Why is the Book of Mormon True?
For me there has never been doubt, I know the Book of Mormon is True. I love to read of the men and women of faith that are spoken of and that speak through its pages. My heart has been touched by their faith especially in their times of struggle and grief. However, I know that not everyone feels as I do, some worry about things like the conflicting opinions as to where the events of the Book of Mormon took place and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not identify places other than the Hill Cumorah, near Palmyra, New York, where Joseph Smith, as a young man, was led to the Golden Plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated.
There is a certain ‘spirit of place’ by knowing Joseph found the records on the ‘west side of the hill near the top’. I have walked on that hill, up the west side, and imagined Joseph’s excitement as he went there for the first time (as instructed by an Angel) how he knew the place the instant he arrived, was able to lift the stone that covered the plates and view them for the very first time. They were made from gold and Joseph was poor; his first thought was probably selfish. One account tells us he reached for the plates and was shocked, he was not allowed to pick them up. In fact, he was tutored by the Angel for four years before he was able to obtain the plates.
The Angel, Moroni by name, was the one who buried the plates initially, he was the last Prophet to write on them and the only living survivor of his people, the rest having been killed in battles concluded on a Hill called Cumorah. For me it is that very Hill. Today the Hill is called Cumorah because of the Book of Mormon. If this hill is the one called Cumorah, it is also the final battle site for another people, called the Jaredites, who were also destroyed. So as I stood on the top of this hill named Cumorah, I imagined two civilizations being destroyed in hand to hand combat on the top of that hill. I have a ‘place’ then to anchor my faith in the Book of Mormon – a place where Joseph found the plates and a place where two civilizations became extinct.
For me North America has always been the land of the Book of Mormon peoples, the promised land given to Lehi, the land where his descendants would always be blessed as long as they would keep the commandments of the Lord. But the land that would be taken from them if they did not keep the commandments (2 Ne 1:9&10). So it is easy for me to find the ‘spirit of place’ right here in the United States of America: the City Zarahemla across the river west from Nauvoo, named by the Lord in D&C 125:3 (he doesn’t say it was the city Zarahemla of Book of Mormon times, just that it was to be named Zarahemla), City Lehi-Nephi near Chattanooga, Tenn and Lehi’s first landing near Tallahassee, Florida. More sites can be found in the book: Moroni’s America by Rian Nelson. If having ‘places’ in mind help you to anchor your faith, identify ‘places’ and reference them as you read the Book of Mormon. It is in reading that book every day that faith is strengthened.
The Book of Mormon is True! I know it. I read it every day. I feel the love of my Savior each time I read. On every page He is revealed, on every page He is spoken of by those who knew and loved Him. “Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all.” (Mosiah 5:15)