It's my understanding that the Book of Mormon serves two functions. First, it is a witness of the divinity of the Church and Joseph Smith's role as prophet. Second, it is intended to teach us things.
I'm pretty familiar with the Book of Mormon, though I've only read it cover-to-cover once, in a fit of spirituality. It took me two, maybe three days. In hindsight, I think I wanted more to have read it more than to actually read it. The promise at the end seemed so enticing, so I rushed through it.
Now, I want to go back and re-read it. I want to take my time and actually think. As to the first purpose above, I don't know if I'll have that much to say since it requires a personal weighing of the evidence. The second role is what I'm going to focus on.
Indeed, I've come to the conclusion that there are only three questions you need to ask about any text: first, what's the argument? Second, is it good? Third, why do we care? In this case, I think the last question may be the most important.
The question I'm most concerned about is: What are we (I?) to learn from this?
There are 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon. Averaging about one a day puts me close to the end of the year. This blog will be a record of my thoughts, mostly to keep me honest.
Most likely, I will not reading a lot of secondary sources--I want to stick pretty closely with the text itself. However, feel free to bring up clarifications in the comments.
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2 comments:
I've done the same exact thing with the Book of Mormon. Being a convert, I wanted to hurry up and get to the end so I could finally count myself among those that have read the entire book, and look less like a convert. But I've found that as I've had to recall names and stories from the Book, I couldn't remember even the simplest parts of what I had read.
The only parts I remembered were the parts that mattered to me; the parts that I didn't just read, but felt. Parts with vivid imagery, parts that connected with me personally, the sections that spoke TO me, not AT me.
Thinking about that brings back the idea from Conference of there being two types of knowledge. I may not remember who Amaleki is, but I have a witness of the Book of Mormon as being a divine tool.
Perhaps you want to make sure you have both? Just a thought.
Paradox,
I have no idea who Amaleki is either, but I think you're right. I remember scattered stories, but mostly I just know the broad outline of the narrative and the teachings but none of the details.
Having that witness is always the end goal, but not one I can necessarily count on. Eventually, hopefully, maybe.
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