No real connection to the Book of Mormon

[Anonymous]

church0333, have you ever considered that the difference between your current self and your former self is growth and maturity. You needed to have it given to you previously. but now you can seek and find it from a more expansive library, if you will. Without that initial experience (that launching pad), however, I doubt highly you would be where you now.

[Anonymous]

But that can also lead to a sense of disappointment, as in, when you discover these truths for the first time, it’s all brand new and fresh and exciting, but then after a while, you’ve gotten all the benefit you can out of those truths, and you need more, or else you start to stagnate, but it feels like everyone around you in the church wants to hold you back by constantly wanting to go “back to basics” and acting like those same truths are supposed to be just as fulfilling as when you first learned them, and they’re surprised when you no longer feel like you once did about them.

[Anonymous]

Then don’t let them make you go back to the basics. Accept the basics at church, if necessary, but go beyond that on our own.

I believe passionately in being an agent unto myself – in acting and not allowing myself merely to be acted upon. As Hawkgrrrl says, we need to become adults of God – and the Church can’t do that for us. We have to do that for ourselves.

[Anonymous]

Then I guess the question is, where do I start looking?

Or does that depend on which questions I want to ask?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, the questions matter. :ugeek:

I suggest looking at our Books and Media section. There are some really good suggestions there.

I absolutely would avoid indiscriminate internet searches, since what you will find on both sides (hardcore anti-Mormon stuff and hardcore Mormon apologetic stuff) can be frighteningly awful. 😈

[Anonymous]

Old-Timer wrote:

church0333, have you ever considered that the difference between your current self and your former self is growth and maturity. You needed to have it given to you previously. but now you can seek and find it from a more expansive library, if you will. Without that initial experience (that launching pad), however, I doubt highly you would be where you now.

I agree 100% with that but do find it a little sad that things have changed. I couldn’t go back to my old way of thinking and feeling but it still feels like a loss to me and I morn that loss. Most here can identify with that. Loosing the certainty of one’s religion is like getting a divorce or loosing a child. I have experienced all three and for me all have been equally painful but also a way for me to grow and become a better me.

[Anonymous]

On Own Now wrote:

I think the way I’d put it is that to members of the Church in those days, the fact of the BofM was as important as its content.

I would agree with you also, On Own Now. I did not intend to suggest it was never important or never used for conversion. Simply that in the tone of the OP, can one feel converted to the church and yet not have strong witnesses from the book…I certainly think so and certainly think it happened often early in church history. A whole congregation of Sidney Rigdon was converted, and i doubt they all had copies or knew a lot of the book…they were simply restorationists and found what they were looking for in the church when it was established, including scripture like the BoM.

It is an important keystone to the religion. But it is not necessarily the only medium through which we receive revelations and confirmations of God’s hand in our lives, and it seemed the early saints were more led by Joseph’s charasmatic leadership then the specifics in the book. In other words, we didn’t replicate the Nephite church. But we used Nephite stories to show God’s hand, and then new revelations established the church and its organization. I would even argue Joseph received more revelation by studying the Bible than he did the BoM. If that is true for him, it is certainly true for us.

I hope that distinction was clear in my post, and that I didn’t over emphasize something to suggest early saints didn’t use or appreciate the book.

[Anonymous]

church0333 wrote:

Loosing the certainty of one’s religion is like getting a divorce or loosing a child. I have experienced all three and for me all have been equally painful but also a way for me to grow and become a better me.

THanks for sharing, church 0333. I enjoy your posts and your perspective on these things.

Have you found any particular connection with the Book of Mormon and you going through the life trials you did?

[Anonymous]

Heber13 wrote:

church0333 wrote:

Loosing the certainty of one’s religion is like getting a divorce or loosing a child. I have experienced all three and for me all have been equally painful but also a way for me to grow and become a better me.

THanks for sharing, church 0333. I enjoy your posts and your perspective on these things.

Have you found any particular connection with the Book of Mormon and you going through the life trials you did?

In truth, my connection to God and the church became less with these events in my life. Durning the divorce I never prayed and fasted more but not much comfort came. It was friends and family that made the difference but that did include friends from church. The thing that seems to work for me was time and realizing that I had strength within. I try to credit God with giving me strength and placing other people in my life but I don’t think that in the grand scheme of things that God is going to do much for me. My problems are pretty small compared to everything else going on in the world and God gave me the ability to deal with them. Others might feel different about how much God answers prayer but I now have a hard time praying and asking for his intervention but respect those that can. After going through my faith crisis or faith transition I also have a hard time reading the BoM and believing it is true in the same sense as I did. After all my trials there seems to be a hole in my heart and nothing can fill it back up completely. I am okay with that because that is just part of life and we all have holes in our hearts from one thing or another. It’s funny how I feel like a more complete person now then before.

[Anonymous]

Hearts without holes can’t be filled.

Quote:

“The whole need not a physician, but the sick.”

[Anonymous]

Heber13 wrote:

In other words, we didn’t replicate the Nephite church. But we used Nephite stories to show God’s hand, and then new revelations established the church and its organization.

Great point. I think that’s a perfect way to put it.

[Anonymous]

TragedianActor,

FWIW, I’ll just say that there was a time in my life when I had an undeniable testimony of the truthfulness of the BofM, through a powerful witness of the spirit and it gave me great comfort to know that it was from God and that I had a part in God’s Marvelous Work and Wonder, of which the BofM was a key component. It was such a powerful thing that even now, I would give up everything I have ever had in order to find out that the old me was right about it, that the current me has been lost, and to be restored to it all.

In other words, I don’t find value in the BofM anymore, but I did at one time, so I understand why others still do.

[Anonymous]

I hope it’s kosher to paste in like this. I was just browsing last night re. Grant Hardy and read this review of his book posted by hawkgrrrl. It was so refreshing and honest. Might help you.

Grant Hardy’s Understanding the Book of Mormon

by hawkgrrrl » 07 Jul 2011, 01:03

I am about halfway through this book that was recommended to me by a close friend. Here is a review of it: http://www.slate.com/id/2252442/

I have always disliked the BOM for more or less the same reasons Mark Twain cited. It’s boring, didactic, the language is awkward, the characters are not compelling, it’s preachy & moralizing, there are no women. Essentially, my objections have been that it’s bad literature. But Grant Hardy points out a lot of things that are literarily interesting about the book, things that I dismissed because it is such a chore to slog through it (which I have more times than I care to number). Despite my dislike of the book, I did have a real BOM experience when I prayed about it. It didn’t make me like the book, but it gave me reason to believe it to be historical rather than written by JS (there is evidence both ways – and either way I still don’t enjoy reading it).

Regardless, Grant Hardy’s book is worth a read for anyone who wants to find more value in the BOM. His views on its compilers / narrators are very interesting. Here are a few points he shares about Nephi and Mormon:

Nephi: What I always hated about Nephi is that he’s so insufferable and black and white. Hardy points out that the book is written by an aging narrator who sees his life as a series of failures that require justification, and he also has great disappointment looking ahead and knowing that his descendents will be conquered despite his faith. The book also points out what Nephi doesn’t directly point to: that Laman & Lemuel were devout Jews who followed their father’s orders, and Nephi actually kind of blew it by killing Laban and making it so they could never return to Jerusalem. Until that point, they were just hiding out in the wilderness. After that, they had to focus on finding a land of promise. And Lehi never gives approval for Nephi’s action.

Mormon: Mormon’s writing style is just hard to get through. He insists on covering every year, even if nothing happens, and his love of Captain Moroni seems unfounded to me. Hardy points out that Mormon is impressed with 2 things that he highlights in the histories he includes: 1) people with great personal ability, and 2) people who relied on God to make up for their lack of skills. He highlights both of those types as having merit. Hardy also points out where the stories Mormon includes simply don’t add up to his own descriptions of them. Mormon ties black and white morals to some very gray tales.

Anwyay, I hope this will encourage some of you to pick up Hardy’s review of the BOM. I’ll post more thoughts later if I get a chance. Does this strike anyone’s interest? I’m halfway through if anyone has any questions about what he does and doesn’t address. Happy to answer.

[Anonymous]

Ann wrote:

Nephi: What I always hated about Nephi is that he’s so insufferable and black and white. Hardy points out that the book is written by an aging narrator who sees his life as a series of failures that require justification, and he also has great disappointment looking ahead and knowing that his descendents will be conquered despite his faith. The book also points out what Nephi doesn’t directly point to: that Laman & Lemuel were devout Jews who followed their father’s orders, and Nephi actually kind of blew it by killing Laban and making it so they could never return to Jerusalem. Until that point, they were just hiding out in the wilderness. After that, they had to focus on finding a land of promise. And Lehi never gives approval for Nephi’s action.

Wow, you do a good job of making Laman & Lemuel look like the good guys and Nephi’s the bad guy here.

Point of fact, though – weren’t they always headed to the promised land? It was just that they were being guided out of Jerusalem, they stopped, and then God told them to go back and get the plates. After all, if killing Laban would have prevented them from ever going back, they couldn’t have returned to get Ishmael’s family to get wives.

[Anonymous]

I just want to share my testimony that I believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God. I believe it is true. I have had a strong burning in my bosom witness when I was 18 and kneeling in the dorms of BYU to decide if I should serve a mission to proclaim to the world it is true.

I have always held a deep connection to the Book of Mormon, and still do. It draws me closer to God when I study it.

I have, however, adapted my views to things I am learning as an adult about the book and about revelation.

I do not think all my children or everyone else will experience what I have experienced. And I do not hold a strong connection to other parts of the church that others do. I believe the Lord has made us all different members of the orchestra, and can all have different talents, gifts, and connections. So He will speak to us in the methods that speak to us. Not all the same way. Not all through the Book of Mormon.

There are parts of the Book of Mormon I love, and some parts, I really just skip over and have no connection to. So it is logical to me that others may have no connection at all to the book, but still connect to the LDS church in many other ways. The goal is to find a way to connect to God, which may come from various mediums.

Take what you can that is of value to you in the church, and leave behind the stuff that isn’t. There is so much more to the church than just the Book of Mormon.

[Author]

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