The Miracle of the Holy Bible

My thoughts on Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk "The Miracle of the Holy Bible"

We had family scriptures and prayers this morning like "normal" and it feltso great! YEAH!Tomorrow seminary starts so it will feel even more like normal. I also feel like I will be able to devote more time to this group and partake more fully in the blessings it has given me over the year-can't believe it as almost been a year!

I LOVED this talk because I have just found out I love the Bible. I havea lways loved the stories found therein, but there was something missing. Not sure it was because everyone could read it and the stories weren't just mine like they are in the Book of Mormon, but there was something I just didn't get. Maybe it was because my testimony was built around the Book of Mormonand not the Bible. BUT I belong to a RS Women's Study Group and we have been primarily studying the Bible and my love and testimony of these sacred books has grown.

As you read Elder Ballard recount the history of the Bible it is truly amazing that we have it at all. I love history and I love to find out how things came about and when I first heard the stories, I was dumbfounded! I truly believe it was a miracle that the Bible lasted as long as it did in the form that it did. If it wasn't for this wonderful book, Joseph Smithwouldn't have had an answer to his question and wouldn't have uttered that first prayer! It truly is a miracle.

At the turn of the century when all the channels on TV were doing their top 100 this and that, Steve and I were discussing what we thought the mostimportant invention was. We also debated the top person (but we excluded Jesus and Joseph Smith-guess you could say the third place winner). I put the movable type printing press at the top of my list of inventions. If it wasn't for that then the illiterate masses wouldn't have come out of the dark ages. Ideas couldn't be easily shared. I just think of the huddled masses that lined the walls of the church desperately listening to the words of God (even those that were translated incorrectly). The Bible had finally been translated into English and the masses were dying to read the word of God and they could! Of course the price was pretty high for the books, but just think family bibles started to be bought and read around the firelight. Families would be pulled together as they listened as the only literate person in their family read the sacred words! They didn't have to take the church's word for it anymore! WOW what an eye opener it was to them! How grateful they must have been. It truly was a time of rediscovery and reawakening and rebirth-hence the word renaissance!

And it wasn't just the Bible that made the Gutenberg Press so wonderful. Doctors could now share with the masses their thoughts and feelings on how to treat illnesses. Philosophers, mathematicians, astronomers, etc could finally share their ideas and thoughts with more than those they choose to write. This was truly the beginning of the information age. And look at us now! We die when the words of the prophets aren't up the Monday after General Conference. My mom remembers waiting six weeks to get them in little old Moses Lake, Washington!

Now to people: Steve and I fought over this one. Gutenberg sure did deservea mention, Martin Luther for his defying the church, and so do the rest who Elder Ballard mentions and for those reasons and many others. And how do you pick? Each one was so needed in their area of the world for the things they did and for the life they usually gave up for their convictions. I'ms ure that Heavenly Father has a special place for those men (and women-I'm sure there were many) because they were part of moving this work forward. Steve and I still fight over it. Seven years later and I still haven't made up my mind. If it wasn't for the parameter that this person's name has to be mentioned in "renowned" history books, I would pick the name of Christian Olsen (the first member on my mom's side) to be the most important person or John Daniel Holladay, Sr. (also from my mom's side) to be that person.

But BOTH of those men were Bible believing and Bible loving men. They knew the moment the missionaries opened their mouths that the restored gospel was on the earth. What is so awesome about this is that Christian Olsen was listening to English missionaries through a translator and John Daniel waslistening through a drunken stupor. But they both knew!

Over the past 10 years as I have studied the Bible, I have come to know thatit isn't the "other" scriptures, but it is a companion to the teachings in the Book of Mormon and vice versa. We truly need both books (with the D&C and PoGP too) to form the foundation of our testimonies on. I have come to a point in my life where I don't shy away from the complexities of the Bible but rather enjoy finding out what the true meaning is and let the Spirit reach my soul while I read the words. It has been a bumpy journey, but the words no longer scare me and I enjoy reading it and not just for the stories.

Funny how tomorrow when my son goes back to seminary they will be reading the Old Testament. Maybe I should print this out for him to read.