{"id":4993,"date":"2012-08-21T20:14:24","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T20:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/?p=4993"},"modified":"2012-11-30T18:32:08","modified_gmt":"2012-11-30T18:32:08","slug":"thoughts-08-20-2012-martin-harris-bb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/uncategorized\/thoughts-08-20-2012-martin-harris-bb","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts 08.20.2012 Martin Harris BB"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \n \"Fb-Button\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>
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Your Salvation for $75,000?<\/span><\/h2>\n

I have always been intrigued by the commitment of Martin Harris to financially support Joseph Smith in the printing of the first edition of the Book of Mormon. You remember Martin mortgaged his farm for $3,000 to print 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n

How big of a sacrifice was that? We take out a home second mortgage today for many worthwhile things: an education, a wedding, a long overdue family vacation, a much needed car. So was it a big deal what Martin did? Wouldn\u2019t we do it too?<\/p>\n

Maybe, maybe not. Let\u2019s put this in modern terms.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The $3,000 Martin Harris gave E. B. Grandin for publishing the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon would be the equivalent of about <\/strong>$75,000.00 today!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now would you think twice about giving that money? One of the tools I use in scripture study is to take a person in the scriptures and get to know them better by researching about them. One such person was one of the 3 Witnesses\u2014a man named Martin Harris.<\/p>\n

As I searched, I had a lot of questions.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \u0098 Why did Martin Harris believe Joseph Smith\u2019s \u201cgold bible\u201d story about the Book of Mormon when all the other townspeople did not?<\/li>\n
  • \u0098 Why was Martin\u2019s wife so against Martin and Joseph?<\/li>\n
  • \u0098 Why did he help Joseph with the translation of the Book of Mormon?<\/li>\n
  • \u0098 Why were the first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon even given to Martin?<\/li>\n
  • \u0098 Why was Martin chosen to fulfill prophecy by going to Charles Anthon in New York?<\/li>\n
  • \u0098 Why did Martin continue to help Joseph financially with more than just the printing of the Book of Mormon?<\/li>\n
  • \u0098 Why was he chosen to be one of the 3 Witnesses when there were so many others that could have been witnesses?<\/li>\n
  • \u0098 Why did Martin have to get a different revelation at a different time about the Book of Mormon than Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer?<\/li>\n
  • \u0098 Why did Brother Harris feel he never left the church but the church left him?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \u0098 Did Martin Harris ever come back into the church?<\/p>\n

    In answering these questions, I got to know Brother Martin Harris better.\u00a0 I acquired an appreciation of what a real testimony means when applied in a practical way. In other words, to coin a phrase, Martin Harris \u201cput his money where his mouth was.\u201d I also learned Martin Harris ultimately lost his mortgaged farm because people didn\u2019t buy enough copies of the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n

    In the end, brother Harris most likely gained much more than he lost\u2014he gained his eternal salvation!<\/p>\n

    Not a bad trade for $75,000.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Mark 10:21 “Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and\u00a0<\/span>give\u00a0to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and\u00a0follow\u00a0me.”<\/em><\/p>\n

    ~Brother Bruce Barton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Your Salvation for $75,000? I have always been intrigued by the commitment of Martin Harris to financially support Joseph Smith in the printing of the first edition of the Book of Mormon. You remember Martin mortgaged his farm for $3,000 to print 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon. How big of a sacrifice was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4993"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5534,"href":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993\/revisions\/5534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brucebarton.com\/journey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}