Mini Book Reviews

Left To Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza (Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust)

This was a fairly quick read, and very inspiring, once you get past the sheer terror and horror of the happenings. This story has been told in other ways (Hotel Rwanda, Shake Hands with the Devil, etc.), but never in such a faith-affirming way. Imaculee was a college student when the holocaust-level killing went into effect in Rwanda, and her story is harrowing and horrifying, although her suffering was mostly due to extreme discomfort in her hiding spot, and having to witness seemingly countless killings. In many ways it reminded me of the ending of the Book of Mormon, and it made me think of how the Book of Mormon was edited to be relevant to our time. The most compelling aspect of the book was that it documented how a person can go through such horrible events and come out with love in her heart. It is a testimony of the power of the Lord to help us forgive and thereby become free. My one negative comment about the book is that the Tutsis and Hutus relations are portrayed without substantial context. Reading her account you almost come away with the idea that the Tutsis were not involved in substantial violence, which is not the case. A simple consultation of the wikipedia entry for Rwanda will fill you in on some of the history. There is definitely enough blame to go around on all tribal (and colonial power) sides.

Maxwell Institute - http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/

There are some great articles here highlighting excellent Book of Mormon scholarship. A few of my favorite articles so far are:

DNA and the Book of Mormon: A Phylogenetic Perspective by Michael F. Whiting
http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=12&num=1&id=311&cat_id=488

This is probably the most complete article I have read on the limits of DNA testing in assessing Book of Mormon claims. Highly recommended.

Nephi's "Great and Abominable Church" by Stephen E. Robinson
http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=7&num=1&id=168

This does a great job explaining how "great and abominable" can refer to one specific church among many others that are not "great and abominable" at one point in scripture, and the apparent contradiction that comes in 1 Nephi 14:10, in which we are told that the devil's church consists of all those organizations not associated with the Church of Jesus Christ: "Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil." It is especially relevant to us out here where about 35% of our ward are former members of the Catholic church. He makes it clear why the term cannot be applied with any accuracy to the Catholic church as we recognize it, and yet how many churches and organizations could have the term applied to them in a different context.