Highlighting the Book of Mormon in more than 100 Days

A little while ago, I finally finished the "read the Book of Mormon in 100 Days" challenge I set out to do as one of my New Year's resolutions.  I was doing extremely well with keeping up with the number of pages that I was required to read in order to finish in time right up to the 85th day.

But I made one fatal error:  I didn't plan for finals or end of semester projects.  I got so super caught up with my final art project, my MCOM final case, my ISYS website, and my Finance final that I sadly missed several days of reading.  And when you miss just one day of reading, that puts additional pressure on every future day after that.  So in the end, I finished the Book of Mormon in about 110 days. 

In my defense, I did decide to add an additional wrinkle to the Book of Mormon resolution.  I went through and highlighted (1) every single reference to Jesus Christ or God the Father--including pronouns--in green, (2) every instance of God communicating to man in blue, and (3) every instance of man doing something to merit that communication in red.

I was pretty liberal with my highlighting.  In the end, the typical page of the Book of Mormon that I had read looked something like this:

 
It took a little while longer and was sometimes pretty tedious, but I learned a lot of neat little bits of information along the way that I wanted to share with y'all.

More often than not, prayer and faith precede revelation.  This might seem like a no brainer, but it became apparent withing just a few pages that many of the spiritual experiences Book of Mormon characters received came as a direct result of their own actions.  Consider this example from the very first chapter of the BofM.

In the very first chapter, on the second page, father Lehi is praying to the Lord when he receives a very impressive vision of the coming Messiah.  As you can see from the picture above, the experience is book ended by Lehi praying to the Lord before the vision, and Lehi again praying to the Lord afterwords (the vision itself occupies most of the left column).  This time, his prayer is in gratitude.  This pattern would be seen again with Nehpi, Ammon, and many other prominent characters throughout the Book of Mormon.

Next time you read about an amazing spiritual experience in the scriptures, pay careful attention to what the recipient of that experience was doing right beforehand.  Oftentimes, you'll find there's a cause-and-effect relationship there.

God tries to get our attention in many different ways.  Angels, visions, dreams, revelations, voices from Heaven, signs, and miracles: all of these are some of the many ways that God communicated with the people of the Book of Mormon--and still communicates with us today.  But the most common way is usually through much less glamorous methods.  God usually works through prophets and other saints, the scriptures, or the whisperings of the Holy Spirit when answering prayers. 

Devastation follows when a people completely and utterly reject every single attempt at communication.  Just look at the four times in the Book of Mormon that we read about massive destruction:

1. The destruction of Jerusalem
2. The huge natural disaster following the death of Christ,
3. When the Nephites are completely wiped out by the Lamanites
4. The total annihilation of the Jaredite people 

In three of the examples, the scriptures explicitly state that "many prophets" visited the people; warning them of their need to repent (see 3 Nephi 10:20, and Ether 9:28-29).  Most of the events were preceded by things such as famines, wars, and prophecies.  It's no wonder that the Lord felt it was necessary to take dramatic action.

Don't assume that God isn't speaking to you just because it's not immediately apparent.  The further into my reading experiment, the more items I highlighted.  This isn't because God became more social once we got through the Isaiah chapters.  Instead, it's because I started to realize that many small and simple events that I had been ignoring were really answers to prayers or tiny little proddings from Heaven.

While on a mission, at the close of those days where just nothing was going right, I realized that one of the best ways to quickly lift myself up was to write in my journal.  I would go through my day in my mind and start looking for every possible way that I had been blessed during the day.  By forcing myself to look for the good in the day, it soon became apparent that the Lord had deeply blessed me throughout the entire day.

This same pattern can be seen in the Book of Mormon as well as in your own life.  A great example of this is Nephi.  Even though he lived in the wilderness, left behind all his worldly possessions, and had to deal with his brothers, he still recognized that the Lord was blessing his life (1 Nephi 1:1).

Another great example of this is an experience my little brother had this week.  He is currently stationed in the middle of nowhere Japan.  A typhoon has been sweeping through the city these last couple of days.  Listen to his story:

"On Saturday, it was raining like crazy. Being outside was like jumping in a pool. It was one of those days where I thought: 'what`s the point?' There was nobody outside and even if there was somebody to talk to, they obviously wanted to get inside quickly. . . As we were riding our bikes, I thought 'yeah, this sucks but we really don`t have a choice, do we?' As I was riding, it was incredible how quickly and how clearly I was able to feel as though I was doing what I was meant to be doing. It was almost like I could feel the Lord put his hands on me and hear him say "thank you." It was a cool feeling and I`m glad that I had that experience even though everything in my bag got completely drenched and all of my clothes are still soaking wet."

Always look for the sunny side!

It's Probably Been Too Long Since I Shared a Spiritual Thought

I apologize for not updating this blog as regularly as I should.  I really wanted to get this up before Easter, but things have been a little nuts lately with finals last week, and then this week my body decided to go crazy with allergies, which left me a sniffling, eyeball-watering, mess for most of the time.  Classes start again tomorrow, so hopefully things clear up by then.

This post is mainly directed at a man named John who is currently the only person cool enough to have left any comments on the post I wrote back in November titled "A Talk I Recently Gave on Baptism."   John requested that I answer a couple of questions about the LDS church, which I am more than happy to do--especially since he asked so nicely.

So here is my response:

John,

In the brief conversation I've had with you, I mentioned that "We are unique among Christian churches as being the only one that claims to receive its doctrine by revelation from God, and then we use the Bible and other scripture to confirm what we believe."

In response to this, you asked: "What is the revelation of doctrine LDS has received from God?"

Before I get to that question, I have a quick side-note:  I feel that one of the root causes of all the contention between Mormons and much of the Christian community is that both sides spend too much time talking about why they are different from each other and not enough time talking about the beliefs and goals they have in common.  I came to this conclusion while serving a mission in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi.  My companion and I would of run into people who had a built-in mistrust of Mormons, which when coupled with our different terminologies, would lead to some deep misunderstandings.  I usually left these encounters with lots of negative energy and also feeling spiritually empty.

Me as a missionary in Senatobia, Mississippi

One of the biggest arguments that we ran into was that we taught a different Gospel--one in which we worked our way into Heaven without relying on Jesus.  This is simply not true.  While we do believe that "faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone," (James 2:17)  we likewise believe that works without faith is just as dead.  I soon came to realize that most churches believe the same thing, with some noteworthy exceptions. 

So first of all, here are the basic steps of the Gospel that we believe:

1. We believe that having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary to salvation and that no one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without it (Acts 16:31).
2. We believe that no unclean thing can dwell with God the Father, therefore, repentance from our sins is the second major step of the Gospel (Luke 13:3).
3. We believe that as a witness of our willingness to follow the Savior, and as a saving ordinance, baptism by immersion is required (John 3:5).
4. We believe that after baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost is received by the laying on of hands (Acts 8: 14-20).
5. We believe that it is important to endure to the end--meaning that we continue to exercise faith in Jesus Christ and to strive to be more like him throughout our lives (Titus 3:8).
6. All of this is possible only because of the infinite and eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  He is the only way into Heaven (John 3:16, Isaiah 53:3-5).

This, in a super-condensed nutshell, is the Gospel.  It is unchanging and cannot be added upon. Based on what you wrote, I think we have very similar ideas on what God requires of us--believe, repent, be baptized, and keep the commandments.

With Mormons also believing in modern-day prophets, temples, abstaining from alcohol, and new scripture; it can sometimes become easy to lose focus on what is at the center of all that we do.  The Prophet Joseph Smith once declared that all things “which pertain to our religion are only appendages” to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Carl Bloch's Gethsemane

 There are very few members of the church, if any, that do not understand how important the doctrine of Christ's sacrifice is.  But like I said before, I think we sometimes spend too much time focusing on what sets us apart from everyone else.  You mentioned that members of the Mormon church that you knew often appear to pedal their church rather than Christ.  Regardless of whether that was intentional or not, it is truly unfortunate.  I hope that everything we do and say would be a proper reflection of our beliefs and our testimonies of the living Savior.

This might lead you to ask why things like the Book of Mormon or a living Prophet are necessary if the basic steps of the Gospel never change.  This is because people are imperfect, and if there is something in the scriptures that can be misunderstood, people will misunderstand it.  That is the reason there are so many different churches on earth today.  They all started with someone saying something along the lines of "I think we're doing <blank> wrong," or "this is what the scriptures really meant."

The Book of Mormon adds another witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Much like how the four different Gospels in the New Testament support each other, the Book of Mormon helps confirm what is written in the Bible.

For example, here is a passage out of the Book of Mormon that talks about Jesus Christ and his infinite and eternal sacrifice:

“Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah. …

“Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

“Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.

“Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be saved.”-2 Nephi 2:6-9

This is just one of many examples of the doctrine taught in the Book of Mormon.

The living prophet, on the other hand, helps keep the doctrine that has been set forth in the scriptures pure.  His main calling is a teacher of the Gospel.  He also gives us council that applies specifically to our day and age, and warns us of the consequences of sin.

Since it is the Easter season, I figure it would be appropriate to share this video produced by the LDS church.  It shows one of our apostles, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, sharing his thoughts about the death and resurrection of Christ:

The full text of his talk can be read here.

I hope this answers your questions, John.  I know it's not exactly scholarly writing, nor is this very comprehensive, but I think it at least answers your questions.

Sincerely,

-Jake

P.S.  I love answering questions about the LDS church, so feel free to ask away.  However, I will not answer any questions that have malicious intent, and I will  delete any comments I deem to be negative or belittling of what I (or anyone else, for that matter) believe.