BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” BYU students take nearly a semester 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.
Mormonisn: Meaningless Distractions or Meaningful Service
This week I would like to address all of my fellow college students. At this time in our lives there are innumerable distractions trying to steal our attention from what is truly important. The world is throwing its prized possessions at us left and right, waiting for us to succumb to temptations. The goal of the world is to make us divert our precious time and energy to the activities it thinks are important, which causes us to forget the eternal truths which should govern our every action. It is difficult, but it is absolutely possible to rid ourselves of worldly and worthless distractions. Nephi provides a wonderful example of how to respond to the temptations of the world in Helaman 9:20-21. He is offered money to deny that he received revelation from God. Not only does he not consider the bribe for a second, he rebukes those offering it to him and reminds them of what is truly important. He clearly has an eternal perspective which cannot be dimmed by the corruptible “treasures” of the world. In our lives today, these treasures surround us on all sides. Video games, television, the internet, music, etc. are easily accessible and extremely distracting. It requires a true desire to change and incredible will power to remove these distractions from our lives. It will be one of the hardest things you ever do, but I promise you that as you focus your life on Christ and His gospel and forget about the meaningless distractions the world has to offer, you will be happier and you will be a more profitable servant in God’s kingdom. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Additional Resources:
I Believe: Expressions of Faith