Abstract
It has been the claim of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that ‘many plain and precious truths’ have been removed from the Bible, although Smith did not explicitly or concisely elaborate on what those missing truths were. Later, Dr Clyde J. Williams of Mormon-owned Brigham Young University provided that concise list. Writing for Ensign magazine in October 2006, Williams argued for at least eight specific doctrines that were ‘restored’. Upon examination and rebuttal, it is demonstrated that the Bible remains sufficient for all matters pertaining to Christian faith and practice, as John Calvin and the Reformers concluded years ago, and is emphasised in their stance on Sola Scriptura.
Highlights
Joseph Smith was the founder of Mormonism or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Whether touting the Book of Mormon’s authority or the supposed plain and precious truths missing, what is to be argued has nothing to do with real, actual tangible articles of faith and doctrine that have been removed by some unnamed malicious individual or individuals
Several passing comments, alluding to Plato, Pelagius and Descartes, all serve as kinds of philosophical worldviews that influenced Joseph Smith when he set out to ‘restore’ what he thought were ancient Christianity
Summary
Joseph Smith was the founder of Mormonism or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Aside from a passing parenthetical referral to Romans 5:11, Williams says nothing about Jesus Christ’s death on the cross to reconcile (2 Cor 5:18–20; Eph 2:16; Col 1:20, 22), propitiate (Rm 3:25; Heb 2:17; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10), or redeem (Gl 3:13; Tt 2:14; 1 Pt 1:18) the sinner unto God. Instead, Williams has redefined the atonement to include Jesus’ salvific mission beginning in the Old Testament,10 the necessity of the English word atonement to appear a number of times in a sacred text to sufficiently account for its importance, and above all, the inclusion of ‘the obedient efforts of mankind’ to ‘merit’ God’s grace as prerequisite before anyone is saved (see Smith 1980 [1976]:2.27).
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