Main Page: LDS Scriptures

Biblical Prooftexts for the LDS Church

The Book of Mormon is the keystone of the LDS Church, but it still has very biblical roots. For its first several decades, in fact, the Book of Mormon was regarded more as an evidence of Joseph Smith's prophetic calling than something to actually be studied, and the Bible was far more emphasized and quoted. Early converts were drawn to the Book of Mormon and the church because both seemed to mesh perfectly with what they already knew from the Bible. Still, Joseph Smith noted that "the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible". These verses prove little in and of themselves. They are taken out of context and are sometimes radically different in translations other than the King James Version. I simply list them as a glimpse into the LDS point of view. I compiled them with considerable help from the Topical Guide and Bible Dictionary, and Dennis K. Brown's Evidences of the True Church. This endeavor ran out of steam after I found the book The Biblical Roots of Mormonism which goes more in depth on more subjects than I could possibly hope to cover here. (The author, Christopher Mills, added me on Facebook and I wonder if this little plug was the reason why.)

Contents

The Great Apostasy of the Early Christian Church

The Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Church

Baptism

Exaltation (Becoming Gods)

Good Works are Essential for Salvation 

Law of Tithing

Multiple Degrees of Glory in Heaven

Polygamy - This one largely relies on exegesis, so I link to an external site not run by Latter-day Saints. (See also my own page, A Brief History of Latter-day Saint Polygamy). Polygamy is not practiced in the mainstream LDS Church today but was central to its theology for over half a century.

​Temples