Posted on 02/23/2010 9:54:36 AM PST by greyfoxx39
The truth is that the Church reveres the Bible as a sacred volume of scripture. Latter-day Saints cherish its teachings and engage in a lifelong study of its divine wisdom. Moreover, during worship and instruction services the Bible and its teachings are pondered and discussed. To increase biblical understanding, the Church provides extensive resources and tools: lesson manuals, cross-reference materials, Bible maps, a Bible dictionary, and articles in various magazines. Thus, the Bible is much more than simply a collection of antiquated writings and revelations that have only scant relevance to the modern world. On the contrary, it stands in the center of the Latter-day Saints’ spiritual lives.
In a recent sermon, Church apostle Elder M. Russell Ballard characterized the Bible as the “bedrock of all Christianity” and one of the “pillars” of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Furthermore, he described the Bible as a miracle: “It is a miracle that the Bible’s 4,000 years of sacred and secular history were recorded and preserved by the prophets, apostles, and inspired churchmen. … It is a miracle that the Bible literally contains within its pages the converting, healing Spirit of Christ, which has turned men’s hearts for centuries, leading them to pray, to choose right paths, and to search to find their Savior.” It instills real, tangible power in the lives of Latter-day Saints and offers practical solutions and spiritual guidance that inspire them to overcome challenges and trials.
There is a broad range of approaches within the vast mosaic of biblical interpretation. For example, biblical inerrancy maintains that the Bible is without error and contradiction; biblical infallibility holds that the Bible is free from errors regarding faith and practice but not necessarily science or history; biblical literalism requires a literal interpretation of events and teachings in the Bible and generally discounts allegory and metaphor; and the “Bible as literature” educational approach extols the literary qualities of the Bible but disregards its miraculous elements.
The Church does not strictly subscribe to any of these interpretive approaches. Rather, in the words of Joseph Smith, it regards the Bible to be the word of God, “as far as it is translated correctly” (8th Article of Faith). Accordingly, Church members believe that during the centuries-long process in which fallible human beings compiled, translated and transcribed the Bible, various errors entered the text. However, this does not override the overwhelming predominance of truth within the Bible. As Elder Ballard noted, “Without the Bible, we would not know of His Church then, nor would we have the fullness of His gospel now.” Part of that fullness is the Bible’s seminal instruction that God reveals Himself to those who seek Him. The Bible is a living invitation to know personally the sacred revelatory experience that fills its pages.
The scriptures, or “standard works,” of the Latter-day Saints comprise the Old Testament and New Testament of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. According to Elder Ballard, these scriptures constitute a “great, indivisible whole” of God’s revealed word that help humankind understand the past, present and future. The great gospel plan contained in these works does not apply to one generation or one people alone but to all of God’s children throughout all time. Thus, in the words of Elder Ballard, “those who think that one part is more important or more true than the other parts are missing some of the beauty and completeness of the canon of ancient scripture.”
During previous periods of time when God organized His church, He added new revelations to pre-existing scripture, forming a connection between believers of the present and believers of the past. For example, the Old Testament book of Isaiah gives shape and meaning to the Gospel of Matthew. The two revelations need not be viewed as rivals competing with each other: the existence of one does not negate the relevance or legitimacy of the other. This ongoing revelation of scripture gives uniformity and continuity to an unfolding gospel narrative and unites people under one standard of doctrine.
Of all the standard works, the Bible remains the best source for an intimate understanding of the character and personality of Jesus Christ during His mortal mission. While the Old Testament offers a prophetic foretelling of that mission, the New Testament provides an unmatched account of the events, experiences, teachings and personal interactions of Christ. The Book of Mormon strengthens and reinforces His teachings through additional witnesses and provides moving accounts of the personal experiences many individuals had with Him. According to Elder Ballard, “The Book of Mormon does not dilute nor diminish nor de-emphasize the Bible. On the contrary, it expands, extends, and exalts it.”
You should hear her in person! ... That New Zealand accent is like music.
Mind-reading already in the thread don?
I agree with you there.
As James says: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble”
For our belief in Christ to be of benefit to us we have to not only believe in His existence and divinity, but we have to follow Him.
Now report to your nearest stake house at once. Bring copies of your most recent pay statements as well as five years of your tax returns.
Bring your womenfolk, but keep them quiet and make sure they wear skirts that are at least mid-calf length.
Break out your white shirts and ties, toss your coffee pots, give the beer to your redneck neighbor, burn your wives Victoria's secret underwear, set your TV lock to play only "G" rated stuff, kowtow to Mitt and Glenn and whatever you do, NEVER ALLOW A CROSS TO BE SEEN AROUND YOUR NECK.
LOL. Hadn’t heard that one in a while and my brother is laughing saying the same thing.
LOL
ttt
so a letter gets juxtaposed on 1000 ms - yielding 1000 variations, that does not take away from the message does it Don. No it doesn't. A true error is found in Mosiah 21:28; and Ether 4:1 where king Benjamin was written, only much later to be changed to Mosiah. smith must have been looking through a dirty peep stone huh don.
Please send my $300 for a new monitor. I spit my coffee all over the one I “had” and I will gladly send it to you, FOB.
ROTFLAMAO
LOL
I am aware of that and the projects are outside of LDS.
That is why they are on excavation in Mexico so they can co-opt some poor hapless no nothing tribe.
You mark my words by the end of next year they will announce they have discovered their bloodline and will be from one of their digs in southern Mexico.
Alas, as I can't get a straight answer to the question at hand, that is what I'm left with....
Now that is a point you and I can agree on! We just need to convince svcw. Actually, I think svcw also agrees, but doesn't want to admit it. :-)
LOL
toss your coffee pots,
__________________________________________
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
What are you ??? a heathen ???
You’ll have to take it out of my cold dead hands...
Sorenson has gained the lead in potential bom sites. however the dna studies continue to dog his work - the only way he can continue the faith stories for the mormons are to keep their hopes up in finding something. In doing so, he digs himself deeper into a hole as other Central america archaeologic findings continue to contradict mormon legend.
However, they did try to claim semitic dna a while back. Their bubble burst when it was shown that the particular dna family was linked to mongolia and not the middle east.
I think if you would read carefully what President Hinckley was saying here you would realize that he was referring to the definition of Christ as put forth in the Nicene creed, not the Bible.
Throughout his life, Gordon B. Hinckley taught and testified constantly and consistently of the divinity of Jesus Christ — of his atonement and resurrection.
Here’s just one example:
‘He was and is the Son of the Almighty. He was the only perfect man to walk the earth. He healed the sick and caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear. He raised the dead. Yet He suffered His own life to be taken in an act of Atonement, the magnitude of which is beyond our comprehension.
‘Luke records that this anguish was so great that “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44), a physical manifestation confirmed in both the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. The suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary, just a few hundred meters from Gethsemane, included both physical and spiritual “temptations, … pain, … hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer,” said King Benjamin, “except it be unto death” (Mosiah 3:7).
‘After the agony of Gethsemane came His arrest, His trials, His condemnation, then the unspeakable pain of His death on the cross, followed by His burial in Joseph’s tomb and the triumphant coming forth in the Resurrection. He, the lowly babe of Bethlehem who two millennia ago walked the dusty roads of Palestine, became the Lord Omnipotent, the King of Kings, the Giver of Salvation to all. None can fully comprehend the splendor of His life, the majesty of His death, the universality of His gift to mankind. We unequivocally declare with the centurion who said at His death, “Truly this man was the Son of God”’
Gordon B. Hinckley, “A Testimony of the Son of God,” Ensign, Dec 2002, 2–5
No, that is not a point of agreement.
Sort of like saying Jesus is a Son of God.
Don’t you just get dizzy from the endless spinning?
Shucks guys...
Y’all turn a gal’s purty head...
((((BIG BLUSH))))
:)
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