Here are some of my notes from last month’s study of the Book of Mormon. You may have noticed that my scripture projects are always evolving. This last complete reading of the Book of Mormon, I chose to focus on four topics and write down references and quotes related to each. I chose the following topics: faith, prayer, family challenges, and the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Of the four topics, the biggest number of references were about the atonement. I wrote 11 pages of notes about it. The other topics supplied 6 pages of notes each.
Here are a few basic things I gained from this exercise of seeking deeply by topic:
- The Book of Mormon is what it claims to be: another [powerful] testament of Jesus Christ. There were nearly twice as many references about the atonement compared to the other topics I studied.
- Abinadi is my new favorite Book of Mormon prophet because his message is so heavily centered on Jesus Christ. I wrote more of his words (and his Messianic quotes from Isaiah) under the topic of “atonement” than any other Book of Mormon prophet.
- There are no ideal families in the Book of Mormon. What I found in Book of Mormon families was sometimes heartbreaking, but I focused on what parents did in response to the challenges. This was so helpful.
- A common word used to describe how to pray is “pour”, e.g. we need to pour out our souls in prayer. The meaning of this grows as I ponder this simple word.
- I saw that acts of faith always brought miracles, and always required incredible courage. Miraculous outcomes do not always manifest themselves as immediate physical protection. I need to embrace this concept.
These ideas seem simple and basic, but that’s how it is with profound things. Truth is simple. It’s deep, but discernable. I am learning to love the Book of Mormon this year more than I have before.