Modern-day Revelation

The idea of modern-day revelation seems to ruffle feathers. Many people believe that God no longer speaks to us, and that once the Bible was finished, He had no further interest in dealing with mankind.

Does that mean that those born during Biblical times were more deserving of God’s word and His love? Are we, during this time, not entitled to heavenly revelation? This sentiment seems to indicate that God is something other than a loving father who cares for every one of His children.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that He is our Heavenly Father and that He loves each of us. It makes sense to me that He would then want to communicate with us. He’s stated that desire specifically in 2 Nephi 29:9, “ . . . And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man . . . .” Heavenly Father plans to continue communicating with us and teaching us.

Many claim that the Bible is all we need and that anything else, specifically the Book of Mormon, is false doctrine, or the doctrine of the devil, because we have no more need of God’s word than what is contained in the Bible. It’s similar to the idea that since I taught everything I thought was important to my older kids, I don’t need to teach anything to my younger kids—they can get all the information they need from their older siblings. After all, I’ve already said everything I needed to when I was raising my older kids, why would I need to keep teaching the younger ones?

Fortunately, we have the scriptures to teach us, “Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written” (2 Nephi 29:10).

Heavenly Father isn’t done teaching us. He continues to communicate with us personally through prayer and personal revelation, and as a people through his prophets and apostles. General Conference allows Heavenly Father to communicate to all of us as He teaches us through His servants.

Though He said and taught much in the Bible, that doesn’t mean he’s finished speaking to us. We have been blessed with modern-day revelation to help guide us in these confusing latter-days. To think He has abandoned us, or doesn’t care, simply because weren’t born during biblical times seems ludicrous to me.

He loves each one of us as much as anyone who came before us. He wants each of us to return to Him. His purpose is clear in Moses 1:39, “For this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” What better way to do that than to continually teach us through modern-day revelation?