Why read the Book of Mormon? There are many reasons, the most powerful being its testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ. But there are other reasons as well.
The Book of Mormon is a cautionary tale for 21st Century America. For example: as I look at the pride cycle, I
see all too clearly many parallels with the United States today. The 20th Century dawned on a
basically decent people with high moral standards. Then came the excesses of the 1920’s with
bootleg whiskey, immodest dress, and organized crime. Get rich quick schemes abounded with people
playing the stock market, buying in with money they didn’t have, trying to get
something for nothing. What happened in
October 1929? I believe God withdrew His
hand. The stock market crashed. The ensuing
depression, followed by Pearl Harbor and World War II, humbled us as a people. Once again, we reached out to God and He
protected us. The cycle began again.
We’ve been through many such
cycles, macro and micro, since the Great Depression. But as I look at it through my 69 years of
experience, I believe each time we fall a little deeper and repent a little
shallower. As an example, the big return
to God and patriotism following 9-11 was short-lived. These are the things I
want you to look at as you read. Ask
yourself: what is this scripture saying to me?
What – if anything – should I be doing differently? I pray that we do not become like the
Nephites of old, for I fear if we do, we will be swept off this land as surely
as they were.
Like ancient Judah, people today
say, “It can’t happen to us. It can’t happen here. Hitler and Tojo didn’t conquer us because we
were too great. No one can ever destroy America.” People don’t think we could ever lose our
powerful position in the world and become as a third world country, but we
could. French political analyst Alexis
de Tocqueville said it well in his 1835 book, Democracy in America:
"Moreover, almost all the sects
of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity, and
Christian morality is everywhere the same. In the United States the sovereign
authority is religious, and consequently hypocrisy must be common; but there is
no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater
influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater
proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human nature, than that its
influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of
the earth.
The
Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in
their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the
other; and with them this conviction does not spring from that barren
traditionary faith which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than to live.
There
are certain populations in Europe whose unbelief is only equaled by their
ignorance and their debasement, while in America one of the freest and most
enlightened nations in the world fulfills all the outward duties of religion
with fervor.
Upon
my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the
first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more
did I perceive the great political consequences resulting from this state of
things, to which I was unaccustomed. In France I had almost always seen the
spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically
opposed to each other; but in America I found that they were intimately united,
and that they reigned in common over the same country." [1]
De Tocqueville went on to say that America is great because America is
good. But if she ever ceases to be good,
she will cease to be great.
This is the covenant and promise of the Book of Mormon. It is worthy of our study.
Text copyright Gebara Education, February 2014
Pictures
Pride Cycle from www.bycommonconsent.com
Alexis de Tocqueville from www.biography.com
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