Occasionally as a stake president I feel impressed to contribute ideas to further the work of The Lord throughout the earth. In my experience I have found that people of all walks of life become very intrigued when I share with them the fact that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has in their possession some of the original writings of the great patriarch, even Father Abraham. I have recently proposed to my leaders that while the Book of Mormon is an excellent missionary tool perhaps we are underutilizing the Book of Abraham to the point where it almost seems it is being hidden under a bushel. This need not be.
Imagine a door approach where one encounters a Jew or a Muslim for example and instead of talking to them about The Book of Mormon - Another Testament of Jesus Christ, we told them about the writings we have of Father Abraham! We would invite them to read, ponder and pray about that great book which is only five chapters long and could be printed economically in pamphlet form. On our next visit after they have had a chance to ponder the prophets words we could talk about how miraculous it was that Abrahams original writings (not copies) written by his own hand upon papyrus came all the way from the catacombs of Egypt into the possession of Joseph Smith - who just happened to be the only person on the earth capable of translating them.
From this point we could introduce other aspects of the gospel including the fact that facsimile 2 (http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/abr/fac-2?lang=eng) "contains writings that cannot be revealed unto the world; but is to be had in the Holy Temple of God".
If Christians, Muslims and Jews truly esteem Abraham as much as they claim to, one can expect that they would do all in their power to be worthy of entering the temple in order to hear the words that were revealed to Abraham, as translated by Joseph; this will include accepting Jesus as their Saviour, leaving behind their religious traditions to join ours, paying 10% of their income as a tithe offering, giving up addictive substances such as green tea and many other important things that will only bring happiness and joy to their lives.
I would encourage all faithful readers of this blog to start looking for opportunities to use the Book of Abraham as a missionary tool as moved upon by the spirit of God. I promise that in so doing you will bring joy and salvation to many souls,
Faithfully yours,
President Paternoster
17 comments:
I for one am a big fan of inscribing people's minds with the idea that we were some airy-fairy intelligences before we came to this earth and that for many many many millenia we progressed until we were ready to come to this earth...these have always been the hallmark doctrines of a sound and fundamental testimony of the restoration knowing that Joe S. had access to such knowledge even b4 the foundation of the true church...there is no doubt with this much knowledge, he must have been a prophet...thanks for the rhetoric to use in teaching investigators, they'll sure appreciate your cynicism, I know I do!
Thanks President of the Holy Rosary...you're the best, you have always provided such whimsical and humorous insights which make me so proud that you left this church some time ago now and that you have been so blessed to simply know the workings of any stake in the church! You're simply the best, better than all the rest!
I agree that the Book of Abraham should not be hid under a bushel. Unlike the more often talked about Book of Mormon whose source was taken up to heaven by an angel, we have the papyrus from which the BOA was translated! This vital evidence of truth is available for all to see. Surely Christians and Muslims would be amazed to see the writings of Father Abraham in their pure and original form. Imagine the scholarship that could blossom and bring forth fruit if this precious resource were used to its full potential!
I agree that it would make a powerful missionary tool in short pamphlet form. Not to discount the Book of Mormon, of course, but many of the investigators on my mission could not get past the many instances of "and it came to pass" that was the custom in Hebrew writing at that time. Then again, they were mostly aborigines from the seed of Cain so we can't expect them to grasp the finer elements of literary style.
The Book of Mormon could be best utilized as a teaching aid on Testimony Glove 2.0 (our ward clerk showed me the beta version) -- as an additional sixth finger or perhaps replacing Joseph Smith on the middle finger.
President, I must point out that the most knowledgeable scholars of the Lord's institution of learning, even the Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, which in former days was known as FARMS, agree that the fragments of papyrus in the church's possession are in fact NOT the source for the text of the Book of Abraham, the presence of fragments of facsimile 1 notwithstanding.
The source appears to have been on "a long roll of manuscript," not on the "mounted fragments" that appear to have been recovered. No "long roll of manuscript" was found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the fragments.
The true source of the Book of Abraham text was burned by the Lord in the Chicago Fire of 1871, so as to try the faith of the saints. If we had the original text and Joseph's translation, and it was verified by modern scholars, we would know for a surety that Joseph is a true Prophet of the Restoration, and we would not be blessed with the trials of exercising faith.
We should indeed use the Book of Abraham as a missionary tool, and show the authentic scraps of papyrus containing facsimile 1, but we must understand that accepting as scripture is ultimately an act of faith.
Long-time members will remember the practice of placing a family photograph and written testimony into a copy of the Book of Mormon, which is then made available to the full-time missionaries.
In our family, we have built a Family Home Evening activity around the same principle centered on the Book of Abraham. Our primary-age children draw "facsimiles" based on family photographs. One of our young sons went so far as to draw in the figure of a neighborhood boy of Hamitic lineage for greater similitude! Meanwhile, the older children supply numbered "keys" to identify the individuals depicted. The text of the testimony is provided by my wife, and while presiding over the entire activity, I also undertake the more technically demanding task of printing a copy of the Book off the internet and stapling it into booklet form.
A pamphlet provided by the Church would make this very wholesome family activity more widely available, and afford an opportunity for correlated supplementary material for the benefit of investigators. It is a wonderful suggestion, President.
No, Spencer, Joseph Smith should definitely continue to be the one to get the middle finger!
I haven't thought about using the BOA with Muslim's or Jews before. Not sure why but thank-you for this suggestion. I have had several associations with Muslims and found a lot of commonalities with our religions. This has helped me build a positive relationship with them and I hope that adding the BOA to our discussions will continue to help bridge the gap between our two religions.
No, no President Paternoster. That is not how we do it. Just stick to the approved programme. You're making things up again.
http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/rom/1.16#15
In Romans 1:16 it says "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ". I once met a church member who didn't want to share the Book of Abraham's wonderful story with their friends/neighbors. I felt bad for them for being so ashamed of the gospel. It's so nice to see you President having such zealous joy over the gospel.
Isaac, if you want anyone to take your comments seriously, try making them shorter and less facty. I read the first line and my brain began to malfunction. No clue what you said after that.
Spencer, thanks for the admonition. I will bear my testimony instead of talking about facts.
I'd like to bear my testimony, i know this church is true...
I know President Paternoster is a true Stake President...
I know the Book of Abraham is true....
I love my family, and i say these things inthenameathysonjesuschristamen.
Following your advice, I promptly shared this powerful missionary tool with all of my co-workers. They were speechless! I think the spirit touch them so profoundly they, that the sat in silence for several minutes before changing the subject to the weather. I invited them all over to my house with the missionaries to discuss it further this Saturday night.
I am sooo excited for their almost guaranteed upcoming baptisms!!
Nicely done, Issac. Make it about 5 times longer, though, and that would be a textbook example of an effective testimony.
President,
How can we use the statement in our missionary efforts about the 6' tall quaker-looking people who live on the moon joseph smith told us about. No one could know that unless they were a prophet.
Spencer,
I will work on lengthening my testimony so it has more of an effect of confounding the wicked.
I heard there is a new product distributed by the Lord's bookstore called a "Testimony Glove." I shall use this inspired tool to further strengthen my testimony and have the power to carry it into the hard hearts of the sinful and disbelieving.
Oh what a wonderful work and wonder. What a marvelous blessing the Book of Abraham can be if read with an open heart and a quiet mind. I was reading the BoA last Sunday. I pondered it's words. I studied the facsimile. I concluded that only divine inspiration could get those words from those pictures. Surely it is a miracle of God on High that Joseph Smith was able to make 5 chapters from those pictures. Praise to the man and praise to this testament of Jesus Christ.
Should a Bishop contact the husband who holds the priesthood first before giving a blessing to his wife? The wife asked for a blessing from the bishop?
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