The Book of Mormon Made Easier by: David J. Ridges

I just purchased this book last week. It is WONDERFUL! It is the entire text of the Book of Mormon (in 3 volumes total) and it has useful background information and insights noted in between and within the verses.

I have to admit that I struggle reading my scriptures because my mind wanders so much. I've actually been praying for help and found this book last week.

I highly recommend this book, it is JUST like sitting in one of my Religion Classes at BYU or Ricks or Institute for that matter. The only exception is that there is no one around to make comments (except the Instructor) and you are reading it instead of hearing it.

This book WILL NOT disappoint!

Here's an example:

This is in Mosiah 3 (I accidentally bought the second book first)

"Note: Verses 18 and 19 contain what is known as "chiasmus." Chiasmus is a writing technique developed in ancient times which emphasizes certain words and phrases then lists these same words and phrases in reverse order.

It is a literary style and technique which was discovered in ancient writings including Isaiah, long after the Book of Mormon was published. Thus, discovering it in the Book of Mormon is strong internal evidence that Joseph Smith truly translated it from an ancient record.Chiastic structure can be denoted by letters, for example: A B C D, and then the reverse order, D'C'B'A'.

Chiastic structures can be any length. For instance: eyes, ears, hearts, hearts, ears, eyes. Normally, the middle word or words are the central focus of the thought.

Thus, in our simple example above, "hearts" would be the main focus. We will print verses 18 and 19 now, and will bold and underline the chiasmus. See if you can pick out the main focus or center of attention around which the other teachings and concepts revolve. We will denote each element of the chiasmus with a capital letter.

(I don't know how to underline on my blog, so the chiasmus will just be bolded.)

18. For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble (A) themselves and become as little children (B), and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come in and through the atoning blood of Christ (C), the Lord Omnipotent.

19. For the natural man (D) is an enemy to God and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man (D) and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ (C) the Lord, and becometh as a child (B), submissive, meek, humble (A), patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

As you can see, the central focus is avoiding the character traits of the "natural man." We will now continue with verse 19 which is a famous and often-quoted verse in the Book of Mormon.

As we study this verse, we must understand that people are not "naturally" evil. In other words, the "natural man" is not born that way. Rather, people become that way by violating God's commandments.

This clearly taught in Alma as follows:

Alma 41:11. And now, my son, all men that are in a state of nature, or I would say, in a carnal state, are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity;..." (The Book of Mormon Made Easier part two by David J. Ridges, p. 31-32)

And so on!!!!! This is just a little snippet to give you an idea of the format of this book.

I cannot say enough good about it. And I find that I'm reading much, much more in my daily scripture reading than I was before I found this book! I will be getting the other 2 books in this series this week, they are that good!