I May Not Know Everything, But At Least I Don't Have A Noodle In My Beard

WOOHOO!!!!!! Happy Monday EVERYBODY, Everybody, everybody, everybody... 

Holy half-n-half, this week was crazy! Two exchanges and a "special stake meeting" left the week with more twists and turns than the Twilight series, but with a heck of a lot less romantic, yet awkwardly descriptive paragraphs...

Although, I never actually read the series. Or saw the movies. So, everything I just wrote about that book is based solely off of rumor. Crazy huh? I still probably know more about it than some people claim to know about the Book of Mormon, because some of my sources regarding Twilight are actual reliable, if not meticulously detailed. I mean, I swear some of these people have never even heard the words 'reliable' and 'source' in the same sentence.

We knocked into a less active this week who had some preposterous questions about the Book of Mormon. I mean, his questions were ludicrous, useless, and easy to answer for anyone who was not looking for an excuse to disbelieve. I mean, he wanted me to go and study his questions, even though after he asked them I was able to give a sufficient explanation off the top of my head. In fact, a 6 year old could have explained his questions to him. The fact of the matter was, he wasn't actually worried about those things he brought up. He knew they weren't legitimate concerns. They were just his excuses to not believe because he either is 1. Feeling guilty because of some sin in his life that he's not willing to change, or

2. He's too lazy to do anything and he doesn't care about actually being happy in this life.

He knows it's true. He also had a noodle in his beard. He's just not willing to accept that he needs to change.

That is my plea to you friends, brothers, sisters, parents, extended family, random strangers and awkward acquaintances: If you don't know that the church is true, get a testimony of it now. If you will seek and sincerely desire to know of the truth of the Restored Gospel, then read the Book of Mormon. Pray about it. Talk to your parents, missionaries, friends, bishop, or any source of guidance. Seek to follow God and his commandments. God has promised us that if we ask, we will receive. If seek, we will find. If we knock, it will be opened unto us.

Do not let guilt stop you from receiving God's love. The gospel is there so that we can be made clean from sin, so that we can have our guilt swept away. Anything you have done in your life can be repented of, and has been experienced by the Savior. We have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in order for us to be able to overcome sin and be made perfect: Don't let your sin stop you from accessing the perfect remedy for your sin.

I also had some guy try to argue with us this week that there was "no archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon". He was contentious and it wouldn't have gone anywhere, so we just left him, but let me at least tell you all something:

HA. No archaeological evidence my foot. I don't know everything about the Book of Mormon, but I do know of these evidences:

1. Nahum

2. Codices

3. Horses

4. Knowledge of the Arabian Peninsula

5. Coriantumr cutting off Shiz's Head (The science behind it)

6. Native American records of being visited by a "white god"

And there is more, but it's about time for me to wrap up.

Of course, none of this will ever be enough to get you a lasting testimony. The most important thing we can do is read and pray about the Book of Mormon and receive a spiritual witness that it is true.

I know that God lives. I know that through the Atonement, we can be perfected in Christ. I love the Lord, and I love being in a part of His work. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to be a prophet and to restore His true Gospel here on Earth. These things I say, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

--

Elder Benge