The Book of Mormon is one of three books the RLDS/COC and other followers of Joseph Smith consider to be sacred scripture. It is purported to be a history of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere and spans the time period from 2200 BC to 42l AD. In addition to the historical accounts it contains teachings of a religious nature.
The preface to the Book of Mormon claims the following reasons for its existence:
- To convince both Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ
- To educate the American Indians regarding their origins, and to reveal to them the covenants of the Lord
Many Latter Day Saints consider the Book of Mormon to be more trustworthy than the Bible because it was “translated” only once, and with divine assistance at that. They believe because the books of the Bible have been translated many times since they were first written, that many of the ‘plain and precious truths’ originally contained in those writings have been lost. They believe these lost truths may be found within the pages of the Book of Mormon, therefore they maintain that it contains the fullness of the gospel.