The Main Message of the Book of Mormon

High Nibley suggested that “repentance is the main message of the Book of Mormon….  The Book of Mormon tells us that the essence of repentance is knowing exactly what we are….  The very purpose of being here is repentance, and repentance is an unsettling exercise in self-knowledge: ‘O how great is the nothingness… of man’ (Helaman 12:7)” (The Book of Mormon: Forty Years After, CWHN 8:565-66).  Indeed, it only takes four verses for the Book of Mormon to start speaking about repentance as we learn in the first chapter that Lehi was “prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city Jerusalem must be destroyed” (1 Nephi 1:4).  Nephi taught us in the beginning that our eternal journey is dependent on repentance: “For he is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him” (1 Nephi 10:18).  He also made it clear to us in the last days that our wellbeing is based on repentance: “And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, Nephi, saying: Thou hast beheld that if the Gentiles repent it shall be well with them” (1 Nephi 14:5).  He also told us that we will “dwell safely in the Holy One of Israel if it so be that [we] will repent” and gave us Lehi’s words confirming that the whole purpose of our lives is repentance: “And the days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh” (1 Nephi 22:28, 2 Nephi 2:21).   

           We see the necessity of repentance particularly in the beginning stories of Lehi’s family, and we learn that without repentance progress cannot be made.  Again and again when they were stuck on their journey it was repentance that saved them.  For example, Laman and Lemuel repented for attempting to slay Nephi in the wilderness, allowing their journey from Jerusalem to continue: “And it came to pass that they were sorrowful, because of their wickedness, insomuch that they did bow down before me, and did plead with me that I would forgive them of the thing that they had done against me.  And it came to pass that I did frankly forgive them all that they had done, and I did exhort them that they would pray unto the Lord their God for forgiveness. And it came to pass that they did so” (1 Nephi 7:20-21).  Without that repentance they wouldn’t have even made it back to their father.  Later after Lehi murmured against the Lord because of their lack of food, “he was truly chastened” and was “brought down into the depths of sorrow,” a repenting that allowed God to bless them again and provide food for them, without which they likely would have perished (1 Nephi 16:25).  We learn that even a prophet is not immune from the need to repent before the Lord, and that repentance enabled their group to meet their needs and continue their travels.  Not too long later after this the Lord chastened Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael for their rebellious ways, “they did turn away their anger, and did repent of their sins” (1 Nephi 16:39).  This again allowed the group to be reconciled and they then continued their difficult journey from Nahom across the desert.  Later, on the boat, when Nephi was tied up and they were all about the die in the storm, Laman and Lemuel “began to see that the judgments of God were upon them, and that they must perish save that they should repent of their iniquities” and “they repented of the thing which they had done,” finally letting Nephi go (1 Nephi 18:15, 20).  Without that repentance the group could not have continued to the promise land.  Just as it was repentance that saved this group in the beginning of the Book of Mormon over and over, surely repentance is the key to making real progress in our mortal journey.