BYU-Idaho Radio · Book of Mormon Central: A Deep Dive into Scripture
Many around the world have heard of The Book of Mormon. For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this book is regularly studied from and?talked?about. For some, reading ancient scripture can be difficult and sometimes overwhelming.??
Book of Mormon Central is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping readers understand The Book of Mormon.??Ryan Dahle is a writer and researcher at Book of Mormon Central, a project manager for Evidence Central and a BYU-Idaho alumnus. Dahle said the purpose of Book of Mormon Central is to help the readers and listeners understand The Book of Mormon.
“Essentially what Book of Mormon Central does is we try to make the Book of Mormon accessible, comprehensible, and defensible to the world,” Dahle said.?
He said it helps readers and listeners understand?new insights?from The Book of Mormon through its various projects. Book of Mormon Central’s signature project?is its?Kno-Why?section.?It’s full of?short articles that help explain difficult topics and concepts?while?offering?insight into various passages of The Book of Mormon, according to the website’s description. Each?Kno-Why has a short web article, illustrations, podcast, printable PDF and a video that explain the topic being covered.??
Along with?Kno-Why’s, Book of Mormon Central has also developed a digital library and an app to help listeners and readers understand The Book of Mormon. ?
“We’ve created a?digital online archive, that I think has at least… 6 thousand items of Book of Mormon scholarship that are now on our digital archive,” Dahle said. “We have developed a scripture app called Scripture Plus, that links a lot of the research we do to specific verses in The Book of Mormon.”?
Book of Mormon Central also has a new website called Evidence Central with deep dives into evidence supporting The Book of Mormon.?Dahle said he has personally benefitted from searching deep within The Book of Mormon for answers to his questions. ??
“As we study more, as we do so sincerely and with faith and try to be as fair and balanced as we can and not just dismiss questions and concerns that we have, but also trying to look to the evidence that God has given us,” Dahle said. “I think that is part of the problem, that people get so distracted by their concerns on some issues, that they don’t realize there are so many other ways God has given us to strengthen our testimonies.”???
More information about Book of Mormon Central is available online at bookofmormoncentral.org.