Introduction to The Keystone

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

There are 239 chapters in The Book of Mormon.  I have created this blog as an impetus to study one chapter of The Book of Mormon each day, and to finish reading the entire Book of Mormon before the end of 2016.  Feel free to study along with me.  This goal is inspired in part by Elder David A. Bednar's recent address at BYU Education Week To Sweep the Earth as With a Flood, in part by the 2016 curriculum for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in part by professor Daniel Peterson's Sic et Non blog at Patheos, and in part by the desire that I have felt to renew my appreciation for The Book of Mormon, and to strengthen my faith in the Savior Jesus Christ.

On Sunday, November 28, 1841 the Prophet Joseph Smith recorded:

"I spent the day in the council with the Twelve Apostles at the house of President Young, conversing with them upon a variety of subjects. Brother Joseph Fielding was present, having been absent four years on a mission to England. I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." (History of the Church 4:461)

Last year I started a personal blog that I entitled The Most Correct of Any Book, in which I have recorded one verse from The Book of Mormon each day along with my own commentary.  I have already completed a verse per day in the book of First Nephi.  Since this project will probably take the rest of my life to complete, in The Keystone I will focus on one chapter of The Book of Mormon each day.  

I already maintain several blogs on a variety of topics (The Good Report - a repository for all things virtuous, lovely, of good report and praiseworthy; The Most Correct of Any Book - described above; The White Horse - a compilation of notes on my ongoing experiences as a graduate student at Hillsdale College; Psychiatric Survivors - a blog for exposing the truth about psychiatry and the history of psychiatry; Corléan - a creativity blog in which to organize poetry, paintings, and other creative works; Aether - a blog for political commentary; and Verseball - a blog that has yet to be written about the most exciting new sport of the 21st century), but the primary purpose of this blog, The Keystone, as mentioned above, is to increase appreciation for The Book of Mormon and to strengthen faith in the Savior Jesus Christ.

There are many ways to read The Book of Mormon, and ideally, as disciples of Christ, we arrive at a point in which, with a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all men, we press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, feasting upon the words of Christ, and endure to the end. (2 Ne. 31:20).  As Elder Bednar explained in an earlier speech at BYU (A Reservoir of Living Water), reading is a prerequisite to studying, which is a prerequisite to searching, all of which are prerequisites to feasting upon the words of Christ.  As I understand it, feasting also implies that savoring and applying more fully the truths that we discover, as Devin G. Durrant has emphasized in a recent talk in General Conference: My Heart Pondereth Them Continually.  

In the 84th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord rebuked the early Saints for their pride and their vanity:

"And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—

Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.

And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.

And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—

That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion." (D&C 84:54-58)

Thus we see that, along with the rest of the Lord's revelations, The Book of Mormon is not to be treated lightly.  Some serious students of The Book of Mormon have indicated that there is a distinction to be made between mere devotional reading of The Book of Mormon and a more profound, scholarly approach to the Keystone of Our Religion.  As I see it, both of these approaches are commendable, as long as they are sincere and result in a greater commitment to Jesus Christ and His gospel.  However, it seems to me that no matter how we approach The Book of Mormon, the Lord desires that our study of this most correct book will lead us to repent, to remember the new covenant, to apply the precepts found therein, and most of all, to bring forth fruit meet for Heavenly Father's kingdom.

So without further ado, let's begin our chapter by chapter study of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ...