Nephi is being shown, in vision, the things that will happen to his seed and the seed of his brethren. He has been greatly concerned as to their future, because of his great love for them.
20. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a book, and it was carried forth among them.
21. And the angel said unto me: Knowest thou the meaning of the book?
22. And I said unto him: I know not.
23. And he said: Behold it proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew. And I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto me: The book that thou beholdest is a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.
This book mentioned by the angel and seen in the dream is the Holy Bible. We do believe in the Bible as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and, in fact, this verse can be used to explain this principle to those who believe that Mormons don’t believe in the Bible. This verse plainly states that the Bible is of great worth and contains many of the covenants of the Lord.
24. And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.
25. Wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God.
26. And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, 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.
27. 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.
28. Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.
The Bible has been translated and retranslated many times, and each time it has gone through the process, things have been left out or misconstrued. Some of this has been through design, as the scripture mentions, and some of it has been by accident. Over the years, the Bible has gone from being a volume of truth to a volume of half-truth. This is why it’s so necessary to have the Book of Mormon in conjunction with the Bible, so we may have a more complete picture.
29. And after these plain and precious things were taken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity, thou seest—because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God—because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.
When we are trying to accomplish a task and we only have a partial set of instructions, we can’t do all that we are supposed to do. We can come close, but we’ll lose the details. The Lord takes into account the intents of our hearts and knows what we’re trying to do, but we miss out on some of the most choice blessings when we don’t have all the information we need.
From today’s reading: What differences do you see in the Bible and the teachings of the Book of Mormon? What differences do we see between the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible and the Bible as it stands? How can we gain a more well-rounded understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its entirety?
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