More Nations than One

After prophesying of the publication of the Book of Mormon in our day, Nephi shares a warning from the Lord: Some people will reject the book because it is unfamiliar. They grew up with the Bible. The Book of Mormon is new, and they will have a hard time accepting it as the word of God.

The Lord tells us that the Book of Mormon is intended to refute this kind of narrow thinking:

Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?…

For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.

2 Nephi 29:7, 11

It sounds like this is more than a simple justification of the Book of Mormon. It sounds like He is encouraging a pattern of thought which is open to truth from any source.

In June 1843, about a year before his death, Joseph Smith said:

Have the Presbyterians any truth? Yes. Have the Baptists, Methodists, etc. any truth? Yes, they all have a little truth mixed with error. We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up or we shall not come out pure [Latter-day Saints].

Joseph Smith, History, 1838–1856, Vol E-1, page 1681

The father of President Henry B. Eyring (whose name was also Henry Eyring) recalled a conversation he had with his own father, Edward Christian Eyring, a rancher, before Henry headed off to college. His father said, “I’m convinced that the Lord used the Prophet Joseph Smith to restore His Church. For me that is a reality. I haven’t any doubt about it. Now, there are a lot of other matters which are much less clear to me. But in this Church you don’t have to believe anything that isn’t true. You go over to the University of Arizona and learn everything you can, and whatever is true is part of the gospel” (quoted in Henry J. Eyring, Mormon Scientist: the Life and Faith of Henry Eyring, 2007, p. 4).

That sounds a lot like the Lord’s prophecy at the end of 2 Nephi 29: “My word…shall be gathered in one” (2 Nephi 29:14).

Today, I will strive to be receptive to truth from any source. I will remember that I have much to learn and that God has revealed truth to “all nations of the earth” (2 Nephi 29:12). I will strive to recognize truth and to integrate it with the truths I already know.