"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God," Article of Faith 8,
In the scriptures I find a record of the teachings of prophets. When I read scripture, I learn gospel principles to help me return safely to our Heavenly Father. As a Latter-Day Saint Christian, I believe and follow the teachings in four books of scripture: Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. Additionally, God has provided a modern day prophet, who shares God's will with the world.
I read the Bible at 9 becoming a Christian in my heart. At 13 I read the Book of Mormon, prayed to learn its truthfulness, got an affirmative answer, and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As a girl of 15 or 16, I had dear friends, stalwart in another denomination of Christianity. Although I experienced persecution from my great grandmother, it never crossed my mind that my contemporaries would give me grief over my faith. I thought GG acted and spoke the way she did, because she was old. Boy was I wrong. There is a huge contingency of people that hate me overtly or covertly simply because of my faith. It's puzzling that those who profess to follow the Prince of Peace use Jesus as a tool of hate. As I learned more about history, I discovered that this is nothing new since the beginning of Christianity. Anyway, these 'friends' had parents that drilled them in scripture; they knew the Bible in and out, although they interpreted it differently than I. While my parents were Christian believers, we didn't attend church or study scripture at home. Even though my testimony of truth was strong, my knowledge of scripture was weak. Over and again they attempted to sway me away from my faith with obscure scripture, reason, logic, disparagement, and finally dissociation. Once they actually cornered me with a list of scriptures and a Bible and attempted to bash my testimony out of me. Because the Holy Ghost witnessed to me the truthfulness of all these scriptures and truths, I could not and cannot deny them even if it means people don't like me for it or worse. Even if the people are more knowledgable than me about scripture and history. Since those days, I've spent a great deal of time studying intellectually and spiritually to cement my testimony with faith, knowledge, AND wisdom.
I know the Bible is sacred, revelation from God. Sadly, designing men through the ages but especially the Nicene Council picked and chose parts to include that furthered their agendas. Plain and precious truths vanished. The Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ, prophesying of His birth, restoring His lost truths, and relating His ministry among the peoples in the Americas, sheep not of the fold in Jerusalem. As with the Bible, the Book of Mormon relates the history of the people at the time of various prophesies and events relating to the scripture. The Doctrine and Covenants is revelation given to modern-day prophets for the establishment and regulation of the kingdom of God on the earth in the last days. The Pearl of Great Price includes excerpts from Joseph Smith’s translation of Genesis and Matthew 24, Joseph Smith’s translation of some Egyptian papyrus that he obtained in 1835, an excerpt from Joseph Smith’s history of the Church, and the Articles of Faith. I will ever be grateful to my parents for allowing me baptism and membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I treasure my faith, which led me to appreciate families especially my parents and step-parents.
