My cousin, Audrey wrote a blog post that answers this Question ^^ and I know I couldn't have written it better....
The Bible and the Book of Mormon teach the same things, they
compliment each other and build upon the same principles, both testifying of
Christ. The Bible contains writings from prophets in and around
Jerusalem, while the Book of Mormon contains writing from prophets in the Americas.
The Bible gets interpreted so many different ways by so many different people,
but the Book of Mormon helps clear that up. If they both teach of Christ and
the same principles, then only the interpretation that is in harmony with both
books can be the correct one.
It makes perfect sense to me. The people
spoken of in the bible were not the only ones living on the Earth, and why
shouldn't the people living on a distant continent have just as much access to
their God, and why wouldn't God bless them with the same knowledge and
spiritual opportunities?
In John 10:16 it says "And other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold: them also I must being, and they shall hear my voice; and
there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." He will bring all his
sheep to the knowledge of Him and He will be shepherd to all of them, not just
those around Jerusalem.
John isn't the only book that shows evidence that the Book
of Mormon is a real and true book of scriptures and a testament of Christ, more
evidence is found in Ezekial 37:15-17:
15 The word of the Lord came
again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take
thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the
children of Israel his companions: then take another stick,
and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim,
and for all the
house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into
one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
Two sticks, or books, one for Judah and the
children of Israel (the Bible), and one for Joseph and Ephraim (the Book of
Mormon), and we are to join them and they are to become one in our hand. We
have we've brought the two together and we use them as one.
In case you are unsure how we came to have the Book
or Mormon, let me explain that. Joseph didn't know which church to join
so while reading the Bible, he came across James 1:5, which says: "If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." Joseph Smith
decided to go to a secluded area of the nearby woods and do just what James
said, ask of God. While there, Joseph was visited by God the Father and
Jesus Christ. When Joseph made his inquire about which church to join, he
was informed that he should join none of the churches. After several
angelic visits, he was guided to a hill where he found the gold plates on which
the records had been written and later hidden, not to be seen again until
Joseph was directed to them. Years later Joseph was given the opportunity
to finally begin translating the records, and they are what we now know as The
Book of Mormon.
Okay, so a
couple things here; first of all, many try to claim that Joseph Smith made it
all up, but that makes no sense. Joseph Smith had a... 3rd grade
education I believe, and was not good at reading and writing, so how could he
come up with the incredible writings found in the Book of Mormon? The style of
writing and language is also far from something that Joseph could logically
come up with. Furthermore, Joseph suffered greatly for his claims and
beliefs, he had nothing to gain from telling a tall tale, he was tortured,
imprisons, hated, persecuted, and eventually killed for his beliefs, but he
never once denied the truthfulness of it all.
Second, I was a teenager once, I've
known many teenagers in my life, and I've never known any that would hold to a
lie so tightly as to make their lives miserable by doing so. Yes, I've
known liars, yes lots of kids lie, but when faced with incredible opposition
those lies fall apart and stories change. Joseph Smith's story didn't
change, he feared changing his story and offending God more than making the
people that hated him happy and removing the trial from his life, and he this
was just when was still a kid. Not to mention, the story is too good to be made
up by a kid, let alone a kid with little education.
Have you read the Book of Mormon to find out if it's true? I
have and know the history of it. I can testify that it is an other testament of
Jesus Chris.
