Scripture Study

Several years ago, I gave a copy of the Book of Mormon to one of my best friends. After a few days, I asked her what she thought. She said that she started to read, but it was difficult to understand, and she had stopped. I was shocked. My friend was well-educated. She had a master’s degree and taught English at the local college. Nevertheless, I sympathized with her.

The first several times I read the Book of Mormon, I struggled to keep track of the logistics. Who left the land of Nephi and who returned, and how did they all end up in Zarahemla? Why are there two Ammons, and which one cut off the robbers’ arms?

In pondering a newbie’s attempt to understand the Book of Mormon, I have found it meaningful to worry less about the logistics and to view it as a collection of invitations. Virtually every story in the book tells us what happens when someone accepts the invitation to come unto Christ and what happens when they don’t.

Consider the major prophets of the Book of Mormon who extend an invitation to repent and come unto Christ:

1. Lehi invites the people of Jerusalem to repent and come unto Christ.
2. Lehi invites his sons, Laman and Lemuel, to repent and come unto Christ.
3. Nephi invites his brothers Laman and Lemuel to repent and come unto Christ.
4. Jacob invites the people of Nephi to repent and come unto Christ.
5. King Benjamin invites his whole kingdom to repent and come unto Christ.
6. Abinadi invites Noah to repent and come unto Christ.
7. Ammon invites Limhi to repent and come unto Christ.
8. Alma invites the people of Zarahemla, Gideon, Melek, and Ammonihah to repent and come unto Christ.
9. Alma invites the apostate Zoramites to repent and come unto Christ.
10. Ammon invites King Lamoni to repent and come unto Christ.
11. Aaron invites King Lamoni’s father to repent and come unto Christ.
12. Alma invites his son Corianton to repent and come unto Christ.
13. Nephi, son of Helaman, invites the Nephites to repent and come unto Christ.
14. Samuel the Lamanite invites the Nephites to repent and come unto Christ.

At this point in the story, Christ comes and himself invites the people to repent.

A book that extends the same invitation over and over again may sound boring. However, the story becomes very compelling when we consider what happens to those who accept the invitation to come unto Christ and those who don’t.

We witness miracles that bless the lives of those who accept the invitation to repent. Nephi is led to the brass plates, finds food in the wilderness, and is taught to build a ship. Alma is led out of bondage when the city’s guards mysteriously fall asleep. Moroni defeats an army twice his size (and twice as mean) due to a prophet’s inspiration. The walls of the prison fall down, kill their tormenters, and Alma and Amulek escape unharmed. Throughout the book, the hardest of hearts are softened.

Equally compelling are the stories of those who don’t accept the invitation to repent. Laman and Lemuel receive an electrical shock, get caught in a raging storm, and are cut off from their parents. Noah refuses to repent and is burned at the stake by his own priests. The city of Ammonihah is destroyed in a single day, leaving a scent so noxious that it takes years before anybody can go near the land. Nephi, son of Helaman, invites the people of Nephi to repent, and when they refuse, they experience war and famine.

Reading the Book of Mormon through the lens of invitations can make the story exceptionally meaningful in our lives. Consider the beauty of some of the invitations in the Book of Mormon:

“I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.” (Alma 5:62)

“Remember, remember my son, that it is on the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation;” (Helaman 5:12)

“Awake, my sons, put on the armor of righteousness.” (2 Nephi 1:23)

“If ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?”(Alma 5:26)

We don’t have to completely understand who begat whom or who conquered whom to benefit from The Book of Mormon. Studying the different stories allows us to consider each invitation as if we, personally, were the recipients of the invitation.

The stories we read aren’t always a simple A leads to B. Sometimes, the consequences of obedience or disobedience in The Book of Mormon aren’t revealed for several chapters. Sometimes the people who do repent go through a period of hardship or trial before they receive blessings.

Nevertheless, as we read, we recognize that we also might experience hardship before we are delivered from our trials, that the repentant can be unjustly imprisoned, or beaten, slain, or burned, that the Lord sometimes allows the righteous to suffer so he can justly judge the wicked. The invitations in the Book of Mormon demonstrate that trials will test our faith, but ultimately, those who accept the invitations are blessed.

JeaNette Goates Smith is the author of Side by Side: Supporting a Spouse in Church Service, published by Deseret Book. She has taught seminary and institute, and at BYU Education Week. She and her husband, Bret, recently returned from serving as mission leaders in the Dominican Republic.