Reading Along in Zion
A Reflection on the Atonement, Memory, and Reading the Book for Yourself
By K. Kirton Niner
I completed a six-day reading challenge of the Book of Mormon, and by the end of it, I realized something important: this is not a book someone can truly read for you. You have to read it for yourself.
Yes, technology helped me. I used the audio read-along feature while following the words with my own eyes. I listened while scrolling, and I learned that I can comprehend and stay focused at a much higher reading speed than I once believed possible. But even though the words were being spoken aloud to me, it still mattered that I read along. It mattered that my eyes followed the pages, that my mind stayed present, and that my spirit processed what I was hearing and seeing together.
That experience changed something in me.
When you read the Book of Mormon from beginning to end continuously instead of only in scattered verses or weekly lessons, the story unfolds differently. The patterns become clearer. The warnings, promises, migrations, wars, repentance, pride, forgiveness, leadership, and consequences all connect together like one long testimony of humanity and choice.
One of the greatest realizations I had while reading was this: the Atonement already happened two thousand years ago. Jesus Christ already came. He already suffered. He already gave His life and overcame death. The ministry described in the Book of Mormon is not only about waiting for Christ to come someday. It is also a witness that He came to another people after His resurrection and ministered to them personally.
To me, that changes the way I look at life.
We were born into this world as children of God. We each came here with agency, with the ability to choose, to grow, to fail, to learn, and to return to Him. Some choose baptism later in life. Some are baptized young. Some walk away and return again. Some struggle to understand what covenant even means until years later. But regardless of when a person is baptized, reading and comprehending scripture for oneself matters deeply.
No one can internalize truth for another person.
That is why I believe reading matters so much. Not reading to prove intelligence. Not reading to compete. Reading to understand patterns. Reading to recognize humanity. Reading to see how history repeats itself when people forget what came before them.
The books of prophecy are fascinating because they do not only warn us about the future. They also reveal the repeating cycles of the past. Human beings continue making many of the same mistakes generation after generation: pride, greed, fear, violence, division, addiction, power struggles, and forgetting God. Yet we also repeat the good: love, sacrifice, forgiveness, courage, rebuilding, teaching children, and searching for peace.
If we do not understand history, we can accidentally repeat both the wounds and the victories of those who came before us.
That is why I believe Zion is not simply a place. Zion is a condition of people learning how to live together with greater accountability, compassion, agency, and spiritual awareness. How we move through today affects tomorrow. Memory protects us from being erased by yesterday.
This reading challenge also reminded me that there are different ways human beings comprehend truth. Some people process visually. Some process by listening. Some through emotion, reflection, intuition, conversation, or repeated study over time. For me, listening while reading along allowed me to remain present and absorb the flow of the story without getting mentally stuck in the mechanics of turning pages.
Now I want to practice again with a physical book in my hands, strengthening my endurance not only on screens but on paper as well.
Most importantly, this challenge reminded me that faith is not something we inherit automatically from family, culture, or institutions. Each person eventually has to seek, read, question, feel, and decide for themselves what they believe.
That journey cannot be outsourced.
The voice can guide you.
Technology can assist you.
Teachers can encourage you.
But in the end, you still have to open the book yourself.
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