Saw the musical? Heard the soundtrack? Read the book?

There is much talk of the recently launched Broadway production called "The Book of Mormon". As we followed the October LDS General Conference sessions on Twitter, it was hard not to notice references to the "Book of Mormon soundtrack", the musical written over a period of 7 years by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (co-creators of "South Park"). Whether they tweeted while waiting in line at the Eugene O'Neill Theater in NYC at that moment, or tweeted about plans to attend the musical in the future, there was very little curiosity as to what the Book of Mormon actually is.

For many, the parody musical will be the only exposure they have to the story of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At press time, we have not seen the musical, but from the reviews we've read, it appears that there is very little mentioned at all about the Book of Mormon, and that what is mentioned is, parody aside, rather inaccurate.

The story line of the musical never does its namesake any justice at all.

For example, did you know the following about the various books contained in the Book of Mormon?

First and Second Nephi are ALL about family ties and the behaviors and consequences of family living, especially within the context of God's will for families.

The Book of Jacob helps us know how to shield ourselves from the soul-cankering influences of pornography and immorality that surround us. Jacob 5 teaches us the causes behind the wars and conflicts in the middle east and the interfaith bickering that happens in our world...and what the Lord intends to do about it.

The Book of Enos teaches us how to pray.

The Book of Mosiah helps us understand how a country should be governed, how to treat our fellow men, why the Savior had to suffer and die to be able to forgive our sins, and the fact that no matter how small a concern even a portion of a nation is in the context of the world's way of seeing things, God will still send a prophet to warn it of danger and to organize His Church there.

The Book of Alma is rich in just about everything there is to experience in life:

• distinguishing between truth and error
• avoiding bringing negative consequences upon oneself through rebellion against God
• how to share the Gospel with others in a way in which they will most likely respond positively
• on which criteria mankind will be judged
• why bad things happen to good people
• why good things happen to good people
• why good things happen to bad people
• the beauty of suddenly having religious freedom when none existed prior
• the horror of losing religious freedom when once enjoyed
• why repentance is necessary, and how to do it
• why the philosophies of the world are bankrupt and without foundation
• what the purpose of the Law of Moses was (to point to Christ)
• why bridling your passions is a Godly thing to do
• who are we
• why are we here
• what happens after we die
• how it's possible to fight a defensive war in a way that God finds acceptable (not appealing, just acceptable) in the event that no other option is available
• why kings are always problematic in the governance of a nation
• why division and contention is always problematic in the preservation of freedom

The Book of Helaman teaches us why we must always be careful never to let "secret combinations" or conspiracies, mafias, gangs, government cabals, terrorist groups, etc. become the order of society.

Third Nephi teaches us that Jesus had love for other children not of Jerusalem's fold and that His Gospel doesn't change whether taught in Jerusalem, in Zarahemla of the Americas, or in any other nation. Most importantly, it provides the key second witness that Jesus is the Christ, the resurrected Savior of the world, in every literal sense and reality.

Fourth Nephi, even though only one chapter in length and spanning a period of over 200 years, is most instructive in its preservation of a record of what causes years of peace...and what ends that peace.

The Book of Mormon (meaning, the subsection of the whole book by that name) gives us a thorough rundown of everything we are about to experience as our own world crumbles and decays in a "horrible scene of the blood and carnage" like the prophet Mormon experienced. This is a book to pay attention to if you want to know what we're in for.

The Book of Ether is a microhistory that parallels the history of the Nephites and, again, emphasizes the irreversible nature of mutual genocide and fratricide that emerges from secret conspiracies to "get gain" and obtain the temporary kingdoms of the world.

Finally, the Book of Moroni, in all its brevity, gives us pearls of great price such as the proper manner of baptism, of the sacrament supper of the Lord, of the order and organization of the Lord's Church, and of the necessity of faith in a world of unbelief. Moroni teaches us that if we fail to see miracles in our day, it is through our own lack of faith and not because there are no such things as miracles. If we have gotten to that point, then we are ripe for destruction, just as his own people had become. Faith precedes the miracle.

So, to everyone who has watched or will watch the musical, we encourage you to obtain a more balanced view of the musical's ridiculed namesake by taking the time to actually read the book. You won't regret it if you approach your reading with an open mind and a sincere desire to know if it contains truth.

Book of Mormon Month - Day 2: The Prophet Joseph Smith: Translator of the Book of Mormon

Wakey wakey! It's Day 2 of Book of Mormon Month here at American Testament.

How did you do on Day 1? Tell us in the comments.

Today's inspirational article is...

The Prophet Joseph Smith: Translator of the Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is a unique book of scripture. Although ancient prophets wrote it, it did not come to us as the Bible did. The Bible was recorded largely on scrolls in the Old World as separate books and copied by scribes for centuries. Only by the fourth century after Jesus Christ were these separate books combined and made available as the one volume we refer to as the Holy Bible. Read More or Listen

Book of Mormon Month - Day 1: Precious Promises of the Book of Mormon

October is Book of Mormon Month here at American Testament! For anyone who didn't participate in Book of Mormon Challenge 2011, it's time to make good, crack open 1st Nephi, and get to reading. Your goal is 18 pages per day to complete your reading in 30 days.

For anyone new to the Book of Mormon, or in need of a refresher, below is a simplified timeline of the origin of the book. I'll be posting more helpful resources like these as we move forward with our reading.

Click image to view timeline slideshow

To supplement your reading, I'm providing occasional handy links to inspiring Ensign (LDS Magazine) articles from the October 2011 edition.

Today's article is by the LDS prophet, President Thomas S. Monson.

Precious Promises of the Book of Mormon

Many years ago I stood at the bedside of a young father as he hovered between life and death. His distraught wife and their two children stood nearby. He took my hand in his and, with a pleading look, said, “Bishop, I know I am about to die. Tell me what happens to my spirit when I do.” Read More or Listen

Book of Mormon Month is coming. Are you ready to read?

Is Mormonism a cult? Academically speaking, yes...

Michael Otterson, Head of Public Relations for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wrote an editorial for The Washington Post's "On Faith" section. One would imagine that this topic comes up with more frequency as more members of the LDS faith become involved in politics. For some reason, people throw around the word "cult" as a perjorative, but in the strictly academic sense, the early Christian Church was considered a cult for more than 100 years after it formed. Why should the latter-day restoration of it be treated any differently?

1617, "worship," also "a particular form of worship," from Fr. culte, from L. cultus "care, cultivation, worship," originally "tended, cultivated," pp. of colere "to till" (see colony). Rare after 17c.; revived mid-19c. with reference to ancient or primitive rituals. Meaning "devotion to a person or thing" is from 1829.
American Psychological Association (APA): cult. (n.d.). Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved July 22, 2011, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cult

At the end of the op-ed, Otterson challenges us to have a more intellectually honest conversation about public perception of Mormonism vs. reality.

For those who are interested in that kind of conversation, here are some topics that I’ll be addressing in future columns:

• Why Latter-day Saints consider themselves New Testament Christians, rather than creedal Christians whose doctrines were formalized in the centuries following the foundation of Christianity. It is perfectly true that Mormons do not embrace many of the orthodoxies of mainstream Christianity, including the nature of the Trinity. It is not true that Mormons do not draw their beliefs from the same Bible.


• What we mean by additional revelation. The Book of Mormon is described on its title page as a book intended for “the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ.”


• The nature of God: Latter-day Saints see God as a physical being in whose image we are made. That is one reason why it is so comfortable for Mormons to refer to God as their Father in Heaven – that’s how they see the personal relationship.


• How Latter-day Saints regard “biblical inerrancy,” and what they mean when they accept the Bible as the word of God, “as far as it is translated correctly.”

Tsunamis and Stone Tables

A more poignant reminder of the foibles of human nature, and the short memories of mortals, is hard to find in the aftermath of the Japan quake and tsunami. Consider that the people living in the areas affected by the tsunami had ample warning...600 years'-worth or more...that they were playing a dangerous game choosing to dwell in certain areas.

Modern sea walls failed to protect coastal towns from Japan's destructive tsunami last month. But in the hamlet of Aneyoshi, a single centuries-old tablet saved the day.

"High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants," the stone slab reads. "Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point."

It was advice the dozen or so households of Aneyoshi heeded, and their homes emerged unscathed from a disaster that flattened low-lying communities elsewhere and killed thousands along Japan's northeastern shore.

Hundreds of such markers dot the coastline, some more than 600 years old. Collectively they form a crude warning system for Japan, whose long coasts along major fault lines have made it a repeated target of earthquakes and tsunamis over the centuries.

The markers don't all indicate where it's safe to build. Some simply stand _ or stood, washed away by the tsunami _ as daily reminders of the risk. "If an earthquake comes, beware of tsunamis," reads one. In the bustle of modern life, many forgot.

...

"People had this crucial knowledge, but they were busy with their lives and jobs, and many forgot," said Yotaru Hatamura, a scholar who has studied the tablets.

Isn't that just how it is? In the bustle of modern life, we always forget what's most important. In a physical sense, people in Japan lost their lives because of preference for the convenience or prestige or desirability of living so near the ocean even when they should have realized the dangers. In a spiritual sense, how many of us, for the same reasons, pitch our tents toward Babylon, which succumbed anciently, which we've since rebuilt and, we are promised, will be destroyed again in the future?

One stone marker warned of the danger in the coastal city of Kesennuma: "Always be prepared for unexpected tsunamis. Choose life over your possessions and valuables."

Tetsuko Takahashi, 70, safe in her hillside house, watched from her front window as others ignored that advice. She saw an ocean liner swept half a mile (nearly a kilometer) in from the port, crushing buildings in its path.

"After the earthquake, people went back to their homes to get their valuables and stow their 'tatami' floor mats. They all got caught," she said.

We have acquired more technology and creature comforts from the last 150 years of progress than the world has ever accumulated during the previous 5,000 years. But what good will they be to us if we're dying spiritually? We can't take them with us, so why do we act like we can?

"It takes about three generations for people to forget. Those that experience the disaster themselves pass it to their children and their grandchildren, but then the memory fades," he said.

The tightly-knit community of Aneyoshi, where people built homes above the marker, was an exception.

"Everybody here knows about the markers. We studied them in school," said Yuto Kimura, 12, who guided a recent visitor to one near his home. "When the tsunami came, my mom got me from school and then the whole village climbed to higher ground."

Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with 10 commandments written in stone. Even before he descended the mount, however, the people had already corrupted themselves with the pleasures of the world, even after having been told to purify themselves not a handful of days before. They'd had a chance to get to higher ground, but many found themselves suffering for their poor choices.

Moroni, on the American continent, and his father, Mormon, before him engraved their warnings in solid metal...gold, even...to forewarn us of the tsunami of wickedness and genocide they had just experienced. They were also commanded to warn us against the pride of our hearts and calamities that God had revealed to them in visions that we would choose for ourselves in our day. Again, those prophecies were both temporal (physical) and spiritual.

Will you heed those warnings, so carefully preserved and perpetuated in the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and other sacred scripture? Or will you build your dwelling close to the Great and Spacious Building just before it is destroyed?

Related articles

• Tsunami alert after new Japan quake (mirror.co.uk)
• Ancient stone markers warned of tsunamis (cbsnews.com)

LDS Church shows inside view of Salt Lake Temple through new exhibit

For anyone who has ever wondered what the Salt Lake City temple looks like on the inside, the Church has made a model of the temple with a cutaway view of all the rooms. See LDS Church shows inside view of Salt Lake Temple through new exhibit.

The temple is a sacred place, not a secret one. The only reason the temples of the LDS Church are closed to everyone but members in good standing is that it is meant to be a place set apart to do God's holy work, such as joining families together forever in matrimony, vicarious baptisms on behalf of our ancestors who didn't receive the restored Gospel, and for learning, prayer, and reflection.

In fact, everyone in the world can experience the temple and have it be a part of their life. All that is necessary is to make the covenant of baptism and live God's laws of sacrifice, chastity, and consecration.

I can attest to the blessings of the temple in my own life. I would be lost without the ability to attend. It's the difference between trying to get through life blind vs. having full sight. Temple attendance gives me an eternal perspective on everything I do so that nothing seems without purpose in life. It's as if God lends me a portion of His sight so that I can see the road ahead...and when I cannot, that I can have faith that at some point, He will show it to me.

Is the Book of Mormon really "chloroform in print"?

Grant Hardy at Slate.com explores the notion attributed to the Book of Mormon by Mark Twain that the Book of Mormon is boring and has no inherent redeeming value as literature or scripture.

I have to admit that, at one point in my teenage years, I agreed with Twain, even if it was mostly in jest, that the Book of Mormon was indeed "chloroform in print". There were many BoM reading challenges in Seminary classes which I found myself dozing off both in class and at home. It was only the gentle prodding and great teaching of my Seminary instructors that kept my interest buoyed.

It was when I became a missionary that I really got serious about digging into the book and its chronology as it related to its core message. I had a testimony of it because of genuinely applying its teachings in my life and praying to know of its truth, but I was missing that "page-by-page" understanding of its sequence. I couldn't quickly turn to a particular story or random page and tell anyone its context and significance as part of the whole book.

Having done that, I can tell you that the Book of Mormon is definitely NOT "chloroform in print". Mark Twain's statement transparently reveals the lack of seriousness and depth with which he explored its pages.

As a parent, I can tell you that I'm grateful to have made more effort than Twain or others who attack the book based only on a cursory or partial reading.

Daily I can turn to a story or example in teaching my kids how to get along with each other. First and Second Nephi are ALL about family ties and the behaviors and consequences of family living, especially within the context of God's will for families.

The Book of Jacob helps me shield myself from the soul-cankering influences of pornography and immorality that surrounds me. Jacob 5 teaches me the causes behind the wars and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere and the interfaith bickering that happens in our world.

The Book of Enos teaches me how to pray.

The Book of Mosiah helps me understand how a country should be governed, how to treat my fellow men, why the Savior performed the Atonement, and the fact that no matter how small a concern even a portion of a nation is in the context of the world's way of seeing things, God will still send a prophet to warn it of danger and to organize His Church there.

The Book of Alma is rich in just about everything there is to experience in life:

• distinguishing between truth and error
• avoiding bringing negative consequences upon oneself through rebellion against God
• how to share the Gospel with others in a way in which they will most likely respond positively
• on which criteria mankind will be judged
• why bad things happen to good people
• why good things happen to good people
• why good things happen to bad people
• the beauty of suddenly having religious freedom when none existed prior
• the horror of losing religious freedom when once enjoyed
• why repentance is necessary, and how to do it
• why the philosophies of the world are bankrupt and without foundation
• what the purpose of the Law of Moses was (to point to Christ)
• why bridling your passions is a Godly thing to do
• who are we
• why are we here
• what happens after we die
• how it's possible to fight a war in a way that God finds acceptable (not appealing, just acceptable in the event that no other option is available)
• why kings are always problematic in the governance of a nation
• why division and contention is always problematic in the preservation of freedom

The Book of Helaman teaches us why we must always be careful never to let "secret combinations" or conspiracies, mafias, gangs, government cabals, terrorist groups, etc. become the order of society.

Third Nephi teaches us that Jesus had love for other children not of Jerusalem's fold and that His Gospel doesn't change whether taught in Jerusalem, in Zarahemla of the Americas, or in any other nation. Most importantly, it provides the key second witness that Jesus is the Christ, the resurrected Savior of the world, in every literal sense and reality.

Fourth Nephi, even though only one chapter in length and spanning a period of over 200 years, is most instructive in its preservation of a record of what causes years of peace...and what ends that peace.

The Book of Mormon (meaning, the subsection of the whole book by that name) gives us a thorough rundown of everything we are about to experience as our own world crumbles and decays in a "horrible scene of the blood and carnage" like the sequences of events the prophet Mormon experienced. This is a book to pay attention to if you want to know what we're in for.

The Book of Ether is a microhistory that parallels the history of the Nephites and, again, emphasizes the irreversible nature of mutual genocide and fratricide that emerges from secret conspiracies to "get gain" and obtain the temporary kingdoms of the world.

Finally, the Book of Moroni, in all its brevity, gives us pearls of great price such as the proper manner of baptism, of the sacrament supper of the Lord, of the order and organization of the Lord's Church, and of the necessity of faith in a world of unbelief. Moroni teaches us that if we fail to see miracles in our day, it is through our own lack of faith and not because there are no such things as miracles. If we have gotten to that point, then we are ripe for destruction, just as his own people had become. Faith precedes the miracle.

So, if you had previously been in agreement with Mark Twain about the Book of Mormon being impossible to get anything out of...or if you believe that there is no literary redemption in the Book of Mormon...consider what I have outlined above and ask yourself if any of those items could be useful to you. There's bound to be at least one. Pick that out from the list and resolve to explore how the Book of Mormon expounds on it.

You'll be surprised at how truly interesting the Book of Mormon actually is.

What is the Book of Mormon?

Image via Wikipedia

Newcomers to this site or the Book of Mormon can get a quick summary of the provenance and purpose of the Book of Mormon from a new page dedicated to its translation and teachings. The video on the page is especially good for getting a 30,000 foot view of the book.

But nothing...nothing equates to actually reading the Book of Mormon.

Finished reading the Book of Mormon

My family and I just completed our goal of reading the Book of Mormon. Our goal was to finish it by Stake Conference. And, I can happily report that we were, of course, very blessed by the effort.

Most of the project was completed over a 5 month time-span, listening to a chapter here or there either read aloud by a person or via CD. In the last month we began in more earnest to read enough to finish out in time.

Last night my daughter read Moroni 10:3-5 out loud. Here is the best part of that chapter.

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

I know to some reading this that those verses will seem a bit cliché, but they are indeed the most effective means of understanding anything, not just the Book of Mormon. Don't take any human being's word for it that anything is truth. Ask God for the confirmation of truth and, in His time, it will be given to you.