The Power of the Word of God

Alma 31: 5

5 And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.

I took Religion 325 (D&C) from Steven Harper, a religion professor at BYU and author of Making Sense of the Doctrine & Covenants; and he would always say, "Language is important, words are very important. The words in the revelations are what they are for a reason." He would criticize the effectiveness of anything that tried to pass itself off as scripture when it altered the words of actual scripture (movies, modern translations, etc.) because as he would say, "there is power in the words of the revelations."

The Book of Mormon itself, makes reference to the word "language" in 25 different passages, and "word" in its various forms is used in 196 different passages. The most frequent use of "language" is when it refers to the "manner" in which one was speaking, ie. "this was his language." But the important passages are the ones that speak of "language" being preserved either by the plates and records or by the instructing of sons by their fathers. Language is also referred to often in the context of the spiritual gifts associated with speaking and interpreting. The preservation of language is important, and how we use words and the way we speak is a crucial part of a society.

From this brief discussion I would like to point out the importance of journal writing, educating ourselves and our children, and studying the Word of God. Let us learn the words of the scriptures and treasure them up in our hearts, for the words found therein are sacred and have a power second to none when compared to any other written work.