The Standard Works: Proof of Mormonism's Truthfulness

By: Michael Flournoy

As a missionary serving in Orange County I often received the request from Christians to prove the truthfulness of Mormonism with the Bible alone. I always viewed this demand as a handicap, since the Bible is only part of the LDS canon of scripture. In some ways proving Mormonism true with the Bible is similar to proving algebra right only on the foundation of addition and subtraction; algebra does not contradict the rules of arithmetic, but it is impossible to decisively prove it right with simple math. On the other hand, Christians are adamant that The Book of Mormon and other LDS scriptures cannot be validated simply because they call themselves true. Even Jesus, in John 8:54, said, “If I honor myself, my honor is nothing: it is my Father that honoreth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God.” The Bible is, so to speak, the least common denominator between Mormons and Protestants, and is therefore a reasonable place to go with regards to LDS apologetics. But is Mormonism best proved with the Bible alone, or by collaboration between the Bible and the Standard Works?

Imagine if you will that a practitioner of Judaism were to ask a Protestant to prove Christianity true with the Old Testament alone. If the Christian were to accept the proposition he would have at least two options available to him. First, he could argue that the New Testament does not contradict the Old and prove that Christianity isn’t blatantly false; or second, he could point to several Old Testament prophecies which pertain to Christ and prove that Christianity reasonably could be true. In the very least the Old Testament would be shown to be lacking something in the way of fulfillment of prophecy, an issue which could potentially be resolved with the New Testament. But even if the Christian expertly argued both points, he would fail to convince a believer in the Torah that Christianity was absolutely, without a doubt, true.

In 2 Corinthians 3:12-16 Paul helps put the problem in perspective: Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: but their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Without Christ, Paul argues, the truth cannot be discerned; thus since the New Testament brings an individual closer to Christ it is superior to the Old Testament in terms of validating Christianity.

Is it the same with the Bible and the Standard Works? Both the Bible and The Book of Mormon agree that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who died for us and was resurrected, and through whose name we are justified. In fact The Book of Mormon never contradicts the Bible, proving at least that Mormonism isn’t blatantly false. The Bible also contains unfulfilled prophecy which is resolved by the Standard Works. The end of the Old Testament contains the prophecy: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Then in Matthew 17 on the way down the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples ask Christ about this prophecy and he explains, “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” The fact that he speaks in future tense signifies that the prophecy had yet to be fulfilled, and at no point in the New Testament does Elijah arrive to validate Malachi’s prophecy. The fulfillment of the prophecy is only resolved in the Doctrine and Covenants section 110 where Elijah appears to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery at the Kirtland temple and commits to them the keys of the dispensation. Not to say of course that unfulfilled prophecy proves a religion wrong, after all the prophecy that Jesus will come again is currently an unfulfilled prophecy, but a religion with fulfilled prophecy is always more substantiated than a faith with unfulfilled prophecy and Mormonism gets credit for all the fulfilled prophecies of the Bible and the Standard Works.

Just as the New Testament unveils truth in a way the Old Testament alone cannot, so to do the Standard Works, particularly The Book of Mormon. At first glance it may not seem like The Book of Mormon can offer anything the Bible cannot since they are unified in their messages, yet the two books are drastically different in regard to substantiating evidence. A wonderful myriad of evidences have been obtained which support the Bible, including original texts in the Hebrew and Greek and copies of the text in the form of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Book of Mormon, in comparison, is not supported much by physical evidence. If there ever was a piece of compelling evidence in support of Mormonism, it was the gold plates from which The Book of Mormon was translated, but according to Joseph Smith’s account the angel Moroni took the plates with him to heaven once their translation was complete. To opponents of Mormonism this is a convenient story fashioned by Smith to shield himself from investigation. From an LDS perspective Moroni had a good reason for taking away the greatest piece of evidence we could possibly have… right..?

I believe that if Moroni had left the gold plates, The Book of Mormon would not be any more valuable in bringing us to God than the Bible. Although most would argue that hard evidence is always better than none, the apostle Paul confesses a different viewpoint. In 1 Corinthians 1:17 he says: For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. In 1 Corinthians 1:22-23 he goes on to say: For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. He seems to promote evangelizing in such a manner as to avoid wisdom and proof “lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect”. He may be telling us that someone who believes solely because of human wisdom or evidence may be dissuaded by the same means. In 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 Paul proclaims: And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Paul further makes his point in Romans 8:24-25: For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. He suggests that faith gained by the power of the Spirit is superior to faith gained through evidence and logic. Doctrine and Covenants 6:23 supports Paul’s words: Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God? Only when this principle is understood can we begin to guess why readers of The Book of Mormon are invited to ask God in prayer if the book is true and why the gold plates were taken from the world.

Because there is little evidence validating The Book of Mormon, the investigator of this book is forced to seek the answer through prayer and faith, and the resulting reply from God can only strengthen a person’s faith and bring them closer to Christ. For this reason the Standard Works are superior to the Bible when it comes to validating The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.