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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.
Donny
Sincerely,
Donny Osmond
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