Sacrifice for Scripture

This Sunday, I'm teaching a lesson on the publication of the Book of Mormon, and though the details in the lesson manual seem boring to me, I think I know how I want to approach the lesson.

As we've covered the translation, and now the publication, of the Book of Mormon, one thing that has stood out to me is how much of a sacrifice this process had been. Translating the plates took months of effort spanning multiple years, and just holding onto the plates for that period of time was a sacrifice, as the Smith family suffered multiple burglaries and theft attempts because of it. Almost all of the reactions to the idea of the "gold bible" were negative, and they ranged from mockery to life-threatening physical attacks. Also, there was a financial cost to publishing the Book of Mormon as well, which was paid by a sacrifice.

And that was just the beginning. Joseph Smith continued to pay for the publication of the Book of Mormon for the rest of his cut-short life, and most of those around him suffered for it as well. The Book of Mormon is a great blessing in our lives, but it came at a terrible cost.

After quickly establishing that there was a cost involved in the publication of the Book of Mormon, the main message that I want to share is that much of that sacrifice will be wasted if we don't study the Book of Mormon. Just like the Atonement is useless to us if we don't repent, the Book of Mormon, which cost the Smiths and their few friends so much to produce, will also be useless to us if we don't read it.

I'm aware that worrying about the "sunk cost" is a fallacy, and that the Book of Mormon would have been worth publishing, even if only a few people benefited from it, just as the Atonement would have been worthwhile even if there had only ever been one person who needed it. But still, we shouldn't take the Atonement or the Book of Mormon for granted. Yes, they are both wonderfully-accessible now, but only because others paid a terrible price to give them to us. If we wish to respect their sacrifices and make full use of them, we need to frequently repent and read the Book of Mormon.