Moroni: Facing Trials with Faith and Courage
Filed under: Book of Mormon, Book of Mormon Stories, History of the Book of Mormon, Uncategorized, Written for Our Day
Moroni prepares the Book of Mormon to be hidden.
When times are hard, the scriptures are a great place to turn for moral support and good attitude role modeling. Not only can you find people who are facing much greater trials than your own, but you can see how they coped with those trials. While they sometimes briefly faltered, they always rallied and learned how to face their trials with faith and gratitude. Read more
Should Mormons Offer Physical Proof of the Book of Mormon?
Filed under: Book of Mormon, Book of Mormon, D & C, Pearl of Great Price, Frequently Asked Questions, History of the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ, The Restoration
When people attempt to argue Mormonism, they usually begin with some commentary on proof. They want proof—physical, tangible, and scientific—that it is true. When science or history discovers something that might help to “prove” an aspect of Mormonism, Mormons are generally interested, but these things don’t strengthen their testimonies. They are merely interesting.
While this might irritate some Christians, it must be remembered that much of the Bible can’t be proven, either. Science has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the possibility of God, whose existence cannot be scientifically proven. Nor has science proven the Creation. We can’t fit some historical stories into the known political leadership of the time. We don’t have the bones of Adam and Eve. We haven’t found the ark, or proven the entire world once flooded at once. There are creatures mentioned in the Bible we haven’t been able to prove just yet—no dragons or unicorns have emerged during archaeological expeditions.
Does this shake the faith of the average Christian? Of course not. Faith is not about proof. If it can be proven, it doesn’t require faith. The Bible is filled with admonitions to have faith, not to have proof.
Paul gave a powerful sermon on faith in Hebrews, chapter 11 (King James version of the Bible): “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. He reminds us of many Biblical heroes who lived their lives based on faith, not proof. Noah didn’t ask for proof of an impending flood before building the ark, Paul said, nor did Abraham ask for proof before moving to a new land or taking Isaac to be sacrificed. They trusted God and their own testimonies and acted without any proof at all that these things were necessary.
Faith is an essential element of religion. Mormons teach that faith is one of the primary reasons God sent us here to earth. Could we learn to believe in Him and trust Him when He isn’t right here, in our sight? We believed we could and agreed to come to earth to gain faith, to be tested, and to obtain families and bodies.
Most Christians accept a responsibility to develop faith in Jesus Christ, and to agree to accept Him as our Savior without any physical proof of His existence. We don’t know where He is buried. There are no official records recording His life. He never wrote a word that we have on hand, and no one painted His picture or sculpted His likeness. We don’t know what He looked like. We can only make assumptions based on historical knowledge of the time and place in which He lived, and we must trust the recorded words of others as to His existence and teachings. And yet, with all this lack of physical proof, billions of people have believed in Jesus Christ and modeled their lives on His teachings.
Mormons, like other Christians, know that testimony isn’t about physical proof. It is about learning to know and to trust God. Testimony is about faith, which is a higher law than proof. Faith is an eternal-life-giving law.
Christians, including Mormons, know that faith is a verb. A passive faith is not really faith. When we know that putting our hands into a fire will burn them, we don’t put our hands into the fire. We act on those things we truly know. Faith, then, must be an active faith. It isn’t enough to say we believe God has taught us not to kill, for instance. We must also act on that belief. A true Christian keeps the commandments of God as evidence of His faith. Just as Noah didn’t ask for proof, neither do Christians ask for proof before deciding to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.
While it is possible to keep the commandments without faith, it is not possible to have true faith and refuse to keep the commandments. No one is perfect, but a person with faith is constantly striving to live as Jesus taught. James taught,“ 14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. (James 2)
These verses do not mean we can be saved by works done without faith, but simply for show. It means that a person who believes in and loves God will keep His commandments as a natural part of that love and faith.
Christians, including Mormons, keep the commandments even though they lack physical proof that rewards will come, either in this life or the next. For them, faith is enough to inspire a Christian lifestyle.
“Faith in Jesus Christ and a testimony of Him and His universal Atonement is not just a doctrine with great theological value. Such faith is a universal gift, glorious for all cultural regions of this earth, irrespective of race, color, language, nationality, or socioeconomic circumstance. The powers of reason may be used to try to understand this gift, but those who feel its effects most deeply are those who are willing to accept its blessings, which come from a pure and clean life of following the path of true repentance and living the commandments of God” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Precious Fruits of the First Vision,” Ensign, Feb 2009, 4–8).
Physical proof that Mormonism is true is no more essential to a Mormon than is physical proof of God, Jesus, or the Bible to any other Christian. Faith and testimony isn’t brought about by proof, but by a personal knowledge of God, and the willingness to turn to Him as the source of all truth. Science is constantly changing its mind about proof, but God never changes His mind. It comes down to this question: Who is our God—God, or science? Mormons, while respecting the role of science, choose God.
The Book of Mormon and the Art of Translation
If you’ve been reading the Book of Mormon along with me, you’ve reached the end of the Book of Jacob. You may have been startled by the last word in the chapter.
And I, Jacob, saw that I must soon go down to my grave; wherefore, I said unto my son Enos: Take these plates. And I told him the things which my brother Nephi had commanded me, and he promised obedience unto the commands. And I make an end of my writing upon these plates, which writing has been small; and to the reader I bid farewell, hoping that many of my brethren may read my words. Brethren, adieu.(Jacob 7:27)
Readers who pounce on the unexpected discovery of a French word that didn’t exist at the time the Book of Mormon took place often neglect to remember an important detail of the Book of Mormon. It was not written in English. It is a translated document.
I learned American sign language in my younger days and am learning Brazilian Portuguese now. I quickly learned there aren’t exact word-for-word translations for most words. Often, as I struggle to read the Book of Mormon in Portuguese, I’ll look up a word and find the translation dictionary’s choice makes no sense. Using the Internet, I’ll seek out other translations and often each dictionary will translate the word differently. Eventually, I’ll find a word that suits the meaning of the sentence I’m translating.
When I was learning sign language, I briefly had an opportunity to study with an LDS teacher who had me sign portions of the Book of Mormon. One day we encountered a verse that said a city rose up. The teacher pointed out that we couldn’t translate the verse until we knew exactly the way it rose up, since sign language is precise about things like that, even though English isn’t. While we would use the words “rose up” to signify a variety of things that could have happened to the city, in sign language, the meaning mattered in this case. Did it pop up out of the ground or was it built? Did God place it ready made? Each meaning would be translated differently.
Translation is all about meaning. A translator studies the material, evaluating the context, and trying to understand the meaning. Then they search for a word in English (if that’s the language they’re translating into) that means the same thing. Often there is no exact meaning, and the translator must select a word or phrase that comes close. This is why translated literature is often available in very different translations.
“It is interesting to note that there is a Hebrew word Lehitra’ot, which has essentially the same meaning in Hebrew as the word adieu has in French. Both of these words are much more than a simple farewell; they include the idea of a blessing. Would it be unreasonable to remind these critics that none of the words contained in the English translation of the book of Jacob were used by Jacob himself? These words all come from the English language, which did not come into existence until long after Jacob’s time!” (Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, p. 163).”
Joseph’s Smith’s mother used the word adieu in some of her writings, and so it was a word Joseph knew and understood. When he encountered a word that meant goodbye, but not exactly goodbye, he searched his personal vocabulary for a word that was more precise than goodbye.
To learn more about Joseph Smith, visit the Joseph Smith website.
To learn more about translation and the original languages of the Book of Mormon, read Russell M. Nelson, “A Treasured Testament,” Ensign, Jul 1993, 61
The Restoration
Filed under: Frequently Asked Questions, History of the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon, Written for Our Day
In 1 Nephi 22, Nephi tells his brothers that someday, far in the future, gentiles would take over the land his family had settled into, scattering the remnants of his family. Nothing in the Book of Mormon says the family came to an empty land, and so, given sociological studies of population growth, we understand Lehi’s family mingled and intermarried, converted and warred with those who were already here. His family, and the others who came from other places, would find themselves overtaken by the gentiles who would come.
However, God never forgets His children, and so Nephi also told them that God would eventually bring them a wonderful gift:
8 And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders.
9 And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. (1 Nephi 22)
This marvelous work was the restoration of the gospel, which happened in 1820 in a small village called Palmyra. A young boy, puzzled by the claims of so many churches to be the only true church, encountered a scripture in the Bible that told him to take his questions to God, so he did. In response, he was told not to join any of the churches, because none of them was entirely correct.
In time, after many years of preparation, training, and maturing, Joseph would lead the restoration of the true gospel. This would, appropriately, include some additional scriptures, clarifying a Bible that had been pieced together and retranslated many times. The Bible often refers to scriptures we no longer have, and prophets whose teachings have been lost. We understand that what has been chosen by men for canonization is not always complete and we know translation, when not done by a prophet, is subject to the errors of mortal men.
The Book of Mormon, kept as a single unit, rather than a collection of individual manuscripts, and translated by a prophet, eases some of these challenges. It does not replace the Bible. Instead, it testifies of it, just as the Bible testifies of the Book of Mormon. Look at these scriptures in the Bible:
4 And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. Isaiah 29:4 KJV
The Book of Mormon was hidden in the ground by Moroni, prior to his departure into hiding when his life was threatened.
14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. (Isaiah 29:14)
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and dwrite upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. (Ezekiel 37)
The Stick of Judah is the Bible. The Stick of Ephraim is the Book of Mormon. Early manuscripts, including the Bible, were often rolled into tight scrolls known as sticks.
The scriptures of the restoration testify of the Savior and of the Bible. They don’t subtract from it…they enhance and enrich it, providing the testimony of people far away that yes, there really was a Savior and He really was God’s Son—a Savior for everyone, not just Israel.
For more on the Restoration of the Gospel, visit Joseph Smith: Prophet of God.
The Preservation of a Sacred Record
Yesterday, I talked a little bit about the ways in which the Mayans first knew, and then corrupted the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today, I’ll talk about how this came about. It’s a story of sacred records that starts in Jerusalem.
Lehi was a prophet living in Jerusalem at about 600 B.C. It was a time of wickedness for these people; the prophets who urged them to repent and return to righteous living were cast out or killed.
After trying his best to call the people to repentance the Lord sent Him a warning in a dream. He was warned that he must take his family and leave Jerusalem before those who sought his life could carry out their plans. He obeyed and put his life in the Lord’s hands, not knowing what his path would be. He packed supplies, left behind all his non-essential worldly goods and journeyed into the wilderness.
It wasn’t long, however, before the Lord reminded Lehi that he had forgotten something crucial. He had forgotten to bring the genealogy of his family and their record of the gospel. His sons were sent back to obtain them. Though it was not easy, it was necessary because the Lord had plans for Lehi’s family. They would need a sacred record to guide them now and for generations to come. These records were carried across the ocean with Lehi and his family to a new and Promised Land. Nephi and the prophets after him continued to add to the record of the people. Other people came to the America’s carrying their own sacred records and recording the workings of God among their people.
These records are what would eventually become known as the Book of Mormon in the Latter-days. In the meantime they served as a guideline for each generation in keeping the commandments of God, just as the Jews did on the other side of the world. After Christ came among their people, their scriptures changed to fit a higher gospel as outlined by Jesus Christ. How then, if they had these records did their beliefs become so confused? Like all people, they had periods of righteousness and unrighteousness, but they did not completely fall until their scriptures were lost and the priesthood was no longer among them.
When the plates came to Moroni for safe keeping, he faced a difficult task. He was alone, the last man of his people and hunted by his enemies because of his beliefs. He wandered this way for many years until he came to the place the Lord had led him: a tiny hill called Cumorah in upper state New York where he would hide the plates and one day give them to Joseph Smith with the commandment to send Christ’s true gospel out among the people once again. Had he stayed, been found out, or killed by his enemies this record would have been lost or destroyed. Had he hidden it in places he knew, it likely would have been found by his enemies or the Spaniards who destroyed the Mayan’s own religious records in order to instill their own beliefs of the gospel without interference from their own beliefs.
A sacred record was preserved from 600 B.C. until it was revealed in 1827 to be translated by the power of God and sent out among His people again. Our lives had been dark, without a pure record of His gospel. A new age of righteousness was able to begin because of the addition of the Book of Mormon to the word of God found in the Bible. We now have the records we need to live as He would have us.