Full Bibliography by Title

A correct understanding of our heavenly heritage is essential to exaltation.

“Act the role of the Latter-day Saint, be that noble bearer of the priesthood, and do all that’s necessary in order to measure up to your Father in heaven’s expectations.”

The Book of Mormon prophet and writer Moroni prophesied that he would come forth “triumphant through the air” at a future date (Moroni 10:34). Wight sees a quite literal fulfillment in this prophecy in the statues of Moroni on the top of the Salt Lake Temple and the Hill Cumorah, saying that Moroni now stands triumphant in the air.

Be clean—in language, in thought, in body, in dress.

Each of our [Christlike] deeds may share only a pinpoint of light, but added together they begin to make a significant difference.

A story of a young man who took Moroni’s challenge (Moroni 10:3-5). After he prayed, the Spirit manifested the truth of the Book of Mormon to him.

A story of a young man who took Moroni’s challenge (Moroni 10:3-5). After he prayed, the Spirit manifested the truth of the Book of Mormon to him.

Defends Book of Mormon statements that some truths have been lost from the Bible through the process of translation. Affirms that the Book of Mormon was translated by the power of God. Cites Nephi’s testimony concerning the Bible beginning in 1 Nephi 3.

While we are not all equal in experience, aptitude, and strength, … we will all be accountable for the use of the gifts and opportunities given to us.

Being true to our beliefs—even when doing so isn’t popular, easy, or fun—keeps us safely on the path that leads to eternal life with our Heavenly Father.

I know that I can pray to Heavenly Father anytime, anywhere. I know He hears me.

In all of your dealings with others, decide today to do the right thing for the right reason. If you wait until the moment of necessity to make that life-changing decision, you will often make the wrong choice.

Tells of Martin Harris’s visit with Charles Anthon and Dr. Mitchell in New York City in February 1828. Presents a historical profile on Anthon and Mitchell. Answers why Martin Harris went to these men instead of any others and how valid their testimony was respecting the characters shown to them.

Tells of Martin Harris’s visit with Charles Anthon and Dr. Mitchell in New York City in February 1828. Presents a historical profile on Anthon and Mitchell. Answers why Martin Harris went to these men instead of any others and how valid their testimony was respecting the characters shown to them.

Contradictions shown in two letters written by Professor Charles Anthon about his dealings with Martin Harris including whether or not he gave Harris a written opinion on the authenticity of the characters shown to him.

Sharp tells the history of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the early Church and persecution of the Saints, Joseph Smith’s martyrdom, and the pioneer journey, as well as Nephi’s story as told in the Book of Mormon, in an epic poem format.

Review of E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2012), 240 pp. $16.00.

Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR), Sandy, Utah, 5 August 2004 (see www.fair-lds.org). Used by permission. Also published in Meridian Magazine Online (see www.ldsmag.com). Used by permission. Copyright 2004 Davis Bitton.

Abstract: In this masterful presentation, accomplished historian Davis Bitton addresses the role of history and belief. Testimonies, he asserts, are born of belief and spiritual witnesses, not from historical events. It is quite possible to know all about Church history and still remain a believing member.
[Editor’s Note: This essay was presented at the 2004 FAIR Conference.
In preparation for publication it has been lightly copy edited and some citations and annotations added.].

A story of a boy who enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon with his family and how it made him a better person.

At the beginning of the Book of Mormon, Nephi writes, “The fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved” (1 Nephi 6:4; emphasis added). He later writes, “I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell” (2 Nephi 33:6). The pinnacle of the Book of Mormon occurred in 3 Nephi when Jesus Christ personally ministered to the Nephites and Lamanites. Clearly the central purpose of those writing on the plates was to invite and persuade each of us to come unto Jesus Christ, helping us understand his redeeming role. Jesus Christ is the central figure in the Book of Mormon. Ancient prophets in the western hemisphere consistently pointed to His life and atoning sacrifice. For example, Nephi wrote, “I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell” (2 Nephi 33:6). After His Resurrection, Jesus Christ personally ministered to the Nephites and taught them. This volume shares important reminders about how to focus on Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon.

A conversion story of a young woman who was given a Book of Mormon and after reading it was converted to the Church.

Ludlow analyzes Moroni’s promise in Moroni 10 and includes verses 1-5 that seem to indicate that it is necessary to study more than just the Book of Mormon. Biblical study is required, then ponder and pray with sincerity and faith, which makes one capable of recognizing the truths and promptings as the Holy Ghost manifests them.

Doxey explains, citing many scriptures, how the Book of Mormon “does indeed teach that God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings and that the Father and the Son are not personages of spirit”

Three evidences for the Book of Mormon are available—external, internal, and spiritual. Offers “seven key concepts” for identifying various internal evidences that “carry within them a spirit of authenticity”

Points out that there are two hells identified in the Book of Mormon writings: one is the intermediate existence between death and the resurrection and the other is the never-ending state of the wicked. [D.M.]

Citing Joseph Smith’s own description of the physical appearance of the plates as well as several contemporary accounts of persons who were permitted to lift them, the author provides an approximate weight of the gold plates.

Answers allegations that the words “adieu,” “bible,” and “baptize” in the Book of Mormon are anachronisms.

The Book of Mormon definition of the gospel of Christ is revealed in 3 Nephi 27:13-22: the Atonement, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. None of the four compilers intended to include all of the teachings and ordinances of Christ. Important doctrines are restored when the church membership is ready to accept them.

Asserts that the golden plates were never made available for public view for two reasons: (1) the Lord did not want the plates—with their impressive monetary value—to be used for personal or commercial gain, and (2) to test the faith of those who receive the record.

Every one of us has a meaningful role to play in furthering God’s work.

The greatest example who ever walked the earth is our Savior, Jesus Christ. … He invites us to follow His perfect example.

Abstract: John 17 contains a richly symbolic Last Discourse by Jesus, in which the disciples are assured a place in the Father’s celestial house or temple. To fulfill this promise Christ reveals both the Father’s name and his glory to his disciples. Jesus’s discourse concludes with the promise of sanctification of the disciples, and their unification—or deification—with Christ and the Father. This paper explores how each of these ideas reflects the temple theology of the Bible and contemporary first-century Judaism.

Abstract: The Book of Enos constitutes a brief literary masterpiece. A close reading of Enos’s autobiography reveals textual dependency not only on 1 Nephi 1:1-2 and Genesis 32–33, but also on earlier parts of the Jacob Esau cycle in Genesis 25, 27. Enos’s autobiographical allusions to hunting and hungering serve as narrative inversions of Esau’s biography. The narrative of Genesis 27 exploits the name “Esau” in terms of the Hebrew verb ʿśh/ʿśy (“make,” “do”). Enos (“man”) himself incorporates paronomastic allusions to the name “Esau” in terms of ʿśh/ʿśy in surprising and subtle ways in order to illustrate his own transformation through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. These wordplays reflect the convergence (in the Genesis narratives) of the figure of Esau before whom Jacob bows and whom he embraces in reconciliation with the figure of the divine “man” with whom Jacob wrestles. Finally, Enos anticipates his own resurrection, divine transformation, and final at-one-ment with the Lord in terms of a clothing metaphor reminiscent of Jacob’s “putting on” Esau’s identity in Genesis 27.

We are followers of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Such conversion and confidence is the result of diligent and deliberate effort. It is individual. It is the process of a lifetime.

The successful temple marriage begins when two people want God’s blessings in the way he has ordained. Then our Father in heaven can promise these two everything that he has and deliver it.

The Lord has provided me some specific tender mercies over the years to give me comfort and at least partial answers to these questions. These tender mercies did not come at once, but in hindsight I can see they came when I needed them. Importantly, they came at times and in ways that have helped to build my testimony that God knows me and is personally mindful of me.

Joseph Fielding Smith - Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the great Exemplar. Our mission is to pattern our lives after him and do the things he wants us to do.

The author testifies of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. His testimony has come from the spirit and through scholarly study. Presents evidence that the Nephites obeyed the Law of Moses and there were elephants as far south as South America.

Learning for ourselves that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is true can be one of the greatest and most joyful experiences in life.

Let us love our boys—although some of them are loud boys. Let us teach them to change their lives.

President Benson taught that missionaries should daily read the Book of Mormon to increase their own faith and spirituality and “should use the Book of Mormon as the heart of their proselyting work and as the great converter”

President Eyring testifies of the spiritual blessings that come to those who serve in the temple.

A novel dealing with the life and ministry of Nephi, the first author of the Book of Mormon.

Abstract: Omni greatly revered his ancestors and their personal accounts on the small plates of Nephi. A close examination of Omni’s brief autobiography (Omni 1:1–3) evidences borrowing from all four of his predecessors’ writings. Moreover, his self-description, “I of myself am a wicked man,” constitutes far more than a confession of religious dereliction. That self-assessment alludes to Nephi’s autobiographical wordplay on his name in terms “good” and “having been born of goodly parents” and his grandfather Enos’s similarly self-referential wordplay in describing his own father Jacob as a “just man.” Omni’s name most likely represents a hypocoristic form of a longer theophoric name, *ʾomnîyyāhû (from the root *ʾmn), meaning “Yahweh is [the object of] my faith” or “Yahweh is my guardian [or, nursing father],” but could also be heard or understood as a gentilic, “faithful one” or “trustworthy one.” These observations have implications for Omni’s stated defense of his people the Nephites (traditionally, the “good” or “fair ones”) against the Lamanites, those who had dwindled in “unbelief” (cf. Hebrew lōʾ-ʾēmun). In the end, Omni’s description of himself as “a wicked man” should be viewed in the context of his reverence for “goodly” and “just” ancestors and brought into balance with those sacred trusts in which he did prove faithful: preserving his people, his genealogy, and the small plates themselves.

Compares survivor witnesses in the Book of Mormon with other survivor witnesses that are described in Des Pres, “Survivors and the Will to Bear Witness” Social Research 40 (1973): 668-69.