Beliefs > Question & Answer > Modern Day Revelation

Question

(Reminder from Bev--These are wonderful questions, but PLEASE send only one question per email to Donny to make it easier to add to his Beliefs pages - it is hard to choose one topic when several questions are asked at once. Thanks :-)) If God loves us why does He let us suffer? If the Book of Mormon is truly comparable to the Bible then why is it a separate book? Why is it not in with the Bible? An addition to it. Added to the end? Like the New Testament is? What about these Gold Plates? How do you personally know they exist? Have they been seen by modern man? What proof is there that they exist? Prophets? How can there be modern day Prophets? Did not God only speak to Prophets when Jesus walked the earth? Baptism for the dead? How can someone be baptized when they are dead? How can they be aware of Baptisim? Does God really accept this? Is it too late? Why do LDS not baptize a child until they are 8 years old? Most churches baptize a child as a baby? Do you accept The Bible as scripture? Do LDS read The Bible? Why is not the LDS church service more structured? As a visitor to services all I see them as is Testimonial meetings? How can this be worshiping our Heavenly Father? Are you LDS because your parents are? And you were raised that way? At what age did you come to know for yourself that you believe The LDS church is the TRUE CHURCH?

Response

Your first question asked if the Book of Mormon is truly comparable to the Bible then why is it a separate book? Why is it not in the Bible, added to the end like the New Testament? The Bible was originally written in book form at about 900 AD. It’s content was taken from papyrus scrolls which had been kept for centuries and contained the words of the prophets from what became the Old Testament. The teachings of Christ and the writings of the apostles were similarly written down and there was no compilation in book form until 900 AD. In the 1500s, King James of England authorized the printing of the Bible in English, hence the King James Version, which we subscribe to today. The prophets and apostles whose writings we have in the Bible, were to the Jews over a five thousand-year period. The Book of Mormon, on the other hand, is the history of a people who left Jerusalem at 600 AD and made their way to the Americas. That history continues for nearly a thousand years until 400 years after the death of Christ. Its pages contain the word of God to the people through fifteen different prophets over that thousand-year period. Because it teaches of Christ and invites all people to come unto Christ, we use it hand in hand with the Bible, which is also the word of God. Its lack of binding together in book form with the Bible makes it no less credible as scripture than the fact that for nearly six thousand years, the writings of apostles and prophets were in separate scroll form and not bound together in a book. Your next question asked whether I had personally seen the gold plates and if I knew personally that they existed. I have never seen them, but there is the testimony of eight separate witnesses who did see and handle them and received personal witness that they were real. If you will read the introductory pages of the Book of Mormon, you’ll find the testimony of those eight witnesses. Your third question asked how there could be modern-day prophets and you asked if God only spoke to prophets when Jesus walked on the earth. God talked to all of the prophets of the Old Testament over the five thousand-year history. What we have in the Bible is not written just in Jesus’ time. The New Testament writings were during the time of Jesus and His apostles, but God spoke to prophets long before that. We know from scriptures that God is "no respecter of persons" and He loves everyone today as much as He loved his children of old and continues to speak through prophets in these last days. The book of Amos chapter 3, verse 7, says, "surely the Lord God will do nothing but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." Unless a person believed that God had ceased to exist, it would be unreasonable to think that He would not continue to speak to prophets for the benefit and guidance of His people. Your next question asked about baptism for the dead and how someone could be baptized when they are dead. What we know about that is also found in the scriptures. When Jesus was crucified and went to the spirit world, he visited those who had died without a knowledge of the truth (see First Peter chapter 3, verses 18 and 19; and First Peter chapter 4, verse 6). You’ll also notice in First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 29, the question, "What shall they do which were baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?" Even in Christ’s ancient church, baptisms were being performed for those who had died without the benefit of hearing the gospel and being baptized. The baptism is by proxy, meaning that those who are worthy to go to the temple perform the baptism for and in behalf of those who have passed on. These spirits of the dead are being taught the gospel in the spirit world as we learn from the scriptures in First Peter. They have the opportunity there to either accept it or reject it, and because all men must be baptized in order to enter the kingdom of God, the baptism by proxy is one of the most kind and loving things that the Lord could offer His followers. Your next question asked why children are not baptized until they are eight years old, since most churches baptize them when they are infants. There isn’t enough space in this e-mail to properly treat that subject, but I invite you to obtain a copy of the Book of Mormon and read in the book of Moroni, the eighth chapter, which is devoted entirely to that subject. The essence of it is that little children have just come from the presence of God. They are without sin, they are without blemish, and they cannot reason for themselves. Baptizing them as infants serves no purpose. Thus, we baptize them at eight, when they can begin to think about taking upon them the name of Christ and living righteous lives. Baptism not only washes away sin and transgression, but also causes people to take upon themselves Christ’s name. Your next question asked why LDS church services were not more structured, and as a visitor all you saw were testimonial meetings and questioned how this could be a worship of our Heavenly Father. My only answer to that is that you do not have enough information and if I were you, I would attend many more of our meetings before I determined that we do not properly worship Him. We definitely worship him. That is why we go to church on Sunday. You may have gone to what we call "Fast and Testimony meeting". On the first Sunday of every month, the members of the congregation are given the opportunity to bear their testimonies if they so desire. (Bev's note, weeks other than Fast and Testimony weeks, we have a very structured Sacrament Meeting, with 2-3 speakers who are chosen ahead of time and who are given a topic to address, planned music/hymns etc.) You asked if I was LDS because my parents were, was I raised that way, and at what age did I come to know for myself that the LDS Church was the true church? I was born and raised in the LDS Church and count it as a great blessing. By the time I became an adult, I knew for myself that what the church taught was true, and I learned it by the power and influence of the Holy Spirit that brought to me the peaceful, comforting knowledge that these things are true. I didn’t always know that. As a teenager, I went through the struggles and questioning that every teenager goes through and by so doing have gained my own testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that you can come to know for yourself that what we teach is true. In fact, if you would like, I would be happy to have a couple of our representatives call on you to explain in detail what we believe and why, and perhaps answer in better detail the questions that you have already asked in this e-mail. If that would be helpful, please let me know and I’ll ask someone to call on you. Sincerely, Donny Osmond See related multimedia presentations

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