Keeping A Good Record

When Christ was teaching the Nephites, He taught them another important lesson about keeping records. He talks about how He likes to quote from Isaiah because "great are the words of Isaiah".

"Therefore give heed to my words; write the things which I have told you;" (3 Nephi 23:4)

He says to write down the things He told them. They had a lot of writing to do to capture all the things He taught them during His visit with the Nephites.

"6 And now it came to pass that when Jesus had said these words he said unto them again, after he had expounded all the scriptures unto them which they had received, he said unto them: Behold, other scriptures I would that ye should write, that ye have not.
7 And it came to pass that he said unto Nephi: Bring forth the record which ye have kept." (3 Nephi 23:6-7)

I wonder what they must have thought. Especially Nephi, who I am assuming has been the one keeping the Nephite record. He had to have been thinking "oh, man, what did I forget to write down?"

Nephi brings the records, and Jesus looks them over, and asked about some prophecy that Samuel the Lamanite was supposed to testify to the Nephites.

"9 Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so?

10 And his disciples answered him and said: Yea, Lord, Samuel did prophesy according to thy words, and they were all fulfilled." (3 Nephi 23:9-10)

They remembered that Samuel had said those things, but it hadn't been written down. Jesus told Nephi to write it down, and he did.

So I've thought about this a little. I think it's interesting to note the line of questioning. First, Christ asks them if Samuel the Lamanite actually prophesied among them. He already knew the answer, but He gave them the opportunity to think back and remember that he had. Then, He asks why it wasn't written down. It may be that this was a very important point of doctrine that they needed written down to include in the Book of Mormon, which Christ would have known how many people would come to study and would help people understand the gospel.

He also could have just been teaching them a valuable lesson: when a prophet declares a prophecy, you write it down. And then you study it. This is the only way to pass this knowledge on correctly and fully. I think the study part (studying the words of the prophets, ancient and modern) is key for me. I will not benefit at all from others' efforts to keep a record if I don't study those records and try to learn from them.