Plain and Precious Book of Mormon doctrines

Plain and Precious Book of Mormon Doctrines

Criticism

Critics claim that the Book of Mormon is nothing more than a "bad copy of the Bible"; that anyone could have churned out such pedestrian, warmed-over ideas by borrowing liberally from the Bible and his own personal experiences.

Response

The Book of Mormon has many marvelous and unique doctrines that expand on the Biblical text. The prophet Nephi in the Book of Mormon makes the bold claim that it would contain "many plain and precious" doctrines that originally existed in the Bible, but were subsequently removed, either deliberately or by error (1 Nephi 13:26–40}. The following is a partial list of some of these "many plain and precious" doctrines that are found in the Book of Mormon, but are not spelled out clearly enough in the Bible to prevent great debate and disagreement among Christians seeking to know the will of God.

Doctrines relating to the Savior and his mission

• Christ offereth himself unto all who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit (2 Nephi 2:7)
• All men shall be resurrected, and stand before Christ to be judged (2 Nephi 2:10)
• Christ shall redeem men from their sins, not in their sins (Alma 11:34–37)
• Why Christ, being perfect, still needed to be baptized (2 Nephi 31:4–10)
• The perfect plan of mercy and justice (NEED REF)
• In addition to our sins, the Savior took upon him our pains, afflictions and temptations, that he might know how to comfort and strengthen us (Alma 7:11–12)
• The infinite nature of the atonement (2 Nephi 9:7)
• Without the resurrection, all men would become angels to the devil, subject to the devil, and be miserable forever. (2 Nephi 9:8–10)
• All things given of God are a type of Christ and testify of Him (2 Nephi 11:4)

What the devil doesn't want us to know

• Murmuring quenches the Spirit (1 Nephi 3:5–6)
• How Satan will be bound during the millenium (1 Nephi 22:26)
• Satan is the father of all lies (2 Nephi 2:18)
• Satan is the father of all contention (3 Nephi 11:29)
• The evil spirit teaches that a man must not pray (2 Nephi 32:8)
• Satan whispers to people that there is no hell nor devil (2 Nephi 28:22)
• What motivates Satan - retribution for his misery (2 Nephi 2:18, 2 Nephi 2:27)
• Laboring diligently in the vineyard protects us from sin and the cunning snares of the devil (Alma 28:14)

The purpose of life

• "Adam fell that men might be, and men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25)
• The fall of Adam and Eve was part of God's plan – had he not fallen, they would have remained in the garden forever, knowing no joy or misery, doing no good nor evil, having no children. (2 Nephi 2:22–25)
• "For it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things" (2 Nephi 2:11)
• In mortality, men are given all choices, and "they are free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil." (2 Nephi 2:27)
• This life is a probationary state, a time to prepare to meet God. (NEED REF)
• True wisdom, foolishnes defined (2 Nephi 9:28–29,42)
• "To be carnally–minded is death, and to be spiritually–minded is life eternal" (2 Nephi 9:39)

Faith, Repentance, Baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost

• No unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of heaven (1 Nephi 10:21, 1 Nephi 15:34, Alma 7:21, Alma 40:26)
• The still, small voice of the Spirit is felt (1 Nephi 17:45)
• At the resurrection, those who do not repent shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, uncleanness and nakedness, while the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment and their righteousness, being clothed in purity. (2 Nephi 9:14)
• "We are saved by grace, after all we can do." (2 Nephi 25:23)

• Baptism existed before John the Baptist (NEED REF)
• The fruits of pride (3 Nephi 6:10–16)
• The only source of inequality of men is due to sin and transgression (Alma 28:13)

Qualifications for baptism

• We must be willing to follow the Savior with full purpose of heart and with real intent. (2 Nephi 31:3)
• We must repent of our sins, thereby witnessing unto the Father that we are willing to take upon us the name of Christ. (2 Nephi 31:3, Moroni 6:2–3)
• We must be willing to come into the fold of God, and to be called His people ((Mosiah 18:8)
• We must be willing to bear one another's burdens, willing to mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort. (Mosiah 18:9)
• We must be willing to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all places, even until death. (Mosiah 18:10)
• We must be willing to serve God, keep His commandments, and desire to have His Spirit poured out more abundantly upon us. (Mosiah 18:10, Mosiah 21:35)
• Notwithstanding the Savior being holy, he was baptized to witness to the Father that he was willing to keep his commandments. (2 Nephi 31:7)
• We must repent, be baptized and become as a little child or we can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. (3 Nephi 11:37–38)
• We must have a broken heart and a contrite spirit. (Moroni 6:2-3)

Prayer

• We are not to perform anything without first praying, that God will consecrate the performance for the welfare of our souls. (2 Nephi 32:9)
• How to understand the things of God (1 Nephi 15:2–4)
• Trust not in the arm of flesh (NEED REF)
• Preparation precedes revelation ((1 Nephi 16:23,24,28,29)

For our day

• The answer to the age-old question 'How can God be a god of love, yet command the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites?' (1 Nephi 17:32–45)
• To profit and learn from the scriptures, we are to 'liken' them unto ourselves (1 Nephi 19:23)
• When nations ripen in iniquity, the Lord destroys them. Before destroying them, he sends prophets to warn them (2 Nephi 25:9)
• Under what circumstances we are justified in going to war (NEED REF)

Other plain and precious doctrines

• "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass, and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls" (Alma 37:6, 1 Nephi 16:9)
• The Lord will not give a commandment without preparing a way for us to obey it. (1 Nephi 3:7, 1 Nephi 17:3)
• The guilty take the truth to be hard (1 Nephi 16:2)
• Joseph of Egypt's vision of what would befall his posterity to the last days (2 Nephi 3:5–16)

Conclusion

It would have been truly amazing if Joseph Smith had come up with any one of these doctrines on his own. Taken together, they are convincing evidence that the Book of Mormon is scripture, and that it indeed contains "many plain and precious things" that were removed from the Bible. That Joseph or anyone else had made up the Book of Mormon from 'whole cloth' would be infinitely more miraculous than the true account of it's origin, as given by Joseph Smith.

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