Ken's Office

The Book of Mormon

Another Testament of Jesus Christ

(Last Updated 10/12/2008)  

 
Book of Mormon Topics:

  • What is the Book of Mormon?
  • Is the Book of Mormon the Word of God?
  • How can I come to know that the Book is Mormon is the Word of God? 
  • Book of Mormon Summary 

 

What is the Book of Mormon?
(From the Introduction of the Book of Mormon)
The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fulness of the everlasting gospel.

The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C., and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians.

After Mormon completed his writings, he delivered the account to his son Moroni, who added a few words of his own and hid up the plates in the hill Cumorah. On September 21, 1823, the same Moroni, then a glorified, resurrected being, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and instructed him relative to the ancient record and its destined translation into the English language.

In due course the plates were delivered to Joseph Smith, who translated them by the gift and power of God. The record is now published in many languages as a new and additional witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that all who will come unto him and obey the laws and ordinances of his gospel may be saved.

The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after his resurrection. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.  

 

Is the Book of Mormon the Word of God?

Yes!  Just like the Bible, the Book of Mormon is the inspired Word of God.

So what is the "Word of God" or what we commonly refer to as "Scripture?"  Is it just the Bible?  Well, let us turn to Peter and Paul, two Apostles of Jesus Christ in the Bible, and see what they said about what scripture is.

"...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."
(2 Peter 1:20-21, KJV).

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
(2 Tim 3:16, KJV).

According to Peter and Paul, scripture is what holy men wrote when the were inspired by the Holy Ghost.  Peter and Paul did not limit scripture to the Bible only.  In fact, this does not even make sense because the Bible, as we know it, was not "canonized" by church councils for another 400 years or so.  The Book of Mormon is simply the writings of holy men and prophets on the American continent just like the Bible is the writings of holy men and prophets in the ancient Middle East.

 
 
How can I come to know that the Book is Mormon is the Word of God?
Christians accept that the Bible is the Word of God.  However, when I ask how they came to know that the Bible is "True" or the "Word of God," they usually answer “I just know it’s true.” 

The Bible clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit is the one who will teach us truth:
"For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
(1 Cor 2:11-14, KJV)

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost , whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
(John 14:26, KJV)

Here the Bible teaches that a man can only know the things of men (i.e., "truth" through reason and observation) and that the things of God (i.e., spiritual truth) are “foolishness unto him.”  Some try to use logic and reason to learn that the Bible is true, but this is trying to use the “spirit of man” to learn the truths of God.  It is only the Holy Spirit that teaches the things of God. The Book of Mormon also teaches us that the truths of God are taught through the Holy Spirit, especially the truth that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God:

"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."
(Moroni 10:4)

I invite everyone to read the Book and Mormon and to ask God if it is the Word of God.  God will reveal through the Holy Spirit if the Book of Mormon is the Word of God.

I would like to add my personal testimony to the countless others:  I have come to know that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are the Word of God because the Holy Spirit has witnessed to me numerous times that the Book of Mormon and the teachings therein are True and from God.

 

Book of Mormon Summary
Coming Soon.  My Goal is to provide a summary that can be read in about 10 minutes.

 

 

If you have any comments or questions, please email me at kensoffice.contact@gmail.com