Read the Book of Mormon

[Anonymous]

I am reading the Book of Mormon in 90 days. My oldest got his call about a month and a half ago. He was challenged to read or re-read the Book of Mormon again before the start of his mission. My wife challenged me to read with her and him.

In the last few weeks, I have gotten behind in my daily goal. I spent a couple of hours waiting for my car to be serviced yesterday and decided I might catch up. An interesting thing happened. I was reading more critically than I normally do. I looked for a reason to see Korihor’s side. I stopped at one point and made a list of the good, salt of the earth atheists I know. (I know a few) and compared that list to the good, salt of the earth Mormons I know.

Then today, in church, we talked about Naaman and how his story started because a hand-maiden of his wife said that there is a prophet in Israel. The point was made that it is sometimes just a simple testimony that can cause much good. I raised my hand and said that it probably wasn’t just the few words that made the most difference. I imagine this hand-maiden as a salt of the earth kind. One that is trustworthy and faithful. When she said that there is a prophet in Israel, the wife knew she could trust her. It is our examples that are the testimonials that matter.

I am looking at http://thingsofmysoul.blogspot.com/2013/11/relatively-few-mormons-understand-book.html. I agree that there is something that you cannot seem to fake in the Book of Mormon. For me the greatest testimony are the lives of the salt of the earth Mormons I know. My father and mother, my mother in-law and father in-law. Several others that I have known personally. I don’t have any illusions that these good people don’t have their faults. I see them, or at least I see what I think is them through my own dark glass. But they are good. I admire them. I see the fruits of years and decades of dedication. Of forgiveness between parent and child. Wounds that might have festered and torn the family apart, became whole again.

As I was driving home from the mechanic yesterday, I went through my mind again, of the things that I know for sure. One thing I came to that did not seem disputable.

“Say nothing but repentance unto this generation” D&C 6:9

“Say nothing but repentance unto this generation” D&C 11:9

“preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord” Mosiah 18:20

“preach naught but repentance” D&C 19:21

If I were to do nothing but practice repentance the rest of my days, it would be well for me. What is repentance. To turn away from evil and towards God. To separate myself from my worst habits. To incrementally be better. To fight against the entropy of my soul. To reach for the light that give life to plants and all life.

[Anonymous]

Rich, I don’t if you saw this one when it was posted, but you might be interested:

“I Actually Sympathize with Nehor and Amlici a Little: or, Not Everything Is as Simple as We Think” (http://thingsofmysoul.blogspot.com/2014/06/i-actually-sympathize-with-nehor-and.html)

Quote:

If I were to do nothing but practice repentance the rest of my days, it would be well for me. What is repentance. To turn away from evil and towards God. To separate myself from my worst habits. To incrementally be better. To fight against the entropy of my soul. To reach for the light that give life to plants and all life.

I appreciate this.

[Anonymous]

I really appreciate this post. I agree with you about salt of the earth mormons. I think of my own parents that way, too. They’re simply some of the best people I know. Charitable and caring to a fault, accepting of everyone, always trying to do what’s right, forgiving others, and on and on. I love the concept of repentance as you’ve put it here:

richalger wrote:

To separate myself from my worst habits. To incrementally be better. To fight against the entropy of my soul.

I agree that if I could do that for the rest of my life, things would be well. I’m not sure God really expects anything else. The last part struck me particularly hard: “to fight against the entropy of my soul.” Personally, I find that complacency is one of my worst enemies. It’s one reason I continue to try to stay LDS, because it forces me to keep thinking and engaging in self reflection and staying open to ideas that I wouldn’t naturally pursue.

Ray, I liked your post on sympathizing with Nehor and Amlici. I remember early on in my faith crisis reading about Korihor and actually thinking that I agreed with him—to an extent. I don’t think that everyone who believes in Christ has “a frenzied mind” but I think confirmation bias is a close cousin to what Korihor was talking about, and I don’t think many people are very self aware about what they actually believe/know and why. So the story of Korihor had kind of the opposite effect on me than it was supposed to have as a moral tale. Oops.

[Anonymous]

Daeruin wrote:

I remember early on in my faith crisis reading about Korihor and actually thinking that I agreed with him—to an extent. I don’t think that everyone who believes in Christ has “a frenzied mind” but I think confirmation bias is a close cousin to what Korihor was talking about, and I don’t think many people are very self aware about what they actually believe/know and why. So the story of Korihor had kind of the opposite effect on me than it was supposed to have as a moral tale. Oops.

I love this! It’s interesting to see how everything goes through a new/modified/different filter now (and for myself I find its also important to recognize the filter I am using at the moment).

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