This book is by a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which I will in the future call the LDS Church or LDS.
This book is not endorsed by the LDS Church nor does it represent official viewpoints thereof.
Faith is when you realize something is wrong, you suspend believing in what is unnecessary, you look for your new concept, and you discover a better explanation. If you want to know that the Book of Mormon is true, try Book of Mormon Central or Evidence Central . Or you can just examine the Book of Mormon with me, verse by verse. (From an orthodox LDS perspective). You can follow along in the Book of Mormon at scriptures.lds.org .
Words of Mormon
Words of Mormon 1:1 – We go straight to the end of the Nephites.
Words of Mormon1: 2 – He hopes Moroni can add a few choice words at the end of their history.
Words of Mormon 1:3 – He found what we have so far.
Words of Mormon 1:4 – “And the things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ; and my fathers knowing that many of them have been fulfilled; yea, and I also know that as many things as have been prophecied concerning us down to this day have been fulfilled, and as many as go beyond this day must surely come to pass” Yet Moroni knew the usefulness of the coming of Christ; so since these plates talked about it and preceded it, he included them.
Words of Mormon 1:5 – “and I cannot write the hundreth part of the things of my people.” This is only a hundredth part of what he could write.
Words of Mormon 1:6 – He put the two sets of plates together. He didn’t know what would happen yet either.
Words of Mormon 1:7 – “And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.” He even knows that it is for a purpose of the Lord which he doesn’t comprehend.
Words of Mormon 1:8 – “And my prayer to God is concerning my brethren, that they may once again come to the knowledge of God, yea, the redemption of Christ; that they may once again be a delightsome people.” He considers the Lamanites his brothers. That is what Jesus Christ taught later in the Book of Mormon.
Words of Mormon 1:9 – There will just be a few last words.
Words of Mormon 1:10 – “Wherefore, it came to pass that after Amaleki had delivered up these plates into the hands of king Benjamin, he took them and put them with the other plates, which contained records which had been handed down by the kings, from generation to generation until the days of king Benjamin.” Benjamin had both sets of plates.
Words of Mormon 1:11 – “And I know that they will be preserved; for there are great things written upon them, out of which my people and their brethren shall be judged at the great and last day, according to the word of God which is written.” The Lord has a purpose for the ancient Americas; it is to help modern people around the world.
Words of Mormon 1:12 – “And now, concerning this king Benjamin—he had somewhat of contentions among his own people.” OK King Benjamin was doing pretty good then!
Words of Mormon 1:13 – “But behold, king Benjamin gathered together his armies, and he did stand against them; and he did fight with the strength of his own arm, with the sword of Laban.” That’s a good leader that heads the battle.
Words of Mormon 1:14 – “And in the strength of the Lord they did contend against their enemies, until they had slain many thousands of the Lamanites. And it came to pass that they did contend against the Lamanites until they had driven them out of all the lands of their inheritance.” Where was the land of their inheritance? I thought it was the whole land. Maybe the Nephites spread through the Lamanite land and then the Lamanites went further out.
Words of Mormon 1:15 – “And it came to pass that after there had been false Christs, and their mouths had been shut, and they punished according to their crimes;” False Christs had their mouths shut and were criminals. These are two reasons they weren’t real Christs.
Words of Mormon 1:16 – “And after there had been false prophets, and false preachers and teachers among the people, and all these having been punished according to their crimes; and after there having been much contention and many dissensions away unto the Lamanites, behold, it came to pass that king Benjamin, with the assistance of the holy prophets who were among his people” There were false preachers and teachers too and many deserted to the Lamanites.
Words of Mormon 1:17 – “For behold, king Benjamin was a holy man, and he did reign over his people in righteousness; and there were many holy men in the land, and they did speak the word of God with power and with authority; and they did use much sharpness because of the stiffneckedness of the people” King Benjamin was holy; and they used great preaching for people who didn’t want to change.
Words of Mormon 1:18 – “Wherefore, with the help of these, king Benjamin, by laboring with all the might of his body and the faculty of his whole soul, and also the prophets, did once more establish peace in the land.” It worked! They established peace!