Spiritual Guide: Introduction to the Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is considered by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be a sacred scripture, equal to or even surpassing the sacredness of the Holy Bible. It was translated in the 1830's by Joseph Smith, Jr., who also restored to the earth the complete and full ancient gospel of Jesus Christ.

Joseph's story

Joseph Smith, Jr. was born in New York in 1805. He was a normal young boy, working on the farm with his brothers and father. In his adolescence he was struck by the religious fervor that had come to his town. Nightly revivals and traveling evangelists were a common occurrence, and there was a great pressure to join a church. Joseph went and listened to many ministers and preachers, and even saw the difference in religious opinion enter into his family. He was confused by the many different interpretations of the Bible, and thought that there must be a way to find out what the real truth was.

One night, while reading the Bible alone late at night, Joseph came upon a verse in James that struck him particularly hard. It was James 1:5, which read, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." This verse stayed in Joseph's mind, and he finally decided to put it to the test. He figured that if anyone lacked wisdom, it was he, and so he was going to ask God what church he should join.

On a cold and clear morning soon after that, Joseph left the house early and walked into the woods to find a place where he could pray in private. Finding a suitable grove of trees, he knelt down and began his humble prayer. He began to speak aloud, but after saying only several words he was gripped with a power that bound his tongue. He felt a black dread overcoming him as he tried to regain control of his mind and mouth to finish his prayer. He thought he was about to die, and had no idea why. He had a feeling that this was the power of the devil trying to stop him.

Suddenly, just before he surrendered to the power threatening to engulf him, it stopped and the grove of trees was flooded with light. In his own words, he tells of the experience:

"I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head, above the brightness of the noonday sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other, 'This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!'"

Joseph regained his voice and asked the personages which sect was right, and which one he should join. He was told that he should join none of them, because none of them contained the fullness of the original gospel set up by Jesus Christ during his life on the earth. He was also told many other things that he was not able to write. Soon he found himself laying on the ground looking up at the sky, and the light and Personages were gone.

This was considered Joseph Smith's First Vision, and was the beginning of the "restoration of the gospel upon the earth." Joseph had many subsequent visions throughout the years following, and he organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830.

The Book of Mormon

Several years after Joseph's First Vision, he was visited by an angel who told him where he could find ancient plates of gold buried in the ground. He was to get the plates and translate them into English, for the instruction and good of the people. He was told that the records were a history of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas, the forerunners to the American Indian which were considered a "remnant" of these ancient people.

Joseph found the plates buried in a hill outside his property and began work on translating. He was given, along with the gold plates, a translating stone that would help him with the translation, as the plates were written in reformed Egyptian. With the help of a faithful scribe named Oliver Cowdery, Joseph worked day and night on the translation of the plates, and the book was published in 1830.

Who were the ancient inhabitants?

The book spans approximately 1000 years in time, beginning around 600 B.C. with an account written by a young man named Nephi, son of an ancient prophet Lehi, who lived with his family in Jerusalem. In a vision, Lehi is told to leave the land because of impending destruction and capture by the Babylonians. He leaves with his family into the wilderness, where Nephi is told by God to build a boat and cross the ocean. He and his family (parents, brothers and sisters-in-law) leave the shores and travel upon the ocean for many days and nights, finally landing on the "promised land," which is today's American continent.

There they live and grow into a large community. Soon, however, the community splits into two groups--followers of Nephi (called Nephites), and followers of his older brother Laman (called Lamanites). The two communities grow large and powerful and fight many times in conflict.

The plates, having been started by Nephi in 600 BC, were passed down from generation to generation and were continued by those faithful followers of God. This is their history--the wars of their people, the faith and miracles that God bestowed upon them, the teachings of Jesus Christ and the visions of prophets. It is an apocalyptic story, ending with the total annihilation of the Nephites by the Lamanites. The last prophet, alive in 420 AD, had seen the destruction and scattering of his Nephite brothers, and knew that his time was short. He finished the plates and, following God's instruction, buried them under the ground in a stone box somewhere in the northeast of the American continent, which was the very place where Joseph Smith would find them over a thousand years later.

What does the title mean?

Although the book is a record of the Nephites and Lamanites over a 1000-year span, the book is called The Book of Mormon. Mormon was a prophet who lived on the American continent in mid-300 AD. He was handed the plates along with a charge to continue the record, just as many prophets before him had done. However, he was given an even bigger charge, which was to abridge the 900+ years of history that had been gathered and written since Nephi began writing in 600 BC. His was a monumental task--to take 900 years of history and prophecies and distill it into a single volume, taking only the most important, plain and precious truths. He accomplished the task, and handed the abridged plates to his son, Moroni, who was the final prophet to add an entry to the book before burying the plates. For his great work and effort, the book was titled The Book of Mormon in his honor. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are often called Mormons, because of their use of the book that Mormon abridged.

Another Testament of Jesus Christ

The Book of Mormon has often been considered by non-Mormons as a substitute for the Holy Bible, but this is not so. The title of the book is actually "The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ." The book is meant to be used as a companion to the Holy Bible. The Bible is the record and history of the Jews in Israel, and the Book of Mormon is a record and history of descendants of Jews who lived on the American continent. Both records testify of Christ and his Messiahship. Both speak of his love and mercy and gospel.

The scripture reiterates over and over the necessity of faith in Jesus Christ and the dependence on His word. In fact, the book covers the span of time that Jesus lived upon the earth. Signs of his birth were seen in the American continent, and prophets there knew and taught of His coming into the world. When he was crucified, there was great destruction on the American continent, and prophets also knew and taught of the great happenings across the sea. Shortly after Christ's crucifixion, he came to visit the people in America, and it is this event that provides the climactic moment in the book. He came and visited the Nephites and Lamanites, and taught his gospel, healed the sick and administered to the people for several days.

The title page of the book, written by Mormon, repeats the purpose of the book: "Writtten to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel; and also to Jew and Gentile...and also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS IS THE CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations..."

Nephi also writes early on in the book: "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)