How to Find Light in the Darkness: Why the Book of Mormon is so important to me

I've been thinking a lot lately about how hard life is. There is a lot of bad in the world and it is becoming harder and harder to decipher the good from the bad. Even things people used to view as blatantly bad are now crossing into gray areas. So how do we do it? How do we raise children in this world and know what to teach them?

What it all comes down to for me is faith. We have to have faith that good will always win. As I type this I realize how corny that sounds, but it's true. It is hard to believe sometimes that things will get better even if they get worse first. But faith is what keeps us going. When we have a hard day and we don't see an end in sight or we are tired from all of our responsibilities or are having financial trouble or any of the other endless trials we go through, it's faith that reminds us to be happy.

But faith doesn't come easy for most. For me, I'll admit it does and I know how truly blessed I am to have that spiritual gift from my Heavenly Father. And although faith comes easily to some, we all must work hard and put in effort to strengthen our faith. Our church leaders tell us until they are blue in the face that we must study our scriptures every day and we must strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father. I have always known that and I have always seen a correlation between how well I am doing in strengthening my faith through prayer and scripture study and how I am succeeding in other areas of my life. But recently I have really felt my eyes being opened to how important the little daily things we do to improve our testimonies of God and Christ are to our every day happiness.

I have never been very diligent in studying my scriptures. I have always had the desire and always do good for a few days or even a few weeks but always fall out of a good habit eventually. That's not to say I don't read my scriptures or benefit from my study, I do. I have just always felt I need to do better. The last few months I have been using a study guide written by David J. Ridges entitled "The Book of Mormon made easier." I have seen a drastic change in my studying habits and it has been so helpful.

While reading in First Nephi 13 today I read about a vision the prophet Nephi has of future generations and happenings. One thing that struck me while reading was the part that prophesied about Christopher Columbus discovering the Americas and how from that the pilgrims or Christian immigrants from the "old countries" brought the Bible to America. Nephi goes on to explain why the Book of Mormon is so important:


25 Wherefore, these things (the original writings and teachings of the Bible) go forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God.

 26 And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Christ), from the Jews unto the Gentiles (non-jews), thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church (the church of the devil), which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.

 

(You may have noticed that covenants are only required to enter the celestial kingdom. Covenants are not required for entrance into terrestrial or telestial glory. This, by taking away priesthood and covenants, Satan has done major damage.)

 

 27 And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.

 

 28 Wherefore, thou seest that after the book (the bible) hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.

 

 29 And after these plain and precious things were taken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity, thou seest—because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God—because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.

(Ignorance of gospel truths and covenants is a terrible disadvantage. This if one of the reasons that the Book of Mormon and modern scriptures are so precious. They restore these "plain and precious things" to us.)

 

I often wonder how to explain to others why the Book of Mormon is so important to me. It's kind of like asking me "why is your right hand so important?" It's just one of those questions that seems so obvious to me that it's hard to answer. Well, here's my feeble attempt at answering that question. The Book of Mormon is so important to me because it is ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ. I study the Book of Mormon, in addition to the Bible because I believe it will strengthen my faith in Jesus Christ and thereby help me live a better life. I believe that Heavenly Father has given us the answers to all of our questions and concerns and they lie in the scriptures.

 

I love the Bible, especially the New Testament and the opportunity it gives us to learn about Christ and his earthly ministry, but often certain parts of the Bible are hard to read and so dated that it feels hard to connect to sometimes. This doesn't mean it isn't important to me, but I also value what the Book of Mormon holds within it's pages. It holds, unaltered truths from God. We believe that Joseph Smith unburied the original golden plates that the Book of Mormon was written on by the many prophets who's writings make up its pages. He was the first to touch it's pages after Moroni, the last author of the Book of Mormon, buried it in a mountain. Because I believe this to be true, I also believe that the Book of Mormon is from God. I believe He knew that we would need additional guidance in order to strengthen our faith in this life. He knew that some very important truths would be lost or altered from the Bible and that we would need another way to learn these things. In all His wisdom He planned for us to have the Book of Mormon, in addition to the Bible. We are so blessed to have many ways to learn about Christ and his teachings.

 

I finally understand after 26 years of being told over and over, why I need to study (not just read) my scriptures every day. We have access to such an important book that was painstakingly written and preserved for our generation to learn from. It seems rather selfish to me now not to study and read it everyday. I'm still working on it and I am sure it will never come easy to study my scriptures daily, especially with a one year old screaming at me and a four year old who almost never stops talking. But I know how important it is and I make it a priority. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the role it plays in my life.