Mormon Church Beliefs

What is The Book of Mormon? The official name of the book is The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. As the name implies, The Book of Mormon is another ancient book of scripture about Jesus Christ. The Bible has the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Book of Mormon is simply another testament.

The Bible comes to us from the ancient writings of prophets who lives at or near Jerusalem. Ancient prophets spoke with God and received revelation from him. These revelations are recorded in the Old and New Testaments by prophets like Moses, Isaiah, John, Paul and dozens of others. The Book of Mormon is very similar, only it contains the writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent. These prophets had names like Nephi, Mosiah, Helaman and Moroni.

The Bible we have today was actually created in about 320 A.D. in a place called Nicea. Church leaders from across the world came together to officially decide on Church doctrine, such as the nature of God, the mode of baptism, how one is saved and what scriptures should be used. They selected all the books that we currently have in our Bible. Some writings were left out, but we still got several great books of scripture.

Something similar brought about The Book of Mormon. Mormon was the name of an ancient prophet who lives in the American continent. His society had divided in to two factions, the Nephites and the Lamanites. The Lamanites were on the verge of destroying the Nephites, of which Mormon was a part. In order to preserve the ancient scriptures of his people, he abridged the writings of prophets before him and compiled them in to one book. Abridging means he summarized their writings, and directly quoted their writings extensively.

Eventually the Nephites were destroyed, and Mormon’s son, Moroni, was the lone survivor. He found the book his father had abridged and finished it, naming it The Book of Mormon after his father. But just what is it about?

The Book of Mormon begins about 600 B.C. with a prophet named Lehi who lived in Jerusalem. He had a vision in which God commanded him to leave Jerusalem for a promised land. Lehi and his family along with a few others left Jerusalem and eventually made it to the coast, where they spent years building a ship. They then crossed the ocean and came to the American continent. No one knows the exact location of their arrival.

Lehi had several sons, two of which were named Laman and Nephi. Laman was the eldest son and believed that when Lehi died he should be in charge of the people. However, Laman was a wicked man, and God had already chosen Nephi, the fourth son and a righteous man, to be the prophet. Nephi had amazing visions that are recorded in The Book of Mormon.

When Lehi died, Nephi was commanded by God to take all those who would go with him and leave, for Laman sought to rule the people and wanted to kill him. About half the people went with Nephi and half stayed with Laman. From this point on, the two people are referred to Nephites and Lamanites. They are almost constantly at war with one another throughout The Book of Mormon.

Many Nephite prophets record their writings in The Book of Mormon. They taught the people of Jesus Christ, of his Atonement and Resurrection and of prayer and faith. There are many wonderful sermons about serving those around us, having a changed heart and repentance. The crowning moment in The Book of Mormon is when Jesus Christ personally visits the people after his death in Jerusalem. He teaches the people many of the things he taught his disciples in Jerusalem. He prays for them, blesses them and teaches them. He commands them to be baptized and form a church. He leaves them with a prophet to lead the church and twelve apostles. About 300 years later, almost all the people have forgotten God and become wicked. This is when Mormon abridges the ancient records and gives them to his son Moroni. The Nephites are then completely wiped out by the Lamanites, and Moroni finishes the record and hides it in a hill.

In 1823, the same Moroni, now a glorified being or angel, appeared to a boy named Joseph Smith and leads him to the location of the record. It was engraved upon metal plates and so it had withstood the elements and time, being buried in the ground for centuries. Joseph Smith, through the gift and power of God, translated the record in to what we have today as The Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon, along with the Bible, can bring one closer to God. The two records, together, make a sure witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ, of his mortal mission, his Atonement and Resurrection, and of his Second Coming. The Book of Mormon is simply more scripture. It contains more of the word of God, as given to his prophets on the American continent.

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