http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/700193923/At-BYU-Pres-Thomas-Monson-relates-how-Harvards-Clayton-Christensen-got-Book-of-Mormon-testimony.html
-This is really a valuable and telling true story for those of you (which is almost all on this R&P Board) who refuse to read the Book of Mormon with the courage and steadfast determination to ask your Father in Heaven, in real faith, nothing wavering, whether it is true!
Here are a couple of excerpts:
... May I share with you the experience of Brother Clayton M. Christensen as he sought to know for himself. Brother Christensen has served in many positions of leadership in the Church, including as an Area Seventy. He has received far too many academic awards for me to mention here. He is currently the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is also an alumnus of Brigham Young University, and I believe his son Spencer and daughter Catherine are currently students here.
When Brother Christensen finished his schooling at Brigham Young University, he received a scholarship to go to Oxford University in England as a Rhodes Scholar. When he arrived at Oxford, he realized that it would be somewhat challenging to be an active member of the Church in Oxford. The Rhodes Scholarship Trust that had given him his scholarship had a lot of activities for the recipients of the scholarship, and if he were going to be active in the Church it would be difficult for him to participate in those activities. He intended to obtain in just two years a degree in applied econometrics — a program which took most students three years to complete.
This, of course added to his lack of extra time. He realized, as he thought through how involved in the Church he could be, that he didn't even know for certain if the Book of Mormon was true. He realized that he had read the Book of Mormon seven times up to that point, and that after each of those seven times he had knelt in prayer and had asked God to tell him if it was true. He had received no answer. As he thought through why he hadn't received an answer, he realized that each time he had read the Book of Mormon, it was because of an assignment, either from his parents or a BYU instructor or his mission president or a seminary teacher, and his chief objective had been to finish the book. But now, as he was about to commence his studies at Oxford, he realized that he desperately needed to know if the Book of Mormon was true.
He recognized, as well, that he had sustained himself on a belief in many of the doctrines of the Church and in his parents, because he knew they knew it was true, and he trusted his parents. Here he was, however, desperately needing to know for himself if it was true...
... Then Brother Christensen would sit in the chair and read. He began by reading the first page of the Book of Mormon, and when he got down to the bottom of the page, he stopped, and he thought about what he had read on that page, and he asked himself, "Could this have been written by a charlatan who was trying to deceive people, or was this really written by a prophet of God? And what did it mean for Clayton Christensen in his life? And then he put the book down and knelt in prayer and verbally asked God again, "Please tell me if this is a true book." Then he would sit in the chair and pick up the book and turn the page and read another page, pause at the bottom, and do the same thing. He did this for an hour every night — night after night — in that cold, damp room at the Queen's College in Oxford.
By the time Brother Christensen got to the chapters at the end of 2nd Nephi, one evening when he said his prayer and sat in his chair and opened the book, all of a sudden there came into that room a beautiful, warm, loving spirit that just surrounded him and permeated his soul, and enveloped him in a feeling of love that he had not imagined he could feel. He began to cry, and he didn't want to stop crying because as he looked through his tears at the words in the Book of Mormon, he could see truth in those words that he never imagined he could comprehend before. He could see the glories of eternity and what God had in store for him as one of His sons. Brother Christensen said he didn't want to stop crying. That spirit stayed with him for the whole hour, and then every evening as he prayed and sat with the Book of Mormon by the little heater in his room, that same spirit returned, and it changed his heart and his life forever.
President Ezra Taft Benson , 13th President of the church, said (in the October 1985 General Conference of the church), "When you choose to follow Christ, you choose to be changed ... . The world would shape human nature; but Christ can change human nature ... and changed men (and women) can change the world."...
I can assure you that it has had the most profound impact on my life for the beter and on my children and grandchildren. I will always be grateful to the two young missionaries, Elder Thompson and Elder Danes, who were not intimidated by a proud, arrogant Texas Aggie who was successful beyond his fondest dreams at the time as an IBM salesman, and who did no really know what real success was!
-This is really a valuable and telling true story for those of you (which is almost all on this R&P Board) who refuse to read the Book of Mormon with the courage and steadfast determination to ask your Father in Heaven, in real faith, nothing wavering, whether it is true!
Here are a couple of excerpts:
... May I share with you the experience of Brother Clayton M. Christensen as he sought to know for himself. Brother Christensen has served in many positions of leadership in the Church, including as an Area Seventy. He has received far too many academic awards for me to mention here. He is currently the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is also an alumnus of Brigham Young University, and I believe his son Spencer and daughter Catherine are currently students here.
When Brother Christensen finished his schooling at Brigham Young University, he received a scholarship to go to Oxford University in England as a Rhodes Scholar. When he arrived at Oxford, he realized that it would be somewhat challenging to be an active member of the Church in Oxford. The Rhodes Scholarship Trust that had given him his scholarship had a lot of activities for the recipients of the scholarship, and if he were going to be active in the Church it would be difficult for him to participate in those activities. He intended to obtain in just two years a degree in applied econometrics — a program which took most students three years to complete.
This, of course added to his lack of extra time. He realized, as he thought through how involved in the Church he could be, that he didn't even know for certain if the Book of Mormon was true. He realized that he had read the Book of Mormon seven times up to that point, and that after each of those seven times he had knelt in prayer and had asked God to tell him if it was true. He had received no answer. As he thought through why he hadn't received an answer, he realized that each time he had read the Book of Mormon, it was because of an assignment, either from his parents or a BYU instructor or his mission president or a seminary teacher, and his chief objective had been to finish the book. But now, as he was about to commence his studies at Oxford, he realized that he desperately needed to know if the Book of Mormon was true.
He recognized, as well, that he had sustained himself on a belief in many of the doctrines of the Church and in his parents, because he knew they knew it was true, and he trusted his parents. Here he was, however, desperately needing to know for himself if it was true...
... Then Brother Christensen would sit in the chair and read. He began by reading the first page of the Book of Mormon, and when he got down to the bottom of the page, he stopped, and he thought about what he had read on that page, and he asked himself, "Could this have been written by a charlatan who was trying to deceive people, or was this really written by a prophet of God? And what did it mean for Clayton Christensen in his life? And then he put the book down and knelt in prayer and verbally asked God again, "Please tell me if this is a true book." Then he would sit in the chair and pick up the book and turn the page and read another page, pause at the bottom, and do the same thing. He did this for an hour every night — night after night — in that cold, damp room at the Queen's College in Oxford.
By the time Brother Christensen got to the chapters at the end of 2nd Nephi, one evening when he said his prayer and sat in his chair and opened the book, all of a sudden there came into that room a beautiful, warm, loving spirit that just surrounded him and permeated his soul, and enveloped him in a feeling of love that he had not imagined he could feel. He began to cry, and he didn't want to stop crying because as he looked through his tears at the words in the Book of Mormon, he could see truth in those words that he never imagined he could comprehend before. He could see the glories of eternity and what God had in store for him as one of His sons. Brother Christensen said he didn't want to stop crying. That spirit stayed with him for the whole hour, and then every evening as he prayed and sat with the Book of Mormon by the little heater in his room, that same spirit returned, and it changed his heart and his life forever.
President Ezra Taft Benson , 13th President of the church, said (in the October 1985 General Conference of the church), "When you choose to follow Christ, you choose to be changed ... . The world would shape human nature; but Christ can change human nature ... and changed men (and women) can change the world."...
I can assure you that it has had the most profound impact on my life for the beter and on my children and grandchildren. I will always be grateful to the two young missionaries, Elder Thompson and Elder Danes, who were not intimidated by a proud, arrogant Texas Aggie who was successful beyond his fondest dreams at the time as an IBM salesman, and who did no really know what real success was!