Post # 161 -- Come, Follow Me –
Lesson # 1 2020 -- December 30–January 5 -- Introductory Pages of the Book of
Mormon -- “Another Testament of Jesus
Christ”
Dear Family and
Friends
I hope and pray that
these first few days of this new year have been wonderful for you this is the
first lesson in our study of the Book of Mormon this year. I will try to get
the lessons out for you before each week of the lesson, but please do not hold
it against me if I don’t get them posted until after the lesson, I do promise
to try hard to get it to you hopefully the Sunday before.
And yes, I am already
running late getting this one out to you, as I think this one is for this
Sunday☹
I do try to include as much resources as I can with each lesson so that you
will have a more complete study each week as well as material for family home
evening from the Come, Follow Me for Individuals and Families, which is where
this following came directly from:
Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon
“Another Testament of Jesus Christ”
Your study of the Book of Mormon can be enriched if you
start by reading the pages that precede 1 Nephi. What do you find that
strengthens your testimony?
Before you even get to 1 Nephi
chapter 1, it’s clear that the Book of Mormon is no ordinary book.
Its introductory pages describe a backstory unlike any other—including
visits of angels, an ancient record buried for centuries in a hillside, and an
obscure farmer translating the record by the power of God. The Book of Mormon
is not just a history of ancient American civilizations.
It contains “the fulness of the everlasting gospel” (introduction
to the Book of Mormon), and God Himself directed its coming forth—how
it was written, how it was preserved, and how it was made available in our day.
This year, as you read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and apply its
teachings, you will invite its power into your life, and you may feel to say,
as the Three Witnesses did in their testimony,
“It is marvelous in [my] eyes.”
You know
that as you and your family members and friends study together the Book of
Mormon’s title page and introduction; the testimonies of the Three Witnesses, the Eight Witnesses, and the Prophet Joseph Smith; and “A Brief Explanation about the Book of
Mormon.”
As you do
this together, be sure to seek promptings from the Holy Ghost about how you can
inspire your family members and friends to begin a meaningful study of the Book
of Mormon. The following sites correspond with the order of what you need to
study together: the title page; introduction; the Three Witnesses; the Eight
Witnesses; the Prophet Joseph Smith; and A Brief Explanation about the Book of
Mormon:
You might want to
share something you have learned from the introductory pages of the Book of
Mormon that increased your testimony of this sacred book. Or you might want to
ask your family members and friends to read through the introductory pages of
the Book of Mormon and then to share what they learned that has increased their
testimony of this sacred book😊
The
Book of Mormon can strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ.
You know that the
Book of Mormon’s title page was written by Moroni, reading this title page together
can prepare your family members and friends to study the Book of Mormon together
this year. How do you think the messages on the title page might enhance your
/their study?
Maybe you could write
one or more questions on a poster board—such as the following: Why do we
have the Book of Mormon? or How is the Book of Mormon different from
other books?—and
then you and your family members and
friends could look for answers as you review the title page together, individually
or in pairs. You and/or they could then share impressions that came to you
and/or them.
It may also be
beneficial for you to encourage your family members and friends to discuss
together what yours and/or their plans are for studying the Book of Mormon this
year. You might ask yourself and/or your family members and friends the
following questions: what will you and / or they be looking for as you study
the Book of Mormon this year? How will you and/or they learn from the Holy
Ghost as you and/or they study?
You know that one of
the most important purposes of the Book of Mormon is stated on its title page:
and that is to convince “Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ.” It may be
very beneficial for you and your family
members and friends to share some passages from the Book of Mormon that have
strengthened their faith in Jesus Christ, you and / or they could also read a
few passages from the Book of Mormon😊as listed below:
Book of Mormon passages that testify of Jesus Christ.
Alma 5:48; 7:10–13 --https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/5.48?lang=eng#p48
3 Nephi 9:13–18; 11:6–14 -- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/9.13-18?lang=eng#p13
Moroni 10:32–33
-- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/moro/10.32-33?lang=eng#p32
You and your
family members and friends could read some of these verses together or with a
partner if you are divided into pairs. Then you could each share how the Book
of Mormon has influenced yours and their testimony of the Savior. Having a
testimony of the savior is a most prized possession that we should all seek to
gain and work to keep😊 😊 😊 😊and share with others!
Ideas for Personal Scripture Study
The Book of Mormon can
strengthen my faith in Jesus Christ.
The title page of the Book of Mormon provides more than
just a title. Among other things, it lists several purposes of this sacred
record. Look for these purposes, and then as you study the Book of Mormon this
year, note passages that you feel accomplish these purposes. For example, what
passages help convince you “that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God”?
The Book of Mormon can
help us “get nearer to God.”
Did you
know that the introduction to the Book of Mormon provides information that is
important for your family members and friends to understand. I believe that you
and your family members and friends might benefit from scanning the
introduction and then identifying three to five points that would be helpful to
share with someone reading the Book of Mormon for the first time.
Your
family members and friends could then share what they find. Your family members
and friends may even want to role-play introducing the Book of Mormon to
someone. They could play respective roles of one who is introducing the Book of
Mormon and one who is receiving the Book of Mormon and then reverse their roles😊
The videos
suggested below may be of some help in your role playing, may even be
inspirational for you and your family study group:
Videos about the Book
of Mormon on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
“Book of Mormon Introduction” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/2011-05-010-book-of-mormon-introduction?lang=eng
“What Is the Book of Mormon? A 60-Second Overview” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/what-is-the-book-of-mormon-a-60-second-overview?lang=eng
“A Book of Mormon Story” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/inspiration/latter-day-saints-channel/watch/series/mormon-messages/a-book-of-mormon-story-1?lang=eng
The
following videos depict the stories from the Book of Mormon. I have watched
them with my grandsons, and they are very good. I think it would be beneficial
for your family members and friends to read the chapters associated with each
video before you watch the video and then watch the video to help cement the
images of the stories in your minds eye😊
For more, see the Book
of Mormon Videos collection on ChurchofJesusChrist.org or the Gospel
Library app. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/videos/book-of-mormon-videos?lang=eng
Some of your family
members and friends may have had experiences that confirmed the truth of Joseph
Smith’s words: “A man would get nearer to God by abiding by [the Book of
Mormon’s] precepts, than by any other book.” It maybe beneficial for you and
your family members and friends to share how living the truths they’ve learned
in the Book of Mormon has helped them to get nearer to God.
You could also ask
your family members and friends to share answers to these three questions
suggested by President Russell M. Nelson: “First, what would your life be
like without the Book of Mormon? Second, what would you not know?
And third, what would you not have?” (“The
Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like without It?”
(Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2017, 61). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2017/10/the-book-of-mormon-what-would-your-life-be-like-without-it?lang=eng
Did anyone in your family
study group – family members or friends, read Book of Mormon passages that
contain different names for the plan of salvation, If you and your family
members and friends have read these passages, invite them to share what they
learned. If you haven’t had a chance to find and read any of these passages as
suggested in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families? You can find the passages listed below.
Ideas for Personal Scripture Study
The
Book of Mormon “outlines the plan of salvation.”
The plan of salvation is Heavenly Father’s plan to help His
children become exalted, as He is, and experience the joy He feels (see 2 Nephi
2:25–26).
Book of Mormon
26 And the Messiah
cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem
the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed
from the fall they have become free
forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted
upon, save it be by the punishment of the law
at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.
The Atonement of Jesus Christ makes this plan possible, and
every doctrine, ordinance, covenant, and commandment that God has given is meant
to help accomplish the plan.
If you want to understand the plan of salvation, there’s no
better book to read than the Book of Mormon. It refers to God’s plan—using
a variety of names—more than 20 times.
During your study this year,
notice when God’s plan is mentioned or alluded to and what the Book of Mormon
says about it.
Here’s an activity to get you started. Read the following
passages, and list the different names given to God’s plan: 2 Nephi
9:13; 11:5;
and Alma
12:32–34; 24:14; 41:2; 42:15–16.
What do each of these names suggest to you about the Father’s plan?
Book of Mormon
13 O how great the plan
of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise
of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up
the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored
to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal,
and they are living souls, having a perfect
knowledge
like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect.
Book of Mormon
5 And also my soul delighteth in the covenants
of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his grace,
and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance
from death.
Book of Mormon
32 Therefore God gave unto them commandments, after having
made known
unto them the plan of redemption, that they should not do evil, the penalty
thereof being a second death,
which was an everlasting death
as to things pertaining unto righteousness; for on such the plan of redemption
could have no power, for the works of justice
could not be destroyed, according to the supreme goodness
of God.
33 But God did call on men, in the name of his Son, (this
being the plan of
redemption which was laid) saying: If ye will repent,
and harden not your hearts, then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only
Begotten Son;
34 Therefore, whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his
heart, he shall have claim on mercy
through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission
of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest.
Book of Mormon
14 And the great God has had mercy on us, and made these
things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he has made these
things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our souls
as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by
his angels, that the plan of
salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future
generations.
Book of Mormon
2 I say unto thee, my son, that the plan of restoration is
requisite with the justice of God; for it is requisite that all things should
be restored to their proper order. Behold, it is requisite and just, according
to the power and resurrection of Christ, that the soul
of man should be restored to its body, and that every part
of the body should be restored to itself.
Book of Mormon
15 And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about
except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth
for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy,
to appease the demands of justice,
that God might be a perfect,
just God, and a merciful
God also.
16 Now, repentance could not come unto men except there were
a punishment,
which also was eternal
as the life of the soul should be, affixed opposite
to the plan of happiness, which was as eternal
also as the life of the soul.
The Three Witnesses bore testimony of the Book of Mormon.
We can all be witnesses
of the Book of Mormon.
I know
that studying the testimonies of the Three and the Eight Witnesses has
strengthen my testimony and I believe that doing so could also strengthen you
and your family members’ and friends testimonies and help each one of you to
think about how you and / or they might share their own witnesses with one
another and others.
It could
be helpful for your to divide your
family study group in half and have one half read “The Testimony of Three Witnesses” Found here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/manual/doctrine-and-covenants-student-manual/section-5-the-testimony-of-the-three-witnesses?lang=eng
Ideas for Personal Scripture Study
Then you
could have the other half read “The Testimony of Eight Witnesses” Found here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/eight?lang=eng
and share
with your family study group any impressions or details that stand out to them.
Now for a few questions: How are the two testimonies different? How are they
similar? What do we learn from these witnesses about sharing our testimonies?
One way
that you could begin a discussion with your family and friends about why the
Three Witnesses are important, you might want to share President Dallin H.
Oaks’s statement with them or you could read John Whitmer’s testimony – or –
you could read both😊
The importance of the
Three Witnesses.
President Dallin H. Oaks explained why the testimony
of the Three Witnesses is so compelling:
“The testimony of
the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon stands forth in great strength.
Each of the three had ample reason and opportunity to renounce his testimony if
it had been false, or to equivocate on details if any had been inaccurate.
As is well known, because of disagreements or jealousies
involving other leaders of the Church, each one of these three witnesses was
excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by about
eight years after the publication of their testimony.
All three went their separate ways, with no common interest
to support a collusive effort. Yet to the end of their lives—periods ranging from 12 to 50 years after their
excommunications—not one of these witnesses deviated
from his published testimony or said anything that cast any shadow on its
truthfulness” (“The Witness:
Martin Harris,” Ensign, May 1999, 36). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1999/04/the-witness-martin-harris?lang=eng
The testimony of John
Whitmer.
John Whitmer, one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of
Mormon, declared: “I have never heard that any one of the three or eight
witnesses ever denied the testimony that they have borne. … Our names have gone
forth to all nations, tongues and people as a divine revelation from God. And
it will bring to pass the designs of God according to the declaration therein
contained” (in Noel B. Reynolds, ed., Book of Mormon Authorship
Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins [1997], 55–56).
Another thing you could do is you might want
to show the video “The Testimony of the Three Witnesses” to your family members
and friends (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). found here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media-library/video/2012-05-8290-the-testimony-of-the-three-witnesses?lang=eng after
you have all viewed the video you could discuss together what you have each
learned from the video😊
Ideas for Personal Scripture Study
I
can be a witness of the Book of Mormon.
The Holy Ghost can testify to you that the Book of Mormon
is true, even if you haven’t seen the golden plates as the Three Witnesses and
Eight Witnesses did. How do their testimonies strengthen yours? How can you
“give [your name] unto the world, to witness unto the world” what you know
about the Book of Mormon? (“The
Testimony of Eight Witnesses”).
Joseph
Smith was an instrument in God’s hands to bring forth the Book of Mormon.
It occurred to me
that you and your family members and friends may already be familiar with the
events described in “The
Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith,” if this is so, you may be able to find new insights and perhaps
you can help your family members and friends to find new insights.
For example,
you could ask each of them to name some key events in Joseph Smith’s account. You
could then write their answers on a poster board for discussion. You could then
ask them the following question: What can we conclude from his experience about
the importance the Lord has placed on the Book of Mormon?
As you know, music is
so important when inviting the Spirit into your homes to be with you during
your study time😊 The hymn “An
Angel from on High”
(Hymns, no. 13) tells of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/hymns/an-angel-from-on-high?lang=eng
Perhaps after singing
or listening to or at least reading through the words of this hymn, your family
members and friends could find statements in “The
Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith” that match or reinforce phrases in the song. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/js?lang=eng
Ideas for Personal Scripture
Study
The
coming forth of the Book of Mormon was a miracle.
If someone asked you where the Book of Mormon came from,
what would you say? How would you describe the Lord’s hand in bringing forth
the Book of Mormon? How did Joseph Smith describe the coming forth of the Book
of Mormon?
How
was the Book of Mormon translated?
The Book of Mormon was translated “by the gift and power of
God.” We don’t know many details about the miraculous translation process, but
we do know that Joseph Smith was a seer, aided by instruments that God had
prepared: two transparent stones called the Urim and Thummim and another stone
called a seer stone.
Joseph saw in these stones the English interpretation of
the characters on the plates, and he read the translation aloud while a scribe
recorded it. Each of Joseph’s scribes testified that God’s power was manifest
in the translation of this sacred work. See
“Book of Mormon Translation,”
Gospel Topics, topics.ChurchofJesusChrist.org. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/book-of-mormon-translation?lang=eng
Ideas for Family Scripture Study and Family Home Evening
As you read the scriptures with your family, the Spirit can help
you know what principles to emphasize and discuss in order to meet the needs of
your family. Here are some ideas.
Perhaps your family could start a list of verses from the Book of
Mormon that have built your faith “that Jesus is the Christ” and add to it
throughout the year. This might also be a good time to create a family plan for
reading the Book of Mormon: When and where will you gather to read? How will
each family member participate? For additional help, see “Ideas to Improve Your
Family Scripture Study” at the beginning of this resource.
A keystone is a wedge-shaped stone at the top of an arch that locks
the other stones together. To help your family understand how the Book of
Mormon is “the keystone of our religion,” you could build or draw an arch with
a keystone at the top. What happens if the keystone is removed? What would
happen if we did not have the Book of Mormon? How can we make the Book of
Mormon the keystone of our faith in Jesus Christ?
The Book of Mormon is the
keystone of our religion.
Your family members could write down their own testimonies about
the Book of Mormon, sign their names on them, and think of ways to share their
testimonies with others.
In Joseph Smith’s account, what evidence do we find that God was
involved in the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon?
Improving Personal Study
A prophetic promise. President Russell M.
Nelson said, “I promise that as you ponder what you study [in the Book of
Mormon], the windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your
own questions and direction for your own life” (“The Book of Mormon:
What Would Your Life Be Like without It?” Ensign or Liahona,
Nov. 2017, 62–63). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2017/10/the-book-of-mormon-what-would-your-life-be-like-without-it?lang=eng
Something that you
can do to inspire your family members and friends to read 1 Nephi
1–7,during this upcoming
week is to invite them to look for ideas or truths that help them with their
current life circumstances—for example, a family challenge or a Church calling.
I do hope and pray
that each one of you will take this opportunity to study the Book of Mormon with
me during this year, I have read the Book of Mormon many times and it always helps
me to draw nearer to my Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ😊I
believe that there is power in the Book of Mormon, I always feel at peace as I read
it😊
If you do not have
your own copy of the Book of Mormon you can get one here: https://www.comeuntochrist.org/beliefs/book-of-mormon-request
you can go here to find out more -- Learn about the Savior, Jesus
Christ, and how the basic beliefs of His Gospel can enrich our lives. https://www.comeuntochrist.org/
I certainly hope that
each one of you are having a great beginning to this new century, this new year😊
remember who you are! You are each one a child of God. He loves you and He only
wants the very best in life for you😊 It is okay to put your trust in our
Heavenly Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ. In fact, it is the very best
thing that you can do for yourself.
Keep saying your
prayers and reading and studying your scriptures with me. Our focus this year
is on the Book of Mormon, but I am sure we will find many cross references to other
scriptures. If you have not given the Book of Mormon a good read, now is your
chance. Make this your number one goal doe this year, until my next post –
please do make it a good week😊
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