Talk help – Book of Mormon

Christ during his mortal ministry always spoke to the people using OT scriptures with which they were intimately familiar. His own ideas were by and large leaps and bounds more profound than what was contained in those restricted contexts, but he still knew the scriptures of his society like the back of his hand and that enabled him to speak to people in a way that was powerful and that they could understand and relate to.

There may not be a good way to say this in your talk, but I think just keeping ourselves intimately familiar with the BoM gives us common territory with our LDS brothers and sisters, common ground to serve as a reference or backdrop to the important things we hope to share with one another.

You could attend a Star Trek convention (rather than an LDS ward) and substitute Star Trek for the BoM. Both are full of stories of good versus evil, of working through moral dilemmas, of overcoming obstacles, and sticking to ones principles even when the risks of doing so are high… If you are familiar with all the characters and episodes, and all of that is fresh in your mind from continually watching episodes from all the series on a regular basis, you will easily form strong relationships with the other Trekkies, and have a whole rich context or background to reference if/when you ever happen to discuss with these convention buddies the deeper questions in life, or when sharing experiences or challenges with one another. You can be more like Christ with Trekkies if you know Star Trek than if you don’t. It doesn’t matter that Star Trek is fiction. It only matters that the content is rich enough with those basic fundamental philosophical ideas to act as a shared backdrop and springboard to changing how we think and who we become.

You might be amazed with what I can do with Sheepese Peg! Thanks.

My cheater simple answer is to take your focus from 3rd Nephi. The other focus I would take is Charity. I would build on biblical mirroring.

To me (you don’t have to say this) when people talk about the BoM we rarely talk about Christ. We talk about Nephi being obedient. Or Abinadi baring witness. Or Alma teaching Corianton. Don’t get me wrong all those messages can/do connect with Christ. But He alone. He, himself, we often talk about the darkness, the still small voice, blessing the children. And those are rare.

You will do fantastic.

The BoM is mainly about cycles of pride and fall, and also mercy and forgiveness. It is Jesus or some type of avatar of him which continually resets the balance.

I do recognize the cycle thing and I have been struck by how much the BoM talks about grace and mercy despite “after all we can do” (which I think we misinterpret). Interestingly there is a member of our ward who fairly regularly bears testimony about the BoM who thinks it’s all about justice and judgement as opposed to mercy. I’m not going to argue with him, and admittedly I have not read the BoM cover to cover in years (and don’t plan to in the near future), but I have never gotten that message from it. I am fine with talking about the BoM as being another testament of Christ because in its own way it is – “true” or not. (The testimonies of Christ do seem to be correct or true in that sense.)

There is a lot of Jesus in the BoM whatever anybody says.

I have heard it parroted that every page of the BoM talks of Christ. That is clearly not correct – but you are right, almost every page does. FWIW, after having undertaken a rather extensive study of Isaiah, he (they) were not talking about the coming Messiah – but God may have been (if you believe the words to be inspired/revealed).

To me (you don’t have to say this) when people talk about the BoM we rarely talk about Christ. We talk about Nephi being obedient. Or Abinadi baring witness. Or Alma teaching Corianton. Don’t get me wrong all those messages can/do connect with Christ. But He alone. He, himself, we often talk about the darkness, the still small voice, blessing the children. And those are rare.

Excellent point. We give lots of platitudes in that respect and we do seem to fail in pointing out how the BoM is another testament of Christ. That may actually become my theme because it’s so easy then to say something like “So even if you haven’t received a witness al a Moroni, the book stands on it’s own as a witness of Christ” (in my most polished Sheepese, of course).

I would also be amazed by the prophecies of the BOM, in comparison to the Old Testament, if it weren’t SO EASY to prophecy about things that have already happened.

Another good way to point out that it’s a good book even if it’s not what it’s purported to be. (I am with you about it being 99% “false,” and yes, Brother Callister, I do believe it not only possible but extremely likely Joseph Smith was a genius.)

Specific passages of scripture, especially relating to grace and the book testifying of the atonement are appreciated.

I have been thinking I may draw a parallel with Samuel the Lamanite and the Bible. While I would never disrespect the beliefs of other churches, in the case of Samuel the Nephites had a prophet who was doing his job yet along came Samuel to deliver this important message. I can’t help but think in today’s church Samuel would be vilified but that’s beside the point. Samuel was giving a message supplemental to and clarifying what the Nephites already had which in some ways could be similar to Samuel being the BoM and what’s already there being the Bible. I’ll have to flesh that out but it’s a thought.

I love how the tree of life represents “the Son”. His fruit is the love of God. His story is the manifestation of God’s love for us. Those that came to the tree fell down on their faces to partake of the fruit. We might think that in order to partake of the fruit you would need to put the work in. Get a ladder, climb the tree, etc. These people received the fruit by prostrating themselves.