Malachi spoke of a “book of remembrance” which helped some believers overcome a severe crisis of faith (Malachi 3:13-18). Jesus quoted this passage when He visited Lehi’s descendants following His resurrection (3 Nephi 24:13-18).
From the book of Moses, we learn that this concept goes all the way back to the earliest generations of humanity:
And a book of remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration; …
Now this prophecy Adam spake, as he was moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and a genealogy was kept of the children of God. And this was the book of the generations of Adam.
Moses 6:5, 8
Six generations later (but still during Adam’s lifetime), Enoch mentioned the book of remembrance as he urged his people to believe in God:
The Lord which spake with me, the same is the God of heaven, and he is my God, and your God, and ye are my brethren, and why counsel ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven? …
For a book of remembrance we have written among us, according to the pattern given by the finger of God; and it is given in our own language.
Moses 6:46
What is this book of remembrance? Is it scripture? Genealogy? The answer is yes: it is both. It is a record of God’s dealings with their ancestors, reminding them both of their ancestors and of God.
When I was 9 or 10 years old, I spent quite a bit of time on Sundays copying information about my ancestors onto pedigree charts and family group records, which I kept in a book like this:
I gathered a lot of names, birth dates, death dates, marriage dates, and locations. I’m not sure I felt that I knew these people, but just recording basic information about them helped me feel a connection to them.
Today, we can record all of that information on FamilySearch. We can also attach memories in the form of pictures, stories, audio, and other documents which help us get to know the person better. You can also attach memories to your own record, which will be publicly available for future generations after your death.
The brass plates were important to Lehi because they contained a spiritual record of his people and also because they contained his genealogy (1 Nephi 3:3; 5:11-16). These two types of information weren’t really separable. He discovered that he was a descendant of Joseph. He later named one of his sons Joseph and spoke to him extensively about his ancestor. To Lehi, the spiritual record and the genealogy worked together to link him to family and to God.
Today, I will reconnect with my ancestors by reviewing memories from their lives. I will remember the important roles of those memories: helping me feel a sense of belonging and building my faith.
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