Testimony Tuesday

Sorry, I'm a sucker for a catchy alliterative title. I like to hear (or read) others testimonies. It strengthens my own. So when Rob suggested a weekly testimony post here, I took his advice. I've read quite a few, and it's hard to pick just one, but I thought that this one went well with President Boyer's challenge to focus on the Savior in the Book of Mormon this year. Here's an excerpt. Click on the link for the full article.

A Testimony of the Book of Mormon

Elder Russell M. Nelson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

When you read the Book of Mormon, concentrate on the principal figure in the book—from its first chapter to the last—the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not long after my call to serve as one of the Twelve Apostles, I was summoned to the office of the President of our Quorum, President Ezra Taft Benson. He expressed deep concern that members of the Church did not fully appreciate the value of the Book of Mormon. With emotion in his voice, he read to me from the 84th section of the Doctrine and Covenants:

“Your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—

“Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.”

By that time, President Benson had completely captured my attention. He then concluded his admonition:

“And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon.”

I shall never forget that lesson. Since then, President Howard W. Hunter, President Gordon B. Hinckley, and many other leaders of the Church have continued to extol the Book of Mormon to people throughout the world.

I would like to add my testimony of the divinity of this book. I have read it many times. I have also read much that has been written about it. Some authors have focused upon its stories, its people, or its vignettes of history. Others have been intrigued by its language structure or its records of weapons, geography, animal life, techniques of building, or systems of weights and measures.

Interesting as these matters may be, study of the Book of Mormon is most rewarding when one focuses on its primary purpose—to testify of Jesus Christ. By comparison, all other issues are incidental.

When you read the Book of Mormon, concentrate on the principal figure in the book—from its first chapter to the last—the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God.