Dec 30, 2019
Curriculum from Come Follow Me for 2020: The Book of Mormon
For some time I’ve been keeping a journal, using Evernote, to record my day-to-day activities, thoughts and events. During the past couple of months (Oct – Dec 2019) I haven’t been particularly diligent in keeping that journal. The lack of diligence has not been due to lack of desire; instead, it’s because it has gotten rather mundane. I will continue to keep track of significant things in that journal, though it may take a slightly different format. In this present journal, I intend to record thoughts and feelings that I hope will be of some importance in the future to my posterity. I plan to record callings, insights that come from temple worship, scripture study, sacrament and other meetings, etc. I will focus, to a great degree, on inspiration and thoughts that come from following the “Come Follow Me” curriculum and study of the Book of Mormon. Most of the entries in this notebook will be specifically from Come Follow Me, but I expect that there will be a few others as a result of outside studies of conference talks, scriptures, and other sources.
Jan 1, 2020
Introductory pages of the Book of Mormon
I’ve known for a long time that Moroni wrote the Title Page for the Book of Mormon, and I have read that Title Page just about every time I’ve read the Book of Mormon. According to the title page, the main target audience for the Book of Mormon is the Lamanites, but the Jews and Gentiles are also included. The Book of Mormon is written so that the Lamanites, who are of the house of Israel, will know of the covenants of the Lord to them and that they are not forgotten. The Lord will keep His covenants with them.
The introductory pages of the Book of Mormon include the testimony of the eight witnesses and of the three witnesses. That’s a total of eleven witnesses. I remember being in the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris with Christy and Vicki and seeing a mosaic of the Savior’s passion. It struck me that Jesus entered the garden with his eleven apostles (Judas was not with them). He had eight of the apostles wait while He went forward with the other three, Peter, James and John. All eleven of the apostles were witnesses to the Atonement, but Peter, James and John must have had a closer look and seen the angel. All of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon saw the plates, but the three also had the opportunity to see an angel. To me, the parallel is significant. Eight witnesses and three witnesses were present at the Atonement. Eight witnesses and three witnesses were present at the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
Today is Wednesday, January 1st, 2020. President Nelson has just invited us to share the message of the restoration of the gospel and to prepare for this year to be a “hinge point.” In his message today, Pres Nelson invited us to reread the account of the First Vision recorded in the Pearl of Great Price. Pres Nelson told us during last October’s conference that the April conference of this year will be different from any church conference we have ever experienced, and that to prepare for it we should be familiar with the First Vision. The First Vision holds a special place in my heart. When I was a teenager, I visited various churches looking for answers to questions and trying to find a church that had doctrines that I could believe. When I started college I had mostly given up on my quest and settled back into the Presbyterian church. Little did I know that within a couple of days of enrolling in the Church College of Hawaii I would find what I had been seeking. I read Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision and immediately knew it was true. Now, fifty-five years later, I still know it’s true. The Spirit witnessed to me so powerfully in 1964 that I have never been able to doubt it. If Joseph Smith received a vision, then I was right: revelation had not stopped with the ancient apostles, even though that is what I had been taught in my youth. When I read about the First Vision, I knew I was at a hinge point in my life. I knew almost nothing of the Book of Mormon, but I knew it came from a prophet of God. I don’t even want to imagine what my life would have been if I had not had that experience. The First Vision happened. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. Joseph Smith was a prophet. Russell M Nelson is a prophet today. The sealing ordinances of the temple are binding for all eternity. I know these things are true, and I am eternally grateful.