This list was obtained from a blog post over at Gently Hew Stone.
The first impression I got was to scrutinize the list but it appears that these were very wisely chosen. I did something similar back in the mission field where I created a pamphlet that summarized each book in the Book of Mormon.
It’s very interesting through exercises like these to observe how Christ-centered the Book of Mormon is. I really like this version where particular scriptures sum up entire books of the Book of Mormon though so here it is.
1 Nephi “And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.” 1:20
2 Nephi “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 25:26
Jacob “Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.” 2:35
Enos “And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.” 1:4
Jarom “Wherefore, the prophets, and the priests, and the teachers, did labor diligently, exhorting with all long-suffering the people to diligence; teaching the law of Moses, and the intent for which it was given; persuading them to look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was. And after this manner did they teach them.” 1:11
Omni “And it came to pass that he did according as the Lord had commanded him. And they departed out of the land into the wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord; and they were led by many preachings and prophesyings. And they were admonished continually by the word of God; and they were led by the power of his arm, through the wilderness until they came down into the land which is called the land of Zarahemla.” 1:13
Words of Mormon “And it is many hundred years after the coming of Christ that I deliver these records into the hands of my son; and it supposeth me that he will witness the entire destruction of my people. But may God grant that he may survive them, that he may write somewhat concerning them, and somewhat concerning Christ, that perhaps some day it may profit them.” 1:2
Mosiah “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” 3:19
Alma “And this he did that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them.” 4:19
Helaman “Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.” 12:2
3 Nephi “Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do.” 27:21
4 Nephi “There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.” 1:17
Mormon “O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you!” 6:17
Ether “For he did cry from the morning, even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed, saying unto them that by faith all things are fulfilled.” 12:3
Moroni “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.” 10:32
What do you think?
- What scriptures would you substitute for the ones provided and why?
- Which ones do you think are the best representations of the books?
22 Comments
Good Day Brethren
By God’s grace Im falling in love.. Especially, Moroni 10:32. Very interesting to read the book of Moroni and the history. Prophet Joseph Smith but even beyond.. A Seer of our Lord. Hallelujah His grace is sufficient for my weakness than I am strong.
Great idea and I love all the selections..I particularly love the emphasis on the Savior..The Book of Mormon is truly a testament of Jesus Christ..I will copy and print these for reference when I feel down or discouraged..A reminder of what this life is all about
I want to post, but the allusion to the Jews in 1 NE gives me pause. I get it, but others might see it as negatively representing the Jewish faith. Love this, though.
Loved this conversation! Loved the synopsis. We know there are always dissenters, but truth will be known in the end, and …Behold it comes quickly!!
For several years now I have been reading five chapters a day in the Book of Mormon. When I finish it I open it to the first page and start over. The chapters shown here are acceptable. Each person has their own ideas of how they will “INTERPRET” these readings.. Please don’t read things into this that is not there. This is the most accurate Book of Scriptures we have from our Heavenly Father. When we put our INTERPRETATION into the scriptures it then becomes corrupted. Remember these are the most accurate scriptures we have.
Great idea! I love the short summary, and those that have read the whole book will understand. Today I was particularly impressed with the verse chosen from Helaman which I think perfectly describes our condition today in the USA. Then the following verses which show us how to correct that through the gospel of Jesus Christ. But then we see that not all will do that, but there is hope to reach as many as we can to come unto Christ.
This isn’t the exact list I’d choose but I love the idea and love many of the verses here. I like the idea of choosing a dozen verses from the Book of Mormon that teach us about God’s interaction with man, or a dozen that teach about the Atonement, etc. That would be a fun way to study.
Excellent verses. The one I would have put for Jacob would have been Jacob 4:12 “And now, beloved, marvel not that I tell you these things; for why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him, as to attain to the knowledge of a resurrection and the world to come?”
yes, I like that substitution. It would apply to all individuals, not just those who are married. And it focuses on Christ and HIs mission which is what this book is about.
I will pray that your eyes and heart will be enlightened by God’s Holy Spirit. Most, if not all of your examples are not Scripture. The Book of Mormon is no more inspired than the Saturday evening Post.
Love & Prayers,
Pastor Gary
And I pray that you will understand that your efforts to tear down others faith is evidence of the lack of your own faith in Christ. Nothing you could ever say about the Book of Mormon could ever negate the truth of it, God as my witness of it.
I am sorry you feel that way Paul. I am sure there is nothing I can say that will change your mind. If fact that is the task of the Holy Spirit and not mine. I Will simply continue to pray for you and hope you will do the same for me. In the end we will find out and be held accountable for our beliefs. I have looked into your beliefs with an open mind, but was left with the same opinion as before. I respect you as a person of God’s creation, but remained convinced that you are misguided in your beliefs.
Because of His Grace,
Gary
Great selections! I would have included 3 Nephi 11:10, but not sure which verse I’d replace
Good grief. So the very first book teaches to hate Jews. The VERY FIRST sentence is to castigate another, living group of people who practice a separate religion from Mormons.. Judaism.. the very same religion Jesus practiced. Terrific. A basic tenet . Hate others. And no one sees anything wrong in this?
Hi, Diva. I do see something wrong here but it has to do with your interpretation. Please don’t take my comments as an attack because I do not intend for them to be. I would actually like to provide you with an explanation that I think will be helpful to you. I appreciate your comment here on my personal study blog and hope that our exchange can be informative to yourself and others.
Based on your conclusion, I doesn’t seem that you are very familiar with the Book of Mormon text as a whole. The Jews are mentioned heavily in the Book of Mormon and while their apostasy at the time that Lehi left Jerusalem is mentioned in that first verse, Nephi quotes heavily from numerous chapters of Isaiah along with other prophets and teach how God will fulfill his covenants to them which is the central theme of the entire book. Never once, not ever in the book does it teach hatred toward another people. In fact, the direct opposite is taught on many, many occasions.
There are many instances where the “good people” in the Book of Mormon want to kill and destroy their enemies but a few righteous people risk their lives to go and reach out to them. The “good people” in the Book of Mormon are actually destroyed as a nation BECAUSE they committed an offensive attack against their enemies instead of acting out of defense.
Consider 2 Nephi 29:5 which was written by the same person who wrote the first verse in the list that you were originally commenting on, he wrote this as well:
“O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people.”
I encourage you to read the whole book in context for a more complete understanding. This list is simply an attempt to find a single verse the summarizes the main theme of a particular book. The verse you were commenting on isn’t about hatred for the Jews. The writer’s father, Lehi, went to preach to them after praying for them and being commanded by God to flee for his life because they were going to kill him. On a whole, they were in a state of wickedness and were invaded and taken captive into Babylon. This is a fact that is recorded in the Bible by the way. Lehi’s family is a case in deliverance, and these are not Gentiles by the way, these are also Israelites from the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. They avoid capture and are taken to a promised land but after much hardship. Along this journey they talk a lot about the Jews because they are their people and are concerned about them. They learn about God’s plan to restore them to their lands and fulfill his covenants despite this period of wickedness, that they will repent and return.
This is why there is so much misunderstanding in the world, people jump to conclusions that are laden with confirmation bias. I’ve done the same thing myself and I have tried over the years to seek first to understand.
Many people hate Muslims and their religion, but I’ve learned about them, I’ve attended a Mosque and I own a Koran which I read and mark. I’m not a Muslim but there is much that I appreciate about them and I have corrected many people on their misinterpretations of the Koran but only because I have read and understand the verses in question.
The Jews are a very important people to Latter-day Saints (who are technically considered to be among the Gentiles). The Jews, the lost tribes, and others that were scattered such as the entire populations of people in the Book of Mormon, who are all Israelites, are God’s covenant people and the entire book is written for them.
The title page of the Book of Mormon written somewhere around 400 A.D. by the last contributor says this about the book:
“Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel; and also to Jew and Gentile…to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations…”
That is the main purpose of the book, it is primarily written to a specific branch of the house of Israel and also to Jews and Gentiles. So why would the book teach hatred toward the Jews? To say that we teach hatred as a basic tenet is completely false. I have never been taught to hate another, I have never read anything in the Book of Mormon that teaches hatred (quite the opposite), and if hatred was ever taught, I would condemn it with the strongest language I could manage.
Hi all. I love this. I have read the Book of Mormon repeatedly and always found something new,but I never found that I hated the Jews. There are the Gadianton robbers that I am not to fond of nor that if you look at society around the world they still exsist. I read it and notice the history,I feel the Spirit testify of the true validity of the Book of Mormon. It was written for our day and uou can see comparisons everywhere. I am so grateful for Christ coming to the Americas and to find out there are even more sheep. I thank whoever started this as it is wonderful to speak of the truth.
“One Diva” that sums up your comment perfectly.
Lovely selection! Thank you for sharing. I think I’ll make a scripture chain with these!
Love this!
Our answers by Heavenly father!!!
Good Day Brethren
By God’s grace Im falling in love.. Especially, Moroni 10:32. Very interesting to read the book of Moroni and the history. Prophet Joseph Smith but even beyond.. A Seer of our Lord. Hallelujah His grace is sufficient for my weakness than I am strong.
This is truly the word of God.