Now, growing up in the church there are a lot of things that I’ve grown up hearing and believing. For example, we have a prophet who speaks for the Lord, the bible and the Book of Mormon go hand in hand, men are called of God by the laying on of hands, God speaks to us today, and so on. These were all things that I was taught from infancy and that I just accepted. I sort of took them for granted, I think. I was just like, “Yeah, OK. We have a prophet. We have priesthood power. Cool.” However, now that I am older, I am really starting to appreciate all these things that we believe in.
As I have grown older, I have started to really think for myself about all these things for myself and understand what they all mean. We have a prophet. A prophet! Just like in ancient times. “We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church...” as the sixth article of faith says. We are called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because it is Christ’s church. Not Joseph Smith’s, not Mormon’s, not anybody else’s. “Therefore ye shall call the church in my name... And how be it my church save it be called in my name? ...but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel” (3 Nephi 27:7-8). It makes sense!
Then have you ever stopped to think about the priesthood? Joseph Smith and his apostles received the same priesthood authority that was on the earth from Christ’s time. The resurrected Peter, James, and John conferred it upon them because there was no proper priesthood authority on the earth after they had died. JSH 1:72 reads “The messenger who visited us on this occasion and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek.”
Specific men are actually called of God to act in His name. In 3 Nephi 11 verses 18-22, Nephi was directly called forth by Christ to be given the power to baptize. D&C 22 says that “although a man should be baptized an hundred times it availeth him nothing, for you cannot enter in at the strait gate by the law of Moses, neither by your dead works.” This means that one must be baptized with proper priesthood authority.
Often, an attack against the Latter-day Saints is that we don’t believe in the bible (a misconception because we believe in the Book of Mormon). The belief is that we are replacing the bible with the Book of Mormon. This is false. We believe in both books. The bible has gone through many men’s hands and different translations and we believe in it as long as it is translated correctly. 1 Nephi 13:26-27 mentions this confusion with the mistranslation: “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. And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.” The scriptures are very sacred to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “The scriptures shall be given, even as they are in mine own bosom, to the salvation of mine own elect” (D&C 35:20).
I think it is such a miracle that we have all these sacred works today. Looking back on the history of the bible blows my little mind. Watch this documentary that BYUtv put together. It’s extremely fascinating: FIRES OF FAITH
I do believe in all these things. I do not rely on anyone else’s faith except for my own. God does reveal things today just as He did in ancient times. He reveals things to the individual just as easily and willingly as He does to a prophet. I have a firm testimony of all these things!
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