As many of you know, I have recently developed a friendship with Jeff McCullough who produces Hello Saints on Youtube.

In short, he is an evangelical pastor exploring everything he can about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he documents his journey on YouTube.

It’s been interesting monitoring how other Latter-day Saints are perceiving Jeff’s journey, especially as they have listened to Jeff’s response to reading the Book of Mormon for the first time.

As a traditional, orthodox Latter-day Saint, it can be uncomfortable to watch these reactions.

Jeff isn’t trying to be critical of the text as much as he is wanting to share his authentic reaction to a new book that so many claim as scripture.

During Jeff’s Book of Mormon reaction videos, he will often throw out a question that many Latter-day Saints consider a softball—they almost want to shout into their screens because it has such an easy answer.

Other times, Jeff has a more complicated question that would stump most active Latter-day Saints.

As I have spent time in the comment section of Jeff’s videos (I don’t recommend this activity) or had personal conversations with Book of Mormon believers like me, I have heard some common reactions:

“Jeff needs to read [insert popular Book of Mormon commentary] so he has a better understanding of why these things exist in the Book of Mormon. Can you make sure he has a copy?”

“He needs to talk to [insert BYU religion professor], and he’ll straighten out all Jeff’s questions.”

“I just can’t watch anymore if Jeff isn’t going to give the Book of Mormon a fair shake.”

These are all valid responses.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have similar thoughts at one time or another listening to Jeff or others wrestling with our restored gospel.

However, can’t the Book of Mormon stand on its own?

Does a book described by the Prophet Joseph himself as the “the most correct of any book on earth” need additional support, commentary, or expertise to stand as a witness?

In a world of YouTube commentaries, 1-minute reels of doctoral explanation of Latter-day Saint theology, and Google searches pointing to academic research, we tend to forget the Book of Mormon stood on its own long before the information age.

Let this be a call to allow scripture to witness of scripture.

Let Mormon do the outlining and explaining.

Leave the commentaries in the toolshed away from the playing field of conversion.

The Book of Mormon is scripture because it is.

The IQ, educational background, or experience reading scripture of whomever reads the Book of Mormon doesn’t matter.

If they give the book enough grace, by the time they get to the last verse, they won’t be able to dismiss it.

Could anyone believe a 19th-century farm boy could out-do Tolkien, Lewis, and even Rowling in creating a world of prophets, armies, and Israelite culture; put it all on paper in just a few months; and claim it is scripture?

So, fellow Latter-day Saints, I appreciate all the supporting material we have related to the Book of Mormon.

I’m a fan of scriptural commentary resources.

I’ll continue to watch clips of scholars and seek new insights my limited education would never allow me to discover on my own.

However, when we expect someone to be changed by the book…

Let the ancient prophets do the heavy lifting.

Let the 239 chapters in that translated record take them on a journey towards Jesus Christ.

What they will find is that the book stands on its own.

Sincerely,

Kurt Francom
Executive Director
Leading Saints

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