Apostles serve as very special witnesses for Jesus Christ. As such, they have responsibility to carry the gospel of Christ to every nation. They also, just like the ancient Apostles, are responsible for clarifying gospel truths whenever misunderstandings arise.
Elder Russell M. Nelson is an Apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes nicknamed the Mormon church). Elder Nelson gave a talk to the church November 2007 in a special setting called General Conference. His message was titled, “Scriptural Witnesses.”
The theme from Elder Nelson’s talk was essentially that “the scriptures of the Restoration do not compete with the Bible; they complement the Bible.” The talk serves as an aid to help people, whether inside the church or out, to understand why the Lord has given more scripture than that just contained in the Bible.
Why would it be necessary to clarify this? Perhaps people have misunderstood the difference between the Bible’s purpose and the purpose of the “scriptures of the Restoration.”
The Bible as a Witness
Essentially, we as Mormons believe the Bible to be the word of God, as it is translated correctly, of course. There are countless translations of the Bible and some are closer to the original text than others. As Mormons, we love the Bible. We revere its teachings. We testify of its importance. Its message is urgent, as it contains witnesses from many different prophets to God’s children on the earth in the ancient area of Israel.
The Book of Mormon as a Witness
But we as Mormons believe that God loves all of His children. And just as the Lord called prophets to the Jerusalem portion of the earth, the Lord called ancient prophets in the Americas to testify of Christ to those people also. These prophets’ words make up the book of scripture called The Book of Mormon. We as Mormons testify of that book’s authenticity and urgent message; it stands as a companion to the Bible testifying that Christ really IS the Lord and Savior of the earth – and that salvation can only come through Him and of Him. People may be able to ignore one witness, but add another witness and the testimony becomes that much more insistent. Together the Bible and the Book of Mormon make it pretty hard to deny that the Savior is real, with so many ancient prophets testifying of Christ’s reality.
Additional Witnesses
We also as Mormons believe that God is all-powerful and capable of calling prophets now, just as He did then. And He has done so, beginning first with Joseph Smith and proceeding through fourteen other prophets (President Gordon B. Hinckley was the 15th prophet for the Mormon church and passed away January 27, 2008). A sixteenth prophet will soon be called through inspiration from God.
It is precisely because of the power of witnesses for Jesus Christ that we do NOT feel the Book of Mormon competes with the Bible, nor do any of the other prophetic utterances given in these latter days. They all work together much as three hinges on a door – those hinges keep a door securely in place and allow it to swing functionally.
The Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine & Covenants, etc. all act as scriptural “hinges” to teach God’s children that He is there and acts on behalf of ALL God’s children. God’s power is not shortened in His ability to talk with His children. He does so today through prophets as He did back then. And good thing! Can you think of any other time with as many conflicting thoughts, beliefs, and lifestyles? Surely God has an opinion and loves us enough to share. He does so through prophets. What a thing to celebrate!
Additional Reading Material:
“Elder Nelson’s talk, Scriptural Witnesses.”
