The "Mormon Bible" - Say what???

I'm a "Mormon" (we prefer Latter-day Saint...) - y'all know that.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the literal Son of God; that He is the Savior of the world; that He came to earth as a man so that He could know & experience all the temptations, trials, pains, happiness, and joy that men experience - SO THAT He could save us from those temptations, help us through those trials and pains, and rejoice with us when we rejoice.  Then He gave us the most wonderful gift of the Atonement, at the end of His mortal life, He took upon Himself ALL of the sins of the world so that those who came to Him could be saved.  He suffered the pain of sin for EVERY person who had been or would ever be born on the earth.  I believe that.  I depend on it.  I am - by definition - a Christian.

So why is it that there are so many "out there" that insist that I and my fellow Latter-day Saints are NOT Christians!???!????

I've heard all sorts of "reasons".  For instance:  We worship a "different" Jesus.  Excuse me???  I didn't know there was another one.  I worship the Jesus of Nazareth spoken about in every book of the New Testament - the same One who is called Jehovah and Lord in the Old Testament.  (And the person who says "Well YOU might, but OTHER Mormons don't!" must be out of his/her cotton-pickin' mind.  ARE YOU SERIOUS!? How do YOU know who "other Mormons" worship???  Do you go to our services and hear who we talk and learn about?  I didn't think so!  [By the way - believe it or not, I've actually been told this.  I'd roll my eyes, but you couldn't see it if I did.]) If you want to know what a Latter-day saint believes, ask one.  And DON'T then argue with him when he tells you.  I wouldn't argue with you if you told me what YOU believe.  Cheeze-wiz, how would I even know, for Pete's sake?  I can't argue with what is in your heart!  That's between you and God.  Just like what I believe is between ME and God - so please don't presume to tell me what I believe.

(Whoops - sorry for the rant.  I sort of got off my topic!!!  I hope you're still with me!)

Another reason I've heard, and the reason for this post, is the mistaken belief that we have a "different" Bible - the "Mormon Bible" I've heard it called.  (Another roll of the eyes inserted here.)

Folks - Latter-day Saints use, read, study, refer back to, and prepare lessons and talks from The King James Version of the Holy Bible.  Now, it IS an LDS edition which ONLY means that it has footnotes at the bottom of nearly every page referring to other scriptures, Greek or Hebrew word meanings, etc.  But if you were to pick up - oh, say, a Methodist/Baptist/Presbyterian.... edition of the King James version of the Holy Bible and compare it to one of ours, you'd be reading the exact same words written in the exact same way.  Nothing different.  I know - because I have one.  In fact, I have several different translations of the Bible  - that's what happens when you grew up Catholic/Baptist/Methodist/Episcopalian (with a little agnostic thrown in) and your beloved husband grew up Lutheran/Methodist. :)

Now, if you want to talk about the Book of Mormon - well, yes - that IS different than every other Christian faith on the planet.

I've heard other Christians bad-mouth the Book of Mormon because the last page of the last book of the Bible says  "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."  (Revelation 22:18-19)

First of all, the same warning (in nearly the same words) is also found in several other places in the Bible...Deuteronomy 4:2, Deuteronomy 12:32, Proverbs 30:6.  And there are other warnings in very similar language or which mean the same thing throughout the Old Testament.

But friends, these warning were for the books those revelations were written in!  If the warning in Revelation is for all of scripture, then that means that Deut. 4:2 must ALSO be true - and if that's the case, then Moses himself must have been "plagued" as it says in Revelations (which we know he wasn't), which also means that everything AFTER Deut. 4:2 is false.  It also means that every other prophet in the Old Testament that we honor and respect (and quote): Samuel, David, Isaiah....  They must all be false prophets.  You can't argue with this - this is logic.  (Any argument used to refute what I just said can be used to prove that the Book of Mormon is a true book of scripture, think about it.  :)  )  And just as a side note, one of my favorite Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah, actually "added" words... check this out:  

"Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words."  (Jeremiah 36:32)

One other side note before I continue, the Book of the Revelation of St. John the Divine was quite possibly written before he wrote his Gospel. The arrangement of the books in the New Testament as we currently have it wasn't necessarily the original arrangement.  And there were, at other times, other books included in what was the Bible that were later removed.  Remember the Apocrypha?   Look here for ONE suggested timeline of events in the development of modern canon.  I hesitate to use Wikipedia as a resource, but there is an interesting article - with plenty of footnotes to check out what is being said - about the Bible, it's construction and history at this link.

Obviously, the warning in Revelation 22:18-19 was meant solely for THAT Book of Revelation, not the entire Bible. So if that's true, why CAN'T there be more scripture available for God's children?

Take a look at this scripture:   "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."  (John 10:16)

Many Christians think that these "other sheep" are the Gentiles.  There's only one problem with that - Jesus never went to the Gentiles, they never heard His voice.  In fact, during His earthly ministry, He even warned His disciples not to go into the Gentile nations:  "These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:   But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  (Matthew 10:5-6)  It wasn't until after the Savior's resurrection and ascension that Peter realized the Gospel was to be taken into the Gentile nations.  (Acts 10)

Latter-day Saints believe that there have been many of God's children who were broken off from the House of Israel (think of the 10 northern tribes carried away into Babylon c. 721 B.C.)  We also believe that God doesn't leave His children comfortless, so anywhere that He sends His children, He also sends them prophets to bless them and keep them in remembrance of the covenants He has made with them.  (If Abraham is the father of all Israel, which he is, and that includes the 10 tribes, then all the blessings promised to his children would be for the lost ones as well.  Agreed?)

We also believe that some of the people of Israel were carried off elsewhere.  Daniel and his friends were carried off to Nebuchadnezzar's capitol.  He kept a record of things that happened in his life - his prophecies, his trials, etc.  There were other prophets of the same time period who also kept records.  Jeremiah, Habbakkuk....  These are all found in the Old Testament.  And there are prophets mentioned in the Old Testament (for instance, Hananiah) for whom we find no writings at all.  (Where'd they GO!!!?????!!?)

One specific incident which I want to talk about, concerns one of the prophets sent to Israel in the time of Jeremiah named Lehi.  He was warned in a dream/vision that he must take his family and leave Jerusalem, that God would preserve his family in another place.  As other prophets, Lehi kept a record of his prophecies and history.  So did his son Nephi, and all the other prophets of that group of people.  These prophecies are what make up the Book of Mormon.

If one reads the Book of Mormon with an open heart and mind they'll find that the teachings contained in it are very familiar.  In fact, they contain the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The title page of the Book of Mormon explains its purpose:

"Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel; and also to Jew and Gentile...to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations..."

The Book of Mormon isn't meant to replace the Bible - as many seem to think.  It is meant to supplement, to help give understanding to the teachings of that great Book. 

So before ya knock it, why not give it a read?   What harm can there be?  Either it's true, or it isn't.  And if you believe that God guides His children into all truth, then you must believe He'll let you know if what you read in the Book of Mormon is true.  In fact, there's a promise in the last book of the Book of Mormon that makes that same promise:

Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.   And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.   And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

Moroni 10:3-5

I know that promise is true - I tried it out 22 years ago.