Witnesses of the Book of Mormon (6/1/14)

JFS Manual, Chapter 9

Because of the Relief Society's 1st-Sunday Visiting Teaching Conference, many of our quorum members had to go down to Primary and Nursery to spell the sisters from their normal assignments and free them up to attend their all-hands conference.  This meant that attendance in our quorum was poor; though the lesson itself was rich.

Andrew taught from the Joseph Fielding Smith manual.  Before commencing the formal lesson, however, he opened up the class for the sharing of any spiritual experiences that any of the quorum members might have had in the past week.  One class member, John, shared an experience about feeling inspired to suddenly call his father on Friday which somehow culminated in him doing temple work for his great great grandfather on Saturday; a day he described as, "one of the most spiritual days of my life."  Andrew then went on to encourage us all, in what has become his broken-record mantra, "I know the Lord is blessing you guys with spiritual experiences, and I invite you to write them down cause I know you're having them."

In diving in to the lesson we covered the background of the 3 witnesses and then the 8 witnesses of the Book of Mormon; men who were permitted to see and touch the gold plates, and who, though in many cases took issue with Joseph Smith and/or the Church, continued to affirm their witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

The 8 Witnesses

We then discussed what it means to be a witness and how one comes to 'know' a thing.  The method of trial-and-error was put forth as one way we can know, and the corresponding example of touching a hot stove to learn that it's hot was discussed.  From that, Andrew shared a neat experience of an incident on his mission in France when a man asked him to prove to him why he, Andrew, could say that he "knows" so many things (e.g. God lives, Jesus died for us, etc.).  In his best French, he shared the analogy of the wind.  He asked the man if he had ever seen the wind, to which the man admitted he hadn't; he had only seen the manifestations of the wind.  Andrew explained that this is like the principles of the gospel.  When we test our faith we often receive blessings, or we hear someone else testify of a principle, or we receive an answer to prayer, etc.  These instances are like the leaf blowing on the tree or the water rippling -- manifestations of a greater power at play.  It was noted, however, that the Book of Mormon is unique because it is not the wind, it is the hot stove.  It physically exists.  Though we don't have the fortune of handling the original gold plates we can read the divinely translated copy, and we can put Moroni's promise (Moroni 10:3-5) to the test and learn for ourselves that it is true.  As the prophet Joseph Fielding Smith said in 1956,

“I bear witness to you that the Lord has made it very clear to me by revelation which I have received, and many of you who are here present can bear witness likewise, that these things are true, and that is the privilege of any sincere person who will endeavor to read with a prayerful spirit and a desire to know whether the book is true or not; and he will receive that testimony according to the promise that was made by Moroni, who sealed the record to come forth in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.”

The missionaries, Elder Gustafson and Elder Black, were then invited up to demonstrate the typical way in which they share the story of the Book of Mormon with investigators.  They showed us the painting of Moroni praying over the plates before burying them around 420 A.D. in the hopes that they would be found by some future generation -- basically a message in a bottle.  They asked us to ponder what words Moroni might have said as he prayed over these plates and over the future generations that would read them.  They invited us to note the specifics of Moroni's promise in chapter 10 (e.g. remember the kindness of the Lord, ponder the words of the book, ask with faith, demonstrate real intent, etc.) and gain (or reaffirm) our own witness of this divine testament of Jesus Christ.