Review
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Title: The Holy Bible and Mormonism
Author: Christopher Mills
Publisher: Millenial Mind Publishing
Genre: Non-fiction
Year Published: 2009
Number of Pages: 217
Binding: Quality paperback
ISBN10: 1-58982-521-7
ISBN13: 978-1-58982-521-5
Price: $19.95
Reviewed by Jeffrey Needle
First, a word about a puzzlement of mine. For years I’ve wondered why anyone would want to portray Mormonism as a “biblical” faith. In fact, Mormons, while acknowledging the importance of the Bible and its place in the Mormon canon of scripture, treat the Bible a bit differently from the other three scriptural books. In practice, it is sometimes placed in an inferior position to modern day revelation.
What would the motivation be for wanting to show Mormonism from the Bible? I suppose there are several observations that could be made here. Joseph Smith, and the other founding fathers, had only the Bible as their guide as they established the Church. Yes, the Book of Mormon had been translated, but it seems that none of the early apostles understood the book very well.
And it may be that folks are trying to convince other Christians that Mormonism is consistent with biblical teaching, and therefore Mormons should not be excluded from the larger Christian community.
However one understands the motivation, the fact remains that you can’t really read *just* the Bible and derive Mormonism from it. You need at least the Doctrine and Covenants to fully flesh out the Restoration faith. Even the Book of Mormon isn’t much help here.
It is one thing to say that Mormonism, and its unique teachings, are taught evidently and abundantly in the Bible. This simply isn’t true. Neither *should* it be. If you teach on the one hand that many plain and precious parts of the scripture were removed, and that therefore the Bible is not an intact record, teaching the fullness of the everlasting gospel, then why would you look to that book for support for gospel principles?
But it’s quite another thing to show that Mormonism’s teachings have biblical precedent, that they are not entirely unknown in the pages of the Holy Bible. This claim, I think, is quite true.
Christopher Mills has penned a short volume titled “The Holy Bible and Mormonism: Understanding the Mormon Faith.” It’s a quick overview of the biblical passages he believes support Mormon doctrine. To be honest, I’m always a bit wary of such efforts. Sometimes the author needs to strain a scripture almost to the breaking point to support the desired viewpoint.
I was therefore quite surprised, and delighted, to see Mills taking a very reasonable and rational approach. Make no mistake -- Mills believes that the Bible supports Mormon teaching. And he has done his homework. He’s fleshed out of the Bible the relevant passages that speak to Mormon belief and practice. He keeps his own commentary to a minimum, although there is always enough there to satisfy the curious, to bring out the meaning of the biblical passage in light of LDS belief.
He deals with the expected issues -- the role and need of prophets today, the uses of the Temple, baptism for the dead, etc. But he also includes discussions on more difficult issues, such as eternal progression and the presence of polygamy in the early church. His exposition of the latter practice is tempered and brief, avoiding some of the more controversial issues that have swirled around the polygamy issue.
“The Holy Bible and Mormonism” is, quite simply, a dandy little volume for any Latter-day Saint to have on hand. Discussions with Christian neighbors can be enlarged and enlightened by the points Mills makes in his book. And the entire volume is written in an accessible and understandable way.
I can envision several audiences for this book: missionaries, who confront Christians who challenge them on the teachings of Mormonism; ward teachers, who want to enrich their curriculum and help their students broaden their understanding of Mormon doctrine; church members who want to be better able to talk to friends and neighbors about their religion.
Mills has done a fine job in this little volume. It doesn’t break any new ground in the area of apologetics, but it makes the subject matter easily accessible and understood by even the greenest of believers. It’s a volume worth looking into.
Jeffrey Needle
Association for Mormon Letters
jeff.needle@gmail.comwww.aml-online.orgwww.LDSBookLovers.com/Needle.html
