Is the Bible complete?
Does Heavenly Father continue to speak to His children?
I love the Bible. My mother read Bible stories to me and my sister and brothers from the time I could crawl. We had a set of Bible stories for kids. I remember the covers were green and each cover had a picture of the chief Bible character mentioned In that volume. Adam and Eve were depicted on the first volume as they were being driven from the Garden of Eden. Noah and the Arc were on the second. Abraham was on the third. Joseph on the fourth. Moses was on the fifth. David was on the sixth. Samson was on the seventh. And Jesus was on the eighth. At least In my memory those were the individuals depicted on each of the eight volume covers. I loved the stories in those books, the individuals mentioned became my heroes, I would constantly select one of those books and ask mother to read it to me. Needless to say the stories were riveted in my mind as a child.
So back to my leading question, is the Bible complete? Has Heavenly Father given us more information about the individuals and teachings mentioned in the Bible? If so wouldn’t everyone on earth want that additional knowledge? I know I would. Well, let me share the additional scriptures in support of the Bible and the teachings found there. I will introduce these other scriptures by sharing the new insights they give to familiar Bible stories.
First Adam and Eve. In the Bible account God creates the Earth including Man on the sixth day and places Adam in a special garden, the Garden of Eden, where God places all plants and animals, and Eve becomes Adam’s helpmeet, his wife. They were given two commandments – first, to multiply and replenish the earth (Gen 1:28) and second, not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for if they did “they would surely die” (Gen 2:16,17).
But Satan tempted Eve, she partook and gave some of the fruit to Adam and he also partook and as a result they were cast out of the garden, into a mortal world where each would suffer and where they would eventually die. (Gen 3)
From this Bible account many people have concluded that Adam and Eve were weak and sinful, that all of the human family suffer because of them but the Bible account is incomplete.
Other books of scripture add more information, in the Bible we read about ‘sacrifices’ but in the book of Moses* we read: “4 And Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord … and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence. 5 And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord. 6 And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me. 7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth. 8 Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore. 9 And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, … And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.11 And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.12 And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters.” (Moses 5:4-12) In addition the book of 2nd Nephi* 2:22-25 teaches, “And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good for they knew no sin … Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”
From those verses we learn that Adam and Eve were commanded to offer animal sacrifices, that those sacrifices were in similitude of the eventual sacrifice of our Savior, we learn that they had the Holy Ghost, we learn that they could not have children before the fall nor were they able to have joy and discern good from evil. So now we see that Adam and Eve, by partaking, made it possible for us to be born, it was part of Heavenly Father’s plan for us. They are our heroes, in fact, Doctrine and Covenants* 27:11 teaches us that Adam is the great ‘Michael’ mentioned in the book of Revelation 12:7-10 “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon … prevailed not …” Further, in the book of Moses 6:64-66 we read that Adam was baptized, “… and thus he [Adam] was baptized … And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost …”
As wonderful as the Bible is and I love the Bible, I appreciate the wonderful teachings and stories it contains, but there are other Scriptures that add vital information and instruction for us. The other *Scriptures can be found online at lds.org, the book of Moses is in the Pearl of Great Price, 2nd Nephi is in the Book of Mormon, and the other volume of Scripture is the Doctrine and Covenants. These three books along with the Bible constitute the Standard Works for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, all four books are scripture and come from God through Prophets. I love reading these books of scripture, I know they all have come from God and they all, taken together bring greater understanding of Heavenly Father’s Plan for me and you.
If you agree with the ideas shared above please share with your friends.
