The Book of Mormon – The Central Missionary Tool for Latter-Day Saints

The Book of Mormon serves as a key missionary tool for Latter-day Saints, providing another witness of Christ and containing numerous gospel principles.

Moroni encourages readers to ponder his teachings despite its sometimes obscure language, with his final statement on its title page asking us all to “remember that any faults in man are the faults of humanity. It is important that this fact remain constant.”

Origins

The Book of Mormon tells the tale of an Israelite group which immigrated to North America around 600 B.C. under Lehi, followed by their hardships and blessings before splitting into two major races: Lamanites who ultimately became Native American ancestors, and Nephites who maintained their beliefs.

Critics frequently point out what they see as inconsistencies between doctrine in the Book of Mormon and reality, including anachronisms that date back centuries before Christ came to America, and archaeological findings that do not back up claims made within its pages.

Many elements in the Book of Mormon have been compared to John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Acts and Monuments (or Book of Martyrs) published during the 1660s. Joseph Smith added to these sources with Mesoamerican symbolism and traditions that made his version uniquely his. This created a pattern of narrative building blocks uniquely his.

Contents

The Book of Mormon contains fifteen historical narratives and two short, descriptive records that tell its tale. The story details Israelite families that left Jerusalem around 600 BCE for Americas where they later split into warring factions known as Lamanites and Nephites; additionally it describes Jaredites who also immigrated around that same period.

Mormon was responsible for compiling most of this text from several earlier records he collected himself, sometimes paraphrasing sources directly, sometimes weaving first-person narratives into his narrative (Mosiah 9-10; Mormon 1:10-17), as well as adding sermons, blessings, and letters into it all.

The Book of Mormon confirms Jesus Christ’s divine sonship, ministry, Atonement, resurrection and eternal life as taught in Christianity. Furthermore it testifies to Jesus’ status as Redeemer of all peoples throughout time and history and that his gospel applies equally across time and space. Furthermore it presents his role as Savior of humanity and Second Coming.

Purpose

Readers of the Book of Mormon do so to gain a fuller knowledge of God’s plan for His children, which dates back even before creation. According to these readers, permanent peace, food and clothing sufficiency and spiritual contentment cannot be achieved without complete knowledge of Jesus Christ.

This book follows Lehi as he leads his group of Hebrews into America, where they multiply and eventually break apart into two distinct groups – Lamanites becoming heathens before being exterminated; Nephites remaining faithful and founding cultured cities. Jesus Christ appeared to both groups and shared His gospel.

Mainstream academic, archaeological and scientific communities do not generally recognize the Book of Mormon as a record of actual historical events, though research has identified various Hebrew poetic forms, rhetorical patterns and idioms as well as Mesoamerican symbols and traditions embedded within its text or present within its setting.

Language

Though the Church claims its members do not learn Hebrew, its Book of Mormon contains numerous Hebrew-sounding words and places important to Bible Christians such as Cush and Palestina that appear therein; unfortunately, its pronouncing guide fails to provide instructions on how these names should be pronounced.

Brigham Young University language professor Royal Skousen’s groundbreaking research into the Book of Mormon has long been cited by critics, providing compelling evidence that significant portions of its text come from between 1500 and 1600 rather than 1800, as commonly assumed. For instance, its language uses cognate structures from Hebrew.

Latter-day Saints had not been encouraged to apply textual criticism until the 1970s. At that point, one BYU student was charged with creating an edition of the Book of Mormon that met modern text critical standards; this edition was published in 1974.