Take Away the Book of Mormon…

02 March

Take Away Our Religion…

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg. 71; “Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none”. – April 21, 1834

At a Conference of the Elders, those words came from the mouth of the first prophet of the LDS Church, Joseph Smith. The first time I came across this quote I flippantly thought yeah buddy, you’re right.

That was almost twenty years ago. Now as I’ve aged and grown in the Lord my heart has changed quite a bit. While I still hold to the theory that he’s right, you’d have no religion without the Book of Mormon, my heart now is sad.

How terribly awful to live a life like that.

If America suddenly changed overnight and closed down every single church across the country I’d still be a Christian and would hold services in my home. If that was outlawed His word would always live in my heart and I’d recall the sweet words He spoke to me as I’ve continually learned about Him for the past two decades.

There is nothing and no one who could make Jesus leave me. And this is what makes me so sad for every Mormon tonight.

Now if you took the Bible away from Christianity, would Christianity be able to stand up on its own? Absolutely. Through oral traditions of what the witnesses saw and through the 4,000 plus years before Jesus came here to earth we have a history of how God lived amongst His chosen people, the Israelites. And we have another 2,000 years since the time of Jesus where He is still changing lives through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.

These things are well established and verified simply from the changed lives of everyone who calls Him their Lord and God. Nothing can change that and certainly if there was no Bible those facts wouldn’t change.

He told Jeremiah before it was written down that He would write a new covenant in man’s heart and give them a heart of flesh. I am confident He kept His word and did this.  These along with other promises of God aren’t going to change what He has supernaturally done to reveal Himself to mankind. With or without His word. However, this takes us along another path…His promises. He promises us in His word that it will endure forever – Isaiah 40:8. To date, this is still true!

Just think about this for a moment. If there was no Book of Mormon there’d be no Mormonism. So all the hard work my mother continues to do, all the meetings she attends, the food storage, the home teaching…everything would be for naught without that book.

What kind of God is that? What kind of religion is that? And without the revelations a man said he got from a different god than the one in the Bible there would be no Mormonism holds the same outcome for my mother as the other scenario. No Book of Mormon and no revelation equals no god.

If there was no Book of Mormon, there’d be no Mormonism…this tells me one thing.  There’s no message of Jesus inside that book.

Lord, I ask You open their eyes to the door that can lead them out of this mess they’re in.

Christianity isn’t just about the Bible, although I do admit it’d be mighty difficult to live without it! Christianity is about Jesus. It’s not just a “religion”, but a way of life! It’s a life of freedom lived in the knowledge He’ll be here today and tomorrow just as He was yesterday.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle Grim

Jude 1:24-25; “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen”.

Tags: , , , , , ,

6 Responses to “Take Away the Book of Mormon…”

  1. Plant Electrician March 2, 2012 at 1:24 am #

    You make a superb point — as always. Thank you.

  2. lifeafterministry March 2, 2012 at 1:47 am #

    You’re most welcome and thanks for all the prayers from my readers as it means the world to me!
    Michelle

  3. Listen March 3, 2012 at 1:14 am #

    I hate to sink your boat but Mormon scholars have acknowledged that Joseph did not follow the Book of Mormon and Mormonism is not based on it.

    Have you read the writings of David Whitmer?

  4. CamdenC March 5, 2012 at 1:40 pm #

    Listen- With Jesus as the Captain of our Salvation, the boat will never sink!!!

    The whole church is based on the B of M… Sure, the kooky things they teach about God, Marriage, Pre-existence, etc. is found in the other books, (D&C, P of GP, J of D, H of the C, etc) but even the prophets have taught that if you take away the B of M, you have nothing. They have said that it is the cornerstone of the religion…

    From my perspective, it’s not about the actual B of M… It is about the story of how the B of M came into existence… One has to believe that it was written on gold plates (actually the church now says that they were brass), that an “Angel of Light” (Moroni) visited J.S. to show him where they were in 1820’s America, and J.S. translated the “reformed Egyptian” into the “Kings English” of the 1600’s.

    The B of M more closely resembles the Bible in some of it’s teachings… Mainly because whole chapters of the Bible were plagerized to make chapters in the B of M… Even though the prophet claimed it was the “most perfect book ever written and we could get closer to God by studying it and knowing it”, you say that he didn’t follow it?

    I guess that I do agree with you in the aspect that the B of M says that polygamy is an abomination in the sight of the Lord, but Doctrine & Covenants has the Lord commanding Joseph to indulge in it… and if Emma Smith didn’t agree, the Lord would destroy her.

    The whole religion is a sham… When will the people open their eyes and ears and stop following men?

    Jesus said, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me”.

    Follow Jesus, not Joseph!

  5. Look March 6, 2012 at 4:38 am #

    Camden, read David Whitmer and the Book of Mormon.

  6. CamdenC March 6, 2012 at 3:18 pm #

    Look – Since I have read the B of M, studied it, and memorized scriptures out of it… I really don’t need to read it again…

    Can you give me the “Reader’s Digest version” of the David Whitmer writings… ?

Leave a Reply