WHY STUDY THE SCRIPTURES

What is Scripture.

The Apostle Peter taught this:

2 Peter 1:21

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

A modern revelation was given in our day to a Living Prophet, the Prophet Joseph Smith, on November 1, 1831 explaining how scripture comes:

Doctrine and Covenants 68:4

4 And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.

The Importance of Scripture Study.

Scripture is the word of God to us, His children, to guide us while in this earth test we are now in. 

He sends prophets to be with us and give us His words.

He explains how we should live our lives and how we should treat our fellow men and women since they are literally our brothers and sisters of the family of God.

He teaches us love and compassion and we are shown the example by reading, learning and living our lives after the pattern that His Son, Jesus Christ has set for us. 

We must follow Him, but we cannot follow Him if we do not read and study the scriptures and the record of His ministry and His mission of the Atonement that

He performed for all of us.

He performed the Atonement for every single person on earth from the beginning to the end.

What are the Scriptures today?

For most of the world the scriptures are called The Bible.The Old Testament.

The 66 books in the Bible were made individually, but were brought together into one volume. 

The first five books in the Old Testament were written by Moses, some of the others books by prophets like Isaiah, Malachi and many others.

The New Testament.

The Books in the New Testament were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, called the Four Gospels.  These were eye witness accounts of what they had seen.  Acts was written by the Apostle Paul and others by various servants of the Lord.

That is all the world has and many in our day look at the book as a bunch of fairy tales. 

We, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have additional scripture that goes along with the Bible, which we also believe.

Before the Prophet Joseph Smith was commanded to organize the Church again on the earth, He was visited by God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ in an open vision in the spring of 1820. 

God the Father called Joseph by name and pointed to Jesus Christ and said, “This is my beloved Son, Hear Him.”

The Savior gave Joseph instructions not to join any existing church because in His eyes, they were all wrong and was told that he, Joseph, would be the instrument to Restore His Gospel and Church.

A group came out of Jerusalem about 600 B.C. and the Lord instructed them to keep a record of His dealings with them and what happened to their descendants.  He knew that in the Last Days much would be lost or changed in the Bible and this record would Restore that which was wrong or missing.

This record was passed on, prophet to prophet and the last prophet named Moroni buried the record about 421 A.D. to come forth in the Last Days when the Lord wanted it to. 

The Prophet Moroni was commanded to deliver the plates to the Prophet Joseph Smith himself.

After translating the plates with the Urim and Thummim, the Priesthood Authority of God was restored to the earth to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by the Resurrected John the Baptist with the Aaronic Priesthood and Peter, James and John with the Melchizedek Priesthood.

Yes, there are still miracles in our day.With this authority, he was instructed to organize the church.  This happened on April 6, 1830.

The Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon did not come forth to replace the Bible, but to be a Second Witness that Jesus is the Christ and that the Bible is true.

The Lord instructed those prophets of old to make the record for us, now, in our day and give us clear warnings on what is happening by seeing what was happening to them then.

Their prophets were “moved upon by the Holy Ghost” and so it became scripture, and that is how we take it now.

The Doctrine and Covenants.

These are revelations and guidance to us today to help us in our living during the last days before His Second Coming.

He lives.  He talks to us through Living Prophets and Apostles today.

The Pearl of Great Price.

The Book of Moses.

A clear revelation given to Moses about the creation of the earth with much more information than in Genesis.

The Book of Abraham.

Taken from parchment scrolls wrapped in a mummy that came from Egypt in Joseph Smith’s time and came into the hands of the church and the Prophet Joseph Smith translated it and said it was written in Abraham’s own hand.

Abraham talks about details on stars and the universe and how they are organized.  Then he talks about the details of the Grand Council that happened in Heaven, where every one of us were in attendance.

For more information, see each one of these books of scripture at www.lds.org   Go to scriptures.