Joseph Smith adding to the Bible

I haven’t heard the talk yet, waiting for transcripts and individual talk downloads to be available, thus don’t know what all Elder Holland covered.

I’ve dealt with the Revelation 22:18-19 issue many times talking to Christian friends. I am amazed how many of them don’t know how the Bible was put together.

I’ve run into some that think the Bible was basically handed down from Moses to John and each person that had it wrote their books then passed it to the next, down through the ages until it was closed by John with the Book of Revelation. Nothing lost, nothing added, and everything 100% correct and literal.

What they don’t know is that more then a few books in the Bible were written after Revelation. Revelation was originally a separate text (as was most of the current Bible) and not part of a Book of Books. They don’t know about books that have been removed from the Bible in it’s current compilation. They don’t know about books that were mentioned in the Bible but for one reason or another (some lost, some never included) never made it to compilation.

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There’s a similar verse in Deuteronomy stating that nobody should add or take away the words of that book either. (I can’t remember the verse off the top of my head–I’ll try to find it.) Anyway, if we went by that, we’d have to throw out most of the Old Testament. The funny thing is Deuteronomy continues on after that verse….

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HT, $3 million per week for Target? $150 million per year? I didn’t see that on their Financial reports. Where did you get that number? Are you a Target employee?

As for the lack of spirit in the room, I’m sorry to hear that you felt that way. Perhaps the talk was not aimed at you. I enjoyed Elder Holland’s talk. Do you enjoy having Mormons referred to as non-Christians? Is this not offensive to you? I’m not sure if you’re mormon or not, but do you like being told that you don’t worship the true God? Mormons are told this frequently.

Don’t get me wrong–I think there are many wonderful people in other churches, but I don’t like it when they try to define that Mormons are non-Christians. I think it is appropriate that Elder Holland sets the record straight. I didn’t feel he was tearing down their faith, but rather defending ours. There is a difference.

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For the record, conservative Christians agree that all the books of the New Testament were written within AD 100, with Revelation being the last written. LIBERAL theologians contest that. It is interesting that religious groups will use LIBERAL theologians to make their point, if it is to their advantage. Groups that have done that include the Jehovah Witnesses and the LDS church (as shown in at least one comment above).

Yes, Revelation does close out the book with a warning (as does Deuteronomy); and yes, the words can be misunderstood to suggest that this is a specific reference to the whole canon of Scripture. However, those words DO reflect how the entirety of Scripture is to be viewed. In the high-priestly prayer (John 17), as Jesus is speaking to the Father, he says “…and Scripture cannot be broken.” This is significant, for it reminds us that God is working with a specific body of writings to bring salvation. Elsewhere, Jesus talks about the Law being fulfilled:”For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18)

My friends, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law. Everything begins and ends with Jesus. He is the Word made flesh. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the reason for salvation. He is Savior and Lord.

And, it bears repeating, that Jesus speaks to the religious leaders and remind them: “You study the Scriptures, for in them you think there is eternal life. These [Scriptures] are the ones that testify about me.”

MY POINT: The Biblical canon we have today was assembled in a careful way. The Holy Spirit inspired HOLY MEN to write, so that what they wrote was entirely of God. Note, also, that NO PROPHET desired to write Scripture; they were moved as God called them to write (consider Jonah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah). The purpose of Scripture is to call us to see our salvation, our redemption in Jesus Christ. He is what makes us saints, for in him is forgiveness. Where there is forgiveness, there is eternal life.

“Progressive revelation” is a nice thought — and certainly is possible! — BUT ALL revelation needs to point to Jesus as the only Son of God, who brings about salvation. There have been many prophets since Jesus’ time, but every Scripture stands or falls on its ability to focus on Scripture. That is why Paul was not rejected by the Bereans; they searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul preached was in accord to the rest of Scripture. It was, and they became Christians. In the same way, any preacher or Pope or prophet is not to be followed if it takes our eyes off of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sydney Rigdon intended to generate a new Israel in America and then sat down to write the corpus which became Smith’s Book of Mormon. Is that the work of the Holy Spirit or what? http://www.mormonstudies.com/criddle/rigdon.htm#4

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HT, thanks for clarifying your position. I’m sorry you felt deluded. Yes I do believe we have different perceptions of Jesus. I am much more comfortable being called a non-trinitarian than a non-Christian. I think it more accurately reflects the difference between mormons and protestants.

To most people, the term non-Christian implies Mormons don’t believe in Christ. Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Taoists, Sikhs, all freely admit that they don’t believe Christ is the Son of God, and are certainly proud of being non-Christians.

Mormons, Catholics, and protestants believe Jesus was born of Mary, died on the cross for our sins, performed miracles, etc, etc. I clearly acknowledge that Mormons have major differences in theology compared to other Christian groups. However, Mormon beliefs are much closer to protestants and catholics than to any of these other truly non-Christian groups. Mormons don’t worship cows, Muhammed, nature, or any thing else. For other Christians to mislabel Mormons as non-Christian is complete misinformation. Feel free to call mormons non-trinitarians, and you will not get any arguments, and you will more accurately reflect the differences in theology. But to call Mormons “non-Christians” is gross misinformation. Are mormons really Hindus? Is that a more accurate label?

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I don’t shop at Target, but I just checked their website and they are certainly advertising this $3 million per week as you said. They are a public company, so by law, they have to disclose their financial statements. I’m no financial expert, but on page 51 of their most recent statement it reads “Goodwill totaled $60 million at February 2, 2008 and February 3, 2007.” You can look it up. While this is certainly commendable, it is much closer to $1 million per week than $3 million.

On page 2 of that same statement, they sold $61.5 BILLION. Let’s put that in perspective. They donated 0.1% of their sales. My guess is that you probably donate a higher percentage of your income.

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