Lesson #4 in the Joseph Smith manual for this year’s course of study is entitled, “The Book of Mormon: Keystone of Our Religion.”
Three years after beholding the Father and the Son in the Sacred Grove, Joseph Smith was treated to another heavenly visitation, this time in his own bedroom from the Angel Moroni, who told him the location of the buried gold plates. When Joseph went to the place described on a nearby hill called Cumorah, he found the plates and was told by the angel that it was not time to take them. Every year for the next four years, Moroni met Joseph at the Hill Cumorah and instructed him further. When it was time to take the plates home with him, Joseph embarked on the task of translation. The writings on these plates would become The Book of Mormon we have and study today.
Joseph says that he translated the book with the aid of the Urim and Thummim and by the power of God. Although many say that the book is a work of fiction, he never varied from his account of where the book came from or how he came to translate it. Those who have studied it and sought an answer as to its authenticity can answer with confidence that Joseph did indeed translate the book, and that it was not something he concocted out of his own imagination.
Joseph encountered much opposition to getting the book translated and published, but that didn’t stop the work from going forth. “. . .the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book,” Joseph said. The teachings of the book bring hope and comfort to the reader, as well as outlining the path we must take if we wish to return to our Heavenly Father. But if we accept the teachings as truth but then do not follow them, we’re making a grave mistake. Once we know the truth, we must follow it.
The Prophet concludes his remarks as found in this lesson by encouraging us not to betray the teachings found in any of our Standard Works, but to honor them and live by them. This is the way to peace and joy in our own lives, and to prepare us for an eternity of celestial glory.
Related Blogs:
Gospel Doctrine: The Keystone of Our Religion
The Vision of the Tree of Life