The Book of Mormon

This is the first mini-paper I wrote for my Book of Mormon class. Our prompt: "I want you to give me a paragraph about how important the BoM is to our faith.Then in the second paragraph I would like you to talk about your experiences and feelings for this book." Pretty simple right? (Now these are my kind of essays!) It's fairly short and simple- I didn't really learn anything that I didn't already know about the Book of Mormon BUT this assignment definitely reinforced my testimony about its truthfulness.

The Book of Mormon is undoubtedly the most essential part of the Latter-Day Saint church today. The Prophet Joseph Smith himself called it, “the keystone of our religion.” Without the Book of Mormon, there would no foundation for our faith. As expressed by President Benson-that is the reason why the Book of Mormon was given to Joseph Smith, translated, and published before the Church was even organized. This proves to me how important the Book of Mormon is to our religion and how it should not be taken lightly. Each member should read the Book of Mormon prayerfully as often as they can. Each member should realize that the counsel and gospel principles were specifically chosen for us and our time. It is through the Book of Mormon and its teachings of Christ and His atonement that people are converted as they come to realize that this book and the Church are true. And it is through the Book of Mormon that we can each become closer to God and be worthy to return to Him again.

                I have been working on my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon since I was a child. I have read it cover to cover more times than I can count. At first I read every night simply to be obedient to the teachings of my parents and Primary teachers, but over the years it became a habit that strengthened my faith and understanding of the gospel. Looking back, reading the Book of Mormon affected my life in more ways than I knew. For example, the summer after my senior year of high school, for whatever reason still unknown to me, I stopped my nightly scripture reading. That summer turned out to be one of the most difficult times of my life. I felt very alone and pushed away the people I cared most about. I didn't realize how powerful the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, could be in times of struggle. I have a firm testimony that the Book of Mormon can bring the Holy Spirit into your life and can act as a way to receive blessings from the Lord. After coming here to BYU and taking multiple religion classes, my interest and vigor in reading the Book of Mormon has been renewed. Now, I am preparing to serve a mission and share this wonderful testament of Jesus Christ and message of his atonement to people around the world. I know this book is true with all my heart and I hope to be able to be a medium through which the Spirit can reach out to people who need this truth. I have no problem proclaiming that the Book of Mormon is central to my testimony and that because of it, I have a testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints is true and that I have a Father in Heaven who sent His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for my sins and the sins of the world. I love the Book of Mormon and I look forward to learning more about the inspired messages of the prophets in this class.