Seven

Questions

About

Enos

            The Book of Mormon contains a short book called “The book of Enos”. It contains one chapter comprising twenty seven verses.

Question 1

            In the book, we are told by Enos that he is going to tell us how he received remission of his sins. Verse four tell us how he cried out in prayer all day and into the night. His prayers were answered and in verse five God tells Enos “thy sins are forgiven thee,” Enos wanted to know how this was done (v.7) and in verse eight God tells him it is because of his faith in Christ. (This, by the way, is between 544 and 421 years before Christ.)

Question - Can a Mormon today have all their sins forgiven simply by praying and having faith in Christ?

Question 2

            Enos verse 21 states that the people raised “flocks of herds.”

Question - What is a flock of herds?

Question 3

            Enos verse 22 states: There were exceeding many prophets among us.”

Question - Why does the LDS Church only have one prophet?

Question 4

            Enos informs us in verse 15, that he knew God was able to preserve their records even though the Lamanites had swore in their wrath to destroy, if possible, the records, the Nephite people and the traditions of their fathers. According to the Book of Mormon the Lamanites succeeded in destroying the Nephites, and since no trace on them has ever been found, we can safely say the Lamanites also achieved their aim of destroying the traditions of their father. But they were unable to destroy the record, presumably  since God was protecting it.

Question - If God intended, sometime in the future, to unite this protected record (which became the Book of Mormon) with the Bible, as Mormons believe, why did He no also grant Divine protection to the Bible? Why did he permit many “plain and precious parts” to be removed? (Nephi 13:26-29)

Question 5

            In verse 25, Enos tells us that he began to be old.

Question - At what age does one begin to be old?

Question 6

            In verse 24, Enos tells us “…I saw  a wars between the Nephites and Lamanites in the course of my days.” Notice the reference at the word ‘wars’; this refers us to a vision recorded in 1 Nephi 12:2,3 where we read of wars and multitudes gathered together to do battle, a great slaughter ensued which destroyed many generations. These must be the wars which Enos saw ‘in his days’.

            Enos verse 25 informs us it was now 179 years since Lehi left Jerusalem. The account of Lehi leaving the old world for the new specifically identifies fifteen people, and there is a possibility of three or four girls going with them - less than twenty people travel to the new world.

Question - How could less that 20 people reproduce at a sufficient rate to achieve the population required, in only 179 years, for Enos to witness the above mentioned wars where multitudes from many generations set about slaughtering each other?

Question 7

            In verse 3 Enos tells us he was in the forest “hunting beasts” when he had the urge to pray. Verse 4 says he kneeled in prayer.

Question - Does it not seem to be just too much of a coincidence that Joseph Smith has Enos praying in the forest?

            Smith appears to have had an attraction to praying in forests. He claimed to have been in the woods praying when he had his First Vision experience.

            He and Oliver Cowdery went off into the woods to pray when John the Baptist is claimed to have visited them and “restored” the Priesthood.

            Smith took the three witnesses into the woods to pray that they would receive a testimony for the Book of Mormon.

            Could it be that Joseph Smith carried his allure for praying in forests over into his Book of Mormon?