How Many Times Have You Read The Book of Mormon?

[_truth dancer]

Hi Ray...

At least twenty.

I didn't just read it, I studied it... seriously studied it.

I rarely ever missed a day of not reading it. Actually, I went for a stretch of seven years without missing a single day. Many, years missing a day or two.

I would take a topic, or ask myself a question and read it with that one thought in my heart..for example:

How does God answer prayers?

How can I live a better life?

How can I better follow Christ?

Etc. etc.

I would underline the passages that spoke to my heart, memorized the scriptures that I felt would help me serve better, ponder the messages I thought I needed to hear.

Ahhh....

~td~

[_Fifth Columnist]

More than twenty.

I read it a couple of times before my mission (along with all the standard works).

I read it many times on my mission (30 minutes every day for two years).

I read it probably five to ten more times after coming home from my mission.

When I originally started studying the scriptures as a teenage, I read all of them equally. And I kind of liked it. I learned a lot that way.

In the MTC, one of my teachers found out that I was only reading the New Testament and was horrified at my disobedience. He made it very clear that God's prophet instructed us to read the Book of Mormon 30 minutes a day and any reading of the New Testament, Old Testament, D&C, etc. would have to wait until that was done. So I ended up reading the Book of Mormon a bazillion times and the rest of the scriptures a couple of times. I feel really dumb for buying into that.

[_Runtu]

Hi Ray...

At least twenty.

I didn't just read it, I studied it... seriously studied it.

I rarely ever missed a day of not reading it. Actually, I went for a stretch of seven years without missing a single day. Many, years missing a day or two.

I would take a topic, or ask myself a question and read it with that one thought in my heart..for example:

How does God answer prayers?

How can I live a better life?

How can I better follow Christ?

Etc. etc.

I would underline the passages that spoke to my heart, memorized the scriptures that I felt would help me serve better, ponder the messages I thought I needed to hear.

Ahhh....

~td~

That's how I approached it, too. One time I went all the way through the Topical Guide and studied by theme and subject. I found some mistakes in the TG, but it was interesting to read about subjects in depth.

Isn't it interesting that one of the things a lot of us have in common is our serious devotion to the church and the gospel? I'm not sure there's a large percentage of members who have read the Book of Mormon more than twenty times, but there are more than a few here.

[_krose]

Never kept a count, but a lot... and never because it is great literature, but out of duty and the quest for "testimony."

It's time and energy spent that I'll never get back, like all the life energy wasted in trying to be perfect, and stressing over amazingly minor indiscretions (thoughts, etc.) that I feared would keep me out of the Celestial Kingdom.

[_Inconceivable]

I would take a topic, or ask myself a question and read it with that one thought in my heart..

I would underline the passages that spoke to my heart, memorized the scriptures that I felt would help me serve better, ponder the messages I thought I needed to hear.

Ahhh....

~td~

Exactly.

I do think I'm a better person for having done this. It was my favorite book for many years.

As I began to read the actual church history it became quite clear that the founders did not do what some of us have done. The book revealed them and their church for who they really were.

honestly, I still don't know how the book originated. I have concluded that in spite of the wisdom and life lessons I gleaned from it, it's most likely a work of fiction. However, someday if someone digs up a horse bone or a submarine with a hole in the bottom of it to let out air, it still will never make the Mormon church true. It's example doesn't resemble philosophys of the book.

[_Buffalo]

I went with twenty, but thinking about it more carefully, it was probably more like 8-10. Oops! I only read it twice on my mission, but I studied it very slowly and carefully.

[_Pa Pa]

Please elaborate if none of the options suits you. If you read it eight times, then tick off "Five Times". If you've read it twelve times, then tick off "Ten Times". Close enough is good enough.

I have read it many times. 10 was my vote.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Hello,

I read it cover to cover exactly 5 times. Like the rest I've read chapters or other portions a myriad of times over the course of my time as a Mormon.

Let me tell you. It was a grudge match to read that book. It's horribly written, and as much as teachers would find something amazing or beautiful to fawn over I was put off by its syntax more than anything else. Simply put, it was a labor to read.

V/R
Dr. Cam

[_Hades]

I read it somewhere around ten times. Why did I read chloroform in print? Because I wanted to be a good Mormon. If I would have been looking for a good read at the library, I wouldn't have picked up the Book of Mormon. There is enough ripped off material from the Bible to make it an OK read if you're looking for something spiritual. Some of the stories are OK, but who reads a book for it's stories ten or twenty times?

The Book of Mormon has taught me that your brain can find meaning wherever you look for it. If someone convinced you that Stephen King is a prophet, you would read The Stand twenty times and find great spiritual truths in it.

[_Quasimodo]

I tried as a teenager once going through a phase of reading most of the religious books. I made it through the Bible (finally, after a few tries). Flew through the Upanishads (loved'em) Painfully slogged through the Qur'an. Tao te ching was a good read.

I put down the Book of Mormon without really getting in to it. Just couldn't finish it.