‘I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents…’ (1 Nephi 1:1). Latter-day Saints will be familiar with these words and can probably quote much of the rest of this verse, having read it and heard it countless times over the years.

It’s not possible for me to put into words just how much I love the Book of Mormon, It was written specifically for our days and is so wonderfully complex, beautiful and applicable that I constantly marvel at it. 

Now, if you’re not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you might be a little wary of the Book of Mormon. You might think the ‘Mormons’, as we are usually known, are a little weird, maybe you worry that we’re a cult, or maybe you’ve heard some really troubling things about our history (or present). You might want to stay away from the Book of Mormon in order to keep your distance from the religion.

While I would be delighted to sit down with you and talk through any of your concerns about the religion, in this post I want to encourage you to separate in your mind the religion from the Book of Mormon. I agree we’re a little weird and we have some troubling things about our church history. But there is nothing weird about the Book of Mormon, and it’s not remotely troubling to anyone who truly believes in Jesus Christ. As Nephi says:

‘And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.’ (2 Nephi 33:10)

The prophet Joseph Smith said that a man would get nearer to God by living by the precepts of the Book of Mormon than from any other book, and that has without any doubt been my experience. If you don’t have a copy of the Book of Mormon, you can read it for free online (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng), download a free app for your phone or tablet, or find any church missionary and ask them for a copy. They’ll happily give you a free print copy even if you say you don’t want them to follow up with you. Then sit down, prayerfully read it and get closer to God.

You would think that, as a people who have this beautiful gift from the Lord, and it being specifically for our day, we would scour its pages to learn every last thing God has for us. But remarkably, even in Joseph’s own day, the members of the church didn’t. In 1832, the Lord told the people that they were under condemnation, ‘…until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the other commandments which I have given them…’ (D&C 84:57). In 1986, Ezra Taft Benson, President of the Church, told us that we remained under the same condemnation. His entire talk is worth reading – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1986/10/the-book-of-mormon-keystone-of-our-religion?lang=eng

I can’t count the number of times I’ve read the Book of Mormon in the last 40 years, yet even in the last month I’ve seen numerous messages in it that I’ve never seen before. We haven’t even scratched the surface when it comes to understanding this sacred record.

Maybe I can show one example. If we go back to the very first verse in the book, ‘I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents…’. Well, we’ve probably all been in gospel lessons and heard talks from the pulpit about what it means to have goodly parents, to be taught by them, the afflictions Nephi refers to later in the verse, along with the goodness and mysteries, etc. I’d like to just briefly reference three other ways we can see these opening verses and chapters which we don’t normally discuss – all of which I believe are intentional by Nephi/the Lord.

1. Compare and Contrast

The first, I’m calling compare and contrast. I really love the way Nephi begins his record. Within just a couple of paragraphs, his father Lehi is receiving visions and seeing God on His throne. Nephi’s whole message boils down to ‘Come Unto Christ’, and in the very first chapter he shows us someone who has done it.

One of the next things he does is contrast himself with his father and his brothers. His brothers don’t believe their father (although they still follow him), and Nephi is young. Should he believe his father (who is teaching against the religious orthodoxy of the day), or his brothers who appear faithful to the Law of Moses? He doesn’t know!

It’s a powerful question that we should all consider, no matter where we think we are on any spiritual index, especially in this day of many prophets, false prophets and secular prophets. Who should we believe?

Nephi determines that the only way he can know for sure is to go to God directly, and he tells us that, ‘I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the word which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.’ (1 Nephi 2:16)

In this verse, Nephi tells us the very first step we must all take if we want to eventually ascend to the presence of God as Lehi did – we must soften our hearts and ask the Lord where we can find truth. The rest of 1 Nephi can be read as Nephi’s spiritual journey on this path in metaphor. His second book, 2 Nephi, is more direct and ‘plain’, especially in chapters 31-32. It’s brilliantly constructed writing.

2. Is it I?

In the 7th chapter of 1 Nephi, Nephi and his brothers go back to Jerusalem to convince Ishmael and his family (especially his appropriately aged single daughters) to come with them into the wilderness. We don’t know what they said, but it was apparently successful as they’re all together heading towards Lehi who is camped several days into the wilderness. Some time on this journey, Laman, Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael all rebel and decide they’re going to go back to Jerusalem.

We, the readers, know that these guys are going to continue to be major problems not just during this journey, but for the next thousand years through their descendants. If you’re anything like me, you will have wondered, ‘Why didn’t you just let them go back, Nephi?’. It seems like so many troubles would have been averted if he had.

I won’t recount the rest of the story here, but suffice to say they end up not returning to Jerusalem. The rest, as they say, is history.

But there is a really important point to be made with these more rebellious brothers. As I indicated above, Laman and Lemuel are never criticised with regard to their obedience to the Law of Moses. In fact, they state obedience to the law as evidence that the people in Jerusalem are righteous. When you read the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, you realise there are many ‘prophets’ telling the people not to worry about that guy Jeremiah – the people will be just fine because they’re righteous. After all, the Law of Moses is everything  right? If Laman and Lemuel lived today, they would probably be church-attending, calling-fulfilling, temple-attending members – doing everything they were told to do.

Well, apparently that wasn’t enough, because Jeremiah is right after all. The people may have been ticking all of the boxes of their religion, but their hearts were nowhere near where they needed to be.

When the Saviour told His disciple that one of them would betray Him, each of them, no doubt astonished by the revelation, humbly asked, ‘Is it I?’. This is exactly how each of us needs to look at this story of Laman and Lemuel. We each like to think of ourselves as the Nephi – or at least the righteous follower Sam, right? But if we truly want to strip ourselves of all pride and unrighteousness, we need to ask ourselves in what ways we’re like Laman and Lemuel.

How many of us would genuinely have had the faith of Nephi to go into Jerusalem by night, on our own, with no plan, to get the brass plates, when Laban had already demonstrated an eagerness to kill us and had a bunch of armed soldiers at his command? Laman and Lemuel may have been reluctant, but they really had tried to get the plates as their father had asked.

If we’re truly honest with ourselves, I think we’ll find their are at least elements of these older brothers’ story which we can relate to ourselves and that will open up parts of us for repentance. That’s a good thing!

3. Wheat and Tares

The final way I’ve been thinking about this opening passage of the Book of Mormon relates to the wheat and the tares spoken of by the Lord in these last days. I’ll get there in a minute but first … Notice the parallels between Lehi leaving Jerusalem and Joseph Smith setting up the latter-day church:

1. In Jerusalem, King Josiah’s reforms had removed revelation, angelic communication, seeing God, from being approved to being apostate. Essentially, their religion had become ‘dead’. It’s a major reason why Jeremiah and other prophets came calling them to repentance. In Joseph Smith’s day, the Lord told him that the various creeds were an abomination and that the religions then on the earth denied the power of God.

2. Just as the Lord instructed Lehi to leave Jerusalem to establish a righteous people in another Promised Land, He instructed Joseph to set up the Lord’s church and to build a righteous people in a latter day Zion.

3. Just the Lord told Lehi that his sons needed to get the metal plates on which were the scriptures their people would need to live by, He gave Joseph metal plates from which he translated the Book of Mormon – scriptures we need to live by.

4. Just as Lehi brought with him those who would follow him (e.g. Nephi and Sam) and also brought those who would oppose him (Laman and Lemuel), He allowed both wheat and tares to be sown in the early latter-day church. This wheat and tares continues to grow together. In the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord says: ‘But behold, in the last days, even now while the Lord is beginning to bring forth the word, and the blade is springing up and is yet tender—Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields; But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also.’ (D&C 86:4-6)

5. This last point is going to be a little controversial because I know the ‘Did Jospeh Smith teach and practice polygamy or not?” question is a major issue for some people, but the parallel remains nonetheless … Just as the Nephites began struggling with sexual sin, including polygamy and concubinage within the first generation of being in the Promised Land, so the early Latter-day Saints had mountains of issues with polygamy and ‘Spiritual Wifery’ (as it was then known) in Nauvoo. Nephi’s brother Jacob gives a powerful sermon preaching against these as ‘abominations’, just as Joseph’s brother Hyrum does in Nauvoo.

There is more to this, of course, and no doubt a ton of other parallels and lessons Nephi and the Lord would like us to learn. We all need to do exactly what the Lord told us in Doctrine and Covenants – to repent and remember this new covenant.

I would love to know what these opening chapters of the Book of Mormon are teaching you!

© Copyright 2025, Jeffrey Collyer