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Who Needs A Bible?

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David is teaching the New Testament this year in seminary.  I haven't done a great job so far, but when I get the chance, it is fun to keep up with where he is teaching in my personal studies.  I am currently trying to read from Acts to Revelation along with a study help book that goes along verse by verse offering additional insights.  I love some of the ideas the authors wrote about in the preface.  They outline some of the doctrines in the New Testament which were misunderstood or misinterpreted by early Christian councils and lost in some cases to many Christian churches.  Some of these doctrines include:
-God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate and distinct beings
-Jesus Christ is the literal son in the flesh of God, our Father
-The sweeping power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ
-The nature of the Abrahamic covenant
-Premortal existence
-Faithfulness in our first estate
-Agency
-Accountability
-The reality and opposition of Satan
-Priesthood authority
-Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins
-The laying on of hands for conferring blessings and performing ordinations
-The resurrection of the body to specifically named degrees of glory
-The second coming of Christ
-The millinnial reign

I love the video clip posted above because it illustrates the laborious and valiant process it took to pave the way for Christ's church to be restored to it's original state after centuries of apostasy.  Many brave men set the stage for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the majority of their efforts can be credited to the New Testament, and the true doctrines these men were able to read for themselves.  Joseph Smith, for example, sought to know which of the many churches he had become acquainted with was God's true church.  After reading James 1:5-6, he gained the courage to ask God Himself.  These early days of the latter-day restored church of Jesus Christ began with sincere study of the Bible.

This article and this article outline some of the fascinating details of the path to restoration through the miracle of the Bible.  The stories of men like John Wycliffe, William Tyndale and others are truly inspirational.
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