A Study Guide Companion for The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
THOUGHT QUESTIONS
THOUGHT QUESTIONS ARE LISTED BY CHAPTER AS SHOWN IN SUB-HEADINGS
1 NEPHI CHAPTERS
1 - 7
CHAPTER 1 - 2
Do you think the Lord considered ahead of time how convenient it would be for Book of Mormon scribes to know how to write in Egyptian, which knowledge was passed down through generations, taking into account that there would be so much difficult recording to do on metal plates?
Can you think of any instances in modern history when people are willing to “bury their heads in the sand” rather than realize what they could do to avert national disasters’?
Do you think his soul would have rejoiced because of seeing the destruction—or would his heart have been filled to see the overwhelming love and Sacrifice of our Savior and the chance we all have for Eternal Life?
Do you think it was a “coincidence” that the Lehi was raised a “desert” Jew and had experience with nomadic life—or do you think the Lord prepared him for many years for what was to be his life’s mission?
If you had been raised with great wealth, do you think it would have been hard to leave it all, along with all of your friends and extended family, and go out into the wilderness to live?
Do you think that the fact that your father’s life had been threatened would make a difference to how you would feel about leaving?
Would it be hard to believe your father if he told you God had sent him visions and given him special instructions?
Would the fact that your father had always been honest to you make any difference in your belief?
Do you think it is likely that Joseph Smith, especially considering his limited educational opportunities, would have known as he was translating The Book of Mormon, of obscure customs of Bedouins?
Nephi was a strong young man. Why do you think he did not choose to get into a fight with his bullying brothers?
Do you think the Holy Ghost may have inspired him that fighting with his brothers at this point was not appropriate?
Nephi is pondering many reasons for action - which do you think is the most important?
Do you think literacy skills are important in helping us keep God’s commandments?
Why do you suppose the Lord involved Zoram in the situation?
Do you think we can live on borrowed testimonies forever?
What do you think we need to do to obtain our own testimonies?
CHAPTERS 3 & 4
Laman and Lemuel—and in this chapter, Sariah—accused Lehi of being visionary. When they said the word, visionary, they meant, “imaginative.” What did Nephi do to come to know of a surety that his father was a prophet?
What do you think Sam did to come to know that Nephi, rather than Laman and Lemuel, held the correct belief?
What do you think Sariah did to get an answer from the Lord regarding her husband’s prophetic calling?
CHAPTERS 5 - 7
What did Laman and Lemuel fail to do to understand the Lord?
What can we do to gain a testimony and to keep our testimonies constantly strengthening?
1 NEPHI CHAPTERS 8 - 10
How many of us yet travel for “the space of many hours in darkness” before we began to pray unto the Lord?
Does knowing that Lehi wanted to share his great joy with his family
reinforce your feeling that he is a loving husband and father?
Does knowing that Nephi was thinking of our generation when he wrote these spiritual truths increase your desire to better understand the Small Plates?
When you are joyful, do you want to share your joy with other family
members?
When missionaries share the Gospel, is it so other people can
experience great joy?
Our Savior wants us to be joint-heirs with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven. Is this because He wants us, as His family, to share in great joy?
Does this remind you of when Lehi first told his family about his first visions and they did not know what to do?
How did Sariah, Sam, and Nephi eventually find out where to go?
Were they willing to act on the call of a prophet?
Why do you suppose that even though Laman and Lemuel often
complained that they did not believe their father, they still made the
choice to stay with him?
How do you think that the testimony of the Holy Ghost can affect us?
How does it make you feel to know all the effort and work that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost expend is to help us come back to them to live forever?
If Jesus never changes, what changes?
Did Jesus ever stop aggressively fighting evil?
Do people and their attitudes change from time to time?
Do situations change from time to time?
Would Jesus ever compromise on righteous principles?
Does Jesus always keep His promises to us?
Does Jesus ever stop loving us, His brothers and sisters?
Does Jesus ever stop trying to get us to help each other reach the Eternal goal of living with Him and our Heavenly Father as joint-heirs?
Are all the trials Nephi went through and all the effort of writing on the Plates for future generations tied in with helping others reach the Eternal goal of living with Jesus and Heavenly Father?
Do we have a responsibility to “seek diligently” to reach the goal of living with Jesus and our Heavenly Father Eternally?
Do we have a responsibility of helping each other reach the Eternal goal of living with Jesus and our Father as joint-heirs?
1 NEPHI CHAPTERS 11-15
11
Do you think feeling the wonderful love of God toward people made Nephi feel a stronger love toward Jesus?
How do you think these overwhelming visions made Nephi feel?
Even though Nephi already knew, through his study of the Brass Plates,
that Jesus would die for the sins of the world, how do you think it made
him feel to actually see this happening?
Do you think seeing this vision made Nephi appreciate Jesus’s Sacrifice
more?
Do you think that we, by faith in Jesus Christ and through the Power of the
Holy Ghost, can feel in a more real sense the Sacrifice of our Lord than we
do now?
12
(Create your own thought questions.)
13
Do you think Columbus was chosen before he was born?
Do you think that it was an accident that Christopher’s loyal brother and
Christopher were born as siblings?
Do you think any of the religious revivalists were chosen before they were born?
Do you think any (or all) of those known as the “founding fathers” were
called to positions in American government before they were born?
Why do you think covenants made between the Lord and the House of
Israel are of “great worth” to the Gentiles?
Although Satan was not able to destroy the overall testimony within the “book of the Lamb of God,” he was permitted to tempt wicked deceitful people to take out those scriptures that would make it too easy to believe in Christ.
Does knowing that the devil has always wanted to destroy this strong scripture by making it more difficult to understand make you more determined to read it with faith in Jesus Christ?
Satan seems to think he has good ideas to stop the work of God. But none of the ways work permanently or without the collusion of people.
Does this remind you of the pleasures he offers—that temporarily seem to be good ideas—but that bring no lasting joy?
Does this remind you that you were on Jehovah’s side in the pre-Earth existence and that you do not want to be recruited to Lucifer’s side now?
After reading and thinking about verse 30—how do you think the Promised Land can be an inheritance for Lehi’s descendants and also the land where the Gentiles will triumph?
As Joseph Smith translated The Book of Mormon, he suffered much persecution for “publishing peace.”
Why do you think verse 37 may have been a comfort to him?
14
The angel said that if the Gentiles hearken [listen and obey] to the Lamb of God [Jesus Christ], He will show Himself to them in Power and take away the stumbling blocks [fill in missing revelations] and they will become part of the House of Israel! The devil will not be able to take them captive [win them over to his side to their eternal misery] and the House of Israel will no longer be confounded [confused or
misled]. This is a powerful promise!
Who, is [of] the House of Israel?
To whom does God give inheritance?
We are told that if we believe in Jesus Christ and repent and be baptized and follow Him, we will become His sons and daughters. What do you think it means to be a son or daughter of the Savior?
What do you think it means to be a son or daughter in the House of Israel
What connections do you see among being a daughter or a son of Heavenly Father, a son or daughter of Jesus Christ, and a son or daughter within the House of Israel?
Do you think there are both promises and responsibilities attendant in
accepting membership in the House of Israel?
Does knowing that the devil is preparing his forces in great number help us be prepared not to join them?
15
(Create your own thought questions)
1 NEPHI CHAPTERS 18 - 22
18
Nephi had been in charge of building the ship—so why do you think Lehi was given direction as to when the company was to board the ship?
19
When Nephi wrote to persuade all of the House of Israel (who would “obtain these things”—or the Small Plates), do you think that includes all of us who now read The Book of Mormon?
20
Although the Lord has given us revelations from the beginning of time, do many of us ignore them, calling them coincidences, or give the “idols” of “science” or “learning of man” instead of crediting the Lord for His revelations?
How do you think verse 14 applies to us today?
Do you think that our prophets today tell us the Lord’s word as did the prophets of old?
What do you think will eventually happen to the wicked?
Prophets enjoy the companionship of the Holy Ghost; they receive revelations from the Lord. However, sometimes they are scoffed at, persecuted, and even killed.
According to what Isaiah wrote (verse 15), in spite of Earthly hardships required by some of the prophets, what did Isaiah believe about the ultimate rewards the Lord had for His prophets?
Do you think that “making a prophet’s way prosperous” means that the work the prophet does—will at last yield results in bringing some of the Lord’s children back to Him?
Do our prophets today have their ways made prosperous? Does this mean they will have no hardships or difficulties performing their missions on Earth?
Do you think a prophet’s mission ends after he leaves Earth, or do you think that he or she continues to work in God’s Kingdom wherever he or she is?
Why do you think the House of Israel is the Lord’s servant?
What do you think is the responsibility of those who have the Gospel?
21
Do you think the figurative language, “in His quiver He hid me,” means that the Lord saved the prophet to bring him forth at a time when he would be most needed?
Could it also mean that the Lord would protect Isaiah while he completed his Earthly mission?
Do you think the House of Israel (the spiritual meaning) or the House of Israel in the (literal meaning) will be redeemed?—Or do you think both will be redeemed?
Do you think the House of Israel in the literal sense (Jews and other Israelites) will ever accept the Lord as their God?
How do you think it can change our attitudes about our lives if we remember that we were called to do His work long before we were born?
Do Eternal bindings tend to draw us back to God if we think about covenants we made in the pre-Earth existence?
Do you think all servants of God are sometimes discouraged?
Do you think any of them think their time is wasted?
How might reading these verses have been a comfort to Nephi as he read Isaiah?
How could it comfort missionaries today?
Do you think the prisoners in darkness refers partly to those in spirit prison who did not receive the Gospel teachings until after Christ’s Atonement and Resurrection?
Do you think prisoners in darkness could refer to mortals who are prisoners of their own sins, living in the darkness rather than dwelling within the Light of Christ until they repent and come to the Lord for Redemption?
How do you think the Lord leads us and guides us so we do not spiritually hunger or thirst?
How do you think the Lord makes our mountains a way [places on which it is possible for us to travel] and our highways [the way we go back to Him] exalted?
22
Isaiah included multi-layered meanings, writing of spiritual things and temporal things. Keeping this in mind:
Are the wicked only trying to destroy the people’s bodies, or are they also trying to destroy their souls?
Do you think that this means that no righteous people will die in the cause of good against evil?
Do you think that it means that the Lord will ultimately save the general righteous population and destroy the wicked?
If a righteous person dies in the cause of good against evil, how do you think that he or she will still be preserved?
We are baptized by water and by fire. Being “baptized by fire” means we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, with its purifying fire.
How, then, can the righteous be saved “as if by fire”? (verse 18)