AboutGene Black Expertise I can answer questions related to LDS beliefs and history as well as doctrinal questions pertaining to the standard works (Bible, Book of Mormon, etc.) I believe strongly in personal revelation and hope that all answers I provide will be carefully considered, and prayed about before being accepted.
Experience I've been a member of the LDS Church all of my life, have served a mission for the Church, have been sealed to my wife in the Washington, DC temple, and enjoy reading books on LDS history and the teachings of the prophets.
Organizations The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Education/Credentials A love for people and a strong desire to seek after the word of God. I try hard to follow the command "Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men."
Question how are you Gene,
i am studying the history of BOM and bible, base on the BOM, it record before christ was born, there already have established a lot of church and christian between 600 to 75 BC,they they accept jesus and knows the gospel in advance .is that true ?
God bless you :)
Answer You are correct in the sense that they knew of the company of Christ and had faith in him - do note though that they understood the need to continue to live the law of Moses until the time that it was fulfilled and replaced by the higher laws given by Christ. We also believe that the knowledge of and belief in Christ far predates the time of the peoples in the BoM - We believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ was taught to Adam and from there to his posterity.
How was Adam to have any hope of salvation if he had not been taught concerning the coming of Christ? He knew he had transgressed, he knew he was condemned to die - how could he have hope without knowledge that he could repent?
As Christians we understand that both resurrection and repentance are impossible without the atonement of Jesus Christ.
In your research, you may wish to include the Perl of Great Price which has much more information on this topic - specifically in the book of Moses. http://scriptures.lds.org/en/moses/contents
Also note that in the New Testament we have ample evidence that at least some of the people were anticipating the coming of Christ - which would necessitate that there was some sort of information or prophecy that had proceeded His coming:
Matthew 1:21-23 (note a that it would be done to fulfill prophesy. Compare with Isaiah 7:14
Matthew 2:1-5 (note the wise men somehow knew of the important of the birth of Christ and that a star would mark his birth. In addition, the chief priests of Herod knew that it had been prophesied that Christ would be born in Bethlehem.) Compare with Micah 5:2.
Note the reference in Matthew 2:23 to a prophesy which is apparently missing from the Old Testament.
Matthew 3:3 - This is a reference to a prophecy concerning John the Baptist, but given that John's purpose was to prepare the way for Christ, you can hardly discuss one without the other.
This is just the beginning of Matthew - there are a great many others to be had in the New Testament in addition to these references.
