Hi everyone,
JIMINZ and I were chatting over on this thread (
Why are Mormons hated by other Christians?), and started to get a little off topic, so came here to continue the conversation and not derail the other thread.
Her/his question were:
I'll address one common is conception first, and then hit each of these questions on the head--
No, the Bible is the Mormon Bible (and the Baptist Bible and Methodist Bible, etc...). We use the 66 book Protestant Bible, the KJV in English. The Book of Mormon is not a replacement for this in any way, and for every 1 year of LDS Sunday School spent on the Book of Mormon, 2 years are spent on the Bible. All scripture are viewed as sisters, loved and believed together.
The Book of Mormon claims to be a record of Christ's dealing with people in the New World (the Americas). The story starts out in 600 BC with a Jewish prophet in Jerusalem, who is commanded to leave before the cities destruction. Following God's commands, he & his family leave, travel to the sea, and eventually build a boat to which is guided by God to the Americas.
For the next thousand years, God interacts with these people, as He does with all of His followers. There are of course plenty of people who fall away, contentions, preaching of Christ, etc. Eventually the people all choose love of wickedness over love of God. Instructed by God, the last righteous prophets abridge the record and stories of their people onto golden plates, before burying them.
Centuries later, new peoples and new nations have arrived on the Americas. It is believed that God choose a new prophet, and lead him to where the plates were. The leading was done via his messenger, the angel Moroni (remember, "angel" means "messenger"). The translation of the plates into English was then done through the power of God.
John 10:16 "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" - Christ
It is believed that His followers in the Americas were these other sheep, and Christ went to go visit them. He did so because He loves them too, and went to minister unto them too.
The Book of Mormon's purpose is to testify of Christ, hence it is another testimony/testament of Jesus Christ.
Some highlighted verses--
“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.”
Moroni 10
"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."
2 Nephi 25
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty stormshall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
Helaman 5