Prophets and Scriptures

First, a quote from Joseph Smith. "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe The Book of Mormon to be the word of God" (Articles of Faith, number 8). I understand that for many people, the Bible is the greatest book on the earth, filled with God's revealed words to his prophets. I, and all of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, consider the Bible to hold the gospel of Jesus Christ and an accurate rendering of history. However, we also know that it is imperfect. One religious scholar wrote on the history of the Bible as we know it today, and any historian can tell you that the Bible has been translated many times. One example of a famous mistranslated line is in the Latin Vulgate version, which says that Moses grew horns while on Sinai (further reading). While scholars are certainly going to do their best to fix mistakes, the wear of time makes it more and more difficult to know what the Bible originally said.

As members of the LDS Church, we know that there is a prophet on the earth today. We do not need to rely solely on a Bible that was written thousands of years ago when we have a prophet speaking to God today and telling us what we need to hear, just as prophets did while the Bible was first written. The idea of prophets is not a new one, and it confuses me that people will be reluctant to accept our message as true just because we say that Jesus Christ has called a prophet on the earth again. Not only does God not change (2 Nephi 29:9), but humankind does change. Just as there was a prophet after Abraham (Isaac), Moses (Joshua), and so many others, we need a prophet to help us deal with credit cards, computers, universities and other things that are unique to our day (3 topics I chose and then searched for relevant talks. You can do it too at lds.org).

These are 12 of the 15 men that lead this Church through divine guidance

There are so many instances in the Old Testament of prophets because it covers such a large period of time. However, even the New Testament has examples of prophets in the form of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. Peter, the primary Apostle, filled a similar if not the same role as Thomas S. Monson does today. When there was an issue that individuals couldn't solve for the early church (gentiles and more), they appealed to Peter and he answered their questions. Apostles helped the church grow and taught true doctrine. This pattern has returned to the earth today, and is ready to bless your life. You don't even have to take my word for it. Just start with The Book of Mormon and meeting with missionaries.