My religion is showing!

Alright, every once in a while the virtual soap box upon which I stand on the information superhighway becomes a platform for religious discussion. All my life I’ve been a pretty consistent rule breaker and I’m breaking the politic/religion rule here. I’m not trying to start a war or convert anyone, it’s just that there are some things that are so intimately woven into the fabric of my being that I have to express them, and that’s what this blog is all about.

Everyone knows by now that I’m one of those kooky Mormons. I’ve been growing my hair long to hide my horns and I have sixteen of my wives living secretly in a bunker west of the Great Salt Lake.

And most people know that we Mormons have this extra bit of scripture we call the Book of Mormon. I’ve mentioned it in other blog posts because a lot of what I think about corresponds to its teachings and it has helped shape my philosophy throughout my life. It’s a good book!

But there are some things about its coming forth that are somewhat extraordinary. They don’t prove its authenticity but they are things not to be merely dismissed and taken lightly if one is prone to argue against the truthfulness of the book.

Just to give a very brief synopsis of what the Book of Mormon is: It’s a record of a people who came from Jerusalem during the reign of King Zedekiah around 600 BC. They built a boat and crossed the waters, brought with them records of the ancient prophets, i.e. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Moses, Zenock, Zenos (guess they liked the Z names); some in the Bible and some not but for the most part they had the law of Moses and the writings of the old testament prophets.

This people kept records on plates made of brass and gold and hid them up with prayers to God and a promise from Him to them that the record would come forth in the latter days by simple and small means to bring to pass the work of righteousness for the salvation of their ancestry and the family of men. Joseph Smith, Jr. was the vessel directed by God’s hand to bring this record to light in these, the last days.

Here is a list of many factoids concerning the Book of Mormon and its translator, Joseph Smith, Jr.

1. He was between 23 and 24 years of age
2. He had only three years of formal schooling
3. The book contains 239 chapters; 54 of them about wars, 21 about history, 55 about prophecy, 71 about doctrines, 17 about missionaries, and 21 about the mission of Christ
4. The book contains the history of two separate nations, along with histories of different contemporary nations and groups of people
5. It describes in detail the religious, economic, social and political cultures and institutions of these two nations.
6. The book covers a period over 1000 years of history and was written in approximately 80 days
7. Since it was finished there have been no major contextual changes, only grammatical corrections
8. There is a challenge to the reader at the end of the book concerning its authenticity and truth: “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask of God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, He will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost”
9. Millions of people have testified that they know the book to be true and correct because they put the challenge to the test
10. Many great men, intellectual giants and scholars have subscribed discipleship to the record and its movement even to giving their very lives
11. The descriptions of the cultures in the civilizations spoken of in the book were not known when it was published but have since been discovered to exist exactly as described
12. There are no contradictions within the book or with the words of the Holy Bible
13. Many of the facts, ideas, and statements given in the record were in direct opposition with the prevailing beliefs of the world at the time it was published
14. The translator invited the ablest scholars and experts to examine the text with care. He made great efforts to see that the book got into the hands of all those most eager to prove it a forgery
15. Thorough investigation, scientific evidence and archaeological discoveries for the next 180 years have verified the claims and proven many of the details in the book
16. After 180 years of extensive analysis, not one claim or fact in the book has been disproved
17. The translator, Joseph Smith, Jr., after suffering persecutions and revilement for 20 years after finishing the translation died as a martyr at the hands of evil men for his testimony that it is a true record given to us from God

You can read it online –> here

(some images used without permission)