Beliefs > Question & Answer > Modern Day Revelation

Question

With regards to the Book of Mormon itself, doesn't it say in Revelation 22:18-19 "I adjure all who hear the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book; and if anyone takes away any words written in this book, God will take away his share in the tree of Life and in the holy City..."

Response

This question comes up quite often. When you first read Revelation 22:18-19, you might be justified in assuming that John meant that no other scripture should be added to the Bible, particularly of the fact that it states this in the last chapter of the Bible as we now have it. But, when you realize, according to Bible scholars, (1) that this revelation was written sometime between A.D. 64 and 96; (2) that John himself wrote his gospel (The Gospel According to St. John) at a much later date at Ephesus; (3) and at that time, the books of the Bible were not compiled as we now have them, John was actually warning against adding to or taking from the revelations he had received and written while banished upon the Isle of Patmos. This does not, however, prevent the Lord from adding to what he had revealed up to this time. Moses even made comment to this theme in Deuteronomy 4:2 when he wrote: "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." Also, in Deuteronomy 12:32: "What things soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it." Now if we take these scriptures from Moses in the same interpretation as John's, it would not only render the rest of the Old Testament null and void, but the New Testament or any other inspired canonised scripture as well. The 29th Chapter of 2 Nephi in The Book of Mormon may be of some help. Sincerely, Donny Osmond See related multimedia presentations

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