To TexasKnight:
“In all honesty, Mormons do not truly believe in the Bible. Anytime someone says, “I believe, but…”, they really do not believe.”
My reply:
What arrogance! To dictate what another believes or does not believe. “Mormons” believe the Bible to be the Word of God as far
as it is translated correctly. Is this statement unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? No!
There are problems with translating any document from one language to another. It is almost impossible - if not absolutly impossible - to do a perfect translation. How many versions of the Bible are there? What is the purpose of so many versions; is it not an attempt to produce a better (more accurate) translation? And how many Bible believers can you ask their understanding of the same Biblical scripture and not hear different “interpretations” or understandings?
To be repetitious, if the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, there would be only one Christian church and there would be no disagreement, among Christians, as to the mean-ing of every verse of scripture. But that is not reality.
Is the Bible the complete Word of God? It is not and this is according to the Bible. The next few verses - I hope - will make my point:
Jesus to the twelve: “…all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto
you.” (John 15:15)
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“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever
he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to
come.” (John 16:12-13)
After the Forty day ministry, of Jesus, to his disciples:
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“There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if
they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world
itself could not contain the books that should be written.”
(John 21: 25)
If Jesus had made known “all things that [He] heard of [His] Father” unto his disciples, whey were there “many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…”, why would there then be things that the disciples could not bear that the Spirit of truth would “guide” them to?
I cannot begin to imagine the wonderful things Jesus taught and the did during His forty day ministry, after His resurrection, that we have only a very brief record of. According to John, if all could be written, “the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” We do know that the forty day ministry and the experience of the Pentecost had a profound transformation on the disciples - I believe they were fed the meat of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul expressed a similar position as Jesus’ teachings to the apostles - “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” Paul told the saints in Corinth, “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?..” (1 Corinthians 3:2-3)
Isaiah recorded, “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall be make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little…” (Isaiah 28:9-10)
The gospel is taught “precept upon precept; line upon line…here a little, and there a little”.
And who is still being fed milk at the breast? We all are - LDS, Catholics, Lutherns, Baptists, etc." I believe that one of the problems with being fed milk is that we love and are satisfied with the milk that we continue at the breast.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Lattr-day Saints believs the Bible to be the word of God; in some respects more than any other Christian church because we believe, according to the Saviour’s own words, there is much more to be revealed.
I hope you will check your arrogance at the door and when a Latter-day Saint tells you they believe the Bible to be the word of God you will not assume they don’t because they do not believe the same as you. I suppose that if you believe “Mormons” do not believe the Bible to be the word of God because we do not believe what you believe, then you must reject everyone that does not believe the way you believe - which means you are the only one that believes the Bible to be the word of God.
We also believe that which was revealed by the Lord to Amos: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) The prophets of God have never been held in high regard - even among their own. Nothing has changed. The Lord continues to “revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” and most continue to turn their head in disbelief.
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Whereefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men , and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city...O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stoneth them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, andye would not!" (Matthew 23:34-37)
Nothing changes until we are ready to make and/or accept change and the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to change man.
Enjoy your milk. By the way, milk comes in a variety of versions: buttermilk, 4%, 2%, 1%, fat free, coconut milk, goat milk, etc. God invites you to the table to experience the meat.