Is the Book of Mormon Divinely Inspired?

[MG 2.0]

As someone who doesn't know very much about what you're talking about in this post (That is to say, I know very little about what is written in the Book of Mormon and the other LDS scripture (do you consider/call the other LDS books scripture?))

Bible-Old Testament and New Testament
Book of Mormon
Doctrine and Covenants
Pearl of Great Price

These are the Scriptural Canon of the LDS Church.

- I do appreciate you being a LDS board member. I wish we had more believing LDS people here. Truth be told, I think it would be awesome if we had perspectives of believing Muslims and believing Jews as well.

I wish there were more believing LDS people here also. It is quite lonely. I am glad that you joined in on this thread. It is interesting to me to get different points of views that other Christians have.

I too would be interested in the views and opinions of those that are non Christian and religious. This place is more or less a silo. That's why I find it interesting and useful to add my voice.

Anyway, thanks for being here and sharing your views/beliefs.

You're welcome!

Regards,
MG

[ceeboo]

Bible-Old Testament and New Testament
Book of Mormon
Doctrine and Covenants
Pearl of Great Price

These are the Scriptural Canon of the LDS Church.

These four all have equal value?

If I were to break into an average Mormon house, would I find all four on the table?

[Doctor Steuss]

Bible-Old Testament and New Testament
Book of Mormon
Doctrine and Covenants
Pearl of Great Price

These are the Scriptural Canon of the LDS Church.

These four all have equal value?

If I were to break into an average Mormon house, would I find all four on the table?

LDS Scriptures generally come as what is colloquially called "the quad." It's all of those compilations of holy writ in one large volume. Pages are usually a really thin almost silky tissue paper, so the full set (including the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, Indexes, Appendices, and Bible Dictionary) aren't much thicker than an Old/New Testament Combo on high quality thickish paper. If you walk into an LDS bookstore, the Bible, Book of Mormon, D&C, and Pearl of Great Price will almost exclusively be sold as a bound set.

Their individual "value" kind of comes down to the person. Anecdotally, my mom reads the entirety of the New Testament at least three times a year. She doesn't really read any of the other LDS scriptures. My dad spends at least 1-2 hours a day reading the Book of Mormon (not cover to cover, more-so theme chasing). I bought him the latest edition of the New Oxford Annotated NRSV Bible about 2 years ago as a gift. He's probably opened it twice. With LDS leaders in General Conference, you'll often see one Apostle almost exclusively quote from the New Testament, while another almost exclusively quotes from the Book of Mormon (and then some treat CS Lewis quotes like their own form of holy writ).

[MG 2.0]

Bible-Old Testament and New Testament
Book of Mormon
Doctrine and Covenants
Pearl of Great Price

These are the Scriptural Canon of the LDS Church.

These four all have equal value?

If I were to break into an average Mormon house, would I find all four on the table?

It’s likely you wouldn’t make it that far.

If you did, probably not. Many members that have devices generally read the scriptures electronically.

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9wzdn ... n-us&gl=US

https://www.amazon.com/Church-Jesus-Chr ... d0d&nodl=1

I do most of my Gospel study including the scriptures on my devices. Although in regards to the Book of Mormon I’m using a hardcover Annotated Version by Grant Hardy.

https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Book-M ... 139&sr=1-1

Regards,
MG

[MG 2.0]

Bible-Old Testament and New Testament
Book of Mormon
Doctrine and Covenants
Pearl of Great Price

These are the Scriptural Canon of the LDS Church.

These four all have equal value?

We consider all of the canon to be of value in obtaining/reading the word of God and the teachings of Jesus. One book of scripture might be emphasized more than the other in any given year as the curriculum study rotates between Book of Mormon, Bible, and D&C/PofGP on alternate years.

Members also study the scriptures according to their own inclinations on any given topic or any given day. One might find greater value in reading on a particular topic in the New Testament one day and in the Book of Mormon on another. Now…the Old Testament? I think that on the whole the Old Testament and the D&C/PofGP are generally not read as much by the average member.

Although they are there and they are used for referencing on topics and they are used as a course of study every few years. We used the Old Testament as a course of study last year in our weekly Gospel Doctrine classes at church. The church has a uniform course of study across the church so everyone is literally on the same page(s).

I tend to pick up the Book of Mormon and the New Testament on my devices on most days as far as my bookmarking of what I read the day before, etc.

In anyone of the four standard works Latter Day Saints believe the spirit and power of God’s word can be found/manifest.

Regards,
MG

[ceeboo]

Hey Steuss

LDS Scriptures generally come as what is colloquially called "the quad." It's all of those compilations of holy writ in one large volume. Pages are usually a really thin almost silky tissue paper, so the full set (including the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, Indexes, Appendices, and Bible Dictionary) aren't much thicker than an Old/New Testament Combo on high quality thickish paper. If you walk into an LDS bookstore, the Bible, Book of Mormon, D&C, and Pearl of Great Price will almost exclusively be sold as a bound set.

Their individual "value" kind of comes down to the person. Anecdotally, my mom reads the entirety of the New Testament at least three times a year. She doesn't really read any of the other LDS scriptures. My dad spends at least 1-2 hours a day reading the Book of Mormon (not cover to cover, more-so theme chasing). I bought him the latest edition of the New Oxford Annotated NRSV Bible about 2 years ago as a gift. He's probably opened it twice. With LDS leaders in General Conference, you'll often see one Apostle almost exclusively quote from the New Testament, while another almost exclusively quotes from the Book of Mormon (and then some treat CS Lewis quotes like their own form of holy writ).

Thanks so very much for taking a bit of your time for me.

Super interesting - All of it. Thanks again!

[ceeboo]

These four all have equal value?

If I were to break into an average Mormon house, would I find all four on the table?

It’s likely you wouldn’t make it that far.

[I Have Questions]

Bible-Old Testament and New Testament
Book of Mormon
Doctrine and Covenants
Pearl of Great Price

These are the Scriptural Canon of the LDS Church.

These four all have equal value?

Not really. The Bible has a caveat in Mormonism. Joseph Smith thought it contained errors, and so he started rewriting it. In what Mormon’s believe to be a set of statements that convey Mormon principles, called Articles of Faith, the 8th one states “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.”

Interestingly the Book of Mormon contains clear racism, which Mormons therefore believe is the word of God.

21 And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... 5?lang=eng

Does that sound like the actions of the God of Christianity ceeboo?

[ceeboo]

These four all have equal value?

We consider all of the canon to be of value in obtaining/reading the word of God and the teachings of Jesus. One book of scripture might be emphasized more than the other in any given year as the curriculum study rotates between Book of Mormon, Bible, and D&C/PofGP on alternate years.

Really. That's interesting.

Now…the Old Testament? I think that on the whole the Old Testament and the D&C/PofGP are generally not read as much by the average member.

Huh. I wonder why that's the case.

The church has a uniform course of study across the church so everyone is literally on the same page(s).

This sounds similar to how the Roman Catholic Church does it. My understanding is that a church-goer in Nebraska will hear the same Catholic mass as a church-goer in California on any given Sunday.

In anyone of the four standard works Latter Day Saints believe the spirit and power of God’s word can be found/manifest.

Makes sense.

Thanks for sharing.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

I did, but I wanted to see what you thought was “…many Jews who are followers of Jesus today.” So, please back up your assertion since I politely asked for it.

- Doc

Back up "my assertion" that there are many Jews today who follow Jesus?

Jews who follow Jesus (a.k.a. Christians) come under two main umbrellas.

1. Messianic Jews - Around 350,000 - belonging to their own Messianic Jewish congregations due to a desire to hang on to their cherished Jewish heritage and traditions

2. Christians who just happen to be ethnic Jews and land in any number of other congregations - I have no idea how many.

What point and/or challenge are you trying to make?

If Google is to be believed, Messianic Jews are not all ethnic Jews. So, not “a lot of Jews who worship Jesus.” Do you retract your over-exaggeration?

- Doc