BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.
In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.)
Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.
Mormon Reflections on the Word: Jesus Christ Makes All Things Possible
This past week I have been studying Alma 43-56. In those chapters a lot of wars take place among the Nephites and the Lamanites. While all of this goes on, the different prophets continue to teach of the coming of the Savior Jesus Christ. I find it is amazing and cool that these people have such great faith and how they know about Jesus’ coming from what their ancestors have preached and what God has told them.
An example of this is shown in Chapter 45 of Alma. Alma questions Helaman, asking if he believes in the records of their people that have been kept from their ancestors on and also if Helaman believes in the coming of Jesus Christ. Helaman responds to these questions that yes, he believes and knows. How amazing is that! Helaman has so much faith, as do many others before him and after.
If you think about it, we are kind of like Helaman and his people right now. Like Helaman, we have been given records of our ancestors and have been told that the Savior Jesus Christ is going to come (again). And although we believe, there are many that are like the Lamanites who don’t believe, but instead they choose to mock us and want to push us away. And also there are those who do believe, but whose faith might not be as strong as others. It all comes down to you, and how willing you are to put forth the work and effort to grow your faith. Going along with this is how in these chapters the people of Alma and such are always so positive and strong. They know that if they have faith, and they pray and keep the commandments of God, the Lord will help them and deliver them out of the hands of the Lamanites. This same thing goes for us. If we do all the things that we are supposed to be doing and if we have faith, then the Lord will help us and be on our side. Life is a two-way road, and we have to do our part before the Lord will do His part. And this may seem hard at points to be able to do, or if we are really struggling, but it actually is not that hard at all. Just do what is right and pray for help when you need it, and all will be well. It’s funny how truly simple that is, yet amazing how hard Satan makes it. But you can do it! We all can!
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