And so, I counsel you, my beloved brothers and sisters and friends everywhere, to make reading the Book of Mormon a few minutes each day a lifelong practice. All of us need the uninterrupted association with the Spirit of the Lord. We need to take the Holy Spirit for our constant guide that we be not deceived. I am persuaded by my own experience and that of my loved ones, as well as by the statements of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that one can get and keep closer to the Lord by reading the Book of Mormon than by reading any other book. Don’t be content with what someone else tells you about what is in it. Drink deeply from the divine fountain itself.
I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness. Marion G. Romney General Conference in April, 1980
Elder Marion G. Romeny gave five basic reasons in a General Conference address, for us as Latter-day saints to read and study the Book of Mormon:
- It is approved by the highest authority in the universe, the Lord himself... After the Prophet Joseph had trasnlated that part of the record which he had been told to translate, the Lord said: ... "and as your Lord and your God livest it is true." (D&C 17:6)
- It will sustain you against attacks being made by the modernistic against that other great scripture, the Bible. The Book of Mormon is not only a new witness for God; it is also a witness to the truth of the Bible.
- We shall be judged by what is written in it. Moroni says that the very reason the book has been given to us is that we may know the "decrees of God." (Ether 2:11)
- Unless we read, study and learn the principles which are in the Book of Mormon, we, the ... teachers of this church, cannot comply with [the] direction to teach them. (D&C 42:12)
- We will fill and refresh our mids with a constant flow of that "water" which Jesus said would be in us, "a well of water springing up into ever lastting life," (John 4:14). We must obtain a continuing supply of this water if we are to resist evil and retain the blessings of being born again.
President Ezra Taft Benson "There is power in the Book of Mormon which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serius study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called "the words of life" (D&C 84:85) and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance."
- General Conference Address October 1986