“Faith in Jesus Christ and following His teachings give us a firm hope, and this hope becomes a solid anchor to our souls. We can become steadfast and immovable. We can have lasting inner peace; we can enter into the rest of the Lord.” – Per G. Malm, “Finding Peace in Troubled Times, Ensign, Sept. ’11

“Perhaps we stray from the path which leads to peace and find it necessary to pause, to ponder, and to reflect on the teachings of the Prince of Peace and determine to incorporate them in our thoughts and actions and to live a higher law, walk a more elevated road, and be a better disciple of Christ.  The ravages of hunger in Africa, the brutality of hate in the Middle East, and the ethnic struggles across the globe remind us that the peace we seek will not come without effort and determination…The famed statesman William Gladstone described the formula for peace when he declared: “We look forward to the time when the power of love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” – Thomas S. Monson, Finding Peace, Ensign, Mar. ’04

“To find peace—the peace within, the peace that passeth understanding—men must live in honesty, honoring each other, honoring obligations, working willingly, loving and cherishing loved ones, serving and considering others, with patience, with virtue, with faith and forbearance, with the assurance that life is for learning, for serving, for repenting, and improving. And God be thanked for the blessed principle of repenting and improving, which is a way that is open to us all.” – Richard L. Evans, In Conference Report, Oct. 1959, 128

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Mormon Message Video – “Seek the Higher Ground” by Quentin L. Cook
To Sing a Song of Redeeming Love
Love of God and of All Mankind
How Do You Pray?

One of the “why not?” reasons Mormons often give in support of our unique belief that Jesus visited the American continent after his resurrection is that Jesus loves everyone, and died for everyone, so it’s not unreasonable to think He might choose to visit other groups of his children.  But, as you point out, if Jesus’ loving people were a sufficient reason for Jesus to personally visit them, then He would have visited every person on earth in every place.    So the question is: why did Jesus choose the Nephites of the Book of Mormon, and did he choose to visit anywhere else?

The Book of Mormon has the answers, given by Jesus himself in the book of 3 Nephi, chapter 15.  We learn that Jesus visited the Nephites because they were a branch of the House of Israel, led away from Palestine by God, and his visitation was part of a fulfillment of his covenant with the House of Israel.  He also explains that the “gentiles” (those who are not of the House of Israel), will receive the gospel through the preaching of his apostles rather than through a personal apperanace.  We also learn that there were other groups of the House of Israel scattered throughout the world, and in chapter 16,  Jesus explains that he will visit them too:

1 And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister.

3 But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them.

The obvious next question is: if the Bible is from Palestine, and the Book of Mormon is from America, are there records of Jesus’ other personal appearances?  The answer is: we don’t know.  If so, God has not revealed them.  One thing that makes Mormonism very unique among religions is that our canon is not closed– we expect that God is not done talking to his children.

Sometimes people hear about “Mormons” but don’t realize that the actual name of the religion is “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”.  Jesus Christ is our Savior, Lord and Redeemer. We believe that He was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem as described in the New Testament. As the Son of God, He came to save all mankind through his suffering in Gethsemane, death on the cross and resurrection on the third day.

Thanks for your question, take some time and look through some other articles on the site to learn more about the importance of Jesus Christ to us individually as well as to the church as a whole.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the central tenet of our faith. The word ‘atonement’ or ‘at-one-ment’ was done to bring us to be “at one” with God. In other words, we can be reconciled with God through the atonement. The reason we are estranged from Him in the first place is because of our mortality. Because we are mortal, we will all die because our bodies are imperfect. Not only that, our spirits are imperfect. No matter what we do, on our own, we cannot remove past disobedience from our heart. These imperfections of body and spirit bring on physical and spiritual death. Physical death is a separation from our body and spiritual death is a separation from God.

Through the atonement, our bodies will be made perfect after this life, that much is guaranteed to us. In order to perfect our spirits, we must accept the terms and conditions set by Jesus Christ. The atonement was accomplished by Jesus Christ by His suffering for our sins in Gethsemane and on the cross and through His resurrection.

See also:

What do Mormons believe about the Atonement of Jesus Christ?

When I was a kid I used to think that everyone was just like me and that for the most part their lives were like mine–they had a warm, safe place to sleep, more than enough to eat, and that they felt safe and knew that their mom and dad loved them.  When I got to be a teenager, I realized that that wasn’t always the case, but I erroneously thought that it was their own fault if they weren’t happy, or if they had “problems”.  In the last few years, but in particular the last few months, I have seen and heard a lot of sad stories, heart wrenching really, that have truly changed my perspective  .

I see a lot of people who have been shot, stabbed, hit by a car on their bike, run over while waiting at the bus stop,  and in one case, a drunk woman hit a van with a woman and three or four kids, killing them all and yet she lived with a broken ankle.  Meanwhile there was a husband and child, who were lucky enough to not be in the van, whose lives were changed forever that night.

We are all quick to point our fingers at the drunk lady and say, “how could she do that– drink and drive.  She should be the one who is dead.”  But, I would almost guarantee that if you were to ask this woman about her life she would have a heart-wrenching story of her own to tell, which would probably turn your stomach in knots.  I would almost bet that her life was so bad that the only way that she could deal with it was to drink until it didn’t hurt anymore.

We all do it; we all judge each other.  Christ taught, “judge not, that ye be not judged” (St. Matthew 7:1)  He was speaking with a some experience, remember He was Mary’s son, who was pregnant before she and Joseph were  married.  I am sure the young couple was the talk of Nazareth for a while.

I have thought about those seven words a lot and the more I hear these sad stories and see the scars, either emotional or physical, that people carry, the more I realize that I have no room to think, “well, if you would just . . . then you wouldn’t be like this.”  If I had to go through what some people have, maybe I would drink myself to death too.  Or how can you not be violent to others, when all you have experienced was violence from those who you are supposed to trust?

I am not advocating that people should not be punished for their actions, or that sin as defined by God’s laws is excusable, but what I am saying is that we should all have a little more compassion.  We can hate the sin, but still love the sinner (as a contributor to this website put it). We should all view people as who they really are–sons and daughters of an Eternal Father in Heaven, who have divine and unlimited potential.  So when that guy flies by you on your way home tonight and then proceeds to slam on his brakes and cut you off to get in the turn lane, take a deep breath and say, “I bet he is on the way to the hospital to see his wife who is taking her last breaths.”

Yes, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, that He died on the cross, and that he rose again the third day.  We believe that Christ’s atonement (his suffering and death/resurrection) was for our sins, making it possible for us to repent and become clean again.  His perfect life provides an example for us in how to live and love others as He does.  We can become like Him as we give up our sins and change our lives to follow His teachings.  We believe “that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.” (Helaman 5 :9)

I know Christ loves us by the things He taught and the way He lived His life, culminating in His atonement for our sins.  I’ve added a short video below that the Church has produced to help demonstrate how the atonement works.

Short answer: yes.

Our church has four officially canonized books of scripture, of which the Bible is one. We use and love the Bible because it is a book that contains revealed truth about God and Jesus Christ. No other book in our canon is referred to as a “Bible”, so when you say “the Mormon Bible”, you are really talking about the same Bible used by any other Christian church. In that sense, our Bible has the book of Revelation in it just like any other Bible does.

However, when somebody refers to “the Mormon Bible”, we assume they mean The Book of Mormon, which is another book in our canon of scripture. It is the testimony of Jesus Christ as recorded by a branch of the house of Israel that emigrated from Jerusalem before the Babylonian captivity. It contains many great truths, prophecies and testimonies of Jesus Christ, but it does not have the Revelation of John referred to in the question.

For more information as well as a discussion of our other books of scripture, you can follow the links below:

More Than the Bible?

The Book of Mormon: The Mormons’ Bible?

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

Like other Christian churches, we celebrate his birth, especially around Christmas time. Usually my family would read the Christmas story from the New Testament, in Luke 2. Sometimes while growing up, we would even act it out.

This link is a great little summary video of the Christmas Story.

Answer: Yes.

Other Related Articles:
The Living Christ
The Sons and Daughters of God
What Do Mormons Believe about the Atonement of Jesus Christ?
Jesus the Christ
What do Mormons Believe? — Faith
Is Jesus the only son of God?
The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
How Do You Pray?