The Holy Bible

The latter-day church of Jesus Christ acknowledges that the Holy Bible is the word of God and conforms its offices, teachings, and beliefs to the Bible.

MYTH: Mormons don't believe in the Bible. Their book of scripture is the Book of Mormon.

FACT: Mormons believe in and accept the Bible. Our church conforms its organization and precepts more closely to the Bible than most people realize. Not only do we accept the Bible, we accept as the word of God the scripture that is missing from it.

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)

The Latter-Day Church Started With the Bible

As a young boy, Joseph Smith had many questions about religion. He chose to answer them by attempting to ask local ministers, and to study the Bible at a young age. Unable to get the answers he needed, Joseph followed the counsel of James: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him”. (James 1:5) Joseph decided to ask God his questions. The result was the restoration of a church that has all of the offices, authority, revelation, prophecy, world-wide missionary work, and a dozen other facets that were characteristic of the ancient church of Jesus Christ as described in the Bible. Not only that, but Mormonism itself has gone on to fulfill many of the prophecies of the Bible.

When the Church was founded in 1830, its officers recognized the truthfulness and divine origin of the Bible:

"...and we know that these things are true and according to the revelations of John, neither adding to, nor diminishing from the prophecy of his book, the holy scriptures, or the revelations of God which shall come hereafter by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, the voice of God, or the ministering of angels. And the Lord God has spoken it; and honor, power and glory be rendered to his holy name, both now and ever. Amen."
(Doctrine and Covenants 20:35-36)


The Lord instructed His newly authorized servants to preach the Bible together with the Book of Mormon:

"And again, the elders, priests and teachers of this church shall teach the principles of my gospel, which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, in the which is the fulness of the gospel." (Doctrine and Covenants 42:12)

The Book of Mormon Reinforces the Bible

Book of Mormon prophets took a copy of the Old Testament with them to the New World. They quoted from it often, even hinting at prophets whose works have been left out of our Old Testament. Like prophets of the Old Testament, Book of Mormon prophets also foretold many of the events that would be fulfilled in New Testament times, hundreds of years before they happened. Those events include the birth, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Book of Isaiah

Book of Mormon prophets quoted extensively from Isaiah, showing slight differences in wording that seem to indicate theirs was an earlier transcript than the one from which our (King James Version) Book of Isaiah was taken. For an extensive exploration of those differences and what the Book of Mormon and Bible versions of Isaiah have in common, see http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/transripts/?id=2

Book of Mormon Prophets Foresaw the Coming Forth of the Bible

A Book of Mormon prophet by the name of Nephi had a copy of the Old Testaments written on brass plates. It was kept by the descendants of Joseph. The brass plates had a lot more of the Old Testament than we do today.

Nephi foresaw what would become of the Bible over time:

“... the book..is a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord...and..many of the prophecies of the holy prophets..like unto the plates of brass, save there are not so many... When [it] proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord... they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away...that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men. ...there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God..” ( 1 Nephi 13:20-29)

For more detail on how the Dead Sea Scrolls connect the Bible and the Book of Mormon: http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/transcripts/?id=54

For more on how the Book of Mormon reinforces the historicity of the Bible: http://www.cometozarahemla.org/brassplates/brass-plates.html

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