Eric Poulin

Introduction to Book of Mormon

“The record is now published in many languages”

This reminds me of an old Economics thought exercise. Imagine you and a small group of 30 people have been stranded on an island. People have needs to be taken care of and quickly learn if everyone tries to do everything, nothing gets done. So… people specialize. There are coconut pickers, and water gatherers and hut builders. Soon, we need to trade products and services so we quickly learn after bartering for a while that a currency is needed to exchange goods.

Certain products become valued at a certain amount of money, dependent on their value, the time it took to produce the item, etc. Money very quickly becomes the common language of value in the society.Without seeing a product we can come to know its relative value by the cost associated with it. Even if 2 people don’t speak the same language, they can understand the value of things by money, whose value transcends language or culture.

Similarly, the BOM, now published in over 109 languages, communicates universal truths to its readers. Although different languages are spoken and written, different cultures practiced, the message of the Book of Mormon is common to all, a medium communicating spiritual value to its reader, regardless of the individuals specialization, vocation, education, etc.