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HIDDEN
LDS/JEWISH INSIGHTS #1
Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine Supplement by Daniel Rona
Weekly E-mail Reminder
“THE
KEYSTONE OF OUR RELIGION”
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(1.) HOW MANY KEYSTONES IN
AN ARCHWAY?
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The statement, "The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion"
can be better understood by seeing remains of Roman architecture so prevalent in
Israel. Each stone of an archway is angled to wedge the others in place.
Consider the five "Standard Works (scriptures)" that Latter-day Saints
use as five stones in the archway, the Old Testament, the New Testament, the
Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Every
stone in the arch is necessary to have the advantage of the structure which
holds a building in place as well as having the enjoyment of the beauty in
something that holds itself together. The center point in a chiasmas is the
focusing on the Lord. The Book of Mormon’s purpose is to focus on the Lord,
the God of Israel. This is a visual metaphor of truth.
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(2.) IS HISTORY PREJUDICED?
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Additionally, the Book of Mormon gives us a history of Jews leaving the land of
Israel and going to what is called the land of America. This history is valuable
because it is an unprejudiced account. Daniel Ludlow taught that even true
history is usually prejudiced by the writer and his perceptions as he saw
events happening. Conversely, true prophesy does not have prejudice,
because it has not happened yet. He also taught that scriptural history has the
least amount of prejudice because in most cases it carries a message of future
events. It is prophesy in the form of history. Therefore, the history is
accurate.
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(3.) THE BOOK OF MORMON –
USES HISTORY TO HIGHLIGHT DOCTRINE
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The ancient prophets could not (and would not) write all that happened. They
selected to write those things which would apply as lessons of the future.
". . . I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my
people." (Words of Mormon 1:5) "But behold, a hundredth part of the
proceedings of this people . . . cannot be contained in this
work." (Helaman 3:14) ". . . this book cannot contain even a hundredth
part of what was done among so many people in the space of twenty and five years
. . ." (3 Nephi 5:8)
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