Record Preservation: An Underlying Theme in the Book of Mormon

By Prosfilaes - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24986381

Note: As I tried to post the following to Facebook, I got this error message:

It says:

Your message couldn't be sent because it includes content that other people on Facebook have reported as abuse.

I suggest you read the following post and decide for yourself why someone would consider this particular post as abusive. My blog has been banned from posting on Facebook without any supporting reason or response to multiple requests from me. I suggest you may wish to reevaluate your relationship with Facebook and think about what they are allowing to be published and wonder at what they are preventing from being published. What if someone decided your posts were abusive? Would you want to know what you said that caused this reaction? You might want to look into the issue of "fake news." Here is a place to start: "How Facebook Continues to Spread Fake News." One of the tragedies that I see as I review Facebook from time to time is the fact that many of my friends pass along obviously fake or misleading "Memes" and stories. You may want to think seriously about your involvement with Facebook. 

One of the most prominent incidents in the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon is the story of Nephi, Laman, Lemuel, and Sam returning to Jerusalem to obtain the "the record of the Jews and also a genealogy of my forefathers, and they are engraven upon plates of brass." (1 Nephi 3:3) These records were important because of the following reasons:

19 And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these arecords, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers; 

20 And also that we may apreserve unto them the words which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy bprophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the world began, even down unto this present time. (1 Nephi 3:19-20)

The importance of preserving these records was explained again by King Benjamin in Mosiah 1: 3-5:

3 And he also taught them concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, saying: My sons, I would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God. 

4 For it were not possible that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these plates; for he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians therefore he could read these engravings, and teach them to his children, that thereby they could teach them to their children, and so fulfilling the commandments of God, even down to this present time. 

5 I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct.

It is important to understand that if the Brass Plates had not been preserved, likely, we would not have the record preserved today in the Book of Mormon. Can we really tell the value of the records we inherit from our ancestors including those records of their lives made by governments, churches, and other record-keeping entities? Can we excuse our own disregard for those same records?

In our own day, we have received the following commandment in the Doctrine and Covenants 127: 9:

9 And again, let all the records be had in order, that they may be put in the archives of my holy temple, to be held in remembrance from generation to generation, saith the Lord of Hosts. 

Perhaps it is time to take our own personal inventory of the records we have from our ancestors either directly or indirectly and begin or continue the process of moving those records to safe storage on the FamilySearch.org website Memories section.