President Gordon B. Hinckley on the Book of Mormon

"I take in my hand the Book of Mormon. I read its words. I have read Joseph Smith's explanation of how it came to be. To the unbelieving it is a story difficult to accept, and critics for generations have worn out their lives writing books intended to refute that story and to offer other explanations than the one given by Joseph the Prophet. But to the open-minded, this critical writing has only stimulated them to dig deeper; and the more deeply they dig, the greater the accumulation of evidence for the validity of Joseph Smith's story. Still, as has been demonstrated for a hundred and fifty years, the truth of the Book of Mormon will not be determined by literary analysis or by scientific research, although these continue to be reassuring. The truth about the origins of the Book of Mormon will be determined today and tomorrow, as it has been throughout the yesterdays, by reading the book in a spirit of reverence and respect and prayer."
(Praise to the Man, Ensign, Aug 1983, 4)

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Day 63: Alma 24-25

Part of the repentance process is restitution. If restoring that which was lost is not possible, such as life, then we must do all we can to ease the burdens and bless the lives of those wronged. In addition, we must cast aside those tools that reminds us, and could very well tempt us, of the sins we have committed.

Here, the converted Lamanites, Anti-Nephi-Lehies, make a covenant with God to never lift the sword against anyone ever again. Much like these people, so we have our weakness tested to see if we truly buried our "weapons of rebellion" deep in the earth.

"In abandoning sin, one cannot merely wish for better conditions. He must make them. He may need to come to hate the spotted garments and loathe the sin. He must be certain not only that he has abandoned the sin but that he has changed the situations surrounding the sin. He should avoid the places and conditions and circumstances where the sin occurred, for these could most readily breed it again. He must abandon the people with whom the sin was committed. He may not hate the persons involved but he must avoid them and everything associated with the sin. He must dispose of all letters, trinkets, and things which will remind him of the "old days" and the "old times." He must forget addresses, telephone numbers, people, places and situations from the sinful past, and build a new life. He must eliminate anything which would stir the old memories." Spencer W. Kimball The Miracle of Forgiveness, p.171

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