Scripture—the word of God—has
been, is now, and always will be the main source of Mormon doctrine and
practice. Its importance cannot be overstated. In combination with faith and the
gift of the Holy Ghost it becomes the single most powerful defense that exists
against the Adversary, along with his spirit and mortal followers and their temptations
and deceptions.
President J. Reuben Clark
thoughtfully wrote: “It seems sometimes as if the darkness that surrounds us is
all but impenetrable. I can see on all sides the signs of one great evil master
mind working for the overturning of our civilization, the destruction of
religion, the reduction of men to the status of animals. This mind is working
here and there and everywhere.” Elder McConkie saw the same danger and exposed
it boldly: “Let me speak plainly. Satan hates and spurns the scriptures.
The less scripture there is, and the more it is twisted and perverted, the
greater is the rejoicing in the courts of hell.”
President
Boyd K. Packer constantly taught how important and effective the scriptures
could be in helping keep people from being deceived and following the popular trends
and allurements and fads of our modern (last days) society. One of his
favorite passages to quote and vigorously impress upon others was from
Paul’s letter to Timothy, which laid out our present corrupt society perfectly:
This know also, that in the last
days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their
own selves—Check!
covetous—Check!
boasters—Check!
proud—Check!
blasphemers—Check!
disobedient to parents—Check!
Check!
unthankful—Check!
unholy—Check!
Without natural affection—Check!
Check!
trucebreakers—Check!
false accusers—Check!
incontinent—Check!
fierce—Check!
despisers of those that are
good—Check!
Traitors—Check!
heady—Check!
highminded—Check!
lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God—Check! Check!
Having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof: from such
turn away.
For of this sort are they which
creep into houses, and lead captive silly
women laden with sins, led away
with divers lusts,
Ever learning, and never able to
come to the knowledge of the truth.
[See 2 Timothy 3:1–7]
So it now
is, and worse it will become. Thank Almighty God for the scriptures and those
who abide by them. Mormons have a much larger canon than other Christians and
believe that it will yet be enlarged further (Articles of Faith 1:9). Elder
McConkie taught:
Question: When will we receive more of the mind and
will of the Lord, and when will the great doctrinal restoration be completed?
We have a revealed
answer as to when we shall receive the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon.
What we have so far received is to test our faith. When we repent of all our
iniquity and become clean before the Lord, and when we exercise faith in him
like unto the brother of Jared, then the sealed portion of the ancient word
will be translated and read from the housetops.
The same is
certainly true of the brass plates and the lost portions of the Bible. What we
have received so far is to test our faith. Why should the Lord give us more of
the biblical word if we are indifferent to what he has already revealed? Does
anyone think the Lord should give us the words of Zenos when we are ignoring
the words of Isaiah?
There are
revelations without end that are available to the faithful at any time they are
prepared to receive them.
Until more
is revealed, we have our present canon, which has been enlarged on a number of
occasions since the Prophet Joseph Smith’s day. In the 1970s Elder McConkie
attempted to enlarge it further by recommending to the First Presidency and Quorum
of the Twelve that some items that he believed to be revelatory truth be
considered for canonization. These were items like portions of the Lectures on
Faith, the Wentworth letter (including two new Articles of Faith), many
passages from the Joseph Smith Translation, the vision of the redemption of the
dead given to President Joseph F. Smith, and Joseph Smith’s vision of the
Celestial Kingdom. Only two of his recommendations were approved, and as
tremendously valuable as the other materials are, they yet remain outside of
the official Mormon canon.
From Determining Doctrine:
Encyclopedia of
Mormonism:
In one of
its religious senses, the term “canon” refers to the literary works accepted by
a religion as Scripture. The word
derives from the Hebrew qaneh (ree),
which came to mean “measuring rod” and then “rule.” It thus indicates the norm or the standard by
which all things are measured. Latter-day
Saints accept a more extensive and more open canon of scriptures than those
accepted by other Christians and by Jews.
Latter-day Saints accept, in addition to the Bible, the Book of Mormon,
the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. These four scriptural collections are called
the Standard Works. (Daniel H. Ludlow,
“Canon,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism,
5 vols. [New York and Toronto: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992], 1:254)
Stephen
E. Robinson:
The Greek word kanon means,
first of all, a "ruler" or a "straightedge" and,
secondarily, a "standard" or "norm." From this second
meaning comes the English word canon, which means, when referring to the
scriptures, "the list of books recognized as authoritative." The
canon of scripture, then, is the standard collection of texts accepted by
Christians as the word of God, or as authoritative. If a book is said to be
canonical or one of the "standard works" (the LDS equivalent of
"canonical"), that means it is on the list of approved and accepted
scriptural books. For non-Mormons the canon is the list of books that make up
the Bible.
It is well known that Latter-day
Saints have an expanded canon of scripture compared to the rest of the
Christian world. In addition to the Bible, they recognize the Book of Mormon,
the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price as the word of God.
These four collections of inspired writings constitute the standard works, or
canon of scripture, of the LDS church. (Are Mormons Christians? [Salt Lake City :
Bookcraft, 1991], 45.)
Alexander B. Morrison:
Permit me
to make a few observations about the Latter-day Saint concept of canon. As you all know, the word canon is of Latin and Greek origin. Though it has numerous meanings, for our
purposes it denotes “a collection or authoritative list of books accepted as
holy scripture.” I leave to others the
task of defining—insofar as the Bible is concerned—the content of that list of
books, but note in passing that the traditional Christian world has had a long
and hard struggle throughout its history to define which writings are sacred,
inspired, and binding on believers.
Protestant Bibles (including the King James Version), which Latter-day
Saints accept as “the word of God as far as it is translated correctly” (A of F
8), do not include some books accepted as canonical by the Roman Catholic and
Orthodox churches. Even within Protestantism,
the question of canon is perhaps not yet unanimously resolved….
Latter-day
Saint views on canon, in the minds of some Christians are so extreme as to deny
us the right to even refer to ourselves as Christians. We are simply unacceptable to some of our
Christian brethren, gone beyond heresy to anathema. While that may be regrettable, what others
label us, or even think about us, is of far lesser importance than what is true
and thus acceptable to God.
Basic to
the Latter-day Saint concept of canon are two eternal principles. The first is that compared to the rest of the
Christian world, ours is an expanded canon.
In addition to the Bible, we accept as canonical three other books of
holy scripture….
Not only is
ours an expanded canon, but it is also open and unended. We do not subscribe to the finalist and
minimalist views of other Christians with regard to holy writ. We believe in continuing and unending
revelation, ever augmented by living prophets. (“The Latter-day Saint Concept
of Canon,” in Historicity and the
Latter-day Saint Scriptures [Provo ,
Utah BYU Religious
Studies Center
Daniel
H. Ludlow:
The importance of spoken or
noncanonized written scripture cannot be overemphasized, because it is the
source of all canonized scripture. The usual pattern for the development of
canonized scripture is that it is first given by the Lord to his living
prophet, who teaches it to the people; then the prophet either writes the
teachings himself or has another write for him so the people can refer back to
the exact words. The written words are then presented to the members of the
Church, usually in a general conference, for their vote as to whether or not
they are willing to accept the statement as part of the official scripture.
Once the scripture is voted upon and accepted, it is said to be canonized and
becomes part of the official written scripture or standard works.
Thus it is readily evident that when
people refuse to accept the words of the living prophet, they in effect cut
themselves off from the opportunity of receiving additional canonized
scripture. (A Companion to Your Study of the Doctrine and Covenants, 2
vols. [Salt Lake City :
Deseret Book, 1978], 1:9-10.)
Robert L. Millet:
Why do some feel comfortable
accepting the parts of the JST that are in the canon of scripture (the standard
works), such as the book of Moses and Joseph Smith—Matthew, but feel less
inclined to accept the other JST alterations? There is no question but that we
are firmly committed to the canon, the standard works, and that these books of scripture
serve as the rule of faith and practice for the Latter-day Saints; they are
binding upon us. At the same time, if any people in all the wide world should
have reason to be nervous about sealing the canon, it is the Latter-day Saints.
For us nothing is more fixed, set, and established than the eternal fact that
the canon of scripture is open, flexible, and expanding. What is scripture one
day may become part of the canon the next, as was the case in 1976 with the
Vision of the Celestial Kingdom (D&C 137) and the Vision of the Redemption
of the Dead (D&C 138). These were, according to the definition provided in
modern revelation (D&C 68:3-4), scripture from the time they were
given; they were just as true before they were canonized in 1976. The same is
so in regard to the entire JST before it was printed by the Reorganized Church
Further, in our study or our inquiry
after the mind and will of the Lord, we as a people are not bound by a single
collection of sacred books. We are called upon to "live by every word . .
. of God" (D&C 84:44), to open ourselves to new truths as they may
come forth through proper channels. The addresses delivered by the President of
the Church at general conference are not in the canon, nor are such official
doctrinal declarations of the First Presidency as "The Origin of Man"
(1909) or "The Father and the Son" (1916) or the Proclamation on the
Family (1995), but they certainly represent the mind and will and voice of the
Lord to the Saints; the members of the Church are expected to "give
diligent heed to the words of eternal life" (D&C 84:43) as they come
from the lips of the Lord's anointed servants. Does anyone really believe that
what is said in scripture by Alma
or Paul or John the Beloved is any more binding on the Saints in our day than
President Ezra Taft Benson's messages on the Book of Mormon or President Howard
W. Hunter's pleas for greater Christian charity and more devoted service in the
temples?
In writing on the subject of the biblical
canon, the respected Evangelical scholar F. F. Bruce observed that "there
is a distinction between the canonicity of a book of the Bible and its
authority. Its canonicity is dependent upon its authority. For when we ascribe
canonicity to a book we simply mean that it belongs to the canon or list. But
why does it so belong? Because it was recognized as possessing special
authority. People frequently speak and write as if the authority with which the
books of the Bible are invested in the minds of Christians is the result of
their having been included in the sacred list. But the historical fact is the
other way about; they were and are included in the list because they were
acknowledged as authoritative." Bruce concludes: "Both logically and
historically, authority precedes canonicity." (Selected Writings of
Robert L. Millet: Gospel Scholars Series [Salt Lake City : Deseret
Book, 2000], 130.)
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