Good Stuff

When I was younger and would start to read the Book of Mormon (which I did many more times than I finished it), I would turn to 1 Nephi 1 and begin by reading about Nephi's "goodly parents."  By doing so, I was skipping lots of good stuff.  The title page, the introduction, and the testimonies of the witnesses that Heavenly Father provided for us.  These things provide clarity about what exactly the Book of Mormon is.

So, what is the Book of Mormon?  The short answer is in the subtitle:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  Isn't it truly marvelous that so many people gave so much to provide us with this treasure?  More words regarding our Savior...priceless.

A very clear answer to the above question is provided in the introduction:  "The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible.  It is a record of God's dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fulness of the everlasting gospel."

I have had a handful of conversations about the Book of Mormon with people that are not familiar with anything concerning the book, and it occurs to me that if I had memorized those few sentences perhaps I wouldn't have felt that I was stumbling around for a concise, yet full explanation.  Perhaps it is time to remedy that.

This year, our bishop has asked us to read the Book of Mormon as a family.  As we began this endeavor, Kimball, my thirteen year old, asked me why the book began with the testimony of three witnesses and then eight more witnesses were added.  Why those numbers?  I didn't know.  I added it as an afterthought to my morning prayers that day.  The next morning as we began to read the Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, I realized (for the first time ever) that with Joseph Smith's testimony added, it brought the total number of witnesses to twelve.  Twelve is a number that made sense...kind of like the twelve apostles.  It was an answer to my prayers, and I was grateful to be able to point it out to Kimball and explain to him that I had prayed about it.

I'm sure there are some out there thinking, "Duh, Ambra.  Kinda slow with the math, aren't you?"  Yes, and this is a good time to point out that I do not claim to be breaking any new ground with this blog.  Sometimes, many times actually, the things I learn from the scriptures are things that are not even new to me.  They are things that it seems I have to learn over and over again.  They are things I'm sure many of you already know.  I hope we can have fun exploring and re-discovering these things together.