"Is this all there is?" has been called the Terrible Question. Is there to be an abrupt end of the good life before it's even started? Or of the wonderful life before we can do and experience all that we want to do? Or of the unhappy life before there has been a chance for happiness? Or of the life filled with pain and sorrow without relief? And will our immense endowment and endless capacities be shut off before we have a chance to fully use them? Are we to settle with the idea that we will be absorbed into the "nothing from which we came?"
What of our minds and emotions? Recorded in what are traditionally the two most ancient writings in existence, the Shabako text of the Memphite Theology, and the Sefer Yetzirah, which was held by most of the early rabbis to be the world's oldest book and a composition of Abraham, both writings tell us of the seven openings of the head, the seven orifices or receptors--two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and one mouth. The Egyptian account tells how these receptors receive impulses, energy quanta from the world outside, organize it in the brain, give it meaning in the breast where values are imparted, the thymos of the Greeks, the seat of emotion. When the individual has thus composed images and impressions of the outside world he/she is prepared to communicate to others.
What comes in by seven receptors, goes forth by the one powerful projector, which is the sacred word of mouth. The logos is more than a myth; it is actually the only way with which we convey our thoughts and beliefs and convictions to others; the only way in which they can have any image of the world we are experiencing. By the word alone we make a common universe of discourse. Through this discourse we spend our time "conversing among ourselves" almost always relying on what we have heard or learned from others, adhering more to those so called experts in their fields, but still just sharing horizontally what we have heard, read or experienced from our paltry and skewed vantage point. But is there more? Much more!
Do we value the treasures of the earth so much, that we can't get past them and begin in earnest searching for the treasures of heaven? But, you might ask, are there such treasures? And are we forsaking them for what we can only see and understand, what we receive from others? There are Treasures of Heaven, and that brings me to why I am sharing this. Why? Because we want for you the same treasures that we have diligently searched for and discovered, and now treasure and value above all else.
But I can't just go to my treasure chest and show you. Sure, I can try, but I would spend most of the time trying to explain to you why they are treasures! The paradox is that you must desire and search for them yourself.
For many years, every year, Annie and I would travel to Moab, Utah to hike up to the Delicate Arch. I remember the first time we hiked together to discover this one of a kind treasure tucked away in the hills of Arches National Park. We had to work to get there by hiking about 1.5 miles, only to walk the final part of the trail and discover this magnificent treasure as our view opened at the end of the trail. We could not see it until we got to it. Unbelievable! But also indescribable! It has to be discovered, and cannot be fully appreciated until it is. Was it worth traveling 250 miles to see it? Every single time!
And because we treasure it and want those we love to experience it, we tell you about it, show you photos and encourage you to go and discover it. Why? Because we want you to experience and discover the beauty, the majesty, the reverence that we experienced and discovered. Why? Because we want to share this treasure with you. We can all relate to this. We want to share the good things, the treasures we discover with those we love and care about, knowing that we really can't share what we experienced, but we try nevertheless because we need to share, and where we can share our experiences, it makes us happy and glad.
But where is the hunger and thirst? Why are people so complacent to settle for that which gives no life, which has no life? We not only find the answers to these questions in the Book of Mormon, which, by the way, is named after Moroni's father Mormon, who received the records which had been kept and preserved, abridged them and gave them to his son Moroni, of which the translation is but a hundredth part of what was recorded, who delivered them to Joseph Smith to be translated by the power and authority of God. Only a hundredth part you ask? Why? To test our faith to see if we will receive what we have, only to receive more if we do! But also to be a witness against us if we won't receive what has been given.
The Book of Mormon was given to the world, not as a sign to convert it but as a testimony to convict it. It is given without reservation or qualification as a true history and the word of God: “A record of a fallen people, the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews also.” If the Book of Mormon is to prove “…to the world that the Holy Scriptures are true” it must stand firm and unmoved without any external support. And it does. Critics can only attack its origin, but the book stands as a testimony of its existence. It invites any test and it will stand up to all of them.
Aside from records from 2200 BC which were found and kept with their own, their record begins with a man named Lehi and with his family and others who left Jerusalem in 600 BC and came to what is now Central and South America. The record spans over 1000 years ending in about 420 AD and contains a record of Jesus Christ coming to visit some on the inhabitants on the American continent after His resurrection.The story, however, is not in the origin of the Book, but in its content, which like the Delicate Arch, one must put in the work and search the words of the Book to see and receive its treasures. And treasures they are! The main message of the Book of Mormon is to repent or turn to God, relying wholly upon His merits and not our merits and good works. Why? You must search the words of the Book to find out. It is all spelled out in there--words of God.
And God's motivation? Because God loves us and wants us to have all that He has. Love is the motivation, just like our love for you is our motivation to invite you to search for the treasures of heaven.The admonition of Mormon to his son holds to the very end, delivered as it was after all was lost: "And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay...."
But we would never attempt to 'sell' it to you using images of the world or the latest and best techniques to 'convince' you. It cannot be done. By His words alone, however, you can hear and see. His treasures are hidden for a reason--to see if those seeking for more than this world has to offer--will go on a treasure hunt and discover the treasures for themselves. For those seeking comfort in the conventional, the unconventional may be disarming. But the principal guide is certainly the Book of Mormon. The divinity of that work can be sustained by one argument alone, if that were all we had, namely, the sheer outrageousness of the thing: a tapestry unequaled in all the library for its richness and detail, an inexhaustible well of knowledge, and the prophetic book of the age.
The message of the world by comparison has been reduced to its lowest denominator. Electronics and digital media have made no change in the content, just the same message, no matter the hardware, software or resolution, and as a result we keep asking the same question "Is this all there is?"
It should be enough to note that the gift of writing was given to man by God for the express purpose of recording His communications with men. And the Book of Mormon is full of such words, recorded and translated for the world to see, hear, discover and treasure. Definitely not like any other book you have ever read. As I said if this was the work of a man, it would be without question the greatest work in American history. But it is not and Joseph never claimed that he wrote it. How would an uneducated man like Joseph Smith write of two migrations from two totally different cultures to the American continent, one in 2200 BC and another in 600BC, and be historically and culturally accurate?
And yet, the most vocal critics have never read the book! They criticize and mock its origins. They ridicule Joseph Smith but couldn't tell you a-b-c about the contents of the Book of Mormon. So don't dismiss this just because you may not believe it, or more likely because you may not want to believe it, or you have heard from others who do not believe it. Belief is irrelevant. The question is not whether we believe or do not believe, but whether it is true or not. To believe something isn’t the same thing as knowing it. We may believe whatever we want, whether it is true or false. But we can’t know something is true unless it is true. Because each of us has the God-given ability to determine truth from error, we have a personal responsibility to do so. This is not something to leave to chance. There is too much riding on it and too little time to waste. This is about seeing and hearing, and you can only see and hear if you have walked the walk. And what do you lose by searching for the treasures of heaven? Nothing. But what do you lose by not searching for them? Everything!
Being unaware is synonymous with being uninformed, heedless, unfamiliar, unconcerned, negligent, oblivious, blind, unenlightened, unknowing, unmindful and ignorant.
So the Book of Mormon's use of the word ignorant in 2 Nephi 32:7 is significant. Nephi said, "And the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be."
By linking ignorance with unbelief and failure to search and understand knowledge, and linking these with the word of God, Nephi makes it clear what men are ignorant of and what knowledge they fail to search or understand--the word of God.
And by linking the word of God with "light and truth" and by linking "light and truth" with "intelligence," we can conclude that being intelligent is being aware, and the greater the awareness the greater the intelligence. We also find His words in the Old and New Testament as far as they are translated correctly, and in other scripture and ancient documents.
Life is a personal journey in which we can advance at whatever pace we want toward a more intelligent condition than we started from. And if we become more intelligent, then we become more useful, influential, and powerful in the service of the very truth that makes us so.
What would it take to convince you that there is a God and that He has revealed himself and His truth through His words? Is there absolute proof?
I have thought a lot about what it would take to convince me, and I have concluded that it would depend on me. What I mean by this is that unless I was someone who was seeking for something, either knowledge, truth or some type of validation about my life, no matter what was available it would be meaningless without some desire on my part to want to know it. Without this desire no matter what truth and knowledge was out there, I would probably not seek it. What would not help me are stories about believers, famous or otherwise; history, good or bad; believers' testimonies or beliefs. The question for me is not belief, but whether there is truth. It must be either or. There can be no maybe.
The question for me then would be, what would it take to arouse in me a desire to seek for truth? I would first need to know that there is some truth to seek. Not some creed or institutional beliefs, but real truth. So if someone gave me a definition of truth (not what they thought was truth), but real truth, that would be meaningful to me, and perhaps arouse in me a desire to find that truth.
For example, if someone said to me that the word of God is truth, that would cause me to want to know if there really was a God and if that God has revealed His words to others, and if records of these words have been kept. I believe I would want to test this definition of truth, but would be reluctant to rely on someone's interpretation of these words. If I thought that I could know of myself if these words were truth, perhaps I would be interested enough to find them and search them. It would require for me, however, some instruction on how to come to know if the words in fact were truth. These instructions would have to come from God and not from some person. That person could, however, direct me to these instructions and I could test them to see if I could come to know of some of the truth or the truth of some of His words. I would want to know that the recorded words were His and not commentaries or incorrect translations.
For example, if someone told me that there is an experiment that I could try to test His words, I would want to try it. This experiment would have to be a valid experiment and have a scientific basis with all the necessary elements and controls to measure the results, and through this experiment, I could come to know that the experiment was itself revealed by God. The key for me would be if I could know the truth for myself and not rely on others. Perhaps, then, through these words I could come to know that there is a God and that His words are truth, and then I could know all things I needed to know and do through His words. His words would then be for me the standard by which everything would be judged.
Such an experiment does exist, and it meets all the criteria described above. And so we want to share with our dearest friends that which is of greatest worth to us, that which is light and truth, which truth and light can be discerned by you. Whether you desire to try this experiment or not, our love for you will only increase. Our motivation is to share and give you more of ourselves. There are just some things that cannot be shared. Although we are sharing these insights with you, we will understand if you treat them as fiction. Compared to today’s well-worn interpretations, some of these views may seem radical indeed.
We invite you to put them to the test, however, to see if they are not enlightening, empowering, and freeing to your spirit for that flight to heaven which God has invited every one of us to take.
Get your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon here and begin your treasure hunt now. Be assured that His treasures await you!
I love, love this post; it covers a lot of territory! There's much to explore. I've been sick with the flu for the past few days and am finally back at my computer. I've wanted to comment all week on how meaningful this post was to me; I've read it three+ times. The first reading I just wanted to ponder on the symobolism of the 7 sacred orifices; I guess I am bad at math (or biology) because I think of having one nose, but of course, we've got two nostrils. This is purely just my fever-induced idea, but isn't it cool that when God breathed into Adam the breath of life, there were two nostrils? Perhaps to represent the holy union? But I could go on all day wondering if my eyes could speak (no, not really, although an eye roll is speaks volumes) or my ears (nope); or my nose (never, except the noise it makes when I blow into a tissue); so we're left with the mouth: the one means we've been given to express ourselves, to communicate. Then I wondered if writing might be a loophole; after all, if a person is mute they can still communicate through the written word. There's a lot to ponder about language and its symbolism and the Word of God (logos).
ReplyDeleteSee? And that was just the introduction. But the part that made me laugh out loud because it was so unexpected was this: "But I can't just go to my treasure chest and show you. Sure, I can try, but I would spend most of the time trying to explain to you why they are treasures!" Classic. As they say, one man's junk is another man's treasure. I was picturing you, Clark, in a dusty, poor-lit attic space trying to explain to someone why these dusty words were priceless.
I have visited Arches National Park several times, and what this analogy made me realize is that a photograph cannot capture the experience; I thought I might lose my balance and plummet to my death (it has happened). But until a person has hiked the trail with the early morning cool breeze and the sound of loose pebbles, and most importantly, with the companions we're with--there's just no way to convey that experience; it must be shared. This explains, perhaps, why the gospel is the way it is: the pearls cannot be admired behind museum glass: they must be worn.
The most quotable line from this post, which speaks volumes, was: "The Book of Mormon was given to the world, not as a sign to convert it but as a testimony to convict it." I am still deconstructing this powerful truth.
And bravo for giving me the idea that The Book of Mormon is the Great American Novel (History?). Steinbeck, you're out! Well, see how I have become long winded. I hope to expand my awareness; I want to be aware of the highest; the Highest; the Truth! Thank you. Tim