ANSWERS: 7
  • It has & will continue to serve its purpose...
  • The only time that we believe that we will have no need of new scripture is when God has reveled all that there is to know. Until that time, God will continue to add to the canon of scriptures as He sees fit. ************** "Alatea: You don't believe the Bible has stood the test of time? How will you know new scripture has been given?" First of all, the Bible is far from complete. In his answer to another question (http://www.answerbag.com/a_view.php/6701), Nic Read gave a pretty comprehensive listing of books that ancient people considered authoritative that we don't have in the Bible. The vast majority of these books we don't even have any more. We only know that they existed because other writing refer to them. The fact of the matter is that there has never been a complete consensus among the various branches of Christianity as to what books to include in the Bible. It was not until the reign of Constantine in the fourth century A.D. that the first real attempt to compile the various Christian writings into a single volume. (Note, this was long after the end of the apostolic ministries and, therefore, long after the end of direct revelation from God according to most Christians.) There were a lot of writings floating around back then. How did they decide which to accept and which to reject? It basically came down to whether or not the writings agreed with their beliefs about the gospel. If they agreed, then they were accepted; if they didn't agree, they were declared heretical. (The History Channel recently aired a program that looked as some of the books that were left out. The program is called "Banned from the Bible" and it is a rather eye-opening examination of what various ancient Christians and Jews considered to be scripture and how what we know as the Bible was compiled.) Even today, we don't all agree on what should be in the Bible. The Catholic Bible includes the Apocrypha, but the King James version does not. So, how do you know what is scripture and what isn't? This is where modern-day revelation comes in. If you believe that God is still speaking to prophets, then you also believe that He, the original source, can tell us which books should be included in the canon scriptures. The last time that this happened was in 1978 or somewhere there about. What happened is that the revelations were presented to the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They prayerfully considered them and then unanimously approved them as scripture. In so doing they were stating that God revealed to them that 1) the revelations were from Him and 2) that He wanted them canonized. These additions to the scriptures were then presented to the general membership of the Church in a General Conference and they were asked to sustain the decision to included the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants. Again the vote was unanimous in the affirmative. The general membership is encouraged in these types of matter to not just blindly follow the Church leadership, but to also seek personal confirmation from the Father through the Holy Ghost that such matters are His will. So, how do we know when new scripture is given? Ultimately it is through revelation from God to each of us.
  • Mormons believe they have another testomony of Jesus Christ and that with the BoM D&C and the peral of great price are the fullness of the Gospel and that the Book of Mormon is the most correct book on earth although it has had over 4000 changes and just recently it was changed to reflect that the American Indians are not the decendents of Isrealites but among them. They believe in the bible as long it is translated correctly, the Joseph Smith translation of the KJV of the bible is what they use.
  • If you mean is the Bible sufficient as is, and by itself then the answer is a clear and resounding NO. The existence of hundreds of Christian sects with conflicting doctrine, and all drawn from their own interpretation of the Bible makes that self evident. Otherwise there would only be one interpretation, one doctrine and one church.
  • Absolutely not! Tell me, does it take the whole Bible as we know it today, to be complete? If so, then you must admit that God has toyed with mankind for the past 4400 years, before He finally gave us a complete Book of Scripture. And that means God IS a RESPECTER OF PERSONS! And therefore is not perfect after all! Meaning, Millions and Millions of people just like you and me, were born, lived and died, without a chance of ever hearing the full truth of the Gospel! How can God be a just God, and judge those individuals, for something that wasn't their fault? And how can God be just and not judge them the same as us? It being His fault that 4400 years passed by before He finally revealed the whole truth. Let's get real, God is absolutely perfect, and the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ was given to Adam and Eve! And it had to be RESTORED several times, before Joseph Smith. It was given to Adam IN ITS FULLNESS, then restored to Enoch, then restored to Noah, then restored again to Abraham. And again to Moses. Then Christ brought it with him in the meridian of time. Then it was restored for the last time to Joseph Smith. In all it was restored to earth a total of seven (7) times. But those who rely totally on the Bible for their information, would not know this. Because the Bible does not contain everything God has revealed to mankind. Nor has He finished revealing His word to us even now. That is why He has called Latter Day Prophets and that is why we have continuing revelation in the Church today. And will have, until we have all been judged according to our works and have been assigned a kingdom, according to our judgment. Could God be any more fair and just?...Later
  • As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I can truthfully say no. The Bible is a record of God's dealings with the Middle East. Do you really think that after creating all those other legions of people that they were the only one He cared about enough to talk to? That kind of God is one I wouldn't want to follow. The Book of Mormon is the account of what happened with those in North (and in all likelihood) South America. It is an account of God's dealings with them, and is also considered scripture.

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