The Book of Mormon Brings Men Unto Christ

In a talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, he said:

Along with other General Authorities, I have a clear recollection of the General Authority temple meeting on March 5, 1987. For a year President Benson had been stressing the reading of the Book of Mormon. Repeatedly he had quoted these verses from the Doctrine and Covenants, including the Lords statement that the Saints conduct had "brought the whole church under condemnation" (D&C 84:55).

In that temple meeting, President Benson reread those statements and declared, "This condemnation has not been lifted, nor will it be until we repent" (remarks by President Ezra Taft Benson, General Authority Temple Meeting, Thursday, 5 March 1987). He also repeated his declaration of a year earlier that, in our day, the Lord has inspired his servant to reemphasize the Book of Mormon to get the Church out from under condemnation (see Ensign, May 1986, p. 78).

Along with others, I felt the impact of this declaration of condemnation. As I studied the subject, I was relieved to find that the serious consequences of this condemnation need not be permanent. The use of this term elsewhere in modem revelation suggests that it refers to a punishment or a penalty, not to a permanent banishment (e.g., D&C 82:3). In fact, the words President Benson quoted invite the Saints to repent of their deficiencies so the condemnation can be removed.

To understand why President Benson has exhorted us to reemphasize the Book of Mormon and why this is necessary to remove us from condemnation, we need to remember the major theme of that book.

In his many messages about the Book of Mormon, President Benson has taught us that the major significance of the Book of Mormon is its witness of Jesus Christ as the Only Begotten Son of God the Eternal Father, who redeems and saves us from death and sin. Of related and equal importance is its explanation of our Saviors atonement, which is the most fundamental doctrine of our faith.

In his conference address in October 1981, President Benson emphasized that the "major purpose" of the record that became the Book of Mormon "is to convince a later generation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" ("Joseph Smith: Prophet to Our Generation," Ensign, November 1981, p. 61). Two years after he became President of the Church, he repeated that characterization in a marvelous talk titled "Come unto Christ." There he declared that "the major mission of the Book of Mormon . . . is 'to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ'" (Ensign, November 1987, p. 83).

In the General Authority meeting I mentioned earlier, President Benson distributed some materials to assist us in carrying his Book of Mormon message throughout the world. Included in that distribution were copies of the talk he gave in the 1975 April conference, titled "The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God." I underlined these words from that important talk:

"Now, 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. . . . Social, ethical, cultural, or educational converts will not survive under the heat of the day unless their taproots go down to the fulness of the gospel which the Book of Mormon contains." ("The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God," Ensign, May 1975, p. 65)

In my opinion, one of the principal reasons our Heavenly Father had his prophet direct us into a more intensive study of the Book of Mormon is to help us counteract this modem tendency to try to diminish the divinity and mission of our Savior.

Are we as Latter-day Saints doing what we should to counteract this modem trend? Are we aware that our knowledge and testimony of the literal divinity, resurrection, and atonement of Jesus Christ are more distinctive and more needed with each passing year?

I suggest that many Latter-day Saints are not yet aware of our unique position and our special responsibilities to testify of Christ. I suggest that we are not yet doing all we should. I believe this is a sufficient explanation for the condemnation President Benson described and the call to repentance he issued. Here are some illustrations.

A few years ago I received a letter from a man who said he had attended an LDS testimony meeting and listened to seventeen testimonies without hearing the Savior mentioned or referred to in any way. He also wrote that the following Sunday he listened to a priesthood lesson, a Gospel Doctrine lesson, and seven sacrament meeting speakers without hearing any reference to Jesus Christ (see "Witnesses of Christ," Ensign, November 1990, p. 30). Some may have considered that report an exaggeration or an extreme case. The similar accounts I have received in subsequent letters persuade me that this was not an isolated experience. In too many of our classes, in too many of our worship services, we are not teaching of Christ and testifying of Christ in the way we should. This is one way we are failing to "remember the new covenant."

To cite another example, I believe that for a time and until recently our public talks and our literature were deficient in the frequency and depth with which they explained and rejoiced in those doctrinal subjects most closely related to the atonement of the Savior. A prominent gospel scholar saw this deficiency in our church periodicals published in a twenty-three year period ending in 1983 (Daniel H. Ludlow observation, cited in Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 19891, pp. 3-4). I saw this same deficiency when I reviewed the subjects of general conference addresses during the decade ending in the mid-1980s.

Another illustration is provided by some Latter-day Saint funerals. I attend some funerals and hear reports of many others. Worthy tributes to the deceased are appropriate and so are family memories. But such matters must not dominate an LDS funeral service to the exclusion or neglect of those gospel truths that review the purpose of life and testify of our Creator and Redeemer. At a funeral service-- of all places--we must not neglect to testify of him whose gospel gives meaning and purpose to life and whose resurrection and atonement give hope for the deceased and comfort to the bereaved. Yet I know of some LDS funerals in which there was no mention of the Resurrection and no mention of the Savior. Isn't this an example of "treat[ing] lightly the things [we] have received"? Isn't this another cause for some of us to "repent and remember the new covenant"?

(From, "Another Testament of Jesus Christ," Ensign, Mar. 1994, 60-64)

President Ezra Taft Benson taught:

"The Book of Mormon brings men to Christ through two basic means. First, it tells in a plain manner of Christ and His gospel. It testifies of His divinity and of the necessity for a Redeemer and the need of our putting trust in Him. It bears witness of the Fall and the Atonement and the first principles of the gospel, including our need of a broken heart and a contrite spirit and a spiritual rebirth. It proclaims we must endure to the end in righteousness and live the moral life of a Saint.
 

"Second, the Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ. It confounds false doctrines and lays down contention. (See 2 Ne. 3:12.) It fortifies the humble followers of Christ against the evil designs, strategies, and doctrines of the devil in our day. The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today. God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time." 

(From "The Book of Mormon is the Word of God" Ensign , Jan, 1988, p. 3)