I am an avid reader. When left uninterrupted I can consume a 500+ page book in less than a day. Of course that’s when I’m reading for entertainment. When it comes to reading for knowledge, the process is considerably slower. This doesn’t stop me from reading for knowledge, however, as I’m passionate when it comes to learning new things. Whether it has to do with recent discoveries about allergy elimination, the latest research in where the Book of Mormon (another Testament of Jesus Christ) may have taken place, or what colors help me look my best, I try to find as many books or articles as I can lay my hands on.
Needless to say, the written word is invaluable to me, as well as millions of others out there in the world. We are not the only ones who treasure a written record.
From the time of Adam and Eve a record has been kept, according to the laws and dictates of the Lord. Many men over the years have been commanded to keep a record. Why?
There are two distinct stories in the Book of Mormon that work to explain just one of the reasons.
At the time of the prophet Jeremiah, a righteous man by the name of Lehi was prompted to take his family out of the land of Jerusalem and journey to a place where the Lord would lead them. After traveling for a few days Lehi was instructed to have his four grown sons return to Jerusalem to retrieve something they would need: the Brass Plates. These plates were the most current record available of the Lord’s Church (think Genesis and go on from there).
This commandment was not to be taken lightly. Going back to Jerusalem was perilous enough, as Lehi had made a lot of enemies by preaching to them of their wickedness and the need to repent. Add to that the man who held the plates and you had a dangerous mixture. This man was called Laban. He was greedy and unscrupulous, and cared more for the wealth and prestige the plates accorded him than the words written upon them. It was only with his death that the plates were retrieved.
Why did the Lord ask Lehi to risk his four sons for what may seem like a trivial thing? We are given the answer by Nephi, one of those sons.
“And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers; And also that we may preserve unto them the words which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the world began, even down unto this present time” (1 Nephi 3:19-20).
Neither Lehi nor his family knew the Lord had a great journey for them, one that would require a large boat to take them across the ocean to a “promised land” (1 Nephi 2:20). Because they were being taken away from their native land, they needed the pure and undefiled language of the Lord and His prophets.
In stark contrast we have an accounting of a group of people called the Mulekites. At the time Zedekiah, king of Judah, was taken captive into Babylon, a group was guided to the promised land as well, only they had no written record of the Lord’s Church and laws. What sort of a difference could this have made?
“They had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator” (Omni 1:17).
Eventually the paths of these two people crossed. Do you know what the Mulekites did when they discovered the Nephites (righteous descendants of Lehi) had the brass plates? They rejoiced! They were open to being taught the language of the Nephites in an effort to begin living righteously. As this happened the Mulekites found themselves being blessed abundantly, and living in peace.
The written word is precious beyond measure, but the record we have beginning in Genesis on down through the present day is the greatest treasure in this world. The New Testament of the Bible fulfills the laws set up in the Old Testament. The Book of Mormon, a record of those brought by the Lord here to the Americas, complements what is written in the Holy Bible.
We must count ourselves blessed to have a record of the Lord’s ways: of why they work and what happens when we turn away from them. It is vitally important to study the scriptures so that we might learn from the experiences of those who have come before us in the hopes that we can avoid the same danger.
