But We Have The Book! - Introduction

"And ye have not his word in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye have eternal life: and they (His words) are they which testify of me" (John 5:38-39).

Our friends and former neighbors in Arizona were visiting us in France, and while driving to one of our destinations, I got into a discussion with Joe about the Book of Mormon. I explained that it was an ancient record written on metal plates and translated by Joseph Smith. His first question was, "where are these plates?" I answered that I didn't know, but that was irrelevant because we have the book. "Yes, I understand that," he answered, "but why don't you have the plates?" I then asked him if he was currently reading a book. He answered that he was, and so I asked "where is the manuscript? Do you need the manuscript when you have the book? Isn't the book evidence that there was a manuscript?" I asked.

I can understand why people are curious about the origins of the Book of Mormon, but the proof is in the book, not in its origins. My granddaughter's testimony of the Book of Mormon was shaken after she listened to a series of podcasts on the origins of the Book of Mormon. I had listened to one of these podcasts before, and had checked all the titles, and it struck me as the same old arguments that have been made since the Book of Mormon was published, attacks of Joseph Smith, DNA, translation from Reformed Egyptian, an explanation of how scholars can show the Book of Mormon as a 19th century text, New Testament writings in 3 Nephi, etc. 

But we have the book! How then do they explain the book? They can't, so they attack its origins and try to make an ancient record, a 19th century fabrication, using the same old and tired criticisms. But the book exists. No critic has ever given a credible explanation of where the book came from! Who wrote it? Who put it all together? Have you ever considered why critics want to shift the burden of proof to us? Because they can't explain away the book. But the burden is on the critic.

My purpose here is not to answer the critics by presenting all the evidence. Hugh Nibley has already done that in An Approach to the Book of Mormon. 

No, I want to ask a question:

Whom do you believe? Christ or the critics?

The Lesser Portion

Two-hundred and twenty-one years ago, in the early hours of September 22, 1823, an angel appeared at the bedside of the prophet Joseph Smith. Moroni was there to announce the coming forth of an ancient record whose contents contained “the fulness of the everlasting gospel… as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants [of the American continent]” (Joseph Smith—History 1:34). 

The book had been previously “sealed by the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord,” effectively making it Moroni's message to declare (“Title Page of the Book of Mormon”).

We either believe or we do not believe that:

1) an angel appeared to Joseph Smith, 

2) that the Book of Mormon is an ancient record,

3) it contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel, and

4) that the fulness of the everlasting gospel was delivered by Jesus Christ to America's ancient inhabitants.

And you either believe them all, or you believe none of these.

Moroni’s record was divided into a lesser portion—which has since been translated as The Book of Mormon—and a greater portion, which has remained untranslated. 

In the record the Savior declared, “And when they shall have received this [the lesser part of the record], which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them. 

And if it so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be withheld from them, unto their condemnation” (3 Nephi 26:9-10 emphasis added).

In other words, the Book of Mormon was intended to come forth as a test to the latter-day Gentiles. If they embraced its message, they would receive greater light and knowledge. If their unbelief and false traditions led them to harden their hearts against its words, they would come under condemnation.

This clearly puts the burden on each of us to either embrace its message or harden our hearts against its words. The test is not whether we believe in the origin of the book, but whether we believe its words.

A short nine years following Moroni’s initial visit, September 22, 1832, the Lord declared that the Gentiles to whom these things had come (us) had indeed fallen into condmention for “treating lightly the things which you have received—which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation… 

And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—

That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion” (D&C 84:54-58 emphasis added). 

This is a fulfillment of the prophecy by the Savior that those who do not believe the words in the book, will be under condemnation.

Faithfulness leads to receiving more light, unbelief leads to losing it: “And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction” (Alma 12:11; cf. 2 Nephi 28:30 emphasis added). 

“So to them the word of Jehovah remained: Line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept; a trifle here, a trifle there, that, persisting, they might lapse into stumbling and break themselves, become ensnared and be taken captive” (Isaiah 28:13 emphasis added). 

Therefore, it should be understood that the Lord’s warning of “a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion” would mark the full measure of Gentile condemnation (D&C 84:58; cf. D&C 45:28-32; 3 Nephi 20:28).

There is no compromise, no middle ground, no hedging. We either believe the words and receive them and then receive more light, or we do not believe the words and we lose what we may have had, and suffer the condemnation. This gives meaning to the Lord telling us His words are like a two-edged sword. "I am God; give heed unto my word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow; therefore give heed unto my words" (D&C 11:2).

Inasmuch as the Lord’s covenant relationship to the Gentiles is mediated upon the terms set forth in the Book of Mormon—the new covenant of Christ’s gospel—the realization of such judgment would surely mark the Gentiles being “cut off from among [the Lord’s] people who are of the covenant” (3 Nephi 21:11): 

“Therefore Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm top and reed, in a single day; the elders or notables are the head, the prophets who teach falsehoods, the tail” (Isaiah 9:14-15). This language comes in striking symbolic parallel to Laban’s own unfaithful stewardship over a scriptural record, whose head was consequently “cut off” by the very sword he once used to defend it (see also 1 Nephi 22:13, 19).

Should it come as a surprise that the Lord’s endtime judgments will begin on his own house, when this is the very thing He foretold? “Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation… And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord; First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house” (D&C 112:24-26 emphasis added).

The Lord, who foresaw our day, exhorted: “Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief” (Ether 4:13). Will it not be the revelation of such “greater things” that the Lord will use to divide His people, both wheat and tare? When greater light breaks forth among the Gentiles, will we be among those who “perceive not the light,” and turn their hearts from God because of the precepts of men (D&C 45:28-32)? 

And when that generation sees the foretold overflowing scourge, will we be among those who curse God, or who stand firm in holy places, having believed Christ? 

Then why is it that in a day when searching and understanding the scriptures and prophecies of our day becomes a life-or-death issue—when the times become such that it is all men can do to separate the truth from an ever mounting onslaught of falsehoods—why are people still ensconced in worldly pastimes and trust in human institutions as sources of truth, and don’t believe Christ? Or don't believe Christ's words in the Book of Mormon?

Yet, like Laman and Lemuel, we continue to voice today’s equivalent of “We know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses; wherefore, we know that they are a righteous people; and our father hath judged them” (1 Nephi 17:22).

In the very hour of God’s judgments coming upon his people for their wickedness, causing him to warn Lehi to leave Jerusalem, we find today’s equivalent of these two sons’ protesting that we have judged them, when, in truth, it is the Book of Mormon, that which was spoken by prophets and by Christ, that does so. 

And such will sadly remain their mantra until the times overtake them

There comes a point in people’s spiritual progression or regression, in other words, that they are either of one mind or another. Either God’s truth is in them sufficiently so that they gladly receive further light and knowledge, or they object to the truth if it is told them. But they will not be able to continue to fight against the light, Christ's words.

There is a difference between believing Christ and believing in Christ. Believing in something or someone is irrelevant. Our belief does not make something true or not true. But believing Christ is relevant. And to make it simpler, we either believe Him or we don't. 

It is either one or the other and there is no in between. But belief in Christ is multifaceted. We can believe in Him, or not believe in Him, or we can say we don’t know, or we can believe that He was just a great teacher, but not the Son of God, and on and on. 

But when it comes to believing Him, it is either yes or no. We can never plead ignorance! We can never say we did not know! The reason is that Christ said He only teaches what His Father commanded Him to teach, the words of His Father. And because His words are truth (the only truth), to believe Christ is to believe His Father's words, or to believe the truth, no matter who speaks it. The Parable of the Sower is everyone's story.

This is where the Book of Mormon surpasses all other scripture. It is filled with the words of God! 

And what is our response to this marvel of all marvels? To treat it lightly and put it aside in favor of putting out trust in men, our religious works, our goodness. "We know that active members of the Church of Jesus Christ are a righteous people for they attend the temple, pay their tithing, attend their meetings, fulfill their duties, believe they are on the covenant path, believe their leaders, and talk about Christ."

"Now behold, my brethren, I would ask if ye have read the scriptures? If ye have, how can ye disbelieve on the Son of God" (Alma 33:14 emphasis added)?

It is no wonder that "Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed upon them because of thy Son" (Alma 33:16 emphasis added). 

We cannot believe what we do not know.

Next: But We Have the Book! -- We Make the Word of God of None Effect