Book of Mormon Value
March 08th, 2023 by G.
Someone asked me what value the Book of Mormon has for us now.
Here is the answer I gave. I don’t pretend it’s the only answer or that the value in my answer can only be achieved via the Book of Mormon. Only that this is the answer I gave and it was my true answer and it was and will continue to be a true answer.
- The Bible gives us the spectacle of a people surrounded by foreigners. First other tribes and then the Romans. That is not our situation. Wickedness and persecution come from people who may not be part of our church but they are our people. Or they may be part of the church (Lord, is it I?). The Book of Mormon scene is much more like that.
- Part of the point of the Book of Mormon is that scripture doesn’t ultimately matter. Yes, its very important. But if every copy of the Book of Mormon were burned tomorrow and blotted from every mind, God could recreate it in an instant, or other scripture, or something even more marvelous. God is the thing.
- Captain Moroni. So many distortions and perplexities about Christ’s wonderful New Testament message end when you consider that “if all men were etc.” The best doctrine is the stories of the most righteous.
E.C.
March 8, 2023
I agree with all of your points, with the qualification that it wasn’t just Moroni. Moroni being Moroni on his own would have almost certainly failed to bring his people through those wars. It was because he was supported by Teancum, Lehi, Helaman and his stripling Ammonites, Antipus, and especially Pahoran, that he did what he did. However brilliant a military leader is, whether he’s a man of God or not, if he doesn’t have men who can obey and even innovate (Helaman and Antipus) and a government (and church!) that supports his cause, he’s going to fail.
That, I think, is the real tragedy of the second Moroni. He was a righteous man too – he saw God at the tender age of fifteen! – but he was surrounded by evil on all sides. There were not enough other righteous men and women, and too many who had explicitly rejected God and His commandments, to reverse course.
I don’t think we are quite there yet, but we’re heading that way with alarming rapidity.
Rozy
March 8, 2023
Oh my, the value of the Book of Mormon is that it is the handbook for our times. We are taught in its pages about secret combinations, how they work and how to defeat them. If that isn’t contemporary to our times I don’t know what is. We are taught about families and their importance in God’s plan. We are taught about the magnificent role of the Savior in redeeming us. We are living through a great spiritual war, the Book of Mormon teaches us how to conduct ourselves in that war and come out victorious. What more do we need? (Other than a living prophet.)
Sean G
March 21, 2023
I just finished the Book of Mormon for the first time and I am in awe. Moroni may have been the highlight when I thought surely it couldn’t get better. No book has ever affected me in such a way. But your second point is perfect. There is no end to God’s works. We could cherish any one work and guard it against all others but that would be missing the point.
G.
March 21, 2023
There once was a certain poster who made a post and, lo, in the comments he found a pearl of great price.
Sean G., thank you very much.