Leap of Faith

Key Takeaways

Kyle, in 2018 in Books: I owe a special debt of gratitude to Elder Zach Collier. We served together as missionaries in Pennsylvania, and he was the first person to expose me to Mormon Apologetics generally, with sites like FairMormon, and specifically, this book Leap of Faith.

I had the opportunity earlier this year to have a conversation with a friend who had come to the conclusion that there is a God, but as to whether or not he would speak through a specific church, that was a different question entirely. This led me to be reminded of this book, and more specifically to ponder more fully on the idea of forming a hypothesis, and testing it. Religion can have the same inquiries made as science, albeit the methods of evaluation are more emotional and qualitative.

I’m grateful to Bob Bennett for doing something that an inadequate number of Mormons and non-Mormons alike do, and that is to honestly ask the question — “where did the Book of Mormon come from?”

The author of Leap of Faith addresses a variety of questions as to the origins of the Book of Mormon. He evaluates three scenarios — Joseph Smith did it himself, he had help from a 3rd party, or God actually helped him. Within each of these scenarios he evaluates motive, and when he gets to God’s motive, he points out that “it is significant enough to provide a motive for God to have been involved in bringing the Book of Mormon forward in our time.”

Kyle, in 2024 in Books: The year began with a re-read of probably the single book that has best summed up my religious perspective. Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints requires a leap of faith. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t without some evidence that can make the leap just a little bit easier. This is the kind of religious writing that I strive to support, provide, and consume.

Connections

• Faith is Not Blind — belief that outruns proof; faith beyond the boundaries of reason.

Highlights

Roam capture metadata — Author: Bob Bennett · Reading Status: Books Read · Source: https://medium.com/@kwharrison13/2018-in-books-7d3590e7f5e8 · Recommended By: Zach Collier · Tags: #Books

• ==Highlighted Quotes==
  • “In all this flurry of commentary and analysis, however, comparatively little is said about the Church’s premiere publication, the Book of Mormon. It is usually mentioned only in passing, primarily as an explanation of why Church members are called Mormons. The book is seldom, if ever, carefully examined on its own merits.”
  • “Some contemporary commentators who find much in the current Church that they approve of go so far as to suggest that the nineteenth-century Book of Mormon is an embarrassment to the twenty-first century Mormon Church. They say that the book has been outgrown, that it has outlived its usefulness. In a somewhat patronizing tone, they suggest that perhaps it should be quietly abandoned so that the “good things” the Church accomplishes will cease to be tainted by the “weird things” that the book talks about. The Church cannot do that, of course. Its founding prophet, Joseph Smith, called the book the “keystone of our religion.””
  • The author of Leap of Faith addresses a variety of questions as to the origins of the Book of Mormon. He evaluates three scenarios — Joseph Smith did it himself, he had help from a 3rd party, or God actually helped him. Within each of these scenarios he evaluates motive, and when he gets to God’s motive, he points out that “it is significant enough to provide a motive for God to have been involved in bringing the Book of Mormon forward in our time.”
  • “Considering the book in our time, not Joseph Smith’s, I see a message in it that God would want our society to hear but that neither Mormon nor Moroni would have thought of emphasizing. Mentioning it, for them, would have been like recording the daily rising of the sun. Here it is: God exists and is in charge.”