Why Do We Need the Book of Mormon?

Some people wonder why we need the Book of Mormon if we already have the Bible.  The Bible, they say, is the complete word of God.  However, the Bible never claims to be complete and even today different churches use different Bibles.  The Catholic version of the Bible includes 14 books not found in the Protestant Bible and Eastern Christian Churches have books not found in any Western Bible.

The most important reason to believe in the Book of Mormon is because of modern prophets.  God calls prophets to testify of Jesus Christ and to warn people about the dangers of sin.  Acts 10:43 says, “To him [Jesus] give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”  In Amos 3:7 we read that, “the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”

Reading these scriptures, we realize that God will always call prophets to help people meet the challenges of their own day.  In today’s world we do not need to be warned about the dangers of eating meat sacrificed to pagan gods as Paul often mentioned, nor do we need to be warned about not worshipping golden calves, except of course metaphorically.  We have our own challenges.  Paul and Peter and John did not need to warn their people about the dangers of the internet or the many trials we face in today’s world.  God will never abandon those who love and serve Him and so he continues to send prophets.

Joseph Smith was that modern prophet who gave us the Book of Mormon which contains messages for our day.  We also have the revelations given to modern prophets as contained in the Doctrine and Covenants.  The Book of Mormon is a revelation for us in our day.  The New Testament scriptures were given to help the people of its day and while we can learn much about doctrine and faith from them, we need revelation for us.  The book of Proverbs says:

Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he (Proverbs 29:18).

Without vision, or revelation, from God, people will not be able to understand the scriptures and will begin to change what they mean.  The Apostle Peter warned of this:

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their destruction (2 Peter 3:15-16).

Wrest means to twist or distort; so Peter was warning his audience that some people were distorting the meaning of the scriptures.  The Book of Mormon helps us more fully understand God’s teachings about Jesus Christ and about salvation through Him.  The title page of the Book of Mormon proclaims that its aim is to

• “Show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers.”
• “[T]hat they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever.”
• “And also to the convincing of the Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.”