Moroni 10

Past LDS leaders and various references in the Doctrine and Covenants make it clear that the Lamanites Moroni is writing to were the Native Americans (as well as Pacific Islanders according to the leaders). Now, LDS leaders won’t tell us who the Lamanites are. Just who is it that Moroni is writing to?

Notice that the author of the verse asks the reader to ponder but not to ponder on the evidence or the merits of the material read. Rather the author exhorts the reader to ponder on how merciful the Lord has been. The reader is reminded of a debt of gratitude. As a social being, a normal human will want to reciprocate the mercy spoken of, so if the reader believes this mercy has been extended, it primes the reader to want to do what the Lord desires, and implicit here is that these things are given to the reader in the wisdom of God—that God wants the reader to accept these things. This desire to reciprocate would tend to lead to a desire to believe regardless of the material being presented and its merits. Reasoning motivated by something other than the desire to understand the truth is called motivated reasoning, and motivated reasoning leads to all sort of beliefs that are not justified by reason or evidence and that often contradict one another.

This verse is the crux of what is referred to as the Book of Mormon promise —that you can know if the things in the Book of Mormon are true by asking God. In other words, rather than relying on your own imperfect reasoning and faulty perceptions, you can receive knowledge about the book directly from the all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-caring God. Since such knowledge would be from the ultimate and infallible source, this would be sure knowledge that could be relied upon beyond the confidence you could have in knowledge obtained by merely human means.

The Book of Mormon and modern Mormon prophets teach to apply all scripture to yourself, so this scripture is used by the Mormon Church as a pattern for all to follow so they may know whether the book, or anything else, is true.

This may seem quite reasonable, especially if you already believe in a God who intercedes in peoples’ lives, but how might this play out in the real world? Maybe it would help to consider who teaches people to ask God like this and why.

See this image with Mormon apostle and First Presidency member, Henry B. Eyring. It shows the Mormon Church teaches that you can pray to know God’s will. But, as stated in the infographic, this teaching is apparently a common technique used among religious cults. Why would a religious cult urge people to ask God His will about following the cult? Surely the ultimate source of truth would help people avoid these high-demand, harmful groups. Well, let’s consider some real-world implications of the Book of Mormon promise.

If this process doesn’t work to let you know that the Book of Mormon is God’s word and will, then (from a beliver’s point of view) it is your fault. Built right into verse 4 are reasons believers can always use to explain why a person didn’t get the “right” answer. According to this verse, a person who doesn’t get the accepted answer didn’t ask with enough sincerity, real intent, and/or faith. So, if you set up any truth claim with this process as the way to gain knowledge of the claim, the believers will always think they know why nonbelievers didn’t get the “right” answer. This type of situation is often called a double bind—a situation in which you are given a choice or dilemma, but there is no good choice. You can conclude their claim is not true, and you will be found guilty by believers of failure of sincerity, intent, or faith; or you can continue trying to believe even though there is no rational reason to continue. Either way, you fail. (see “How to Gain Knowledge ” diagram here )

Consider the effect of Jehovah’s Witness (JW) missionaries teaching a person they will know the JW Church is Jehovah’s only authorized organization if they ask Jehovah with a sincere heart, with real intent, and having faith in Jehovah. What kind of effect or influence might this have on a person studying with the Jehovah’s Witnesses?

The following is a real-life example. Which leader said this about asking God if a teaching is true?

I hope for your sake that you at least ponder this—that you go into the privacy of your closet. Don’t ask your neighbors, your friends what they think of this. You go see if you can connect with the purest, highest source that you might consider God and say, “What about this? Is this for real? Is this for me? If it is, then give me the strength,” because as soon as you tell anyone else, they will be used as the instruments to have you not believe.

It was Marshall Applewhite, leader of the UFO cult Heaven’s Gate who convinced himself and 38 others to commit suicide in March 1997. The quote starts at about 56:14 in this video.

If the power of the Holy Ghost were a reliable way to discern the truth, why are there many examples of the Spirit of God convincing people that their Church is God’s only true church? (click here for a video with many examples.

(Click here for more thoughts about the Book of Mormon promise and for a better alternative)

This is one of my favorite gifts of the Spirit as far as how its understanding has evolved in the Church. In Joseph Smith’s day, it was as described in the Bible, people talking spontaneously in a language they have no prior knowledge of. Now of days the term is used to describe those who train extensively in a language, speak it, and people may or may not understand what they are saying. Even when I was a true blue Mormon, I had to resist rolling my eyes when other believers would talk about how the missionaries had the gift of tongues when they spoke the language they had been training in for weeks or months.

(See also 3 Nephi 29:6-7 and Mormon 9:7)

Sometimes despair comes from bad behavior, but other times despair comes because of mental health conditions which have biological causes or physical catastrophe that no one had control over.

Because this teaching is so simplistic and often presented without further nuance, I think it causes a lot of harm.

Moroni 10:24-26

This seems to appeal to fear and to blame the observer if no miracle is seen.