I will get back to the JST soon, but I wanted to discuss some ideas I have had lately.
If the Most High God and Jesus appeared to an uneducated teenager in upstate New York in 1820, why wouldn't He appear to you?
If God would show an unstable man like Sidney Rigdon a vision of the 4 possible places we can go after the judgement, why wouldn't He reveal something to you that you sincerely and prayerfully wanted to know?
If Jesus appeared to Oliver Cowdery (or at least spoke to him), in an effort to convince him to assist Joseph in bringing forth the Book of Mormon, why wouldn't Jesus talk to you?
1. Shaun Roundy has published a condensed version of the Book of Mormon where he has omitted some of the repetition inherent in "Reformed Egyptian" to make the Book even easier to read. Check it out on amazon.com. The Kindle version is only 99 cents. He makes a great point that others like Rob Smith (upwardthought.blogpost.com) have made:
The Book of Mormon, like the Bible, does not belong to any one religion. The Book of Mormon is for all people wanting to know more about Christ.
2. Shaun is the first person I know of who gives credit on the front of the Book of Mormon to Mormon as the writer (editor), and Joseph Smith as the translator. A minor to thing to most, but I sometimes think we overlook the most obvious thing of all: without Mormon there is no Book of Mormon. Nephi, Jacob, Alma, Mosiah, and Moroni are all critical to the book, but Mormon put it all together.
3. I am amazed the Utah based version of Mormonism would put any man on top of temples supposedly dedicated as the "House of the Lord." They could at least read the Joseph Smith Papers and realize that if anyone should be there it would be Nephi. Joseph Smith always stated in his writing that Nephi visited him and eventually delivered the gold plates. Somehow Moroni has been getting credit for that for over a hundred years. Just another example of the misinformation inherent in any religion.
Finally, I hope June went well for all of you, and I hope that July is even better. It is a month where Americans can celebrate that America used to be the greatest nation on the earth. There is also July 24th for Utahns to celebrate the failure of the first white settlers to do what the Lord wanted them to do in Nauvoo, Illinois. As a result they got to live in a high desert as a nice parting gift for ignoring the Lord.