A Challenge For You..and Me
Well....time flies when you're having fun! I have so much to post, so much to talk about....aaand so much studying to do:) But I reallly wanted to share this little tid-bit..
I was doing my readings for my Book of Mormon class here at BYU today, in the periodicals section of the library, and came across this little {humorous} challenge given by Dr. Hugh Nibley, a previous Book of Mormon Professor here at the Y. It made me laugh, and strengthened my appreciation for Joseph Smith even more...so, here ya gooo!
"Since Joseph Smith was younger than most of you and not nearly so experienced or well-educated as any of you at the time he copyrighted the Book of Mormon, it should not be too much to ask you to hand in by the end of the semester (which will give you more time than he had) a paper of, say, five to six hundred pages in length. Call it a sacred book if you will, and give it the form of a history. Tell of a community of wandering Jews in ancient times; have all sorts of characters in your story, and involve them in all sorts of public and private vicissitudes; give them names--hundreds of them--pretending that they are real Hebrew and Egyptian names of circa 600 b.c.; be lavish with cultural and technical details--manners and customs, arts and industries, political and religious institutions, rites, and traditions, include long and complicated military and economic histories; have your narrative cover a thousand years without any large gaps; keep a number of interrelated local histories going at once; feel free to introduce religious controversy and philosophical discussion, but always in a plausible setting; observe the appropriate literary conventions and explain the derivation and transmission of your varied historical materials.
"Above all, do not ever contradict yourself! For now we come to the really hard part of this little assignment. You and I know that you are making this all up--we have our little joke--but just the same you are going to be required to have your paper published when you finish it, not as fiction or romance, but as a true history! After you have handed it in you may make no changes in it (in this class we always use the first edition of the Book of Mormon); what is more, you are to invite any and all scholars to read and criticize your work freely, explaining to them that it is a sacred book on a par with the Bible. If they seem over-skeptical, you might tell them that you translated the book from original records by the aid of the Urim and Thummim--they will love that! Further to allay their misgivings, you might tell them that the original manuscript was on golden plates, and that you got the plates from an angel. Now go to work and good luck!"
Of course, it is meant to be humorous, but it also has great truth to it. I don't know about you, but I know I sure couldn't do it. I'm not setting out to try and prove the truth of the Book of Mormon, because only you can know for yourself. There doesn't need to be proof when your heart knows the truth..
I could say so much about this book, I could go on and on about it's magnitude of influence on my life and millions of others, but that would take all my life.
I was doing my readings for my Book of Mormon class here at BYU today, in the periodicals section of the library, and came across this little {humorous} challenge given by Dr. Hugh Nibley, a previous Book of Mormon Professor here at the Y. It made me laugh, and strengthened my appreciation for Joseph Smith even more...so, here ya gooo!
"Since Joseph Smith was younger than most of you and not nearly so experienced or well-educated as any of you at the time he copyrighted the Book of Mormon, it should not be too much to ask you to hand in by the end of the semester (which will give you more time than he had) a paper of, say, five to six hundred pages in length. Call it a sacred book if you will, and give it the form of a history. Tell of a community of wandering Jews in ancient times; have all sorts of characters in your story, and involve them in all sorts of public and private vicissitudes; give them names--hundreds of them--pretending that they are real Hebrew and Egyptian names of circa 600 b.c.; be lavish with cultural and technical details--manners and customs, arts and industries, political and religious institutions, rites, and traditions, include long and complicated military and economic histories; have your narrative cover a thousand years without any large gaps; keep a number of interrelated local histories going at once; feel free to introduce religious controversy and philosophical discussion, but always in a plausible setting; observe the appropriate literary conventions and explain the derivation and transmission of your varied historical materials.
"Above all, do not ever contradict yourself! For now we come to the really hard part of this little assignment. You and I know that you are making this all up--we have our little joke--but just the same you are going to be required to have your paper published when you finish it, not as fiction or romance, but as a true history! After you have handed it in you may make no changes in it (in this class we always use the first edition of the Book of Mormon); what is more, you are to invite any and all scholars to read and criticize your work freely, explaining to them that it is a sacred book on a par with the Bible. If they seem over-skeptical, you might tell them that you translated the book from original records by the aid of the Urim and Thummim--they will love that! Further to allay their misgivings, you might tell them that the original manuscript was on golden plates, and that you got the plates from an angel. Now go to work and good luck!"
Of course, it is meant to be humorous, but it also has great truth to it. I don't know about you, but I know I sure couldn't do it. I'm not setting out to try and prove the truth of the Book of Mormon, because only you can know for yourself. There doesn't need to be proof when your heart knows the truth..
I could say so much about this book, I could go on and on about it's magnitude of influence on my life and millions of others, but that would take all my life.
“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Moroni 10:4)
- “And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, ... and they teach all men that they should do good.”
- 2 Nephi 33:10
love, emily
*keep on smilling!!* ;)
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