3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
I have read these verses so many times, and to begin with I thought the message was to "read and pray about it". Well I had been doing this for months on end, and I wasn't receiving an answer. I first thought that receiving no answer was my answer. It wasn't until one night when I decided to read the verses for the hundredth time that I started noticing things in a different light. What Moroni is telling us to do is much more then just read and prey about it.
To gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, Moroni tells us exactly what it is we need to do.
- receive these things
- ask God if these things are not true
- in the name of Christ
- ask with a sincere heart
- with real intent
- having faith in Christ
And if we do these things, Moroni says that "[H]e will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost". So as we can see, it's much more then just reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know the truth about it. Once I realised this, I started to look at exactly what each requirement meant, and exactly what it was asking me to do.
Receive These Things Note that it does not say read these things. To receive the message within the Book of Mormon is different to just reading it. I believe this to mean that not only should you read, but also think, and study. I don't believe you can receive a message if you do not know what the message actually means.
Ask God If These Things Are Not True"...ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true" I have to say, it took me quite a few read though of this line to pick this one up. I need to ask God if these things are not true? I've had a look online to see what others point of views are on this, but I haven't found too much. If you have any thoughts on this, please do share.
In The Name Of ChristSelf explanatory, this is the case with all prayers.
Ask With A Sincere HeartThe definition of sincere is: "Saying what they genuinely feel or believe; not dishonest or hypocritical". So I need to genuinely want to receive the answer when I prey. As a child I think a lot of us are made to pray, and we just follow what others are doing, not really knowing what it is we are asking for, or what we are doing. When preying to know the truth about the Book of Mormon we need to be genuine.
With Real IntentThis one confused me to begin with. The missionaries told me that this meant that I must be prepared to act upon the answer I receive. So I chose to take their advice, and set a baptismal date. If I were to receive an answer telling me that the things I have read were true, I was prepared to be baptised into the church. If I received the answer that the Book of Mormon wasn't what I hoped it to be, then I was going to search else where for my answer.
This of course does not mean that you must set a baptism date to show that you have intent. But for me, it was the only thing that was really missing.
Having Faith In Christ This by far, in my opinion, is the hardest step to achieve. The Book of Mormon assumes here that the reader is already a Christian, and has faith in Jesus Christ. For a non-Christian, this could be very difficult. You are expected to have faith in Christ before you can receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon.
"And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."Moroni clearly tells us here that not only does this promise cover the gaining of the testimony of the Book of Mormon, but the same method can be applied to all manner of questions.
If we follow the guide that he has laid out for us, we are able to gain the knowledge of the truthfulness of all manner of things.
When speaking with Mormons in the past, I have often found a few who are not 100% certain of particular pieces of scripture or doctrine. The question I always ask them is that have they used Moroni's promise that helped them originally gained their testimony of the church all them years ago?
Sadly I still have yet to receive my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I have been told by non-Mormons that if I were to prey like Moroni suggests, then I will receive a message from God. Of course, from their point of views and believes, they believe that God will tell me not to join the LDS church. However, in the years of praying, I have received no answer at all. However, this is not to say the same will happen to you!
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