Title Page: Written Records

I discovered something about God on the very first page.  Moroni's introduction, or "Title Page" lets us know that these records (the Book of Mormon), which contain histories of 3 different civilizations,  were written by way of commandment from God.  The reasons he gives number 3 as well: (1) to 'remember the great things the Lord hath done...', (2) to discover 'covenants' and (3) to convince everyone who Jesus Christ is.

Records must be very important to God.  The Book of Mormon has a subtitle: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  This particular record bears testimony of Jesus Christ.  Perhaps God's commandment to write about these things was purely for our benefit.  He didn't need the reminder.  The people written about never saw the completed record.  It must have been important to God for us to have something tangible we could hold in our hands.  This record was abridged by a prophet of God, buried in the earth to keep it protected, then brought forth by another prophet of God.  No series of scribes from different sects, no revisions by hand through hundreds of years, no different interpretations.

During a very unpleasant divorce, I wrote letters to God most every night in a personal journal.  I can't remember what made me stop, but I "re-discovered" it 6 months after things were final.  It was chuck full of recognized blessings, feelings of great love and peace from a Divine source, and an acknowledgement of the different windows and doors of opportunity that were opened to me during this time.  This was a volume of my "personal scripture".  I had forgotten probably half of what I'd written.  Mortals forget -- that's just the human part of us.  But I'm so glad that I had written many "great things that the Lord hath done" for me during that time period.  It was my own record and witness of God's personal dealings with me and a witness of how intimate He could be.

Records are important to God, because He knows they will be important to us.  We need these records to continually be reminded of God's love for us, his constant direction for us and to hear His voice at different times in our lives.  I have read these scriptures multiple times, and depending on what phase of life I am in, there seems to always be something that stands out more than others, even though I'd read it dozens of times.

The God I worship feels His Word is important enough to be written down, preserved and brought forth and spread across the earth.