Eight (1813)establishes the backdrop about who and what Joseph Smith was and who he is today.
LDS/Mormon missionaries make an impact on the lives of others on the “coattails” of that
book as they travel throughout the world announcing its existence and promoting its
relevance to human salvation. There is little doubt how the Book of Mormon affects a person
who chooses to read it “with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ.”^4
The Need for the Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon was written only for those who are sincere and have a real
intent^5 to consider that God (our mutual creators) “is the same yesterday, today, and
forever” and that “God” deals with mortals in the same way “yesterday, today, and
forever.”^6 It was written for those who believe that, “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may
know the truth of all things,” and that this power works “according to the faith of the
children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.”^7
Above all, the Book of Mormon was written for those who believe in the Bible.
Although in many ways perverse to real truth, the Bible retains some of the words of true
messengers from the past. Therefore, inasmuch as it has become, as it were, the “word of
God”^8 as it was written to and for a people who lived “yesterday,” then why wouldn’t God
give his word through true messengers and make it available in the same written form
“today”?^9 Those who are “sincere” and have a “real intent” to know God, and who believe
in the Bible, would of a sincere certainty, consider something extra that would prove that
God loves them just as much as he did the Jews; the original authors and, supposed, subjects
of the Bible. They would want to believe that God “speak[s] the same words unto one nation
like unto another.”^10 They would want to know that God does this for their benefit, further
proving that he cares about all of his children equally^11 and treats them “the same yesterday,
today, and forever”:
And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday,
today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own
pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that
I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be
until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.
Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains
all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be
written. For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the
north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the
words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I
will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that
which is written.^12These words should make sense to people who understand and accept the Bible as
truth. The idea that God is a never-changing being and treats all people equally, makes
sense to all of us. We can’t imagine a God, a father, who would put one child above another,
or treat one individual differently from another. It makes sense to our common humanity
that if all human beings are children of God,^13 then they should be treated as if they are
actually his children and he their mutual father.