The prophecies in these chapters are beautiful. They feel good. Towards the end of this chapter, Nephi is told that he shall not write the remainder of the things which he has seen, but that one of the Apostles of the Lamb of God shall write them. Hopefully this sounds familiar, but if not, verse 27 leaves no room to err. The Apostle's name would be John. Let me think for a moment, where was it again that I've read about the end of the world and the events preceding Christ's second coming? I believe that would be the Book of Revelation, written by the Apostle John.
Let us also reflect on some of the teachings of the preceding chapters - that many of the plain and precious truths and covenants contained in the record of the Jews (Bible) would be lost.
So - for events concerning the end of the world, we turn to the Bible. For a more clear and all-encompassing collection of the doctrines of Christ's Gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, endure...), we turn to the Book of Mormon. For a more detailed description of the life of Christ, we turn to the Bible. For a second testament of His life, we open the Book of Mormon. And so on, and so forth.
What I mean to suggest by all this is that BOTH are very desirable. Both have much to offer us. We need these two testimonies as one in our hands, as prophesied would be the case in Ezekiel 37:15-17. One supports the other. What a blessing to have such access to the precious word of God. May we all be overcome with gratitude in so much that we take advantage of these wonderful blessings.
Why should I take the Book of Mormon seriously when it is the laughing stock of the field of archaeology? Should you put stock in the chemicals in your brain that make you feel good about it, over a century of solid archaeological research?
ReplyDeleteFor example, all of the following things are known to have been introduced in the American continent AFTER Columbus - yet the Book of Mormon purports that the existed anciently:
Horses, elephants, wheat, barley, sheep, goats, bellows, the compass, steel swords that had "rusted", swine, and chariots. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology_and_the_Book_of_Mormon)
This book is ridiculous.
The Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith and given to us through God. I may not be an archaeologist but there are things that were found by non-LDS archeologists that support what was written in the Book of Mormon. For example there was that altar discovered in Yemen that supports the Lehites journey and where they stopped to bury Ishmael in 1Nephi 16. Also in 1842 only eight items that were mentioned in the BOM but not supported by archeologists were confirmed to sustain the Book of Mormon claims. Since then thirty five out of sixty items were confirmed, by non-LDS archaeologists, to have existed in the early Americas during the time of the Book of Mormon. These things were not discovered until many years after Joseph Smith died. I highly doubt they were just lucky guesses. Here’s some more evidence that supports the Book of Mormon claims.
ReplyDeletehttp://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=14&num=2&id=376
I would like to say that I didn’t need these archeological claims in order to know the Book of Mormon was true. All I had to do was read it and then pray about it. It’s a great book that blesses and changes lives and I am so grateful to be born during this time period where I have accessibility to both the Bible and Book of Mormon.
This book changes lives. I dont feel it is ridiculous.