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REVERENCE FOR THE BIBLE -Mormon- (OPEN)
LDS Newsroom ^ | January, 2008

Posted on 02/23/2010 9:54:36 AM PST by greyfoxx39

During the past several years, scholars, religious leaders, journalists and the general public have steadily shown an increased interest in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Much of this attention has been focused on the question of whether it is a Christian faith. Central to this inquiry is the Church’s relationship with the Bible. Many have wondered whether Latter-day Saints believe in the Bible at all. Still others have supposed that the Church uses the Bible only when convenient, while shrugging it off as an inessential part of scriptural canon. With so many conflicting voices participating in this discussion, it may seem difficult to know where the Church stands on this issue.

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.”



TOPICS: Apologetics; General Discusssion; Other Christian; Other non-Christian
KEYWORDS: antimormonthread; bible; christian; cult; deception; lds; mormon; mormon1
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To: svcw

I never watched the shoe until 3 years ago. Jeopardy and Wheel are great shows for people who cannot hear.


301 posted on 02/23/2010 7:18:01 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.)
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To: svcw; Elsie; SZonian
First I get a planet and then the kids get to be gods; and THEY get a planet then the GRANDkids get to be a god and get a pla.... [Elsie]

If the kids get their own planets, who do I get to god over, they have all moved out. [svcw]

And if the "hubby" ain't "celestial material" -- to toss out a phrase used by a speaker @ the BYU women's conference in 2001 -- and the wife is -- does that mean the "forever family" has to settle into a lower-class godly ghetto? And what about the kids sealed to them? What if the kids were "celestial stuff" upon reaching earthly adulthood, but both parents were only "telestial" couch 'taters?

How would that temple sealing "take" -- when those telestial parents weren't "temple Mormons"?

And then when we realize that we could have 3 generations of Mormons whereby the "generation in the middle" didn't match either the one before OR the one after...where will those "sealings" destine them to be?
Is it a "trump card" over what was lacking in the rest of their life?
If it is, doesn't that then constitute "religious ritualism" as the bottom line of the Mormon religion?
And if it's no "trump card" at all, doesn't it give lie to the Mormon claim that "families are forever?"
Don't Mormons know how to observe ANY logical reasoning instead of letting a chest burning rule their eternal destiny?

302 posted on 02/23/2010 7:29:00 PM PST by Colofornian (As the Lds once were, the fLDS are; as the fLDS are, the LDS will become.)
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To: maine-iac7; svcw

***which of the two examples I gave are, then, correct - in your eyes.***

They are both correct. Years ago I saw a photo of the “Potters Field” there. It is located at the bottom of a cliff face where people were said to commit suicide by hanging themselves from the trees at the top of the cliff.

If Judas hanged himself there, someone had to have cut him down before the Passover started, just as they took Jesus and the thieves down before the Passover. The fall down the cliff to the ground would have made him burst open.


303 posted on 02/23/2010 7:35:52 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Colofornian

I would have responded sooner but I fainted from all their (lds) spinning.


304 posted on 02/23/2010 7:36:29 PM PST by svcw (If you are going to quote the Bible know what you are quoting.)
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To: Godzilla; TheDon
*** so that a variant spelling of one letter of one word in one verse in 2,000 manuscripts is counted as 2,000 “errors.”.***

I have a Geneva Bible which has a few letters of the words accidentally upside down. Can these be called “errors”! ;-)

305 posted on 02/23/2010 7:44:10 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: maine-iac7; pillut48

“And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”?

Some claim these are Gentiles to be grafted in. I believe they are the Jews that were still in Babylonia. If you have read the scripture, when Christ said he was preparing to go away the diciples thought he was going to these “people beyond the river”.


306 posted on 02/23/2010 7:48:36 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar; Godzilla

have a Geneva Bible which has a few letters of the words accidentally upside down. Can these be called “errors”! ;-)
_______________________________________________

No it was published that way so people Down Under in Aussie and NZ could read it...

All our Bibles were like that when i was young...

I still have one...

All the letters upside down...

I stand on my head to read it...

:)


307 posted on 02/23/2010 7:51:18 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: Vendome

***Was the Change Tribe part of the Algonquins of the north?***

Did they change from Abinaki to Algonquins or Algorikins? ;-)

Oh, I made a funny!


308 posted on 02/23/2010 7:56:13 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Tennessee Nana
I have a “red letter” Bible where the letters are burgundy.
309 posted on 02/23/2010 7:58:33 PM PST by svcw (If you are going to quote the Bible know what you are quoting.)
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To: svcw

Are all the letters upside down ???


310 posted on 02/23/2010 8:00:15 PM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: Elsie

***We’ll have to wait a bit for the Navajo at least.

Their language was NOT written until 1849****

It is kind of hard to make English letters for their words as some of it sounds like they are trying to cough up a luggi.


311 posted on 02/23/2010 8:01:40 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Vendome

That sudden ‘revelation’ didn’t hit until 1870, a fair step after young died. Polygamy was the primary reason utah didn’t become a state sooner.


312 posted on 02/23/2010 8:09:58 PM PST by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: greyfoxx39

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VUo8OuFaiI

http://mcnaughtonart.com/artwork/view_zoom/?artpiece_id=353


313 posted on 02/23/2010 8:11:29 PM PST by maine-iac7 ("He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help" Lincoln)
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To: Vendome
***My favorites being the Osage, the Pawnee and the Cherokee.**

Are you familiar with the art of Brummet Ecohawk?

and I bet you can probably read this better than Joseph Smith, with or without his magic specticals and hat.

Cherokee eye chart 4">

314 posted on 02/23/2010 8:15:27 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: svcw

tttt


315 posted on 02/23/2010 8:19:26 PM PST by svcw (If you are going to quote the Bible know what you are quoting.)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
I have a Geneva Bible which has a few letters of the words accidentally upside down. Can these be called “errors”! ;-)

Probably by mormon standards

316 posted on 02/23/2010 8:34:49 PM PST by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar; reaganaut; greyfoxx39; MHGinTN; colorcountry; svcw

I held up to a mirror and it said “Ambulance”. Big deal.

Did I pass?


317 posted on 02/23/2010 9:37:39 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.)
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To: Godzilla

You read my post earlier in the day didn’t you? LOL


318 posted on 02/23/2010 9:39:20 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.)
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To: greyfoxx39
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, Mormon members believe that during the centuries-long process in which fallible human beings compiled, translated and transcribed the Bible, various errors entered the text.

Ok. But the Bible doesn't talk about God being a man and that we all become Gods. That's Gnostic talk.
319 posted on 02/24/2010 2:01:38 AM PST by Cronos (Philipp2:12, 2Cor5:10, Rom2:6, Matt7:21, Matt22:14, Lu12:42-46,John15:1-10,Rev2:4-5,Rev22:19)
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To: Normandy
 
So it is important that we be “doers of the word, not hearers only”(James 1:22)
 
It's too bad that the Founder and early leaders of MORMONism did not have the same reverence for God's word as you do.

 


 1 Timothy 3:2-3
 2.  Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
 3.  not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
 
 
1 Timothy 3:12
   A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well.
 
 
 Titus 1:6
   An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.




 
BEHOLD!!!!  The Restorative Power  of the Book of Mormon!!
 



 
THE BOOK OF JACOB
THE BROTHER OF NEPHI
CHAPTER 2
 
  24 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.
  25 Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph.
  26 Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old.
  27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;
  28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.
  29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes.
  30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.
  31 For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands.
  32 And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts.
 

 TRUTH IGNORED

Smith, Young, Taylor, Pratt, Snow, Kimball, Woodruff ...

320 posted on 02/24/2010 3:16:17 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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