why doesn't moroni's promise "work" for everyone?

[Gwen]

it seems ppl are frequently coming here and asking why everyone who reads the book of mormon doesn't get a testimony of the truth? if we are god's true church like we claim then why doesn't everyone get the same answer?

i came across this quote the other day that expresses exactly what i've always felt is the answer to this question.

President Ezra Taft Benson in a 1972 address quoting Orson F. Whitney from a 1928 general conference address:

“Perhaps the Lord needs such men on the outside of His Church to help it along. They are among its auxiliaries, and can do more good for the cause where the Lord has placed them, than anywhere else. … Hence, some are drawn into the fold and receive a testimony of the truth; while others remain unconverted … the beauties and glories of the gospel being veiled temporarily from their view, for a wise purpose. The Lord will open their eyes in His own due time. God is using more than one people for the accomplishment of His great and marvelous work. The Latter-day Saints cannot do it all. It is too vast, too arduous for any one people. … We have no quarrel with the Gentiles. They are our partners in a certain sense.”

[Loudmouth_Mormon]

Originally Posted by Gwen

why everyone who reads the book of mormon doesn't get a testimony of the truth?

Because Moroni's promise involves more than "read and pray about it". That's a gross simplification of the actual promise.

Moroni 10:4 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.

1- receive these things
2- ask God if these things are not true
3- in the name of Christ
4- ask with a sincere heart
5- with real intent
6- having faith in Christ

If you have all six of those things, then 'he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost'.

That's the promise. "Read and pray" is missing five of them, as 'read' isn't the same thing as 'receive'.

LM

[Jamie123]

Originally Posted by Loudmouth_Mormon

1- receive these things
2- ask God if these things are not true
3- in the name of Christ
4- ask with a sincere heart
5- with real intent
6- having faith in Christ

The last one is probably the most difficult for many people. The BoM assumes that the reader is already a Christian. For anyone else, the promise isn't a lot of use; it would be like telling a Christian he could get a testimony of the truth of the Koran by praying to Allah in the name of Mohammed, and having faith in Mohammed.

[Loudmouth_Mormon]

Yep - to make good on Moroni's promise, you have to travel quite a distance yourself. There's another sort of preparatory scripture if that distance seems too long:

Alma 32:27-28 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words. Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

[mnn727]

For a year while I was investigatining the Church I honestly wanted to KNOW if what I was reading and being taught was true, but I got no answer
Finnaly I resolved to DOwhat the Lord wanted me to and I got my answer within a week.

Its that "real Intent" clause. Simply wanting to know does nothing, its the willingness to follow through that counts


Warning: personal opinion ahead
I believe God knows what we are capable of following and doing and won't lead us to more than we can handle.

[Bluejay]

Hi, Gwen.

Spirituality has never come easily for me.

I've concluded that it's because my spirit is broken, disabled or in a coma.

Maybe it will return to functionality sometime.

[InquisitiveSoul]

As I have learned, answers don't always come immediately. I've asked for years about the Book of Mormon. Most of us are impatient people and forget The Lord works in his own way and time. He will give us the answer when we are ready and part of being ready is meeting the conditions Loud Mouth has mentioned.

As I've prepared myself over the years I've finally started to receive answers to my questions. Not all of them have been answers, but I believe they will be addressed by The Lord when we are both ready. In the mean time I have to continue to prepare and do my part. I believe most people who ask haven't fully prepared for the answer yet. If they continue in diligence, they will receive.

[Danite]

I think you guys are right are about a the asking with real intent, meaning that you want to be forgiven of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ by those with the proper authority and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Some folks don't want the Church to be true because then they will have to change their lives, others doubt their ability to be true to the Church and their intent falters.

[marts1]

A fella in our ward took 2 years of intense investigation before he was baptized. He is now the ward mission leader

[ZSEdwardson]

I came across this issue as well, and when I spoke at my Stake confrence as a new member, I have found a simple answer.

I hadn't learned to listen yet.


After I had read the book of mormon, it took a good eight months of something nagging in the back of the head before I started looking at the branches of Mormonism/LDS and four months after that, I walked into my local branch.