Years ago, as I walked to our community swimming pool, a boy who lived down the block started walking with me and struck up a conversation. I had never really talked to him before because he was a couple years older than me--but he seemed really nice and I just felt flattered that an older guy thought it worth his time to walk and talk with me. Somehow, in this 5-minute walk to the pool, religion came up and he found out I was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or a Mormon. Then he started asking me questions about the Book of Mormon. Up to that point, in my 15 or 16-year old experience, people who knew or found out I was Mormon didn't really know much about my church--and they knew even less about the Book of Mormon. This boy, however, asked very interesting, relevant questions. The one I remember off the top of my head is: "Does the Book of Mormon have several chapters of Isaiah in it?" I was surprised and kind of excited that he knew that about the Book of Mormon and I asked him if he had read any of it. He hadn't; but he told me his dad was a preacher at a local church and had studied religion and theology and apparently Mormonism.
So I answered his question and told him that yes, the Book of Mormon did contain several chapters of Isaiah. The Book of Mormon, itself, is the historical and spiritual record of two groups of people. One of these groups was led out of Jerusalem around 600 B.C., the same time the prophet Jeremiah of the Old Testament was prophesying of the upcoming destruction of Jerusalem. A man named Lehi was warned by the Lord that Jerusalem would be destroyed--so he prophesied, as Jeremiah did, and encouraged the people to repent and turn their hearts to God--and then was instructed by the Lord to take his family into the wilderness, away from Jerusalem to a place that God had prepared for them. Lehi obeyed and his wife and sons and daughters and a few others who went with them were spared. Eventually, their journey took them to the Americas which the Lord covenanted would be a land of promise for them if they continued to turn their hearts to God and strove to obey and live by God's word and commandments and love.
Lehi's fourth son, Nephi, wanted to know about all of this prophesying that his father was doing. And so he turned to the source; he prayed to God and asked Him if the words of his father were true. He received confirmation from God and continued to listen and live according to the counsel of his father, a prophet, and he continued to pray earnestly to God for help and truth and strength. Even through the difficult parts of his life, he sees the Lord's hand in it and is given strength to overcome and to move forward. Two of Nephi's older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, were unhappy with the move from Jerusalem and never quite reconciled themselves to the idea of their father as a prophet or to a God that would take them away from their comfortable home and lead them on a journey rife with uncertainties and danger. Eventually, Lehi's family and posterity were so much in discord that they broke apart from each other and became two separate peoples: the Nephites and the Lamanites.
The first part of the Book of Mormon is Nephi's account of these experiences. Nephi is commanded by the Lord to keep a journal or a record of his people (1 Nephi 9:3) and he does this faithfully. The Lord instructs and enables him to obtain metal plates that are inscribed with a large part of the Old Testament: the books of Moses and words of other prophets. Because of this, Lehi and his family are blessed to have Old Testament scriptures with them, the word of God to past prophets, as they travel in the wilderness towards this unknown land of promise. At one point, Nephi writes of an important prophesy that his father, Lehi relates. Nephi says:
"Yea, even six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem, a prophet would the Lord God raise up among the Jews—even a Messiah, or, in other words, a Savior of the world.
And [Lehi] also spake concerning the prophets, how great a number had testified of these things, concerning this Messiah, of whom he had spoken, or this Redeemer of the world."
This testimony of a Savior, of Jesus Christ, becomes the focus of Nephi's record (and those who continue the record after Nephi's death). Nephi includes several chapters from the book of Isaiah and explains his reasons for doing so (2 Nephi 25). He then says:"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)
To me, that scripture is the Book of Mormon. It is a book that testifies of Christ, just as the Old Testament and New Testament do. And in the accounts of these people, you see the hand of God and the saving and healing and helping power of His Son, Jesus Christ, working in the lives of very real, imperfect individuals.
Did I really go into all of this detail just to answer the young man's question about words of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon. Pretty much, yes. I am not very good at giving simple, concise book summaries--you can ask my sister. She knew the entire plot summaries, character descriptions, and significant details of most books that I read while we were growing up without ever having to read them. (I remember getting emotional when I described the end of Where the Red Fern Grows to her. I still cry thinking about that book...) I just don't want to leave anything out that I think is interesting or important....and that means my sister could basically talk about books she never read as if she had read them.
I have read a lot of books in my lifetime. And I read my favorite books over and over and over again (Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, are two favorites). There is no doubt that we bring our own experiences and background and beliefs into a text when we read it and that influences the way we read it and what we get out of it. However, I also believe that there is inherent, unchanging, universal truth in life and reflected in the writings and words of many individuals. I feel that truth every time I read the Book of Mormon. I truly believe that the words in the Book of Mormon our God's words to us, given through imperfect men that He called to be prophets. I truly believe that God speaks to us as individuals too. And I know, as well as anyone, that to really know something for ourselves, we have to go straight to the source. In this case, that means to know the Book of Mormon is true, you have to read it and talk to Heavenly Father about it, since God is the author of scripture.
Heavenly Father is real and He loves His children. We are His children. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He lived a perfect life--but understands perfectly what we suffer and feel because He was subjected to all of the temptations, trouble, and pain that we are subjected to. He did not sin, but He took on Himself the punishment for our sins so that if we do our part, if we turn to Him and try to live as He taught us to live (lives full of love and dedicated service), we can be clean and whole again--our debt to justice being paid by the Redeemer. (Alma 7:10-12)
-Elin
Who is a big fan of mini KitKats at this moment.
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