What We Believe… And Why: The Book of Mormon
Published by the Board of Publications of the Church of Christ
We understand that belief in the Book of Mormon is not a popular belief in modern Christianity. However, popularity is not the standard by which such things should be judged. They need to be judged on simply whether it is true or not. We believe that the Book of Mormon is a divinely inspired true account of God’s interaction with the inhabitants of the American continent.
In order to present our beliefs about the Book of Mormon, it will be helpful to begin with a brief description of the Book of Mormon and what it teaches.
Like the Bible, the Book of Mormon is a “book of books”, fifteen in all, which span a timeframe of about 2600 years. It is the sacred history of three different people groups which migrated to the Americas. The first migration came from the tower of Babel (Genesis 11) in about 2200 BC. Two other migrations of Israelites, one from the tribe of Joseph, came independently from Jerusalem in about 600 BC. This was when the Babylonian Empire defeated the southern kingdom of Judah and took the nation captive into Babylon. The Book of Mormon ends with the destruction of a people called the Nephites in about 420 AD.
The historical and spiritual events experienced by these peoples were recorded by faithful scribes and later compiled into what is now the Book of Mormon. These events climax with the account of the arrival of Jesus Christ among them following His resurrection in Jerusalem. This was in fulfillment of prophecy and Christ’s own words from John 10:16.
The Book of Mormon teaches belief on the Lord Jesus Christ, and acceptance of, and obedience to the gospel of Christ is the only means of salvation. In all of its teaching it is in perfect accord with the Bible, making it an added witness to the divinity of Jesus as the Son of God, the Savior of the world. This fits perfectly with the principle of truth established by witnesses from both the Old (Deuteronomy 19:15) and New Testaments (Matthew 18:16). We get the Bible primarily from the tribe of Judah, while the Book of Mormon is from the tribe of Joseph, and both teach the same doctrine.
The reasons we believe the Book of Mormon is a divinely inspired book of scripture are the same reasons we believe the Bible is divinely inspired scripture. First, there is evidence available to support our belief, second, the Bible and Book of Mormon testify of each other, and third, the testimony of the Holy Spirit. The evidence for both the Bible and Book of Mormon can be broken up into scientific, historical, and prophetic accuracy. This small document can’t address every piece of evidence, but we’ll include a few examples of each.
The Scientific Evidence
The scientific evidences include the Book of Mormon observation about the planets revolving around the sun (Alma 16:54-55, Helaman 4:61-62) which has been corroborated by scientists noting the accuracy of the astronomical calculations of the Maya. Also, the existence of various grains which were previously thought to not exist in the America’s, but which subsequently have been discovered.
Perhaps the best evidence comes from DNA. The Book of Mormon claims that it is a record of a people who were descendants of Joseph and Judah, therefore of Israelite origin. An attempt to disprove the Book of Mormon on the basis of DNA was made several years ago, but upon closer examination actually provides supporting evidence. To quote from National Geographic, “Nearly one-third of Native American genes come from west Eurasian people linked to the Middle East and Europe, rather than entirely from East Asians as previously thought” (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131120-science-native-american-people-migration-siberia-genetics/). Other researchers have observed that among the Cherokee there is a significant genetic link to “the populations of Egypt, Israel and other parts of the East Mediterranean.” (Yates, Donald N., Cherokee DNA Studies: Real People Who Proved the Geneticists Wrong, Panther’s Lodge Publishers, 2014; also https://dnaconsultants.com/cherokee-unlike-other-indians/ ) While this evidence doesn’t “prove” the Book of Mormon, it does support its claims.
The Historical Evidence
The historical evidences of the Book of Mormon are both archeological and historical. The accounts of “the whole face of the land having become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea” (Mormon 1:7) and a period of continual warfare (Mormon 4:10) have now been supported by LIDAR (LIght Detecting And Ranging) (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/maya-laser-lidar-guatemala-pacunam/; https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/03/lasers-reveal-maya-war-ruins/ ).
Archeological findings of cycles of civilization that suddenly appeared in the New World also support what is found in the Book of Mormon. The evidence of what scholars call the Olmec civilization coincides with the Book of Mormon account of the Jaredites. Furthermore, what scholars call the Highland Maya and Lowland Maya coincides with the Book of Mormon account of the cities of Nephi and Zarahemla respectively.
Additional historical evidence is found in the histories and traditions of the inhabitants of the land upon the arrival of the Spanish. Historians found evidence of Christian practices and teachings. These include accounts of a bearded white god who visited the people and promised to return, as well as portions of the Sermon on the Mount (The Conquest of Mexico, William Prescott, p 39, 41). The ordinance of baptism was also known to the occupants of the Yucatan peninsula and even called “to be born anew” prior to the known arrival of Christianity (The Maya, J. Philip O’Hara, Inc., Chicago, 1975).
The Prophetic Accuracy
Evidence for the Book Mormon is also found in the prophetic accuracy of the book. Among many prophecies, the simplest to demonstrate is the prophecy that God would “raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land;” (1 Nephi 7:15; also 3 Nephi 9:65). At the time of the publication of the Book of Mormon the United States was not an international power. It can be said that The US became a regional power after defeating Mexico in 1848, and perhaps an international power when it defeated Spain in 1898. But the United States truly became the most powerful nation on earth after World War 2, more than a hundred years after the publication of the Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon also contains a prophecy that the house of Israel would return to the lands of its inheritance in the Middle East and that they would once again inhabit Jerusalem (3 Nephi 9:85-90). These were fulfilled when Israel became a nation in 1948, and when they regained control of Jerusalem in 1967.
The Bible and Book of Mormon Testify of Each Other
Another reason for our belief in the Book of Mormon is that both the Book of Mormon and Bible testify of each other. The Book of Mormon plainly states that part of its intent is to support the belief in the Bible (Mormon 4: 30-31). It also testifies that the Bible is the true word of God (1 Nephi 3:165-166).
The Bible also speaks prophetically of another book. Isaiah chapter 29 contains a prophecy whose elements are very specific and don’t find fulfillment anywhere else in history. The prophetic elements are: the destruction of Jerusalem (v1-3), the former inhabitants would speak “out of the ground” (v4) meaning after they were dead, the book would contain a revelation of God’s work (v11), part of the book would be sealed (v11), the book would be delivered to a learned man and an unlearned man (v11-12), that God would provide a way for the unlearned man to translate the book (v14), the effect of the book would be that people would say it wasn’t the work of God (v16), the timeframe of the fulfillment of the prophecy (v17), the book would open the ears and eyes of the spiritually deaf and blind, and cause the humble to rejoice (v18-19) and the book would speak to Israel (Jacob) and spiritually restore them to the Holy One of Jacob (Christ) (v22-24). Each of these elements is fulfilled in the manner and time of the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon, it’s effect and purpose.
To dig a little deeper into one of these elements, the timeframe of the fulfillment of the prophecy (v17), it speaks of a time just prior to when “Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest”. The scripture is speaking of Mount Lebanon, not the country. To help pinpoint that timeframe, please consider the following quotes from a relevant scientific journal.
“After 1860, silk on Mount Lebanon had become a monoculture. Close to 80 percent of the cultivable land of Mount Lebanon was covered with mulberry trees, as was a large part of the Bekaa and the coastal area.” (Kais Firro, Silk and Agrarian Changes in Lebanon 1860 – 1914, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 22, No. 2 (May, 1990).link
“In the early part of the 19th century, slightly more than 3.3 million mulberry trees were planted in Mount Lebanon; yet, on the eve of World War I, there were 28 million of those trees in the Mutasarrifiya, with an additional 9 million in the vilayat of Beirut. In other words, mulberry trees increased more than tenfold in the span of eighty years. More significant than the number of trees is the actual area that they occupied within the mountain. The percentage of land that these trees took up increased from about 10 percent to more than 40 percent during the same eighty-year period. With mulberry trees covering so much of the arable land during the last quarter of the 19th century, silk naturally came to play a dominant role in the agricultural economy of Mount Lebanon.” ("House" to "Goddess of the House": Gender, Class, and Silk in 19th-Century Mount Lebanon, Akram Fouad Khater, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Aug., 1996).link
These references show that the timeframe of when the Book of Mormon was first published fits perfectly with the time prophesied in the 29th chapter of Isaiah, thus providing supportive evidence of its validity.
Each of these elements is fulfilled in the manner and time of the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon, it’s effect and purpose.
The Testimony of the Holy Spirit
Finally, we consider the testimony of the Holy Spirit an important consideration with regards to our belief that the Book of Mormon is divinely inspired. Critics of the Book of Mormon like to try to make a point that people should not pray about the Book of Mormon because it’s not wise to make a decision based on “feelings” or because they’ve already decided that it’s wrong so it would be like praying to know whether we should steal our neighbor’s car. This criticism misrepresents the purpose of seeking the direction of the Lord.
The promise referred to comes from the end of the Book of Mormon where the last writer in the Book of Mormon writes,
“Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of 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. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”(Moroni 10:3-5)
Jesus never asked people to believe that He was the Son of God based on blind faith, but instead provided evidence so people could believe based on reasonable faith. The purpose of the miracles He performed were to be evidence of His claim. In fact, in His sermon on the mount, He specifically instructs us to “ask”, “seek” and “knock” with the promise of receiving what we need from our Father in heaven (Matthew 7:7-11). That is part of the role of the Holy Spirit in giving these gifts (1 Corinthians 12). Among the gifts or manifestations of the Spirit are wisdom and knowledge (v8). John also often refers to the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of truth” (14:7; 15:26) which guides the believer “into all truth” (16:13). This is what Moroni is exhorting those who take the opportunity to read the Book of Mormon to do.
In a similar manner Paul writes that we should “prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and John writes that we should “try the spirits” (1 John 4:1). If someone begins to study the Book of Mormon, searching for evidence to support or reject it, they will find both. If they want to find a reason to believe it, they will find it. If they want to find a reason not to believe it, they will find that as well. It is in this arena of contradicting truth claims and apparently contradictory evidence regarding the Book of Mormon that truth-seeking people need wisdom. James instructs us that if we need wisdom, about this or anything else, we should ask God for it (James 1:5).
Our hope is that everyone reads the Book of Mormon for themselves. While they read it, we also hope that everyone considers the available scientific and historical evidence, the prophetic accuracy, the testimony of Bible prophecy, and then asks God “in faith, nothing wavering” (James 1:6) and “with a sincere heart, with real intent” (Moroni 10:5). We are confident that the Lord will manifest the truth through the Holy Spirit to each individual in a unique way.
This is why we believe the Book of Mormon is divinely inspired scripture.