In addition to the Bible, Latter-day Saints reverence and study the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the words of modern prophets and apostles. All these sources of eternal truth work together to establish, clarify, and testify of the plan of our Heavenly Father and to bring people unto Jesus Christ.”
John 17:17; “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
As an active, born-in-the-covenant, 6th generation Utah Mormon, I was the poster child of the LDS view of the Bible.
I so loved my Bible, and with over-zealous reverence guarded it with my life. As noble as it seemed, I wouldn’t have been able to name half the apostles, and somehow believed John the Baptist and the Apostle John were one and the same.
In LDS seminary we were taught the Bible had been mistranslated, but no one was exactly sure by whom, or when it happened. None of the seminary or Sunday school teachers could explain why Christians would do such a thing, how they knew it was wrong, or what the original translation said.
I didn’t know who Abraham was until after I got saved, and was always confused at how Adam became the Archangel Michael. I also wondered why Noah used to be Gabriel, but learned early on trouble always made an appearance when asking for clarification on doctrinal matters. Result: by high school I simply stopped asking questions.
My misguided need to protect the actual book from harm never progressed into thinking how God protected its integrity. In my situation back in the day, we were forbidden to mark or highlight scriptures and taught to handle it with kid gloves. The physical book had become an idolatrous relic, much like the lawn statues of the Virgin Mary we were condemning the Catholics for.
I had no idea its contents was filled with promises of God’s word enduring forever – Isaiah 40:8, nor did I know He watched over the bride of Christ, shielding her from extinction – Matthew 16:18.
We dutifully obeyed and believed our leaders because that’s what we were told to do. In turn, I and countless others, continued to perpetuate the lie with ne’er a blink of an eye.
The most important thing to point out in our example here is the date. I retrieved the info above from the LDS website on 5/7/2015 which means the things I was taught 40+ years ago are still in effect today.