Beliefs > Question & Answer > Modern Day Revelation

Question

Various questions - Book of Mormon, trials, why is LDS religion so new, etc?

Response

You stated that The Book of Mormon is an addition to the Bible. It surely is not. The Book of Mormon is a record of a people who left Jerusalem six hundred years before the birth of Christ and came to the American continent. It is a record of their dealings, of prophets who were sent to them by the Lord, of the visit of the Savior himself to them after he was crucified in Jerusalem, and of their final extinction in approximately 400 AD. Further, it is a second witness for Jesus Christ, in that it invites all men and women everywhere to come unto Christ. Its message contains the fullness of Christ’s everlasting gospel. When John wrote the Book of Revelations and stated in Revelations 22:18 that, "if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book," he was speaking of the Book of Revelations itself, not The Bible. There was no such book printed called The Bible in approximately 78 AD when John wrote the Book of Revelations. The Book of Revelations, like all of the writings of the apostles and prophets at that moment in time, was still contained upon separate scrolls and was not compiled in book form in any order. The Bible itself was not written and put into book form until 900 AD when it was translated into Greek and then Latin. If you will read Deuteronomy 4:2, you will notice that a similar statement is made about not adding to the Book. Should we assume then that all books of the Old Testament which follow Deuteronomy are not pleasing in the sight of God? John’s statement about "adding" refers only to the specific Book of Revelations. You can know for yourself whether I speak accurately on this subject or not by reading The Book of Mormon. If it is the word of God as it claims to be and you read it with a sincere heart, having real intent, by the power of the Holy Ghost you will come to know of its truthfulness. If it is a man-made book, you will have no such witness. If you do not have a copy of the book, please let me know and I will have someone deliver a copy at no expense to you. You have stated that the Church believes its members came from heaven to live on the earth. To state correctly, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that all of our Heavenly Father’s children were sent to this earth to receive a physical body, to learn for themselves right from wrong, and to be tested and challenged so that they could prove themselves worthy to return to His presence. Each of us has been given certain challenges and opportunities. Some are born into families that have no knowledge of Jesus Christ or the plan of salvation. Others have the particular blessing of knowing this from the very beginning. "Where much is given, much is required." Consequently, those of us who have been born into a Latter-day Saint family have the obligation to share the gospel message with all those with whom we come in contact. The Church sends its missionaries throughout the world year after year to find those individuals seeking for truth and share the gospel message with them. Our Heavenly Father is so kind and merciful that if his children go through this life without having had the opportunity to hear the gospel message, they will hear it in the spirit world before they are judged by our Savior (please see 1 Peter 3:18-19; 1 Peter 4:6). Our Heavenly Father is mindful of all of His children. He does not send any of them to this earth to be tortured and potentially go to hell as you have stated in your letter. Rather, He tries all of His children in different ways to test them and to try them. We all agreed to such a plan while we lived with Him before we came to this earth. We knew the tests would be hard, but we were willing to be tried so that we, through our faithfulness can eventually receive the fullness of our Father’s blessings that he wants to give to us if we will just obey his commandments. We were anxious to receive a physical body and experience mortality, since in the eternal scheme of things, it is not a very long time. You asked why this religion was just realized two hundred years ago and not two thousand. In fact, this "religion" is the same religion practiced and taught from the days of Adam, through all of the prophets such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all others. They had the gospel and the priesthood. They taught the people the words of God and knew the plan of salvation. Through all generations of time, some people have accepted the gospel message and others have rejected it because they all have their own agency. But, we know in reading the New Testament that when Christ himself was on the earth, the church was fully organized and once again reestablished by Him. After His death, the apostles went throughout the world as directed by Christ to again preach that same gospel to the world. Some people accepted it. Some people rejected it. In fact, there was so much wickedness upon the earth at that time that not only did they reject the gospel message, they killed all of the apostles. As a consequence, the fullness of the gospel was taken from the earth, as it had been in other ages. But, mercifully, it was restored to the earth through the prophet, Joseph Smith in 1830. The doctrine and teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are the same teachings that Christ himself brought the people when he came to the earth two thousand years ago. You have asked several other doctrinal questions which would take several more pages to answer and I am simply without the time to properly address each question. If you would like, I would be happy to ask a couple of representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in your area to meet you and spend time explaining what we believe and why, and answering each of your questions in greater detail than this letter will allow. Please let me know if I should do that. Sincerely, Donny Osmond See related multimedia presentations

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