The Christ Story in the Book of Mormon

The Christ Story In The Book Of Mormon

By Elder Samuel L. Holmes

THE burden of the message of the Book of Mormon is an attestation of the divinity of Jesus Christ. At this statement one may well ask that if the book is what is purports to be—a record of God’s dealings with certain ancestors of the American Indians—how can it testify to the divinity of Jesus and His mission? How can a record which was hidden in a hill in 400 A.D. and whose people had no known intercourse with Europe until the 15th Century bear witness to Christ? If the first statement can be proved it should be evidence of the credibility and authenticity of the book as a new witness for Christ.

Turn first to the words of Jesus Himself recorded in John 10:16, at the time when Jesus was speaking of Himself in terms of the Good Shepherd. “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” It is sometimes mistakenly supposed that the reference was to the gentile nations, but that cannot be, for the charge was specifically given the Apostles to preach to the gentiles. Whom, then, could He have meant? These people on another continent whose record we are discussing?

Look at the story of those Nephite people at the time of, and just previous to, the marvellous events of Christ’s life in the near east. The time and circumstances of the Messiah’s birth were predicted by several prophets: Lehi (1st Nephi 1:19), Nephi (1st Nephi 11), Benjamin (Mosiah 3), Abinadi (Mosiah 13). Samuel, a righteous Lamanite, turned prophet by the power of God, was the last to predict. Five years before Christ’s birth he foretold all the signs that would accompany it and herald it to the inhabitants of the western hemisphere. Similarly, he predicted the signs to occur at the Saviour’s (death (Helaman 14).

These prophecies were all literally fulfilled. The book tells of the disputations among the people as the date drew near, and of their fear and repentance at the coming of the signs. Then as the 33 predicted years passed, they gradually fell away, but at the end of the 33rd year they again began to doubt and wonder whether or not the prophecies would be fulfilled as before.

At this point the book tells of the dramatic fulfilment—the terrible tempests that filled the earth, the three days of darkness, the earthquakes and floods and the voice from Heaven. The survivors gathered together in the great city. Then occurred the greatest event of this volume of scripture: the appearance of Jesus Christ to the people of the American continent. The assembled multitude heard a voice from heaven, and saw the glorious personage of the Resurrected Christ descend to them (3rd Nephi 11).

The Great Teacher taught them all things pertaining to His kingdom—of His atoning sacrifice and the salvation made possible to man through it, of the Gospel of brotherly love, of faith, repentance, baptism, and promised them that the Holy Ghost would minister to them if they were worthy. He taught them the Christian virtues, healed their sick, and blessed their children. He told them of many things to come and expounded God’s purposes to them. He ordained apostles among them and set up an organization for the prosecution of His work, just as He had done on the other hemisphere. Then as He left them, He promised that He would return.

Now, have we any external evidence to support this scriptural story? Let me take you to the time when Cortez was conquering Mexico, about 1520. Just as Christ’s Church in the near east had gradually fallen away, so had the one in the west. In the east it was mainly due to the influx of foreign paganism. In the west it was a reversion to the previous Lamanite heathenism. But had the descendents of those people to whom Jesus had also come entirely forgotten the White God who had wrought wondrous miracles before the very eyes of their ancestors?

Columbus called them Indians and later Spaniards found these remnants of the Nephites dressed in ornate, yet hideous, costumes, performing heathen rites that bore a marked resemblance to the ordinances of these Christian conquistadores. The Indians immersed their children in water when they were about 12 years old and called it a name which signified “second birth,” for it washed away sin and the result was a new disposition for good in the child. They made human sacrifices regularly, and let the blood drip onto small cakes of maize which they ate—that the virtues of the god, Quetzelcoatl, to whom they were symbolically sacrificing the unfortunate victim, might be imbued within them. This latter seemed a perverted attempt at commemoration of the sacrament.

Later the conquerors learned of the traditions of this people and the reasons why the Spaniards had at first been welcomed as the White God returning with His aids. The following is the substance of the tradition of the Aztecs of Mexico—there is a counterpart, with slight variations, among nearly every tribe of Indians in the Americas.

The Aztecs worshipped a god named Quetzelcoatl, who was lesser than another god, his father. His mother was a virgin who bore him in the flesh. His birth had been on the “day of three suns.” Quetzecoatl had come to earth for his father—he was eternal like his father—and had been killed on a cross for the sins of all men At the time he was killed destruction occurred, people were killed; and the face of the earth was changed. He rose from the grave and came to this people to teach them many things, which are also remarkably similar to the moral precepts of Jesus. Lastly, Quetzelcoatl told them that they would live again with him after death, taught them the rites which they performed, and promised to return someday. Even today these legends persist. The sacrifices have long since been abolished, but Redmen still teach their sons that the great White God who taught them the arts and brought them a period of happiness will yet return.

The similarity of the Indian version of Christ’s visit to the Book of Mormon story cannot be denied, even though the former has been greatly heathenized through the centuries. Is it not just and reasonable that these other sheep should know Christ? Is not this powerful evidence of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. We proclaim it as scripture of equal authority and explanatory of and supplementary to the Holy Bible Are not its possibilities fascinating?