Lead the Man of Christ

In his recent talk in general conference, Elder Quentin L. Cook highlighted a message he saw on a t-shirt accompanied by a picture of a book: “Books: The Original Handheld Device.” This reminds me of what I learned was the 2024 Oxford Word of the Year: “brain rot.” It is defined this way: “Supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.” One journalist recently compared the brain rot we see happening from endless scrolling on our devices to the story of Don Quixote, a “madman close to death who rotted his brain by reading so many novels about knights in shining armor that ‘se le secó el cerebro’ — his brain dried up — and he went insane, believing himself to be one of his beloved fictional knights.” He continued, “The master novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote that ‘Don Quixote’ was ‘the saddest book ever written’ because ‘it is a story of disillusionment.’ But for us today, this disillusionment becomes valuable as we see many modern Don Quixotes seek to make a living by offering their bodies, their minds and perhaps their souls for meaningless internet content. The difference between the novel and today’s internet content, however, is that in the 1,000 pages of ‘Don Quixote’ there is complexity, richness, depth and meaning, and our brains emerge better for the reading.” I believe strongly that there is immeasurable value and good and richness to be found in “the best books,” that can fill our lives with meaning and inspiration and uplift us in a way that mindless scrolling on shallow content on electronic devices never will. If we want to escape the disillusionment of our day, we should “read more and scroll less,” reading particularly those books that edify us and bring us closer to God. And of course, as Elder Cook highlighted, the most important books are the scriptures which “are a major way a loving Heavenly Father makes His plan of happiness available to all His children.” Sacred books are as old as Adam—in his day “a book of remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration”—and men and women have been instructed by God to read the scriptures from that time until now (Moses 6:5). We must not let the ephemeral allure of shallow content on our screens take us from our foundation of faith found in the words of holy prophets who testified of the Savior Jesus Christ and His plan for us.

                Elder Cook highlighted in particular the importance of studying the Book of Mormon every day, whether we do that in a physical copy or on a device. He said, “We cannot underestimate the significance of sacred scriptures both in conversions and in remaining faithful in the gospel. The ancient prophets described in the Book of Mormon knew about the mission of Jesus Christ and taught His gospel. The Book of Mormon helps us draw closer to God as we learn, understand, and apply its teachings. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, ‘A man [or woman] would get nearer to God by abiding by [the book’s] precepts, than by any other book.’” He also reminded us, “President Russell M. Nelson has said, ‘I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day.’ He also promises that if ‘you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon, you can be immunized against the evils of the day.’” In the Book of Mormon itself we find powerful reminders of the need to hold fast to the scriptures, and surely that counsel has never been more important than now in a day when so much seeks to distract us from the word of God. Nephi taught his brother of the rod of iron in his father’s vision, “And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction” (1 Nephi 15:24). Mormon gave us another powerful visual imagery of the power of holding fast to the scriptures: “Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out” (Helaman 3:29-30). Holding fast to our sacred books of scriptures, filling our lives with their content every day in addition to other inspired books, will guide us in a strait course through the wiles of the adversary and bring us back to God in His kingdom. How blessed we are to have the word of the Lord in the scriptures, and may we use them to protect our families from the brain rot of trivial and toxic material so prevalent in our day.