This is the first video put out by Pastor Jeff, commenting on the contents of the Book of Mormon. In this video he is commenting on the introduction to the book. At around 2:22 minutes into the video he says the following:
“Okay, so I haven’t gotten to the actual introduction yet, but I have read sort of this cover page here: ‘the Book of Mormon, an account written by the hand of Mormon, upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi’. So this is giving a little bit of background information. A couple notes I took here, that ‘written to the Lamanites’. I don’t know exactly who the Lamanites are, though I sort of have an idea, based on some of the videos I have watched, that I have reacted to on this channel. The purpose is to ‘know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever’. So that is an important purpose statement there, ‘And also to convince the Jews and Gentiles that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all the nations’. That statement right there sticking out to me, because I am seeing that through my Trinitarian lens, so it is hard for me not to see that as seeing Jesus as ‘the God,’ where we believe in mainstream Christianity that Jesus is the Eternal God. So that statement right there is interesting; but I am sure that Latter-day Saints might have an answer, as to how Jesus can be a distinct being from Heavenly Father, but still be the ‘Eternal God’. I don’t know, maybe that will be more clear as I keep reading.”
That relates to a difficult and complex theological issue. The first point to note is that that is not the only instance in modern LDS scripture where Jesus is identified as the supreme Deity. Here are some more:
2 Nephi 26:
12 And as I spake concerning the convincing of the Jews, that Jesus is the very Christ, it must needs be that the Gentiles be convinced also that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God;
2 Nephi 11:
7 For if there be no Christ, there be no God; and if there be no God, we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ; and he cometh in the fulness of his own time.
Mosiah 3:
5 For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, …
Mosiah 16:
15 Teach them that redemption cometh through Christ the Lord, who is the very Eternal Father. Amen.
Alma 11:
39 And Amulek said unto him: Yea, he is the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which in them are; he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last;
Doctrine and Covenants 19:
18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit …
Doctrine and Covenants 38:
1 Thus saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, the Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. The same which looked upon the wide expanse of eternity, and all the seraphic hosts of heaven before the world was made;
2 The same which knoweth all things, for all things are present before mine eyes.
3 I am the same which spake, and the world was made, and all things came by me.
Doctrine and Covenants 39:
1 Hearken and listen to the voice of him who is from all eternity to all eternity, the Great I Am, even Jesus Christ—
2 The light and the life of the world; a light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not;
So the question is, how could Jesus possess these divine attributes—how could he be the “Eternal God,” the “Lord Omnipotent,” the “greatest of all,” the “beginning and the end,” the “first and the last,” from “all eternity to all eternity,” etc., and still remain a distinct and separate Deity from God the Father? That points to the biggest, most serious, and most difficult theological issue that has puzzled the minds of Christian thinkers and theologians since the earliest days of Christianity, and to which they have not been able to give a satisfactory answer—and the answer to which has now been given in modern scriptures of the Church. The answer is to be found in these verses:
2 Nephi 31:
21 … And now behold, this is the doctrine of Christ; and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost which is one God, without end. Amen.
Alma 11:
44 … and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit which is one Eternal God, …
Mosiah 15:
1 And now Abinadi said unto them, I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people.
2 And because he dwelleth in the flesh he shall be called the Son of God, having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son—
3 The Father because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and the Son—
4 And they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth.
5 And thus the flesh becoming subject to the spirit or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation and yieldeth not to temptation, …
Mosiah 16:
15 Teach them that redemption cometh through Christ the Lord, who is the very Eternal Father.
3 Nephi 1:
14 Behold, I come unto my own to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world; and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son: of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh.
Mormon 9:
12 And because of the fall of man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son.
Ether 3:
14 Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have light, and that eternally.
D&C 93:
2 And that I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world;
3 And that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one—
4 The Father because he gave me of his fulness; and the Son because I was in the world and made flesh my tabernacle, and dwelt among the sons of men.…
• • •
14 And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first.
Doctrine and Covenants 132:
20 Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.
21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory.
Also the following from the Bible:
John 17:
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
2 Peter 1:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
1 John 3:
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
So the short answer to that question is that the divine attributes of “infinity,” “eternity,” “everlastingness” etc., are attributes that can be acquired. And when those attributes of divinity are acquired, such beings then become “one” (united) with the Father and the Son, in the same way that the Father and the Son are “one” with each other. They do not become numerically one. They become “one” in the divine attributes of “infinity,” “eternity,” and “everlastingness”—as well as of knowledge and power etc. Their identities are united and become one. The limitations of the finite mind, and the human language, may not be adequate to accommodate the expression of such divine attributes; but that is a problem that man needs to acknowledge, deal with, and resolve. That is man’s problem, not God’s. At 6:18 minutes into the video he says the following:
“Now the one thing that I want to go back to in this introduction, that really stuck out to me, is something that I heard at General Conference whenever I was there, and it is sitting right here staring me in the face, and I have to react to it; and it is this statement here that says, concerning this record: ‘The Prophet Joseph Smith said, I told the Brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth,’ which I heard one of the speakers at General Conference quote this. But there is a little bit more here that is really jumping out at me, that I want to speak to. It says that it is ‘the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than any other book’. All right, I am sure this isn’t going to take you by surprise, but as an Evangelical who very much holds to sola scriptura, to have this statement that goes beyond saying it is the most correct book, to saying that a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than any other book, is a little bit of a showstopper for me. Now there is many reasons why that statement is so problematic to mainstream Christianity, and it has to do with what we believe about the Bible. Now we don’t worship the Bible, but we do believe According to 2 Timothy, that it is inspired, it comes from the mouth of God, that the Holy Spirit inspired 40 authors over a course of 1500 years. These individuals, who wrote in three different languages, many of which didn’t even know each other who lived even in three different continents over the authorship of the scriptures, and the thousands of manuscripts that have been found all over the world, to verify the accuracy of the translations that we have, not to mention the amount of archaeological evidence that continues to prove the events of the Bible, so that just gets into an Evangelical belief of why we believe the Bible is authoritative and trustworthy. So to say that this book that came so much later, is the most correct book, is going to be difficult for me to overcome. I am not saying I am going to stop reading this, but that is a big sticking point for me, as an Evangelical Pastor who has spent so much time reading the scriptures, which I believe is really full of the precepts, specifically in the teachings and the person of Jesus in the New Testament, to say that this almost trumps it more than any other book, is where it seems as though Latter-day Saints would regard The Book of Mormon as greater than the Bible. And anytime I have sort of meandered into that way of thinking, I have had a lot of Latter-day Saints stop and say, No no no, we believe it is just a companion to the Bible. But this statement right here makes it seem more than a companion, but superior in a lot of ways. And I don’t feel the need to really say much more about that; but if I am going to be reading the Book of Mormon through that lens, I am going to have to fight some criticism with curiosity, because that is sort of a problematic statement for me.”
This question is a lot easier to answer. Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon are scripture and the word of God. What makes the Book of Mormon special and unique is that, firstly, it comes down to us by a direct revelation from God in our time, without passing through the hands of hundreds of scribes over a period of many centuries. Secondly, it is a revelation from God that is specifically tailored to the specific needs and requirements of our time, or to the generation in which we now live. That is why it is said to be the “most correct” book; as well as enabling us to “draw near to God” more than any other book. When God takes the trouble of speaking to us by a direct revelation to us in our time, then we had better sit up and take notice.
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