The Real COJCOLDS

Our Scriptures

So I've heard a lot of outsiders perspectives on a particular book of scripture. People who claim Joseph Smith, our first prophet, wrote the book himself. There are people —including Mark Twain in the book Roughing It—who claim that Joseph Smith stole the Book of Mormon from the Bible.

From the perspective people who believe in the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, neither of these things are true. I'm not going to try to argue with those opinions because every argument ends in a loss or with the other side not yielding. I am merely going to tell you what scriptures our church uses. In addition I will explain where we believe they came from and leave it there.

The most important book we have is the Book of Mormon. I know, I know, the very first entry in this blog I said that calling my religion Mormons was offensive. I still think it is. This is a little different.

The title of this scripture is pretty self explanatory. The name of the man who compiled an abridgment of all the records of his people was named Mormon. So it's called the Book of Mormon.

After making this abridgment onto gold plates, he entrusted them to the last person to write anything on those plates , that person's name was Moroni. In the end Mormon and the rest of Moroni's people were destroyed. This finds Moroni wandering around to flee the people trying to kill him. He ends up depositing the plates into a hillside.

Hundreds of years later, this man who has since become an angel, appears to young Joseph Smith. (This is of course after seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ.) Moroni shows Joseph Smith where to dig up the plates.

Joseph Smith is guided by this vision and finds the plates right where Moroni said they would be. Joseph thinks briefly of selling the plates, so he reaches for them. Moroni shows up again and stops Joseph saying that the boy isn't ready yet because his mind is more concerned with things of the world.

So Joseph returns year after year until Moroni says he's ready. Then he takes the plates and begins translating them. We believe it was through special stones that God gave to him that Joseph was able to translate the book. A few years later, the first English language copies of The Book of Mormon are printed. Bringing controversy to some and comfort to others. Now, this book is available in over a hundred languages.

My religion has other books of scripture as well.

The other really important book we use is the King James Version of the Bible. The one that James the first of England commissioned. According to our first prophet, Joseph Smith, this is the most correct translation of the bible with the least taken out.

In more controversy, we believe that the Bible is correct only in so far as it is translated correctly. In other words, for centuries the book people call the Bible has been meddled with and redacted by various individuals who did so to justify their own views. (I know people are going to take umbrage at that but I'm telling you what my religion believes so please don't make it personal.)

My religion also believes that Joseph Smith sat down with the King James Version of the Bible and the same tools God gave him to translate the Book of Mormon and read all the way through the Bible. Through those tools, he made his own translation of The Bible. Today, we have it in foot notes beneath the text of the King James Version of The Bible. We believe it gives us valuable insight into God's teachings.(We don't include the Apocrypha, we believe God told Joseph Smith that not all the things included there are meant as scripture.)

The prophet Joseph Smith and other prophets after his demise continue to commune with God the Father. They do this through prayer and the power of the Holy Ghost.

There is a compilation of approximately the first years of the most important revelations from God to our prophets. We call this Doctrine and Covenants.

The Doctrine and Covenants is divided into one hundred and thirty eight chapters called sections. There are also two official declarations at the very back. These are important to the modern doctrines of my religion.

There is a book of scripture which was originally supposed to be read only by those who have been baptized as members of the church. Its name is The Pearl of Great Price. It contains things revealed to Joseph Smith as well as a translation of some ancient scrolls that the prophet came into possession of. At the end, it contains a description of an event called The First Vision and a document called The Articles of Faith.(fun fact: the Articles of Faith was originally published in a local paper. It was written as a response to a formal question about the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.) Ironically, you can find a copy of The Pearl of Great Price in any library in the United States.(Maybe elsewhere too. I haven't traveled outside the US so I don't know.)

In addition to these, we have our bi-annual conferences and hymns which are also considered sacred. There is also a belief in personal revelation. A special type of revelation called a Patriarchal Blessing is confidential and considered scripture for the individual receives.

So in a nutshell —more of a coconut husk actually—that is what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints considers scriptures.