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 Thoughts: Finding Truth in Your Life
My name is Tim Colvin, and I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You’ve probably heard of the Church as the Mormon Church. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how someone gains a testimony or gains knowledge from God about the truth of something.
It all came from a scripture I read in the Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ and a companion book of scripture to the Bible. In the Book of Mormon, there is a prophet named Nephi. He had been teaching the truth of God to his enemies called the Lamanites. God granted Nephi a miracle where he was able to foresee the murder of the chief judge. He told several of the people the exact details of the murder and even told them who the murderer was. The people doubted him, but when they found the chief judge murdered on his throne, many believed Nephi was a prophet; however, many others did not.
It is in the next chapter after this miracle that I read this scripture. It’s in the book of Helaman 10:13. It says:
“Now behold, notwithstanding that great miracle which Nephi had done in telling them concerning the death of the chief judge, they did harden their hearts and did not hearken unto the words of the Lord.”
That is the part that interests me. God provided a miracle, but the people chose to ignore it. It made me think of one time while I was a volunteer for the Church living on the island of Borneo in East Malaysia. Two of my friends were serving near a small village built on the coast. One night, a fire erupted in the small village. Because all the homes were made of wood, the homes would burn very quickly. The villagers would lose their homes and the possessions inside them — everything they had. My two friends felt prompted to go into town that night and saw the fire. They tried helping to douse the flames with buckets of water but saw that the meager buckets of water weren’t going to be enough for the fire. So, they prayed to God and asked for a miracle. They asked for rain to come and put out the fire. Literally minutes after their prayer ended, the skies filled with clouds and rain fell, putting out the fire. It was a modern-day miracle! Some believed in the power of God and were converted, others still didn’t believe.
It is interesting to me that people can see miracles and still not believe. It is interesting that the truth of God is more usually found in the small and simple things like prayer and reading scriptures. It’s in those moments that lasting impressions are made and where true conversion occurs. I believe God loves consistency. He blesses us and reveals truth to us when we are living righteously over long periods of time. It is my hope that if you are looking for the truth to a question you have, you don’t demand a miracle from God but rather that you read the scriptures and pray. You’ll be guided to the truth.
Best of luck in your personal search for truth!
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