The Personal

"The goal here is for people to understand that any institution, any collection of people, is really just a manifestation of the beliefs of its members."
--Scott Swofford, director of media in the LDS Church's Missionary Department

The Church published this on their blog after the release of mormon.org 4.0. The point of the new site is to facilitate, "...more effective person-to-person connection modeled after unique qualities found in face-to-face communication." We send over 51,000 missionaries out to all countries of the world, attempting to teach people this message through face to face communication. Indeed, Christ himself went among the people, teaching His sermons, appointing his disciples to go and do the same. It seem the key form to liberating this gospel out of obscurity, the key to spreading the church, is person to person communication, is personal, is the individual.

I commented in my earlier posts that the Book of Mormon, a key to conversion, is a personal account of the happenings on the American continent. Here's my thought process:

• The Church's strongest tool for conversion is the "personal"...so what.

• Through launching mormon.org 4.0, the Church has utilized the resources available through the internet to put a personal face on the church...so what.

• While this has increased the viewings of the website ("Visitors to Mormon.org have nearly tripled over the past year to 650,000 per month, thanks to promotional efforts and a growing public interest in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" -- LDS Newsroom), we as members of the LDS church can take it a step further. We can further liberate the messages of the gospel from the stigma of "Mormon" or self-marketing by creating our own forums where we share our thoughts about our religion.

What is more liberating than the breadth and depth one gets through reading others' interpretations? The reason literature exists at all is because personal interpretations differ. There is no one reality to which we all subscribe, for each person's understanding of existence makes for as many realities as there are people to create them.

The Book of Mormon 2.0 Take 2

After I got some feedback, I have specified my idea a bit more as to what I'm actually proposing. The idea is far from complete. I have been posting my process of thinking, not my product. This is just another step towards narrowing and focusing my idea!

The Book of Mormon 2.0

Each form of the Book of Mormon has met the needs of the society it was written in. From the laboriously carved golden plates of Mormon’s time, to the digital editions online today, each form has slowly made this book accessible to more people worldwide and liberated the messages within through the medium of presentation. New print editions, like The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition, have brought back the original narrative form as well as highlighted the literary aspects of the book, creating a form which presents this book as both a spiritual document and literary work. It has been represented multiple ways in print, why not online? It is my contention that the form of the Book of Mormon can be pushed further, modified from thin pages to digital web pages, from impersonal commentary to personal experience, from a stigmatized scripture read only by Mormons, to a literary and spiritual book which furthers Christianity.

The LDS Church has digitized the Book of Mormon and has attempted to put everyday faces on the church with the new Mormon.org website. However, these sites come with a stigma of biased representation. Readers might question the validity of the Church’s self-marketing. Even associations (such as the AML) or discussion forums (such as the bloggernacle) which discuss the Book of Mormon are obviously associated with a bias and cater to a fairly narrow audience. These forms of presenting the Book of Mormon are specific, not a part of everyday internet reading. Personal blogs, on the other hand, have become a part of daily internet reading and reach a broad audience. Personal forums must be created where we personalize the messages within the Book of Mormon; forums where discussion can occur; forums where we peak society's interest and help all types of people confront and take charge of their personal salvation.

As the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to bring others to Christ, Ezra Taft Benson proposed that the Book of Mormon needed to "flood the earth." However, he put the responsibility not on the church, but on its members. Personal narrative converts. Just as the Book of Mormon, a personal account of history by prophets of old, has been a tool in converting millions of people worldwide to the gospel, the way to bring others to the book, is to bring that personal narrative back into the book. Personal testimony, experiences and beliefs all based upon scripture fill our general conferences, sacrament meetings, firesides, Sunday school lessons, etc. If that is what the leaders of the church use to teach the messages within the Book of Mormon, then I believe when every member writes their personal narrative, or experiences with the Book of Mormon, using social networking tools such as Facebook, twitter, and even Mormon.org, linking the blog to a person, to share that work, the endless personal experiences will be the liberating form or medium through which the Book of Mormon will flood the world.

The Book of Mormon 2.0

As I have been discussing the emergence of the Book of Mormon, my point has not been to simply present research on a subject which seems unimportant in light of the actual goals of the book. As I have discussed The Book of Mormon's emergence and how it has slowly been flooding the earth, I plan to propose what I believe to be the best way this book can be accessible to all the earth.

Welcome to Book of Mormon 2.0

It has been the vision of past and present-day leaders of the LDS church to, "...flood the earth with the Book of Mormon" (Benson). In this technology-driven 21st century, the way to bring the Book of Mormon to all corners of the earth is to digitize it. However, it is not enough to only have the Book of Mormon available. Society must be informed of its presence. It is my contention that the internet, blogs particularly, is the medium through which the Book of Mormon will flood the earth. It is not enough to have a link where one can order a printed copy of the Book of Mormon. Forums must be created where we personalize the messages within the Book of Mormon; forums where discussion can occur; forums where we peak society's interest and help all types of people confront and take charge of their personal salvation.

That, my friends, is my mission with this project. How will such a feat be accomplished? In my next posts I will discuss how a personal blog can become one of the greatest missionary tools available.

Flooding the Earth: Saturating the World With the Book of Mormon

"I have a vision of flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon"

--Ezra Benson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1988

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it has always been clear to me that one of my main responsibilities is to share the truth and knowledge found within the pages of the Book of Mormon. This responsibility has never been more exciting a challenge than now, in the 21st century, when modern technology allows for easy access to LDS church resources, and the bloggosphere allows for personal narrative to be published world wide. Technology has allowed people to flood the internet with their ideas, thoughts, and has created a society uniquely connected through virtual reality.

President Ezra Taft Benson, 13th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, saw the great opportunity technology afforded when he said:

"In this age of electronic media and mass production of the printed word, God will hold us accountable if we do not move the Book of Mormon in a monumental way" -- Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon

And moved it has! With 107 full text translations into other languages (including languages without a tradition of writing and visual translations into American Sign Language) and over 3 million copies produced yearly, the Book of Mormon is covering the earth (Translations of the Book of Mormon).

Yet, more can be done. It is my belief that the internet, blogs particularly, has become this generation's most liberating form of publication. It is my contention that when people begin discussing the Book of Mormon online, a socialized "Scripture Journal" if you will, viewing the book not just as a spiritual text, but as the inspiring work of literature it is, when we digitally flood the earth with discussions of the Book of Mormon, when we move the book in that monumental way, that is when President Benson's vision will be fulfilled.