The Restored Gospel & Christian History Lesson 9 & 10

Article of Faith #8

We believe the Bible to be the word of God as fas as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

Sometimes, we read this article of faith and could focus too much on the negative and question the Bible's truth. The Bible is the word of God, and if there are errors they are the errors of man. As scripture is translated, some left out truths intentional or unintentional, it changes truth.

The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and I know this because I have read it, and have felt the power of God in my life as I read, study and apply the teachings found in the Book of Mormon. I have written this before, but when I was about thirty I had a great desire to know God, and become close to Him. I needed His guidance in my life, and just prior to me reading the Book of Mormon, I read this portion from the Introduction of the Book of Mormon,

"Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

This quote is what started my yearning to learn from the Book of Mormon, and to come to know my Savior, and His Atoning sacrifice. 

In Doctrine & Covenants 1:24 is says,

"Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding."

When we take the time to read scripture, you open yourself to feel the Holy Ghost teach you, comfort you, and guide you. You can hear the voice of the Lord and my testimony strengthens. You can follow the correct path when you learn what God wants and what is correct. 

Elder D. Todd Christofferson says this of scripture in his talk, The Blessing of Scripture:

"The scriptures enlarge our memory by helping us always to remember the Lord and our relationship to Him and the Father. They remind us of what we knew in our premortal life. And they expand our memory in another sense by teaching us about epochs, people, and events that we did not experience personally. None of us was present to see the Red Sea part and cross with Moses between walls of water to the other side. We were not there to hear the Sermon on the Mount, to see Lazarus raised from the dead, to see the suffering Savior in Gethsemane and on the cross, and we did not, with Mary, hear the two angels testify at the empty tomb that Jesus was risen from the dead. You and I did not go forward one by one with the multitude in the land Bountiful at the resurrected Savior’s invitation to feel the prints of the nails and bathe His feet with our tears. We did not kneel beside Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove and gaze there upon the Father and the Son. Yet we know all these things and much, much more because we have the scriptural record to enlarge our memory, to teach us what we did not know. And as these things penetrate our minds and hearts, our faith in God and His Beloved Son takes root."

We learn of the things of eternity when we study the scriptures and words of the living prophets. In another class, I was asked to read an article by Elder Dallin H. Oaks and there is a quote that resonates with me. When we read the scriptures we change, our perspective is enlarged. 

As we mature spiritually we come to see things previously unseen. Arthur Henry King describes the process:

We look at a picture throughout our lives, we listen to a piece of music throughout our lives, we read a book time and again throughout our lives, as we should do—especially the scriptures—and it is different each time. Something else comes in. We see something else there that we never saw before, because we are a different person each time we experience a work of art. (The Abundance of the Heart [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1986], p. 259.)

The scriptures do not change, but what we can see changes in them because we have changed.    The same thing happens with the teachings of Church leaders and with personal experiences that     mean nothing to the "natural man" but are of eternal significance to the person by whom they are "spiritually discerned." - The Pure in Heart, 1988

We all want to feel our Savior's love in our life, and when we read the scriptures, we can feel Him near and the Holy Ghost will testify of its truth.