Book of Mormon – Page 6 – What Do Mormons Believe?

Book of Mormon Stories: The Iron Rod

Lehi, the first prophet in the Book of Mormon, was warned by the Lord that Jerusalem would soon be destroyed and was told to leave into the wilderness. While in the wilderness, Lehi had a peculiar dream.

In his dream, Lehi found himself in a dark and dreary wilderness. He saw a man in a white robe standing in front of him who told Lehi to follow him. Lehi was soon lost, however, and traveled alone for many hours. He was no doubt tired and afraid of not knowing where to go, so he prayed for comfort. No sooner had he prayed, when we saw that he was in a large and spacious field and he saw a tree whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. He saw that the tree and its fruit were whiter than anything he had seen before and the taste of the fruit was sweet and gave him great joy.

The joy and sweetness of the fruit gave him the desire to share with those he loved most: his family. As he looked around, he saw that a river ran by the tree. He soon saw his wife and youngest two sons, Nephi and Sam, far off, and that they too seemed to be lost. Lehi called to them and they came and also ate the fruit. Wanting his older two sons, Laman and Lemuel, to be there too, he looked farther up the river. When he saw them, he called out to them, but they would not come.

Alongside the river, an iron rod stretched from the tree off into the distance by where the river began. That large field now seemed to be as large as a world, and it was filled with countless people that were trying to get to the tree. A mist then covered the whole area so that the people could not see. This caused many to wander off and become lost but others held the iron rod in their hands and followed it until they reached the tree. There were some who made it to the tree but when when they ate the fruit, they looked around and were ashamed. Lehi looked for the cause of this shame and saw a large building that looked like it was floating in the air. The people in that building were all dressed in extravagant clothing and were pointing fingers and mocking those by the tree. Lehi watched and saw people get lost in the mist and others drown in the river; many followed the iron rod to the tree and the rest found their way to the large building to join the others in mocking and putting down those by the tree.

The meaning of this dream may not be immediately clear to everyone. It wasn’t to Lehi’s son, Nephi, but Nephi had enough faith that God would answer his prayers, so he took his questions to the Lord in prayer. In response to that prayer, Nephi also had a vision, where he saw the meaning of the dream and of Jesus Christ’s mission on earth and His love and gospel. He learned that the tree represents the love of God for us. The iron rod that led to the tree was the word of God, given through His prophets and that if we held onto those words, we would find the love of God and receive joy because of it. The people in the dream are each one of us, trying to find our way through the mists of temptations to reach God’s love. Many people fail to grasp the words of the Lord and get lost or drown in the filthy waters that represented that “awful hell that separates the wicked from the tree of life.” The large building that held those that opposed God represented the wisdom and pride of the world. Nephi saw its destruction and “the fall thereof was exceedingly great.”

The meaning of this dream applies to every person that has ever lived on this earth. Each of us is trying to get somewhere, even if we do not know where. What we seek is Christ and His love for us. By holding onto the iron rod, or rather, by reading scriptures and praying to God, everyone can receive Christ in their lives regardless of the obstacles.

Lehi’s dream can be found in 1 Nephi 8 and Nephi’s vision in 1 Nephi 11. Nephi sees much more than this and I invite everyone to read about it in chapters 12 – 14. In 1 Nephi 15, Nephi explains the meaning of the dream to his older brothers, Laman and Lemuel.

Coverup?

Q. Why does the Church not tell people that the Prophet Smith “translated” part of the [Book of Mormon] by looking into a hat using a seer stone? An Elder of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles wrote about this in the Ensign [the Church’s monthly English-language publication], but why don’t missionaries tell the whole story of the translation? It seems like the Church is hiding something.

I understand how you must feel — betrayed to learn about something that seems so odd for the first time, but it really isn’t that odd. One of the best ways to make Mormonism out to be cultish and strange is to take facts completely out of their context–just leave them standing there naked and defenseless. Learning about the process of translation is the best way to understand this fact in its context. nelson

Elder Russell M. Nelson gave a great talk about the process of translation at the Missionary Training Center, and he spoke about this process of Joseph figuring out how to translate.

It does seem supernatural, but so are most of the amazing stories in the scriptures–Moses parting the Red Sea, Joshua crossing the River Jordan, marching around Jericho seven times and the walls collapsing, David slaying Goliath, Samson killing 2,000 Philistines, Christ healing people–himself rising from the dead! etc. We come to expect supernatural things from our God and His servants. Joseph’s use of a seer stone or the Urim and Thummim to translate fits in with all the other miracles that have been documented in the scriptures.

The Church’s curriculum department must meet the needs of all members. This means everyone from the just-baptized and uninitiated to the seasoned scholars. It’s a tall order to serve milk to some and meat to others, so what generally happens is everyone mainly gets milk. I think the Church prefers that members who are prepared to get more carnivorous in their pursuit of Church history and deeper doctrines learn it through independent study. But the information is readily available to those who want to know. I searched “seer stone” on lds.org and it came up with a list of links with conference talks, manuals, explanations, scriptural citations and other information.

The Church isn’t trying to hide anything–if it isn’t spoon fed into your mouth each week at church, seek it out on your own through prayer, scripture study and other resources (like lds.org). The Lord will readily teach a searching mind (see Matthew 7:7).

Book of Mormon Evidence

Q. How do Mormons (who are very intelligent, well educated as a group) reconcile themselves to the fact that there are no historical evidences of the peoples in the Book of Mormon? -Sherry

Sherry, thank you for considering us intelligent! Your comments are welcome here any time!

Modern prophets have always encouraged us to “get all of the education that you can.” The Perpetual Education Fund is in its seventh year, providing school loans to men and women in poor areas across the globe, and there are many Mormons in every professional career path from doctors, engineers, and scientists to CEOs, attorneys, and public servants. We do believe in the scientific method and most of us are very capable of holding our own in logical discussions.

And yet we still believe the Book of Mormon is the translated word of God.

An arch is held up by a strong keystone at the top.

You are very wise to bring this up, Sherry, because the Book of Mormon is the proverbial keystone in the archway of our religion. If it is a true document with miraculous origins, then Joseph Smith was a prophet and this Church represents the best thing to happen to humanity in thousands of years. If the book was merely dreamed up by Smith, then he was a fraud and got away with one of the biggest, most successful hoaxes ever imagined. The whole Church would crumble. It becomes even more important when we consider that this book is verifiable.

I’m also glad you asked because there actually is evidence. A large pile of it. It isn’t publicized by the Church because archeology cannot change hearts and bring people to repent. If your testimony of the Church is based on something as tentative and changing as science, your faith in Christ will waver with every new discovery. In the late 1800’s some of the Book of Mormon’s references to animals and metals were laughably inconsistent with then-current scientific knowledge. In recent decades, more scientific discoveries have actually turned each of these accusations into stronger proof that the book could not have been written by Joseph Smith.

I don’t want to get into it all here, but I’ll list a few examples and let you look at Jeff Lindsay’s website for a larger, more detailed collection of Book of Mormon evidence.

The early chapters in the Book of Mormon map out a route from Jerusalem, along the Red Sea to a city called Nahom, ending in a lush coastal location where a boat was built to sail to America. The city NHM and the paradise valley are still there today, and exist in exactly the locations on the Arabian peninsula the Book of Mormon describes. Joseph Smith had no access to such information.
Many leading researchers place Book of Mormon lands in Mesoamerica, just below the Yucatan peninsula. Evidence supporting this claim includes: temples, large cities, volcanic activity at around 33 AD, fortifications for war, multiple city markets, fighting wars in winter months, and many more.
The use of cement buildings, steel swords, buried stone boxes, and metal plates all used to seem anachronistic in the ancient world, but recent findings have turned up evidence of all these elements.
An ancient Middle-Eastern poetic structure called chiasmus was discovered in the Book of Mormon. The concept of chiasmus was virtually unknown in most scholarly circles in Joseph Smith’s time, and if he did somehow know to include these poems, he didn’t seem to realize what powerful evidence they were, failing to make any mention of them to his detractors as evidence of authenticity. No one in the Church knew about them until 1967.
Jacob 5 gives an amazingly detailed (and accurate) account of proper olive tree maintenance (as an allegory for the gathering of Israel). Joseph Smith had no experience with ancient olive tree cultivation, nor were there available any sources on the topic.

As I mentioned earlier, all of this is interesting and good, but will not likely cause a person to devote his or her life to discipleship with Jesus Christ, which is the book’s true goal. Science is not the only path to knowledge. It is just the most objective path, and that is why it is valuable. Still, there are some things that can only be understood through personal experience (see D&C 79:116-117). We can learn many important things through the scientific method, but God does not wait for science to catch up on the most vital truths. Millions of non-Mormons have been learning this book is true for 178 years, even when the scientific evidence of the day seemed to be against them. The learning method is the same today as it was then (see Moroni 10:3-5):

Read the book
Remember how merciful God has been to you
Ponder the message in your heart and mind
Ask God if it is true
Listen for the answer through the Holy Ghost

You can know, too. And you can stand with us as a member of this family of intelligent, faith-filled people.

A Thought on Patience

toiler I came across this great scripture in the Book of Mormon. It describes the Lord helping a small group of righteous people escape from bondage. It says:

“And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.” Moroni 24:15-16

I just find it interesting that part of the reason God chose to free those people so soon was because they were just so darned patient and cheerful about everything, while, on the other hand, their less patient countrymen suffered a lot longer and a lot more (go read that. It’s an interesting comparison). Their situations were so similar, and they were both asking for deliverance, but their respective attitudes made all the difference in how God chose to respond to them. It rather reminds me of when I was little and my mom would refuse to give me something until after I stopped whining for it and asked nicely.

So as a terribly impatient person, I have to wonder if sometimes the Lord is just waiting for me to chill out a little and stop being so insistent all the time. Not that I’m saying we shouldn’t ask for things, or even be diligent about it, but I think there’s a difference between being persistent and whining. Maybe it’s that cheerful submission to his will that the scripture was talking about. And maybe it’s also faith:

“Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best—better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than His” –Elder Neal A. Maxwell (“Patience,” Ensign, Oct. 1980, 28).

That’s all. Just something to think about next time you need help escaping from slavery.

Shalt thou kill?

Q. I was reading 1 Ne 4:13 last night and have a question. “Killing in the name of religion” is a popular topic amongst religious naysayers. This verse talks about how God only commands killing with the “kill one, save a thousand” mentality. Did God only command this in Bible & Book of Mormon days, or does he still do it now? If not, why? Why not for 9/11? My question is… what’s the answer to someone who fires in at me with, “Thou shalt not kill!? Such hypocrisy! More killing has been done in the name of religion than anywhere else.” – Molly M.

This is a good question. Molly, thank you for bringing it up. I’ll quote the verse you mentioned:

13 Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.

nephi_laban In this chapter the Lord commands Nephi to slay Laban to obtain the brass plates (basically the Old Testament up to that point in time — approx. 600 B.C.), so Nephi’s descendants would have the Law of Moses. But why kill Laban? He was passed out in the gutter; Nephi might have taken his clothes and his sword and left the drunk tyrant naked in the street. The short answer is ‘because God commanded it.’ I’ll get to a plausible long answer in a moment.

God’s view is much different than ours. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8-9). Jesus Christ can see into eternity. He knows each of us by name, by face, and by who we are and what we will become. Any time He issues a command, it is with infinite foresight (see D&C 29:34), and with the intent to help and protect His sons and daughters (see Moses 1:39). On rare occasions this might mean dispatching one of His children for the greater good of many. We must remember that to Him, death is not the end of anyone. Laban lives on as a spirit, and perhaps this is for his ultimate betterment.

Has God ever issued such a command in modern times? Not to my knowledge, and it would surprise me if He did. John Welch writes in Legal Perspectives on the Slaying of Laban that Nephi was justified under Jewish law (as set forth in the Torah) to take Laban’s life. The Spirit’s persistent whisper of “the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands” is a nearly verbatim quote from Exodus 21:13, which outlines an exception to “Thou shalt not kill” in the previous chapter. Since we are now subject to different laws, and God has encouraged us to abide by the laws of man (see Articles of Faith 12), it is unlikely He will command it. (But I can never rule it out).

But doesn’t that possibility open the floodgates for villains to falsely claim divinely inspired violent crimes? Yes. Unfortunately, Satan and his followers have the uncanny ability to twist true, godly practices toward their own ends. We can avoid being deceived by receiving the Holy Ghost and praying for the gift of discernment. This is yet another important reason to be baptized by the water and the Spirit.

So what do we say to the charge that religion causes widespread death and dying? Yes. Religion has done some of that, but not all religions are owned and operated by God (see above paragraph). It is just as careless to say that all foods cause obesity or the internet is basically pornographic. Just because many religions have bloodied their hands, does not imply that God’s are stained. The instances in which God has legitimately called for mortals to put someone to death are few and far between. They get written up in scripture mainly because of their highly exceptional status. “Thou shalt not kill” remains the rule in full force for Jews, and Christians alike.

But religion is not even nearly the biggest culprit when it comes to rampant killing. “More killing has been done in the name of religion than anything else” is one of the most absurd claims ever made. Sure, it’s easy to see, particularly in light of the conflict in the middle east, that leaders sometimes use religion as a way to inspire people to mindlessly kill others (maybe with promises of a glorious afterlife). But leaders act for political reasons, and they will use anything to inspire the masses to war. Sometimes it’s religion (crusades, jihads), but more often it’s nationalism or race or political ideology with the exact same result.

dictators

You don’t even need to look outside of the 20th century to see that the most brutal killing has nothing to do with religion. There are three leaders that are far and away responsible for the most deaths in human history. They are (in order) Mao Tse Tung, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hitler. All three were atheists who promoted atheist regimes, and who are responsible for about 100 million deaths among the three of them. After them come Pol Pot in Cambodia, Kim Il Sung in North Korea, Menghistu in Ethiopia, and Kambanda in Rwanda. The claim that “more killing has been done in the name of religion than anything else” is patently false. If anything, it’s just the opposite.

Now, for the long answer. (Yeah, turns out my short answer got pretty long).

God is not the only one to employ the “kill one, save a thousand” mentality. That doctrine is used by almost every head of state. This is the basis for life sentences and capital punishment, as well as sending soldiers to war to protect the freedom of civilians at home. Making such decisions is difficult for leaders, especially those who govern responsibly. This concept becomes even more important in light of Nephi’s intended audience. First Nephi, along with the next five books of the Book of Mormon come to us unabridged, and (in contrast to Mormon’s writings, which were for our benefit) were likely also written for the Nephite people.

Nephi was their first king, and a revered one at that. He wrote the book of First Nephi as a narrative of his rise to the throne. Val Larsen, a contributor to FARMS, wrote an amazing paper detailing this take on the scripture called, Killing Laban: The Birth of Sovereignty in the Nephite Constitutional Order. It is worth reading. Before discovering it (in researching this question), I naïvely thought I understood the Book of Mormon pretty well, but this is a testament to me that there is always more to learn.