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Sunday, February 3, 2019

What is in the "sealed portion" of the Book of Mormon?

What is in the "sealed portion" of the Book of Mormon? (no reference - just a question that came while reading 2 Nephi)

Here is a clear answer.

To save you a click, here's a summary:

About 1/2-2/3 of the gold plates which Joseph Smith translated were sealed, as in, they were, "so securely bound together that it was impossible to separate them," (according to one of the witnesses of the plates, David Whitmer).

Apparently a huge section of the gold plates was encapsulated to preserve them for the future. This was not done with metal bands, unlike how artists sometimes portray it. We don't really know exactly how it was done, but Moroni sealed them with materials that were available to him after he was separated from the rest of his people.

In the gold plates is a record of the vision of the brother of Jared. He was led to the American continent with his family by God at the time of the tower of Babel. He and his descendants were destroyed because of wickedness. They left a record which Nephi's descendants eventually found and translated by the power of God.

One of Danny's college professors calls this vision, "the movie." Basically, as I understand it, it is the entire history of mankind from a divine perspective. It includes, "all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof" (2 Nephi 27:10–11Ether 3:25).

In my opinion the history of mankind will contain more details and information about historical events that we don't often revere or even know about because they are "small" and "insignificant." They often occur in bedrooms with mothers singing their children lullabies or with a kind word or two from a patient father.

I also think it will contain detailed descriptions of where the lost ten tribes were led, what their unique roles and responsibilities in God's Kingdom are, and how Asia fits into any of this. I have often wondered about that - how the Middle East and Far East and their religious philosophies/practices feel totally far removed from the West and Christian philosophies/practices. I hypothesize that religious leaders/prophets like Mohammed and Buddha were inspired by God. It would be so satisfying to learn how these other beliefs, teachings, and world histories are circumscribed into a much larger, more complete history.

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