But! Before we talk about how Joseph came to obtain and translate The Book of Mormon I'm going to tell you the story of the book itself, so that Joseph's tale will make more sense.
Do you remember in my second post when we spoke about God calling Prophets and the children of men killing them off? Well, that's pretty much how The Book of Mormon starts off.
In roughly 600 BC there was a family in Jerusalem. The father of this family's name was Lehi. He was called by God to preach repentance to the people of Jerusalem. The people not only rejected his words, but they tried to take his life. God commanded Lehi to flee with his family into the desert.
Now, as soon as I wrote that above paragraph I realized how ludicrous it sounds. God told Lehi to preach, and when the people got mad at him it seems that God said "Oh! Nevermind, get outta there!"
But it's not so ludicrous when we understand (a little better at least) the mind of God. He needed to call his people (Jerusalem) to repentance. He knew they would not listen. However, God will always provide His children the chance to repent and return to Him. Many are familiar with the Bible story of Cain and Abel. After Cain has slain Abel, God comes and asks him where his brother is. Obviously God isn't asking to find out where Abel is; he already knows. He isn't asking to see what Cain will say; he already knows. He is asking to provide Cain the opportunity to confess what he has done and reduce his crime. God extends as much opportunity for mercy as is possible in all situations.
The other reason God called Lehi to preach to The Holy Land when he knew it would end in flight, was for just that reason. God needed to send Lehi out into the desert, so that The Book of Mormon could come forth.
Back to the story.
Lehi's family brings with them, another family (God commanded them to do this so that they might raise children).
These families live in the desert for many years, when eventually (and after many trials) they arrive at a great body of water. Nephi is the most righteous son of Lehi, and he constantly seeks guidance from the Lord. As such, he is given the guidance he seeks. When they arrive at the water God commands Nephi to build a boat, and teaches him how to do it.
The two families (now intermarried and with grandchildren) climb aboard the boat putting their trust in the Lord.
<<I am obviously giving a very short summary>>
Now, God has promised Lehi and the two families a land all to themselves, where they will flourish and thrive and grow abundantly, provided they obey the Lord.
The boat lands in some distant place, and the families settle the new continent. The place they land is now known as The Americas.
The, now very large, family continues to grow and spread, and build until they are, essentially, a new civilization.
Sadly, there was a divide. Nephi's older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, always jealous of and angry with Nephi oppose Nephi's leadership after their father's death.
So the people separate. The people of Nephi leave and live elsewhere in the land. The two people, named after their progenitors, were called the Nephites and the Lamanites.
About 1000 years pass over the course of the entire book. The records of the Nephites always being passed down, either to the prophet or the king. In general the Nephites obeyed God and the Lamanites did not. Though both people spent a considerable amount of time ignoring God and being called to repentance.
The two people are almost always at war.
In roughly the year 400 AD the Nephites cease to obey God, and give up the blessings promised to those who would listen to Him.
The Lamanites utterly destroy the Nephites.
Now, one man, a prophet of God, named Moroni still lived in hiding and held the record of the people: the record that told the history of the Nephites over the past 1000 years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem.
God commanded Moroni to bury the record in a hill, where it would come forth at a future time.
Back to 1820. Joseph sees God and Jesus Christ. Three years later (1823) as Joseph prays earnestly in his bedroom he is visited by an angel. The angel says his name is Moroni, and tells Joseph of an ancient record buried in a hill nearby. He was given a vision of where to find them.
He was instructed to leave the record where it was for another four years. In 1827 he took the volume, and by the gift and power of God began to translate it into English.
The Book of Mormon has now been translated into over a hundred different languages and is read across the world.
I have read the book, and have prayed to ask God if the book is, indeed, scripture written by his Prophets in ancient times. I have had some wonderful experiences in my life, many of which have come while asking for these kinds of answers and I do know that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be.
As I said previously (my last post) if The Book of Mormon is true, then it only makes sense that Joseph Smith was a prophet, directed by God to translate it. If he was indeed a prophet, then surely the church that he organized under The Lord's direction is God's church. This is how I have come to know, personally, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of God on the earth, and that the prophet that guides our church today is inspired by God.
I want to rewind and reiterate something I wrote in post number one. The purpose of this blog is not to convince anyone of anything. The purpose is to share what I believe, and by extension why I believe it. Any details I give about why the church (to me) must be true, is not to persuade you to agree with me, but to share with you a more personal level of my beliefs.
check out mormon.org if you have any questions.
_______________________________________
That pretty much concludes the foundation of the modern day beginnings of the church (on a superficial level, at least) and now we can talk about other things, like the LDS stance on many issues, and smaller things like why we don't drink coffee.
I wanted to give an info tidbit on the name of The Book of Mormon, and our nickname (Mormons), but I didn't want to make my post too long.
So feel free to stop reading now.
Moroni, the last prophet of the BOM ("Book of Mormon" is quite long to copy out so many times) was given the record by his father Mormon. Yes, Mormon is simply the name of one of the prophets in the book itself. Now, the reason his name is significant enough to have the book named after him is this:
The record began as more or less a personal journal of Nephi (remember Lehi's son?), who kept this writing on metal plates to preserve them for his posterity. In fact, he kept two records. One was more of a historical record, and the other was more of a spiritual one. This writing was added to as it was passed down the generations. After ~1000 years of kings and prophets keeping this record, you can bet that it was more of a library than a book. Mormon took the records of his people and condensed them into a single cohesive whole. In fact, you can see that it is someone narrating part of a larger story several times when he says things like "And a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, which now began to be numerous, cannot be written upon these plates" (3 Nephi 26:6)
So because Mormon compiled the book it is named after him. Early persecutors of the church called members of the church "Mormons" because of the book. Which is where we got the name.
Now, as soon as I wrote that above paragraph I realized how ludicrous it sounds. God told Lehi to preach, and when the people got mad at him it seems that God said "Oh! Nevermind, get outta there!"
But it's not so ludicrous when we understand (a little better at least) the mind of God. He needed to call his people (Jerusalem) to repentance. He knew they would not listen. However, God will always provide His children the chance to repent and return to Him. Many are familiar with the Bible story of Cain and Abel. After Cain has slain Abel, God comes and asks him where his brother is. Obviously God isn't asking to find out where Abel is; he already knows. He isn't asking to see what Cain will say; he already knows. He is asking to provide Cain the opportunity to confess what he has done and reduce his crime. God extends as much opportunity for mercy as is possible in all situations.
The other reason God called Lehi to preach to The Holy Land when he knew it would end in flight, was for just that reason. God needed to send Lehi out into the desert, so that The Book of Mormon could come forth.
Back to the story.
Lehi's family brings with them, another family (God commanded them to do this so that they might raise children).
These families live in the desert for many years, when eventually (and after many trials) they arrive at a great body of water. Nephi is the most righteous son of Lehi, and he constantly seeks guidance from the Lord. As such, he is given the guidance he seeks. When they arrive at the water God commands Nephi to build a boat, and teaches him how to do it.
The two families (now intermarried and with grandchildren) climb aboard the boat putting their trust in the Lord.
<<I am obviously giving a very short summary>>
Now, God has promised Lehi and the two families a land all to themselves, where they will flourish and thrive and grow abundantly, provided they obey the Lord.
The boat lands in some distant place, and the families settle the new continent. The place they land is now known as The Americas.
The, now very large, family continues to grow and spread, and build until they are, essentially, a new civilization.
Sadly, there was a divide. Nephi's older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, always jealous of and angry with Nephi oppose Nephi's leadership after their father's death.
So the people separate. The people of Nephi leave and live elsewhere in the land. The two people, named after their progenitors, were called the Nephites and the Lamanites.
About 1000 years pass over the course of the entire book. The records of the Nephites always being passed down, either to the prophet or the king. In general the Nephites obeyed God and the Lamanites did not. Though both people spent a considerable amount of time ignoring God and being called to repentance.
The two people are almost always at war.
In roughly the year 400 AD the Nephites cease to obey God, and give up the blessings promised to those who would listen to Him.
The Lamanites utterly destroy the Nephites.
Now, one man, a prophet of God, named Moroni still lived in hiding and held the record of the people: the record that told the history of the Nephites over the past 1000 years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem.
God commanded Moroni to bury the record in a hill, where it would come forth at a future time.
Back to 1820. Joseph sees God and Jesus Christ. Three years later (1823) as Joseph prays earnestly in his bedroom he is visited by an angel. The angel says his name is Moroni, and tells Joseph of an ancient record buried in a hill nearby. He was given a vision of where to find them.
He was instructed to leave the record where it was for another four years. In 1827 he took the volume, and by the gift and power of God began to translate it into English.
The Book of Mormon has now been translated into over a hundred different languages and is read across the world.
I have read the book, and have prayed to ask God if the book is, indeed, scripture written by his Prophets in ancient times. I have had some wonderful experiences in my life, many of which have come while asking for these kinds of answers and I do know that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be.
As I said previously (my last post) if The Book of Mormon is true, then it only makes sense that Joseph Smith was a prophet, directed by God to translate it. If he was indeed a prophet, then surely the church that he organized under The Lord's direction is God's church. This is how I have come to know, personally, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of God on the earth, and that the prophet that guides our church today is inspired by God.
I want to rewind and reiterate something I wrote in post number one. The purpose of this blog is not to convince anyone of anything. The purpose is to share what I believe, and by extension why I believe it. Any details I give about why the church (to me) must be true, is not to persuade you to agree with me, but to share with you a more personal level of my beliefs.
check out mormon.org if you have any questions.
_______________________________________
That pretty much concludes the foundation of the modern day beginnings of the church (on a superficial level, at least) and now we can talk about other things, like the LDS stance on many issues, and smaller things like why we don't drink coffee.
I wanted to give an info tidbit on the name of The Book of Mormon, and our nickname (Mormons), but I didn't want to make my post too long.
So feel free to stop reading now.
Moroni, the last prophet of the BOM ("Book of Mormon" is quite long to copy out so many times) was given the record by his father Mormon. Yes, Mormon is simply the name of one of the prophets in the book itself. Now, the reason his name is significant enough to have the book named after him is this:
The record began as more or less a personal journal of Nephi (remember Lehi's son?), who kept this writing on metal plates to preserve them for his posterity. In fact, he kept two records. One was more of a historical record, and the other was more of a spiritual one. This writing was added to as it was passed down the generations. After ~1000 years of kings and prophets keeping this record, you can bet that it was more of a library than a book. Mormon took the records of his people and condensed them into a single cohesive whole. In fact, you can see that it is someone narrating part of a larger story several times when he says things like "And a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, which now began to be numerous, cannot be written upon these plates" (3 Nephi 26:6)
So because Mormon compiled the book it is named after him. Early persecutors of the church called members of the church "Mormons" because of the book. Which is where we got the name.
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