The Book of 3rd Nephi
in the Book of Mormon describes the
fulfillment of all the Old Covenant prophecies.
So why is this important? Because the Book of Mormon is another witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God and the Savior of the world. That
may not have been as important a few years ago.
When I was growing up, almost everyone held the Bible in high esteem. No one
questioned its validity. But today even some
Christians are calling into question the divinity of Jesus Christ.
A few years ago, the PBS series, Frontline, ran a two-part episode called
“From Jesus to Christ.” It portrayed
Jesus as an historical figure who was a very good man, but just a man. Their thesis was that it was later Christians
who “turned him into a god” to justify their own beliefs. When I heard about the series, I thought it
must have been done by agnostic historians and scientists. I went online and watched the first
segment. I was stunned to see that the
people being interviewed were clergy and teachers from some of the country’s
best known theological universities!
The late Neil A. Maxwell, an LDS
apostle, once challenged us to be “disciple-scholars” - to use our scholarship
to strengthen our own and other’s
testimonies: be a disciple of Jesus Christ first and a scholar second. It was obvious to me that those being
interviewed for Frontline were scholars
first and disciples later - if disciples at all.
The Jesus Seminar* took it a step further. They took the red letter edition of the Bible and looked at all of the words in
red that were spoken by the Savior.
These scholars said, “Well, maybe He
said that and maybe He didn’t.” Putting
all faith aside, they decided that there were things He did say; things He may have said; things He might have said but with which others
have tampered; and things He may have thought
but never said (i.e., later Christians put the words in His mouth). The Jesus
Seminar Bible removes 80% of Jesus’ words from the red letter edition. That means that for every ten sayings of
Jesus, according to them, He only actually said two. The sayings they question remove all
references to His divinity, authority, or Godhood. To faithful Christians, their position is
untenable!
The prophet Nephi wrote that when
his writings should go forth to the world, people would say, “A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and
there cannot be any more Bible” (2 Nephi 29:3). To which
the Lord answered: “Wherefore, because
ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need
ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written” (2 Nephi 29:10).
Why do we need the Book of Mormon when we have the Bible?
- because it is a second witness that Jesus Christ is more than just an
historical figure; that He is truly the Son of God. If you have a single point, you can draw an infinite number of
lines through it. The Bible is that single point and over the
past 2000 years, multitudes of lines have been drawn through it, including modern lines
which deny the divinity of Jesus.
But when you add the witness of
the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, you now have two points. You can
only draw one line through two points and that line is that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of mankind.
Third Nephi is the Fifth Gospel.
* A key founder of the Jesus Seminar was John Dominic Crosson, who later went on to write a book entitled: The Historic Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. As a Christian, I find that title offensive. If you strip Jesus of His divinity, you have just another moral teacher without the power to save anyone. It strips Christianity of its entire raison d'etre.
Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education
Pictures:
From Jesus to Christ from www.pbs.org
The Jesus Seminar from www.kpbs.org
Asterisk from multiple sources
One line through 2 points from www.onlinemschool.com
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