Defense in depth is a military tactic that has since been incorporated into the design of complex systems wherein a hierarchy of multiple overlapping and redundant systems operate together to ensure that a failure along any front will be compensated for or corrected by another layer of security. Systems designed with the principle of defense in depth accept that failure is inevitable but need not be fatal. The Book of Mormon was designed with defense in depth in mind. The Lord anticipated that a young man, uneducated, isolated, persecuted, and lacking in social, financial, or political clout, might struggle to bring about the translation of an ancient book of scripture and the restoration of the fullness of the gospel without a hitch. The Lord had a vision for this young man, and He knew rather than arrange things so that the prophet never had to face failure but that instead He could do more with a prophet who had suffered a devastating blow, was well and truly chastised, full of remorse, cast into the depths of humility, was bent but nevertheless did not break entirely and had enough faith and strength of will to offer up sincere repentance and vow in his heart to never waver in his obedience to the Lord again. Gambling 116 pages of sacred scripture for that kind of a servant was entirely worth it, so much so that the Lord inspired His servants thousands of years previously to build in a defense in depth to the plain and precious truths contained in the Book of Mormon by incorporating redundant and overlapping records, so that if one part was lost, such losses could be compensated for or corrected by another layer that contained similar and perhaps in some cases superior information. Our Savior has a Defense in Depth protocol prepared for each of us. He has built into each of our lives overlapping and redundant layers of security and safety so that we can experience failures and suffer losses and endure to the end anyway.
