Plain and Precious Truths

1 Nephi 13:26

And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.

Partial truth is no better than a lie, and partial doctrine is false doctrine. We need the whole truth and the whole doctrine of Christ.

Plain (understandable) and precious (valuable) points of doctrine were removed from the scriptures by conspiring and evil people. These truths did not get lost accidentally, nor were they omitted by well-meaning but error-prone scribes. They were intentionally withheld to confuse and confound honest seekers who want to believe. 

Joseph Smith restored many of the missing and corrupted points of doctrine through his Inspired Translation of the Bible, but not all. Someday, we will have all scriptures restored. In the meantime, we can do better at using what we have.

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