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.”
Oh snap!
WHY do you assume the two verses you gave are errors?
Mormonism is not Christianity...
Indeed.
One would think the Cherokee being the most advanced Civilized Tribe and having a grasp of the written word and the only native people of North America to have a written language, we would find this story.
However, as a former Okie and having all the tribes as customers and friends and seeing their stories there is no such story anywhere, at all.
Go ahead and look on the walls of their Councils or lodges. You won’t find anything even remotely LDS related.
The Pawnee have no story.
http://www.pawneenation.org/
The Osage have none.
http://www.osagetribe.com/index.aspx
The Cherokee, strangely are not describing anything that could be remotely construed to LDS anywhere though they have a very significant genealogy department so one may trace relatives or even become members of the tribe under certain criteria. http://www.cherokee.org/
Go ahead, look up the history of the other tribes(Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole and Ponca’s) and you will not find one iota or even spec of evidence concerning the LDS history and their people roaming the land from 2,000 BC to present day.
Were it so, where are they or where were they? Can we exhume some bodies for examination and DNA?
Do any current LDS members have unassailable proof of their progenitors here in the the Americas that would even remotely be seen as possible genetic inheritors of LDS blood or Lamenites or even Nephites?
I know well the history of each tribe and was very proud to meet many fine people such as Martha Moore, who was the 1st Miss Indian USA and I can assure you there was no history of White man or LDS types in their time line.
Or even Wilma Mankiller, the former chief of the Cherokee tribe and the President of the Pawnee Tribe, whose name escapes me at this time.
Come on revelators, where is this evidence?
I have noticed they use a lot of words that have no corollary to a dictionary.
Unfortunately, it's not a matter of "believing in Him", as if He were Santa.
Think about this: every demon who stalks the earth as well as SATAN HIMSELF believe in Jesus.
They can quote scripture too.
Was the Change Tribe part of the Algonquins of the north?
When you make up your own religion, I suppose you are entitled to make up your own words too.
Thanks so much for that post, Vendome. Glad to have one so knowledgable about native tribes.
Every believing Latter Day Saint I know (and I know many) has as strong belief in Christ.
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Whatever or whoever the mormons believe in he is not the same Jesus or Christ of the Christians...
Not the same Jesus
“There are those outside the Church who say Latter-day Saints do not believe in the traditional Christ.
No, I don’t. The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak.”
– LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley (LDS Church News, June 20, 1998)
“It is true that many of the Christian churches worship a different Jesus Christ than is worshipped by the Mormons.” – LDS publication, Ensign Magazine, May 1977, p. 26
That is because you don’t have a grasp of their English language.
Was the Change Tribe part of the Algonquins of the north?
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No they were part of the Obamas of the north east...
LOL
I guess that’s it.
.-)
There are a lot of people in these Mormon-related threads who don’t believe Mormons are Christian.
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God doesnt believe Mormons are Christian either...
SOME even use a language from the planet Gibber!
SOME even use a language from the planet Gibber!
We’ll have to wait a bit for the Navajo at least.
Their language was NOT written until 1849
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/navajo.htm
I thinks the Changy tribe was located somewhere in Kenya.
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