By Kelsey Rasband
BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures. In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.)
Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.
I Stand All Amazed
Dear Sammy,
Today my Book of Mormon class was amazing!! We learned about the difference between the Church of Christ and the Gospel of Christ, because they are two different things. I mostly want to tell you about the Gospel of Christ though, because it might be of help to you and bring you good feelings. In talking about the Gospel of Christ we were in 3 Nephi 27:13-21. Verses 13-15 tell of Jesus’ role in the
Gospel. These verses talk about how before Jesus could lift us up, He had to be lifted up (on the cross). And before He could judge us, He had to be judged by men. Jesus was judged according to man’s works, not His works. But when Jesus was suffering for us in the Garden, He wasn’t judged on His own merits.
He was judged on my, Kelsey Rasband’s merits, and on Sammy Shelley’s merits. He was punished based on our actions, not His. He didn’t want the punishment to be on any of us, any of His brother’s and sisters. He took it all on Him. It is so amazing to me that Jesus loves me enough to do that. He loves me, imperfect, flawed Kelsey, and He loved me so much he was willing to pay the ultimate price. Jesus was all alone that night, and He was alone because of you and me. But He still suffered for us. I can’t even fathom this. I love my Savior so much, and I am so grateful for what He did. I find it difficult to even express in words how I feel.
I hope you understand what the Savior did for you, and I hope you know that He loves you. He paid the ultimate price for you, because he loves you unconditionally, no matter what you have done. He wants you to come unto Him. Sammy, I know He is real and loves us. Next time you sing “I Stand all Amazed”, think of this and think of Him.
If you are reading this post and have any questions or comments, I would be happy to hear from you.