Points to Ponder Concerning the Introductory Material in the Book of Mormon

For the week of January 1-7

Dinner Invitation

In 2024 the Come Follow Me program invites us to enjoy together what Joseph Smith called the “most correct of any book on earth.”   He promised that we could “get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” 

But we won’t necessarily get closer to God simply by owning a copy of the Book of Mormon, or even by reading it.  Nor will dozing during a Sunday School class twice a month do much for us.  For us to get spiritual nourishment from the Book of Mormon, we need not only to “feast upon” the written words, as Nephi termed it, but to “chew” them, “digest” them, and apply them.  This includes thinking deeply about them.  Joseph Smith taught: “The things of God are of deep import; and time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out.”

May I offer two helps to make your study this year more interesting and enjoyable? 

1. First, you may wish to review the points in my article on “How to Really Enjoy the Book of Mormon” at  https://latterdaysaintandhappy.com/how-to-really-enjoy-the-book-of-mormon/.  (Just click on the link.)
2. Secondly, I will offer each week on this site some specific questions you may wish to ponder as you read.   These will not be such factual questions, as “Who was Lehi’s wife?” or “When did Lehi live”?  Save those for when you can’t sleep at night. 

Instead, I’ll offer some questions which have intrigued me as I’ve studied and taught the Book of Mormon for more than 50 years.  I’ll also offer some possible and personal answers to each.  But most of the questions don’t have only one answer.  Your answers may well be better than mine.  The benefit will come not from your knowing what my answer is but from thinking deeply about some of the questions and coming up with your own answers and applications.  You may even want to add questions of your own and consider how you would answer them.  It’s not necessary to “eat everything on the menu” (answer all of the questions) in order to be spiritually nourished.

Happy feasting!

In addition to reading the introductory material in the Book of Mormon itself (everthing prior to 1 Nephi 1), you will enjoy reading the introductory chapters in the Institute of Religion Book of Mormon Student Manual at

• Introduction (churchofjesuschrist.org)
• Chapter 1: Keystone of Our Religion (churchofjesuschrist.org)

And you will want to consult the wonderful resources of Book of Mormon Central at Come Follow Me 2024: Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon | Book of Mormon Central

And you may enjoy any or all of the following introductory videos:

If you would like a Kahoot game related to this material which you could use for personal study or use with your family or your class, click here: https://create.kahoot.it/share/book-of-mormon-introductory-material/9f809252-035c-4870-b0ba-bb94aef36a0f.  (To use it with a group, after clicking on this link, you will need to log into Kahoot, creating a free account if you have not done so previously, then click on the blue “Start” button.)

Points to Ponder Concerning the Introductory Material in the Book of Mormon

1. How many specific and distinct purposes for the Book of Mormon can you find given in the title page? Which of them apply specifically to you?  Which do not?

2. The title page suggests the possibility of faults in the Book of Mormon.  Have you ever found any?  How could we know which things were true and which were false if the book contained both?  If the three witnesses were told by the Lord himself that the Book of Mormon had been translated by the gift and power of God, how could there have been even minor errors which would later need correction? 

3. Aren’t the American Indians descendants of the Lamanites of the Book of Mormon?  Why, then, does the introduction say only that the Lamanites are “among” the ancestors of the American Indians?

4. What is a keystone?  What are the implications of Joseph Smith’s calling the Book of Mormon the “keystone of our religion”?

5. What do you think the Lord intended to be the main evidences to lead people to read the Book of Mormon?  What did He intend to be the main evidence to convince them of its truthfulness once they had read it?  Why do you think so? 

6. How did the experiences of the three and the eight witnesses differ?  Which do you consider the more significant testimony, and why?

7. How do you account for the fact that all of the three witnesses and some of the eight witnesses later left the Church, if their testimonies of the Book of Mormon were true?

8. What particularly impressed you about Joseph Smith’s account of Moroni’s visit this time?  Did you see anything you hadn’t noticed previously?

9. What significance do you see in the fact that Joseph Smith’s father believed the Moroni story as soon as he heard it?

10. Is it necessary to accept the Book of Mormon as historically true? Couldn’t we be edified by just reading it as inspired fiction?

11. What else in your reading for this week did you find particularly impressive?

 

Possible Answers to Points to Ponder Concerning the Introductory Material in the Book of Mormon

1. How many specific and distinct purposes for the Book of Mormon can you find given in the title page?

• to show the Israelites what great things the Lord has done for their fathers
• to assure the Israelites that they are not cast off forever
• to convince Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ ….

These all apply to every member of the Church, as once we have accepted the gospel, we are “adopted” into the House of Israel if we were not already lineal members.  We are thus heirs to all the promises made to ancient and modern Israel. 

2. The title page suggests the possibility of faults in the Book of Mormon.  Have you ever found any?  How could we know which things were true and which were false if the book contained both?  If the three witnesses were told by the Lord himself that the Book of Mormon had been translated by the gift and power of God, how could there have been even minor errors which would later need correction? 

There have been over 4000 changes in the Book of Mormon since the first edition, mostly to correct grammatical errors.  Still others could be made, such as in Moroni 7:12, 3 Nephi 3:8, 1 Nephi 14:28, 1 Nephi 19:20, etc.  A few minor errors were made in the process of copying the original manuscript and printing the book.  Some corrections, therefore, have been made in recent years to bring the text into harmony with the earliest available manuscripts.  The doctrines of the book, however, have needed no revision.  The Lord could bear witness of the correctness of the concepts without having to certify that Joseph Smith had perfect grammar.  Evidently the Lord helped Joseph get the correct ideas in his mind as he translated but allowed him to express them in such language as he had at his command.

3. Aren’t the American Indians descendants of the Lamanites of the Book of Mormon?  Why, then, does the introduction say only that the Lamanites are “among” the ancestors of the American Indians?

Some Latter-day Saints used to believe that all indigenous peoples in both North and South America could trace their ancestry back to Lehi and that there were no other civilizations here when his family arrived.  But the Book of Mormon itself makes no such claim.  There is much evidence that others were here prior to Lehi’s arrival and that there have been other migrations throughout the centuries, including across the Bering Straits.   Should we insist that all indigenous Americans are uniquely descended from Lehi and Ishmael, educated people who know that is not true may be kept from taking the Book of Mormon seriously.

4. What is a keystone?  What are the implications of Joseph Smith’s calling the Book of Mormon the “keystone of our religion”?

A keystone was the top stone in an arch, which held the rest of the arch up.   Our religion stands or falls on the question of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, just as an arch depends on the presence of a sturdy keystone.  Furthermore, the Book of Mormon also contains the very doctrinal foundations of our faith. You may enjoy reading my article on Unique Contributions of the Book of Mormon at Unique Contributions of the Book of Mormon – Latter-day Saint and Happy (latterdaysaintandhappy.com)

5. What do you think the Lord intended to be the main evidences to lead people to read the Book of Mormon?  What did He intend to be the main evidence to convince them of its truthfulness once they had read it?  Why do you think so? 

It would appear that the most significant evidences which the Lord intended to move people to read the Book of Mormon would be (1) Joseph Smith’s story of its origin, to which the Holy Ghost will bear witness (2 Nephi 33:1), and (2) the testimony of the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses.  These are the evidences which since the beginning the Church has bound with the book itself.  The evidence which the Lord intends should lead a person to baptism, however, is clearly the personal spiritual witness available to all who follow Moroni’s famous formula as given in Moroni 10:3-5  Other external and internal evidences of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon abound, but their main purpose seems to be to arouse curiosity to the point that someone will want to read the book, or to serve as confirmatory signs to the faithful, not a means of convincing a doubtful skeptic that the book is definitely true prior to his reading it .

6. How did the experiences of the three and the eight witnesses differ?  Which do you consider the more significant testimony, and why? 

The 3 saw an angel and heard the voice of God.  The 8 saw only the plates, which they handled with their hands.  The testimony of the 3 seems the more significant, as anyone might have made a set of plates in a metal shop, but it would be hard to impersonate an angel or the voice of God.

7. How do you account for the fact that all of the three witnesses and some of the eight witnesses later left the Church, if their testimonies of the Book of Mormon were true? 

Those who left did so because of personal weaknesses, jealousies, hurt feelings, etc., which had nothing to do with their testimony of the Book of Mormon.  All of them maintained to the end that their testimonies were true. In some respects, their testimony is even more convincing because they maintained it even when they were alienated from Joseph Smith and the Church.  If it had been a fraud, that would have been the time they might have been tempted to expose it.

8. What particularly impressed you about Joseph Smith’s account of Moroni’s visit this time?  Did you see anything you hadn’t noticed previously? 

Whatever you answered is correct!

9. What significance do you see in the fact that Joseph Smith’s father believed the Moroni story as soon as he heard it? 

It shows that his father regarded young Joseph as a truthful boy.  If Joseph had ever been known to tell tall tales, it seems unlikely that his father, mother, brothers, and sisters would all have been so supportive of his story of the angel and the plates.

10. Is it necessary to accept the Book of Mormon as historically true? Couldn’t we be edified by just reading it as inspired fiction?

See the following answer from Book of Mormon Central:

11. What else in your reading for this week did you find particularly impressive? 

Your choice. Possibilities could include:

• The Bible, as well as the Book of Mormon, contains the fullness of the everlasting gospel, when it is properly understood.
• It is abiding by the precepts of the book that brings us close to God—not just an awareness of those precepts, or a knowledge of the history or geography of the book.
• Moroni called Joseph Smith by name.  God and angels know each of us by name.  We may well want to call others by their names when we are in leadership or teaching positions to show them the same respect that Moroni showed young Joseph.
• Moroni’s repetition of the same counsel three times, with the addition the second time of information concerning imminent judgments, and the third time a warning against attempting to use the plates to get rich.