By Jack H. West, 1954.
THE SECOND CHARGE IN THE SECOND SESSION: ANOTHER BIBLE IS NOT NEEDED.
Upon presenting this thesis, the prosecution said, “You must admit that even though the Bible doesn’t seem to be the whole word of God, nor does it appear that the heavens were closed by God, you still must admit that another Bible is not needed.”
Our answer to that charge was, “The more witnesses the better. Was not our case stronger because we have twelve men standing here before you as proxy witnesses, taking the place of the twelve personal witnesses, than if we had had one only? Turn to the Bible itself, 2 Corinthians 13:1. It tells us that, ‘In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.’”
Two or more witnesses, always! Go into a court case with on witness and let another come in with two witnesses, and the chances are very good that you are going to get beat, unless it can be shown that the two witnesses are not competent, honest, and so forth. In the mouths of two or more witnesses; two or more individuals; two or more records; two or more nations; if you please, two or more of the tribes of Israel. And I don’t know what better we could do to answer this charge than go to the words of Jesus Christ again. For he was showing one of his prophets on this continent, in ages past, that certain things would happen.
And because my words shall hiss forth – many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible. (2 Nephi 29:3.)
LDS missionaries hear that statement time and time again out in the world. They hear it everywhere they turn. Now we go down in the sixth verse.
Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have you obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?
Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the havens above and in the earth beneath;…
Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my words? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. [Has it done so? It certainly has, the testimonies of the two nations do work together as one.]
Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written.
For I command all men…that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written. [Now listen to His logic. Remember, Jesus Christ is speaking:]
For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it [the Bible] and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it [what tribe are the Nephites? The tribe of Joseph of Israel. Did they? The Book of Mormon, or the Stick of Joseph as the Bible calls it.]; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it. (2 Nephi 29:6-8, 10-12.)
How many other tribes? Ten. How many more Bibles to come? Some say it could be a combined thing, but as I read the whole text, I would assume that we could expect ten more writings – one for each of the other tribes. How many Bibles do you need before you are absolutely certain that Jesus is the Christ, Savior of the World – before you are certain that he has given us a beautiful blueprint for living that if we will live by it, will bring peace and joy and harmony? How many do you need? Is one enough? Would two help you? Or are you going to be a little stubborn and wait until you get a half of dozen before you really believe these things? Or are you going to be downright stubborn and wait until you have a dozen or more of them? Remember that Christ said that he would speak to all men –every nation – and they would write, and that when the nations would run together, the testimony would run together and grow together into an impregnable defense. (See 2 Nephi 29:8.)
Sometimes I become just a little bit alarmed. When I find, for instance, that the council of those who brought out the Standard Revised Version of the Bible, –fully accepted by many of the Christian churches – included many men who were not even Christians, who wanted every reference to Jesus Christ as being the Son of God removed from the Holy Bible – I become nervous. How far can we drift from the truth? They did succeed in removing all reference to Mary as being the virgin Mother of the Son of God. They got that far with their perfidy. How far can we drift from these things?
Now the Bible has told us that there were to be the two great books, one to be written for Judah, one written for Joseph. As we go through the Book of Mormon from I Nephi 5:14 on toward the end of the book, 3 Nephi 10:17, and all in between, we find the constant repetition that these people are the tribe of Joseph – the ones whose prophets are writing the religious record of this continent.
Do we then have another Bible? Well, I do not mind when people call the Book of Mormon the Mormon Bible if in saying that, they do not thereby imply that because we have a Mormon Bible we do not believe or use the other Bible. Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. No people on earth, I feel, understand and appreciate the Holy Bible as do the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We understand it better because we have the second record. What were Mormon’s words:
That ye may believe that [the Bible], and if ye believe that, ye will believe this [this Book of Mormon] also;… (Mormon 7:9.)
Then there were to be the two great records working as one.
I wish we could us an illustration here; maybe you can visualize one with me. Suppose we were to turn on one group of lights and then a second group of lights. Now let us assume that both groups of lights are identical in power. Think of the total illumination when both sets of lights are burning. Suddenly turn out the first group of lights. Are the second lights any less brilliant than it was before, in and of itself? No. They are still burning with their same brilliance, but because they lost their running mates or teammates the total illumination has been drastically cut, hasn’t it? Now, let’s reverse it by turning on the first set and turning off the second. If you turn off the “Book of Mormon light” and put the “Holy Bible light” on, or no matter how you work it, you get more total illumination when both great lights are working in unison than when either is working alone.
Think of two sets of brilliant lights working together – fifteen books (the first set) in the “library of books” of the Book of Mormon, and sixty-six books (the second set) “library of books” of the Holy Bible. The more illumination we have on any given problem today, the better. Some say, “We don’t need another Bible.” Choose any principle of the Gospel you want; I wouldn’t care what it was to be: Take the principle of love, it is a great law. Take the principle of faith or of fasting, or of the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, or take the Ten Commandments. It does not matter what principle you study, as you draw all you can from one book and then get all you can from the other, your total illumination is greatly enhanced when the two great records work as a team – as one in the hands of the people and as one in the hands of God, even as He intended. (See Ezekiel 37:16-20, and 2 Nephi 29:8.)
The Lord Jesus Christ in Mormonism
http://youtu.be/zRfWypge13s
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