I know I'm a couple days late... I went to Calgary for the weekend and didn't take my laptop and I forgot my next post was saved on it when I assumed I wouldn't need it. Tonight I'm going to interrupt my testimony series to do a book review!I just finished reading a book called "Women of the Book of Mormon" by Heather Moore. She pretty much talks about each woman mentioned in the Book of Mormon. She writes informed opinions about the physical, spiritual and emotional conditions each woman might have faced based on research, scholarly sources, and the scriptures.
I can't say I dogmatically believed and agreed with everything she said. That's one reason why I've always hesitated to read books written by LDS authors that talk about the gospel... just because the person who wrote it is a member of the church with the gift of the Holy Ghost and who shares the same beliefs that I do, doesn't mean everything he/she will say in the book is 100% true. The Ensign, the scriptures, and other published works by apostles of God are the only things I'll dive in already knowing what they have to say are true before even reading them. Anything else, I go by the spirit to know if it's true.. if I feel the spirit after reading something, then I know it's true. If I feel sketchy about it, then I overlook it. If I don't feel anything, then I'm just unsure until I get an answer.
Why? I'll give you an example. Little Timmy loves chocolate. Every time he has chocolate, he feels happy! Every year, his birthday cakes are chocolate. An ice cream truck drives by his house... he's never bought ice cream from that particular business, but he knows he loves chocolate so he buys the chocolate flavoured ice cream because he already knows it'll be his favourite out of all of them and that it'll taste good. Analagously, I already know our latter-day prophets are indeed called by God to speak His words for us. I know every word coming out of their mouths are what the Saviour would say if He were here on Earth. Every time they speak, I feel the spirit. I feel good. I feel peaceful. I feel a renovated desire to be a better person. So, that's why I find it unnecessary to be sketchy and pray about every single conference talk or published work by an apostle.
Anywhoozle, back to the book. So she talks about the conditions the women faced, the historical, cultural and geographical background of their lives, and concludes each chapter with a spiritual lesson we can learn from each woman's life.
Now what I said earlier about not believing everything she said doesn't mean I think any of it is bullcrap... I just don't know! I found a lot of the informed opinions she provided quite interesting, but they're not facts. If everything she said turned out to be 100% true however, I wouldn't be surprised. Everything she said made sense and I could tell she put a lot of work and effort into her research. And I did feel the spirit with some of the things I read in her book!
I chose to read this book because lately I've been surrounded by radical feminists who complain about the church not giving their women the privileges or attention they think they deserve (I'll make a post on my thoughts about that)! And for some reason, I've never felt that way. I never felt inferior to priesthood holders, I've never had the desire to hold the priesthood or leadership callings in the church, I've never felt disregarded by my church leaders for being a girl, and I just love being a woman! I love my role in society and in my home. I try really hard to be open-minded and understand where they're coming from, but I struggle. This fostered in me a desire to study and increase my knowledge and understanding of the role women have. Maybe someday I'll understand what it is that makes these women feel so inferior and sympathize with them, but for now I want to focus on the positives.
This particular book caught my attention because growing up and reading the Book of Mormon several times, I was always taught about how we should follow the examples of the prophets there. I remember as a kid I innocently wondered why women aren't mentioned as often as men are, about the existence of a Heavenly Mother, and what women were there for me to look up to. Not because I didn't like men, but because I thought by knowing about the women I'd be able to relate to them more. That's the sort of desire I've always held; to look for people I can actually relate to to look up to. Like the Saviour, He is my #1 example because He led such a perfect life and I will always look up to Him. When I started learning about Joseph Smith's life, however, my love for him grew immensely because he was imperfect as I am, and yet he accomplished so many great things which is a huge example to me. So in other words, I read this book with the hope of finding some people I could relate to in the scriptures to look up to!
This book is very easy to read too! I'm an ADHD and I loathe reading like you can't imagine... especially when they talk about historical stuff I get really bored. I never liked History or Geography in High School, and yet this book was a lot of fun to read. I found all the things she said very interesting and insightful. So in terms of the secular knowledge you can potentially gain from reading this book, it really isn't that boring at all. It's actually really interesting! I also found it appropriate for the author to add all of that secular insight to give us a more visual idea of the lives these women must have led. Sure I've watched movies in seminary and the scriptures themselves may go into a little bit of historical background, but the author adds some fun facts about that historical era that allows the stories of each woman to make sense.
I really felt the spirit when the author goes into the spiritual and emotional side of things. I felt the spirit when she talked about Lamoni's wife and how Ammon said she had the greatest amount of faith he had ever seen... which is something I never noticed he said. It really touched my heart when I realized he said that because I've personally been through difficult situations as well (maybe not comparable to having your spouse lying as if he's dead, but still) and she didn't have the gospel in her life yet but she opened her heart to a Nephite missionary's teachings. That is a HUGE example! If you found yourself in a difficult situation, would you have enough faith to listen to a "sworn enemy's" words too? It also gives me hope with missionary work in general. We really don't know whose heart the Lord is preparing to hear our testimonies.
So that's one example of something that touched my heart from the book. Every chapter had at least one thing that spiritually uplifted me. My very favourite part, however, was when she talks about the mothers of the stripling warriors. I guess this may be biased because currently, the stripling warriors story is indeed my favourite Book of Mormon story! I just love it so much and wish I would've lived in that time just to meet them and feel a little bit of the spirit they must have had and learn from their faith. I look at how twisted and messed up our world is, how influential and morally degraded the media is, how overlooked virtue and integrity are, and how selfish people are. I worry so much that if I'm given the opportunity to raise a family someday, if I'll be able to raise my Kimlets righteously, teach them to love the Lord and trust in Him, and to willingly live the gospel. I want to so badly, but how many parents do we see in the church who are loving spiritual giants that see their kids leave the church? If those people who are so much better than me in so many aspects have failed, how will I succeed in teaching a child to live the gospel? So, I loved that chapter because the author really talks about what she thinks those mothers must have been like to succeed in raising such courageous and faithful sons. Especially since we don't really get too much information from the Book of Mormon with regard to the mothers, other than what they taught their sons.
Actually, I change my mind. (Girls do that, okay?) My very favourite part was when she talks about the wife of Mormon/mother of Moroni. I won't go into too much detail, but what stood out to me from that chapter was how difficult Moroni's mom's life must have been to send her husband and her son off to war and that since her husband was always busy with all the battles, she must have been the one to more significantly contribute to Moroni's raising. So it must have been hard to be her, and she probably may have wondered why the Lord would allow her to go through that. But look at what her trials led to: Moroni was the MAN! If it wasn't for his obedience to the Lord's commandments, we wouldn't have the privilege of having this easy access to the Book of Mormon that we have now. Sure, Joseph Smith was involved too. But let's work backwards: Joseph Smith wouldn't have translated the Book of Mormon if Moroni hadn't taken good care of the records and put them together and all that jazz. And Moroni wouldn't have done all of this without the example and teachings of his faithful mother. I wish I had the book with me now to quote the exact words the author used, but I left it in Calgary... but what it comes down to is: we never know what the endurance of our trials can lead to. We don't see it far ahead in the future, but our perseverance can lead to many great things.
I would definitely recommend it. Overall, I learned that sometimes our actions go unnoticed (like how I felt the women were when I first read the Book of Mormon), but the Lord ALWAYS sees them and will reward us (and possibly many generations to come) in ways we cannot imagine. The most beautiful things people have done here on Earth are those that go unnoticed. The most beautiful people I know are those whose accomplishments or qualities are great, but unseen. So a woman may feel less of a person because she doesn't hold the priesthood... to that woman I say: the Lord will never stop loving you. He has seen and taken note of every act of kindness you have performed, He knows the yearnings and desires in your heart and will reward you whether it's in this life or in the other. Discovering the good that you can accomplish without the priesthood is a long journey, but it is a beautiful and rewarding one. I love the Relief Society program. I love the attributes women posses that permit us to do good. I love being a woman! I'm grateful for the trust the Lord has placed upon me to fulfill my role as a women to society.
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