reading the 30 pages that I had remaining in the Book of Mormon, I made it, it was incredible, and honestly, it was life changing. I had never thought of it before but if I didn't have that experience with the Book of Mormon when I first came back to Church, I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to get back into the habit of reading the scriptures, and thus have not only missed out on those blessings but I definitely wouldn't have been prepared for the time when my then husband went back to Kuwait for over a year and I had a baby and was going to school full time. I needed the spiritual strength for that time that I grew while I was still in Hawaii, and the Book of Mormon challenge was the catalyst that I needed for that growth. Finally, the IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as commenting on "Real Intent," saying, "Moroni did not promise a manifestation of the Holy Ghost to those who seek to know the truth of the Book of Mormon for hypothetical or academic reasons, even if they 'ask with a sincere heart.' The promise of Moroni is for those who are committed in their hearts to act upon the manifestation if it is received. Prayers based on any other reason have no promise because they are not made 'with real intent.'" It's interesting because it never occurred to me that commitment to the revelation had to be a part of the reason for asking, I mean, I guess if makes sense, but I've always imagined that some people pray about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon believing that if they receive it, then they will just carry on their lives the way that they are. If someone asks to know if the Book of Mormon is true, but doesn't have the intention of changing their lives to be in compliance with that knowledge, then knowing but not doing places them in a state of danger, as far as condemnation goes. Interesting, I'm going to have to think about this.
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