Mormon Church

The Book of Revelation is the last book in our modern copy of the Bible. The following scripture from this book is often quoted to “prove” there can’t be a Book of Mormon:

18 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: (Revelation 22:18)

If you read this carefully, you’ll notice it doesn’t say “add unto the Bible.” This is because the Bible didn’t exist when the Book of Revelation was written. It wasn’t until long afterwards that various documents were gathered together and a group of people decided which ones were going to be included in the Bible. Catholics disagree with some of the choices that were made by the committee, and so there is more than one version of the Bible.

However, since the Bible didn’t exist and no one had, as of yet, decided which books were going to become the Bible (in fact, it’s likely no one had even decided to compile a Bible yet), the scripture clearly doesn’t mean you can’t add to the Bible.

In addition, there is another verse in the Old Testament that says the same thing:

1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.

2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4 in the King James version of the Bible)

No Christian wishes to do away with everything after Deuteronomy, especially since that would require us to abandon the New Testament entirely. These scriptures have been misused in an attempt to discredit the Book of Mormon.

These scriptures only mean we can’t add to God’s word or take away from it. Of course, God can add to it at any time. The first recorded information we have from God is found in the book of Genesis, but that was not God’s final word. Additional scripture continued to be written throughout the Old and New Testament. This alone demonstrates that there is no restriction on additional scripture. Otherwise, Genesis would be all we have to work with.

Mormons believe it is not man’s privilege to tell God He is no longer allowed to speak to His children. God can do anything, and that includes speaking whenever He chooses to do so. Those who love Him long to hear more of His teachings, to find out more about His will, and to learn from Him and the mouth of His prophets what He wants us to do in the last days.

This is why the Mormons are thrilled to have the Book of Mormon, which gives additional insights into God, Jesus Christ, and our responsibilities in the last days. Although it was written in ancient days-times paralleling the Bible-it was written for our time. The prophets of that civilization kept the records and added to them regularly, but their people did not have them. They weren’t written for that time. They were written for us and those reading it will find many parallels to our time.

The Book of Mormon contains the story of a prophet named Lehi, who lived in the time and place of King Zedekiah. He, like many other prophets called at that time, warned Jerusalem of impending danger unless they repented. Jerusalem was to be destroyed and its people taken captive. Lehi fared no better than the other prophets however, because the people had no desire to repent. When his life was threatened, God instructed him to leave behind his wealth and home and to flee into the wilderness with only his family and the essentials for survival. In time, Lehi was led to the American continent. He and his family and a few others who came with them joined with others who were already on the continent, but formed their own civilization, most likely intermarrying or converting some others along the way.

This family divided into two groups after Lehi’s death. The two oldest brothers, Laman and Lemuel, were wicked and they threatened the lives of their younger brother Nephi, chosen by God to become the next leader when their father died. Nephi and those of his family and friends who supported him moved away from the older brothers. This formed the foundation for the remainder of the book, with the two groups in conflict.

The people of the Book of Mormon knew of Jesus‘ impending birth, knowing more, perhaps, than the Jewish people who remained in Jerusalem, because they had visions which showed the virgin birth and that Jesus’ ministry would be a spiritual one, not a political one. When He was born, they received signs of His birth. They also received signs of His death, and when the frightening signs ended, Jesus came to them for a few days, to teach them, help them to establish His church, and to heal and give them blessings. This is the focus of the Book of Mormon, and its purpose. The title page says:

“Which is 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” (Book of Mormon Title Page)

The Book of Mormon is yet another proof that Jesus was not just a rabbi or an ordinary man. It testifies, as does the Bible, that He was the Savior. Second Corinthians tells us: “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” The Book of Mormon is the second witness of the Savior’s divinity and a second witness of the Bible itself.

The Mormon Bible is the King James Bible, but the Book of Mormon stands beside it as a witness that God lives and Jesus is the Christ. In the words of a great Book of Mormon prophet:

26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.  (2 Nephi 25)

Tags: additional scripture, Bible, Book of Mormon

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Array. You can follow any responses to this entry through the /feed feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.