To speak about the restoration of the gospel, we must go back to
the history of our great nation. For god created America to be a choice land
and I quote Ether 2:10 it states: for behold, this is a land, which is choice
above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve god. This
is a great nation that was established by our righteous forefathers to fight
for our freedom to choose, whether it be in the revolutionary war, civil war, World
War I or II or any other war we fought, for our agency to choose just as we had
done in the pre-existence.
In D&C 101:80 it declares “ and for this purpose have I
established a constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised
up unto this very purpose and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood. A
famous man named Alexis de Tocqueville said this quote about America “religion
must be regarded as the first of their political institution in society”
following those remarks Marion G. Romney said this quote about our free agency
in 1981 “ it is true that the God-given right to choose one’s course of action
is an indispensable prerequisite to such freedom. Without it we can scarcely
enjoy any type of liberty—political, economic, or personal. It is one of our
greatest heritages. For it, we are deeply indebted to our Father in Heaven, to
the Founding Fathers, and to the pioneers. God gave it to man in the Garden of
Eden. The Founding Fathers, under the Lord’s inspiration, wrote a guarantee of
it into the fundamental law of the land. And the pioneers, led by the
inspiration of heaven, gave their all to perpetuate it.” I give solemn respect
to Joseph smith that he used his free agency to search for the truth: and go
forward with his divinely inspired restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As members of the church we often come upon great opposition
against us. One of the oppositions we face about the restoration of the gospel
is the written scripture in revelations 22: 18-19; a topic that will come up
for many missionaries. A refreshment of these verses summarized has to do with
adding or taking away scripture from the book of revelations. Jeffery R Holland
helps explain this topic “ One
of the arguments often used in any defense of a closed canon is the New
Testament passage recorded in Revelation
22:18: “For I testify unto
every man that heareth the words of … this book, If any man shall add unto these
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.”
However, there is now overwhelming consensus among virtually all biblical
scholars that this verse applies only to the book of Revelation, not the whole Bible. Those scholars of our
day acknowledge a number of New Testament “books” that were almost certainly
written after John’s
revelation on the Isle of Patmos was received. Included in this category are at
least the books of Jude, the three Epistles of John, and probably the entire
Gospel of John itself. 1 Perhaps there are even more than these.
But there is a simpler
answer as to why that passage in the final book of the current New Testament
cannot apply to the whole Bible. That is because the whole Bible as we know
it—one collection of texts bound in a single volume—did not exist when that
verse was written. For centuries after John produced his writing, the
individual books of the New Testament were in circulation singly or perhaps in
combinations with a few other texts but almost never as a complete collection.
Of the entire corpus of 5,366 known Greek New Testament manuscripts, only 35 contain
the whole New Testament as we now know it, and 34 of those were compiled after
1000 A.D.2But, not to long ago I had different
experience concerning other scriptural doctrines.
My husband and I went to see the Dead Sea scrolls at the Leonardo museum about a year ago. To give some history about them between 1946-1956 986 scrolls were found. 40% of the scrolls is written about the Hebrew bible, but 30% of the scrolls are of the second temple period including history of the Sadducees and pharacees. I was so excited to see these ancient writings and felt like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. After going through what seemed like an eternity of pots and relics I finally got to the scrolls. Except, they weren’t scrolls. They were little tiny scraps of paper smaller than a 3X5 card. I was so disappointed. I felt they could spare a couple of scrolls. However as I started to read them I was astonished by what they were about. They were ancient scriptures never included in the bible but were from the books of Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Psalms. But they were not in the bible and it gave me a shocking realization that there is much more doctrine out there that we have never even seen. So it would only make sense that there would be another testament of Jesus Christ through the book of Mormon. In Timothy 2:3 it says " All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in his righteousness:"
After being a member of the church since the ripe old age of 8,
it was last year that I decide to read the book of Mormon. I had never on my
own read the book for my own sake. I did finish reading it and pondered its
contents and prayed for a testimony of the book of Mormon. But it has not come
yet. I want to be clear about this, I believe the Book of Mormon is true, But I
need to Know it is. I’ll explain why: in my patriarchal blessing it repeats to
me three times that I will do missionary work all the days of my life with
everybody I come in contact with. I have however never served an official
mission. But I know that I will teach people and I know I will have opposition.
And I do not want my faith to waver when they oppose me. There are lots of
other concepts of the gospel that I know without a doubt to be true and I’ll
give you one of those examples at the end of my talk. Jeffery R Holland spoke
these words about this topic “ Hold fast to what you already know and stand
strong until additional knowledge comes. Belief is always the first step
towards conviction.” But I do not fret,
because the lord knows who I am and that I need a testimony that could never be
denied. And he will give it to me when I am ready to receive it. I do believe
in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints.
The most
important part of the restoration of the gospel is Jesus Christ. He is the
corner stone of our religion. If all you do as a missionary is to bring people
to know and believe that Jesus Christ is their lord and savior it would be
enough. And this is my testimony of what I know to be true. My testimony is
about Jesus Christ, a testimony I received that was so strong that I could
never deny it and would lay down my life to preserve it.
Last Easter I was
reflecting about Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us, when an overwhelming
feeling came upon me that I had never experienced before. I wasn’t praying or
seeking for a testimony of Jesus Christ I thought I knew who he was, but I
didn’t truly know who he was. The spirit came over me and gave me a true
understanding of the atonement. It was so strong that I wept for more than a
day as my soul realized the magnitude of the atonement, which my physical body
could probably never comprehend. Jesus Christ wasn’t just a man in the history
books, or a man who just performed miracles, or even just a prophet. But, the
only one who was pure enough to take on our sins so that we may return to him.
To know that I don’t have to go through this life alone is the purest gift god
could have ever given to us. As I wrote this talk I finally understood why I
had such a manifestation of the spirit of Jesus Christ instead of the book of
Mormon first. My testimony to know that the book of Mormon is true will come,
but my testimony of my lord, savior, and redeemer is fulfillment enough. I say
these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
