Книга Мормона

This year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints used the Book of Mormon as the text, in conjunction with the relatively new Come, Follow Me manual, for Sunday school lessons.  The Book of Mormon has always been a part of my life since I’m a life-long member of the Church, and I have come to know that it never hurts to re-read this book, which is aptly described by its subtitle, “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”  Since it’s been almost twenty years since I finished by mission, which I served in St. Petersburg, Russia, I thought it would be fitting to read the Russian translation of the book.  It’s gone through a few updates since I read it as a missionary, so there would be a little bit of a new feel to it for me (my version was dated March 24th, 2015).

 
While I normally try to summarize the book or provide highlights and some of the author’s main points, that seemed a little less useful for a book of scripture, but since part of the impetus behind reading it in Russian was to help maintain (re-gain?) at least a semblance of Russian-language skills, I thought I would hearken back to my mission days and try to give the same type of overview of the Книга Мормона that we gave as missionaries when doing what we called street contacting, simply walking up to people, asking if they’d give us a few minutes of their time, and then explaining who we were and what, in generic terms, our message was.  If people were willing to listen for a few minutes, we usually had a chance to talk about the Book of Mormon, which was new and unique for upwards of 90% of the people with whom we spoke.  Most missionaries, myself included, liked to use the illustrations included at the front of the book.  We typically told people we met that the Book of Mormon was a book of scripture, the same as the Bible is a book of scripture, that testified of Jesus Christ.  It was written by ancient prophets, starting with a man named Lehi, who left Jerusalem and moved to the American continent.  The book recorded the history and prophecies of Lehi’s descendants, culminating in a visit to these people by the resurrected Savior, where He taught His gospel and performed miracles just as He had done in Jerusalem.  This record was compiled by another ancient prophet, named Mormon, and buried, later to come forth, with God’s help, through a modern-day prophet named Joseph Smith.  The book ends with a promise that if we ask God about its truthfulness, He will answer us.

I will first note that I am a huge fan of how this edition of the Book of Mormon in Russian uses the Russian letter Ё (yo).  While most literate Russians don’t need it printed, and there’s some debate among linguists about its status, learners of Russian are helped immensely by the letter.  I would’ve loved having it in the Book of Mormon as a missionary (as it was, I always added the two dots over the E when it was required by hand in my copy as a missionary).  The new translation, though, didn’t always leave me as satisfied.  I found that they strayed from some Biblical phrasings or other more staid expressions in favor of more literal translations (which has been done with other languages, too), likely in an attempt to make the scriptures more accessible to the modern, younger reader.  Finally, there were a few translations, as usual, where having a native English speaker who knows Russian well as a proofreader would’ve helped.  None of those imperfections reduce the truth of the book, of course.  As stated above, it’s never bad to re-read the Book of Mormon.  Even though I know very well how the stories go and what the main lessons are, the book is inspiring almost every time I pick it up.  Like the Bible, the Book of Mormon is full of eternal truths and principles that apply to our lives even though the situations we encounter are continually changing and the world around us is always fluid.  At the end of the book, Moroni’s promise continues to deliver.  Moroni notes that we can know the truth of all things through the Holy Ghost, and I have put that to the test repeatedly, both about the Book of Mormon and about other Church- and doctrine-related questions.  My belief in God, in the scriptures, and in the Church have repeatedly been strengthened, often as a result of my questions, and I can state, just as I did twenty years ago at the end of the quick overview given to so many people on the streets of St. Petersburg, I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God!

   

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