A closer look at the title page

Have a look at the title page. This page was written on the last leaf of the plates themselves and was not written by Joseph Smith. Rather, as with the record beginning with the Nephi and ending with Moroni, Joseph translated it to English from an ancient language.

The title page states that this book is an abridgment. It's not the comprehensive history of the people it talks about. The timeline it treats is between 600 BC and 420 AD. Instead, it is a comparatively brief summary of the high and low points and the main spiritual themes and issues of its day.

The author of this title page, Mormon, writes also that the purpose of this book is "the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations" (italics added).

From this, we learn that the purpose of the Book of Mormon and the purpose of the Bible are one and the same. Therefore, as we read, we should not be surprised that the teachings about Christ are also one and the same. In some cases, the words Christ spoke to teach the people of the Americas are verbatim with the Bible's account. (And why shouldn't they be? The Gospel is the same universally, regardless of who hears it, when, and where.)

What are these "brass plates" and "gold plates"?

In ancient times, scribes who had very important things to record would record them in stone, on cave walls, and sometimes on sheets of wrought or cast metal. When Joseph Smith received the ancient record we now call "The Book of Mormon", it was written on thin sheets of metal that he called "plates". The plates were bound together with metal rings--somewhat in the same way a loose-leaf binder holds together sheets of paper. Here are some descriptions of the plates by various people who saw them, and some who didn't see them directly, but touched them through the cloth in which Joseph wrapped them when hiding them to protect them from the mobs. Another good article on the subject is found here. To the right, see a photo of a replica of what the plates may have looked like based on these various descriptions.

The reason that metal plates were desirable as a means of recording important information for posterity was that they were less prone to decomposition. Gold plates were especially durable because gold doesn't rust or corrode. So important for our day was the message that Mormon was compiling about the rise and fall of his people that he went even to the length of gathering up such a scarce and precious metal, worked it into thin leaves, engraved the record upon them, and hid them in a hill. Later, Joseph would be directed to their hiding place and would be allowed to take possession of and translate them from the ancient language of the Nephite and Lamanite people into English.

Getting Started

You can manage it, really! Millions have read it and millions more will read it. Some have read it twice. Others have read it countless times.

Where to get started? Open to the introduction page first and then read the brief explanation page to get a feel for the flow of the book. Finally, read the story of how the book came to be. There are also testimonies of three witnesses and of eight witnesses who saw the original document and signed their names to their testimony. It is notable that not one of these twelve witnesses (including Joseph Smith, its translator) ever denied what they saw, neither under intense persecution or even after some had left the Church.