Other Scripture

Other Scripture

Of all the Mormon books of scripture, the Book of Mormon is, again, easily the most famous.  But it isn’t the only scripture Mormons use.  Far from it.  The Bible is extremely important, both its Old and New Testaments.  Two other books make up the “standard works” (the core scriptures) of the Church—the Pearl of Great Price and the Doctrine and Covenants. 

The Bible

The Mormon religion resembles most other Christian faiths in putting a lot of weight on the Bible’s teachings.  The King James Version of the Bible is their official Bible, but they do think that it contains some translating errors.  Joseph Smith Jr., the first Mormon prophet, translated the Bible himself—this is the Joseph Smith Translation.  Mostly, the translations match, but Joseph Smith added a few important clarifications and additions.  The footnotes of Bibles released by the Mormon Church have the minor changes printed in them—there’s also an appendix containing longer changes.  Christ is the center of Mormon faith, so, again, the Bible is of high, high importance as a witness of Christ.  Both the Book of Mormon and the Bible are to stand together, joint witnesses of the Lord and His purposes.  And, in a way, the two books of scripture give us paralleled stories with paralleled themes.

In both books, we have a chosen people who cycle through both righteousness and wickedness and back again, through obedience, through rebellion.  We see their rise, we see their fall.  And over it all, we see the power of Christ to save us, if we follow Him—to save us from our sins and to bring us back to God. 

The Doctrine and Covenants

Joseph Smith was the founder of the Church and he did more than translate.  Christianity, Mormons believe, apostatized slowly after the Apostles died.  Many truths were lost.  If these truths were going to exist on earth again, they would have to be restored.  The Lord revealed these truths to Joseph Smith—and these truths included the priesthood (the authority to act in the name of God), Mormon temples (the sacred sites of important saving ordinances), and how the Church should be organized.  These revelations, among many others, are brought together in the Doctrine and Covenants.  The Doctrine and Covenants isn’t completely Joseph Smith—a few revelations by later prophets also appear—but this book is added to only rarely, only when a revelation is received that is really fundamental to Church policy and Mormon doctrine.

The Pearl of Great Price

The Pearl of Great Price is a number of books in one.  The first small book, the Book of Moses, is a long section from the Joseph Smith Translation (given to Joseph by the Lord’s revelation).  In this section, we see a confrontation between Satan and Moses and a visit from the Lord to Moses.  This book also gives us another telling of the creation story.  The Book of Abraham was translated from papyri that Joseph Smith purchased.  This tells part of Abraham’s early life and reveals the doctrine that we lived long before we were born.  It also offers another retelling of the creation story. 

Matthew 23:39 and Matthew 24 are retranslated in Joseph Smith-Matthew, which is another long section of the Joseph Smith Translation.  This talks about the Second Coming and other important matters relating to Christ.  Joseph Smith-History is Joseph Smith’s account of the events that led up to the Church’s founding, and what happened after.

The last, the Articles of Faith, are short descriptions of Mormon basic beliefs.

Mormon teenagers actually give sermons in Church!  Read Matt Jones’ “talk” on scripture study by clicking here.