"The Book of Mormon is the greatest resource available to help us understand our desperate state as fallen men and our need for a Redeemer.
"If we try to dismiss or rationalize what the Book of Mormon is saying to us about our lost and fallen natures (both temporal and spiritual), we are in danger of losing sight of how desperate our condition is and how much we need to turn to the Lord to be saved from our fallen condition and from ourselves."The teachings of the Book of Mormon exist solely to make us aware of the stark realities we must face in our probationary state as natural men. It teaches the key to overcoming the natural man is in yielding to the enticings of the Spirit, as King Benjamin pointed out. And unless or until we yield to (which suggest respond to or submit to) the promptings of the Spirit, we will remain enemies of God forever and ever, no matter how harsh that may sound. (See Mosiah 3:19.)" - C. Richard Chidester, instructor, Salt Lake Institute of Religion at the University of Utah