On Wednesday, July 18th, I wrote about a meeting that we had with two LDS Missionaries. Since then, they have come back twice. The second meeting wasn’t very fruitful, but we did manage to get them to think about one very important thing.
They were trying to prove to us the necessity of having a prophet on earth today when elder J. said something to the effect of, “The Bible was written so long ago. We need to hear from God now because there is so much that goes on in our lives now that the Bible doesn’t speak about.”
I stated, “Yes, but doesn’t the Bible give us principles that we can use that will still apply to us today?” They agreed with us that the Bible is still applicable, but still insisted that someone needs to get current messages from God so that we will know how to live better lives.
I asked, “OK, then can you give us some examples of one of your prophets giving us current information that we need that isn’t already found in the Bible?” Elder J. was stunned into silence and looked at Elder T. They both looked at each other and really didn’t know what to say. Finally Elder J. brought up the Word of Wisdom and said that Joseph Smith had a new revelation about a health code.
I didn’t want to reveal what I knew about the Word of Wisdom, but that “revelation” was given in 1833. Hmm… 174 years is not exactly what I would call, “current.” I just said, “Joseph Smith? That was a long time ago. I’d like to hear some examples of one of your prophets giving some important information that you have heard personally and needed to know, something within your life-time. Is there anything recently that isn’t already found in the Bible?”
Elder T. spoke up. “One of the things that I have really benefited from is something President Hinckley said not long ago. He talked about debt and how wrong it is to get into it. That has really meant a lot to me and has helped me to be better with my money.”
I smiled. “Your prophet must have been reading from the book of Proverbs recently.”
I’ll write about our third meeting later.
