Throughout my time growing up, I have been asked several times what the purpose of the Book of Mormon is and why it is important in my life and in the lives of others. In fact, I have asked myself that several time because it is something that is hard to understand sometimes. The standard response to this question that people often give is "The Book of Mormon is there as a second witness of Jesus Christ to the bible" without explaining more to that. As you may imagine, being a second witness would imply that it reflects and expands the teachings that the bible and other resources would have and that is something that I have been focusing on lately in my studies. The Book of Mormon helps us better understand the complete purpose of Christ's life while also giving examples of people who violated these teachings. It helps us understand the issues of our day and apply this to our lives by understanding the circumstances that the people in the Book of Mormon faced while also giving clear examples of people who dealt with these issues and grew closer to Christ.
Throughout the Book of Mormon, the love that Jesus Christ has for His children is very apparent. Nowhere is this more apparent than when He was visiting the Nephites after the resurrection. In 3 Nephi chapter 17, it reads:
7 Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.
8 For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you.
9 And
it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with
one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their
lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that
were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they
were brought forth unto him.
10 And
they did all, both they who had been healed and they who were whole,
bow down at his feet, and did worship him; and as many as could come for
the multitude did kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears.
12 So
they brought their little children and set them down upon the ground
round about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; and the multitude gave
way till they had all been brought unto him.
Sorry for such a long quote, but I could not think of one, other than ones referring to His atonement, that testifies to the same extent as this specific one the love that Jesus has for everyone. When he was about to leave the people, he was overcome with compassion and decided to stay among them longer so that they could see him close up and learn more from him than they otherwise would have. It probably would have taken quite a while for everybody to see him, but he had the love and the patience to let everybody see him. Because Christ showed himself to a people that was not just in the Old World, the Book of Mormon is a second witness of his love and of his teachings to everybody and not just the people he was in contact with during his mortal life.
The Book of Mormon is full of examples that pertain to our own day of people who rejected Christ's teachings and the results of this. The story of Korihor is one such story that is in the Book of Mormon that is of a man who taught that there is no God. After a discussion with Alma, Korihor lost the ability to speak. In the September1977 ensign, an article examining Korihor's arguments, written by Chauncey C. Riddle, is portrayed. part of it reads as:
"Korihor took what might be called a philosophical approach to destroying
faith in our Savior an approach remarkably similar to that taken by
many persons today in semiphilosophical attempts to “relieve” believers
of what they are pleased to call their “naivete.” His arguments could
not hurt those whose belief was born of genuine spiritual experience,
but they were powerfully effective among those weak in the faith whose
belief had not yet gone beyond words."
(https://www.lds.org/ensign/1977/09/korihor-the-arguments-of-apostasy?lang=eng)
The arguments that Korihor used against the Church are often used today by those who appose the teachings. For example, many people say things like "Well, I have never seen Jesus Christ myself so I cannot know he exists" or "Well, there is no empirical evidence for God's existence so I'll be an atheist." People who are like Korihor are everywhere so this story is definitely applicable to today.
The Book of Mormon also shows us the nature of sin and acts as a warning to us in today's world. By acting in sin, people refuse the support that Christ offers and will suffer in some way because of this. Sin is around us all the time. It leads to death, broken homes, and ruined lives and relationships. The Book of Mormon prophets knew that things like this would happen in today's world, which is why they included passages like Helaman 4: 11-13
11 Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God.
12 And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor,
withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from
the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock
of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of
revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery,
rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of
Nephi, among the Lamanites—
13 And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings
in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore
they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before
the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.
All of these sins and evil the Nephites were committing is everywhere in today's world. People are too full of themselves and forget to care for the poor, or they have contention with their family because they think they're better than them, etc.
I hope that what you can take away from this is that the Book of Mormon is one of the best resources one can use to better understand the challenges the world faces today.
Anyways, I think this post is long enough.
