The Sociopolitical Message of the Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is truly an amazing book. Within its pages is the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith taught that the Book of Mormon is the "most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book" (TPJS, 194). That statement alone should be motivation enough to encourage serious study of the book, yet Joseph wasn't alone in reinforcing the importance of this book. Prophets both ancient and modern, as well as the Lord himself have testified of the importance of this work.

For instance, on one occasion the Lord stated that,

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.

And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.

And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written— (D&C 84:54-57)

It is interesting that the Lord states we are under condemnation, not necessarily because we have trouble talking about the Book of Mormon, but because we seem to struggle actually doing what it teaches. In my opinion this difficulty in doing stems primarily from two prevalent attitudes. First, we tend to liken all the positive teachings to ourselves and liken all the warnings and corrections to those outside of the Church. Second, I feel that sometimes we view the Book of Mormon simply as a collection of spiritual stories or a historical record whose teachings bear merely a vague, symbolic relation to ourselves. If we view the Book of Mormon in this light and fail to see the very real application that its teachings can have in our lives, we miss out on one of the greatest benefits that this book has to offer.

One of the keys to understanding the Book of Mormon is to realize that it was written for our day. It was meant to be interpreted in the context of latter day events.  President Benson explained it this way:

The second great reason why we must make the Book of Mormon a center focus of study is that it was written for our day. The Nephites never had the book; neither did the Lamanites of ancient times. It was meant for us. Mormon wrote near the end of the Nephite civilization. Under the inspiration of God, who sees all things from the beginning, he abridged centuries of records, choosing the stories, speeches, and events that would be most helpful to us.

Each of the major writers of the Book of Mormon testified that he wrote for future generations.

He continues with this wonderful explanation of all we have to gain from studying the Book of Mormon:

If they saw our day and chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, “Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (or Moroni or Alma) to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age?”

And there is example after example of how that question will be answered. For example, in the Book of Mormon we find a pattern for preparing for the Second Coming. A major portion of the book centers on the few decades just prior to Christ’s coming to America. By careful study of that time period, we can determine why some were destroyed in the terrible judgments that preceded His coming and what brought others to stand at the temple in the land of Bountiful and thrust their hands into the wounds of His hands and feet.

From the Book of Mormon we learn how disciples of Christ live in times of war. From the Book of Mormon we see the evils of secret combinations portrayed in graphic and chilling reality. In the Book of Mormon we find lessons for dealing with persecution and apostasy. We learn much about how to do missionary work. And more than anywhere else, we see in the Book of Mormon the dangers of materialism and setting our hearts on the things of the world. Can anyone doubt that this book was meant for us and that in it we find great power, great comfort, and great protection?

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How to prepare for the Second Coming, how to live in times of war and instability, how to recognize and defeat secret combinations, how to deal with persecution and apostasy, how to overcome materialism......no wonder we are so strongly encouraged to study this work. The Book of Mormon presents real solutions to all of the most serious problems plaguing us in these latter days. As President Hinckley said, it is as current as the morning newspaper.

It is clear that President Benson supported a very practical application of the Book of Mormon to not only our spiritual concerns, but our temporal concerns as well.  In fact, we find him on another occasion teaching that,

We have not been using the Book of Mormon as we should. Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it to bring our children to Christ. Our families may be corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the book to expose and combat the falsehoods in socialism, organic evolution, rationalism, humanism and so forth........And our nation will continue to degenerate unless we read and heed the words of the God of this land, Jesus Christ, and quit building up and upholding the secret combinations which the Book of Mormon tells us proved the downfall of both previous American civilizations. (A witness and a Warning, p.6)

Yes the Book of Mormon is meant to bring us to Christ, but it is also meant to serve as our main weapon in combating the social and political evils of our time.The fact that such social and political messages were included by Mormon and Moroni in their inspired compilation should give us pause.  The inclusion of such material is an indication that they knew we would live in a time of great confusion, a time when even the very elect would be deceived without the judicious use of the Book of Mormon. In fact, Moroni gives us one of the most strongly worded rebukes in all scripture due to our failure to heed the message.  He states,

Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.

And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.

For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.

O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?

Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?

Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads?

Behold, the sword of vengeance hangeth over you; and the time soon cometh that he avengeth the blood of the saints upon you, for he will not suffer their cries any longer. (Mormon 8:35-41)

He saw our day.  He saw the secret combinations we would build up for gain. He witnessed our ascension in the pride cycle and testified that the sword of vengeance would hang over our heads. The good news is however, that we can avert the impending crisis foreseen by Moroni if we will just use the Book of Mormon to understand and combat these evils.

In the coming weeks and months in the politics 101 feature, we will use the Book of Mormon as a basis of study for some of the very dangers foreseen by Moroni and discussed by ancient and modern prophets. It is my hope that such a study will arm us against the doubt and confusion the adversary hopes to instill in our hearts.