Even though there are more reasons than I can possibly count, here are 25 reasons that I love the book of Mormon:
1. As a second witness of Jesus Christ, along with the Bible, it teaches me of
Jesus Christ - “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of
Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that
our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their
sins” (2 Nephi 25:26).
2. It helps me remember the source of my blessings - “And
now behold, this I speak unto their seed, and also to the Gentiles who have
care for the house of Israel, that realize and know from whence their blessings
come” (Mormon 5:10).
3. It reminds me that
God is merciful and will be merciful to all of His children - “He will be
merciful unto you and unto your seed forever” (2 Nephi 4:7).
4. It teaches me to love children – “And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love;
wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children
with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation” (Moroni
8:17).
5. It teaches me to love my family – “Behold, their husbands
love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and
their wives love their children” (Jacob 3:7).
6. It reminds me to love the poor and needy more than money
– “For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and
the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the
sick and the afflicted” (Mormon 8:37).
7. It gives me amazing reasons to seek for a remission of my
sins – “And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart;
and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the
Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love
endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the
saints shall dwell with God (Moroni 8:26).
8. It teaches me how to overcome contention - “And it came
to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God
which did dwell in the hearts of the people” (4 Nephi 1:15).
9. It teaches me how
to raise my children - “But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and
soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another”
(Mosiah 4:15).
10. It teaches a
wonderful reason to bridle my passions - “See that ye bridle all your passions,
that ye may be filled with love; see that ye refrain from idleness” (Alma
38:12).
11. It teaches me
about eternal principles such as charity - “But charity is the pure love of
Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last
day, it shall be well with him” (Moroni 7:47).
12. It teaches the
beauty and value of scripture - “And upon these I write the things of my soul,
and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my
soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth
them for the learning and the profit of my children” (2 Nephi 4:15).
13. It teaches of
angels and their purpose of speaking the words of Christ – “Angels speak by the
power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore,
I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of
Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:3).
14. It teaches of
the grand connection between belief in Christ and belief in the Book of Mormon
- “And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth,
hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these
words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in
these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me;
and they teach all men that they should do good” (2 Nephi 33:10).
15. It teaches me
how to become sanctified and holy in Christ - “And again, if ye by the grace of
God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in
Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which
is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye
become holy, without spot” (Moroni 10:33).
16. It teaches me
how to know the truth of all things – “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye
shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that
ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men,
from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these
things, and ponder it in your hearts. And
when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God,
the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if
ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he
will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may
know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:3-5).
17. It teaches me of
faith – “And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect
knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are
not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21).
18. It teaches me
about trials and their purpose – “The Lord seeth fit to chasten his people;
yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.
Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted
up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people. For behold, I will show unto you that they
were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God,
yea, even the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob. And it came to pass that he did deliver them,
and he did show forth his mighty power unto them, and great were their
rejoicings” (Mosiah 23:21-24).
19. It teaches me
that God is a God of all nations – “Know ye not that there are more nations
than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that
I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the
heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the
children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? (2 Nephi 29:7).
20. It teaches me
that I should take upon me the name of Christ - “And those who did belong to
the church were faithful; yea, all those who were true believers in Christ took
upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as they were called,
because of their belief in Christ who should come” (Alma 46:15).
21. It teaches me
how Satan tries to deceive – “For behold, at that day shall he rage in the
hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is
good. And others will he pacify, and
lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion;
yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and
leadeth them away carefully down to hell.
And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no
hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he
whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from
whence there is no deliverance. Yea,
they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell” (2 Nephi 28:20-23).
22. It teaches of
the importance and purpose of the book of Mormon – “To the convincing of the
Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself
unto all nations” (Book of Mormon, Title Page).
23. It teaches me
that God still loves his children today and speaks through living prophets – “While
I (Joseph Smith) was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light
appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter
than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing
in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor. He had on a loose robe of most exquisite
whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I
believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and
brilliant . . . .His whole person was glorious beyond description, and his
countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so
very bright as immediately around his person. He called me by name, and said unto me that he
was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was
Moroni; that God had a work for me to do . . . .He said there was a book
deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former
inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also
said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as
delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants” (Joseph Smith History
1:30-34).
24. It teaches me
the correct value of learning – “O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the
vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned
they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for
they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom
is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. But to be learned is good if they hearken
unto the counsels of God” (2 Nephi 9:28-29).
25. It teaches me to
love the Savior – “They (the people of ancient America) cast
their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out
of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in
the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him,
and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it
meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them. And it came to pass that he stretched forth
his hand and spake unto the people, saying:
Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into
the world. And behold, I am the light
and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the
Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins
of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things
from the beginning. And it came to pass
that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the earth;
for they remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ should
show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven. And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto
them saying: Arise and come forth unto
me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the
prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the
God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins
of the world. And it came to pass that
the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel
the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do,
going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their
eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear
record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should
come. And when they had all gone forth
and had witnessed for themselves, they did cry out with one accord, saying: Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High
God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him” (3 Nephi
11:8-17).
There are many, many
more reasons that I love the Book of Mormon.
If you haven’t read it for yourself, please get a copy and read it. Ask one of your Mormon (LDS) neighbors for a
copy. They’ll be happy to give you
one. Or ask one of the missionaries from
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They will also be thrilled to give you a
copy. Or go on-line and request a free
copy at Free copy of Book of Mormon.
I know the Book of
Mormon contains the pure word of God. It
is a volume of scripture like the Bible.
It contains the words of prophets as delivered to the ancient
inhabitants of the American continent. It
relates the account of Jesus Christ visiting the Americas in ancient times,
shortly after his resurrection. It
testifies that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. Its teachings will bring you closer to God
than any other book. I love the Book of
Mormon. I know it is true.
Kevin G. Pace
