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Hello there.

I'm new to this forum and have only been reading the LDS scriptures for a short while too.

I was just wondering, other than the scriptures themselves, what other books on the LDS faith would you say are essential reading?

I love to read and I am hoping to gather together my own little library of works and learn as much as I can about the church.

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This is not really religious, but I have to put in a plug for Valley of Sorrow: A Layman's Guide to Understanding Mental Illness written by Alexander B. Morrison, a Seventy in our church leadership.  It's a good foundational basic book about how no, we don't think all mentally ill people need to do is pray and be good.  And what we actually do believe about mental illness.

 

If anyone ever makes me emperor of anything, my first edict will be that everybody has to read that book.  

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Sure thing!  Everyone has their favorites.  But there are some books that are common staples in Mormon home libraries.

 

Introductory:

 

Gospel Principles (Church Publication)

True to the Faith (Church Publication)

Truth Restored (Gordon B. Hinckley)

Our Heritage (Church Publication) -- this covers much of the same stuff as Truth Restored.  But it's a good one.

Our Search for Happiness (as Eowyn mentioned)

Church Manuals

 

Intermediate:

The Holy Temple (by Boyd K. Packer) 

A Marvelous Work and a Wonder (LeGrand Richards)

The Miracle of Forgiveness (Spencer W. Kimball)

Jesus the Christ (James Talmage) -- Many find the chapter end notes to be more informative than the chapters themselves.

History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints -- I believe this is found online for free.

 

Advanced:

Articles of Faith (James Talmage) -- This is not just the 13 articles of faith.  This is a collection of lectures by Talmage on the Articles.

Gospel Doctrine (by Joseph F. Smith)

Mormon Doctrine (by Bruce R. McConkie).   

Various commentaries on the scriptures (look at deseret book)

The Messiah Series (by Bruce R. McConkie)

 

One note on Talmage:  Many people who are not used to a high level vocabulary find Talmage's works to be difficult to read. For Jesus the Christ you may find this reference useful.

 

Most of these references you can get for fairly cheap paperback versions.  You could complete this library for around $50.  If you've got Kindle or Knook, it could be pretty cheap.

 

DISCLAIMER: Remember that other than official church publications, there is always a level of personal interpretation that are in the books published by individuals.  Even though all these on this list are by well-respected officials of the church (all now deceased) who were well versed in doctrines, remember that if there is a conflict between these books vs. what is revealed or in scriptures, these books are secondary to actual scripture.

Edited by Guest
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Personally, I think scripture and the missionaries are the best way to learn (otherwise, you may learn trig before algebra and it won't make sense).

 

That said, all of the below are available for free in the Gospel Library app created by the church (available for Android, Apple, and Windows Phone / 8.1+) and on LDS.org.

Gospel Principles (Church Publication)

True to the Faith (Church Publication)

Church Manuals

 

Jesus the Christ (James Talmage) -- Many find the chapter end notes to be more informative than the chapters themselves.

 

The free Deseret Book Bookshelf app has others for free.  Some may be available in Google Books for free.

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Hello there.

I'm new to this forum and have only been reading the LDS scriptures for a short while too.

I was just wondering, other than the scriptures themselves, what other books on the LDS faith would you say are essential reading?

I love to read and I am hoping to gather together my own little library of works and learn as much as I can about the church.

 

Essentials?  Scriptures are it.

 

Extremely useful?  I'd start with the Church's Mormonism 101 study manual "Gospel Principles".  It's available in e-book form free from LDS.org, and I think Amazon, App Store etc (though I could be wrong about that).  If you'd prefer a hard-copy, your local LDS church will be happy to give you a free one (you can find your local LDS church via this link: https://www.lds.org/maps).  

 

I'd stress the importance of in-person interaction (Mormonism is a lot about community).  Feel free to stop by your local LDS church any Sunday or most weekday nights--  visitors are always welcome.  If you'd rather meet at your house or somewhere else, local missionaries or just regular missionaries can do that for you (you can reach them either by calling the number listed for your local church, or simply ask the on-line missionaries to connect you at mormon.org/chat)

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I'd stress the importance of in-person interaction (Mormonism is a lot about community).  Feel free to stop by your local LDS church any Sunday or most weekday nights--  visitors are always welcome...

 

I confirm Jane's statement here.  It is one thing to read about the doctrines and beliefs, but until you spend time in church and associating with people, getting into discussions during class, etc. you won't really get a feel for the doctrines without interaction.

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I've always found Lectures on Faith very uplifting.

 

There is a dearth of gospel commentary books out there; it just depends on what you're looking for. I've recently been enjoying a number of books by Robert Millet and John Bytheway. They have a knack for taking complicated topics and making them easily accessible to the lay reader.

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One note on Talmage:  Many people who are not used to a high level vocabulary find Talmage's works to be difficult to read. For Jesus the Christ you may find this reference useful.

Talmage was a geology professor before he was called to join the church leadership; he's an academic, and so his works were written with other academics in mind. Hence most of his works being difficult in places and quite dry.

As far as $$$ goes -

Project Gutenberg is your friend.

Search results for "Mormon"

Search results for "James E. Talmage"

Search results for "B. H. Roberts"

The good news is that there's quite a bit which appears to have fallen into the public domain, meaning that you can read it for free if you read it online, or the cost of printing if you want a hard copy.

The bad news is that we have a handful of vintage anti-Mormon works in the mix, likely the result of Gutenberg looking to archive anything that they can get their hands on without regard to how hateful it is.

I would imagine that other LDS authors might be up there as well; you'll have to search.

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Introductory:

 

Gospel Principles (Church Publication)

True to the Faith (Church Publication)

Truth Restored (Gordon B. Hinckley)

Our Heritage (Church Publication) -- this covers much of the same stuff as Truth Restored.  But it's a good one.

Our Search for Happiness (as Eowyn mentioned)

Church Manuals

 

Yep. This would be the best next step in my opinion too.

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On youtube, you might want to subscribe to the "Mormon Channel".  Excellent videos there.  Some of the best videos that fit your needs:

https://youtu.be/9MiF_HKoFr4?list=FLOGthnff2vitBgcB66Ngm1A

 

https://youtu.be/9VTMWVpzx4M?list=FLOGthnff2vitBgcB66Ngm1A

 

https://youtu.be/StVwi5Sp2Is?list=FLOGthnff2vitBgcB66Ngm1A

 

https://youtu.be/-x_-TQivCx8?list=FLOGthnff2vitBgcB66Ngm1A 

 

https://youtu.be/zDEXQ-GTYTs?list=FLOGthnff2vitBgcB66Ngm1A  (see all three videos in this series)

 

https://youtu.be/2w49_1a9X0Q?list=FLOGthnff2vitBgcB66Ngm1A

 

You might also want to subscribe to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir channel as well.

Edited by cdowis
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Here are some more not yet included by others:

 

People have already mentioned reading manuals.  One approach is to read the scriptures and lesson manuals for whatever Sunday classes you attend.  For Gospel Doctrine, there's a student guidebook but you can also just read the teacher's manual. 

If you have a church calling, read applicable sections of Church Handbook 2 as well as online resources for your calling.

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Essential reading = scriptures.

 

If you spend an hour a day reading scriptures, every day, you will do just fine. No other books are necessary -- not Jesus the Christ, not Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, not even Lectures on Faith. Nothing else. Just the scriptures.

 

Though if you want to augment the scriptures, I think Lectures on Faith is a very good place to start. But the point is, read the scriptures.

 

PS For the purposes of this particular conversation, I would include the most recent General Conference talks as scripture.

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Guest MormonGator

Essential reading = scriptures.

 

I

I agree Vort, but some of us enjoy reading books about the history of the church. Obviously you should read scripture as much as possible (not going to lie, I don't do it daily, but I do try my hardest) and the op did say they were looking for books other than scripture. It's a good thing to have a knowledge of the life of Joseph Smith and the church, just so you an refute the ignorance out there. 

Edited by MormonGator
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I have downloaded several of the Talmage books using Google Play (books) for free.  I am sure most of the older books are available there too.

 

The church manuals are great too, and are all online for free at lds.org. 

 

Resources are pretty much everywhere at your fingertips. 

 

I have found though that if I want to annotate, I have to have a real book.

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Hello there.

I'm new to this forum and have only been reading the LDS scriptures for a short while too.

I was just wondering, other than the scriptures themselves, what other books on the LDS faith would you say are essential reading?

I love to read and I am hoping to gather together my own little library of works and learn as much as I can about the church.

 History of the Church (has like 7 or 8 volumes, and I can't remember who compiled them... but the first book is pretty much joseph smith's diary, along with other accounts)

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Guest LiterateParakeet

History of the Church (has like 7 or 8 volumes, and I can't remember who compiled them... but the first book is pretty much joseph smith's diary, along with other accounts)

I believe it was B.H. Roberts.

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Guest MormonGator

I believe it was B.H. Roberts.

BH Roberts is a fascinating guy. His "Studies of the Book of Mormon" I found to be highly critical and oddly anti-LDS. Of course you should read it though, but only if you are secure in your faith and able to withstand the critique.  

 

I know he claimed to be a believing member of the church, and of course I can't read minds but I'm not sure about he was, at the end. 

 

I hate to say it but a lot of Roberts ideas have been shot down now. He was a big "View of the Hebrews" guy. An anti-LDS idea that has been demolished, even by non LDS scholars. 

I read "Studies" when I was a non member. I should pick it up again. 

Edited by MormonGator
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  • 3 months later...

My opinion is a little different. I would HIGHLY recommend focusing on honing the skills of recognizing the Spirit over all else. There is only one way to receive truth and we learn it in D&C 50. That section is of unique interest because it was received when members were receiving spiritual manifestations and assumed them to be of God. In the process of helping the saints understand how to recognize that which is of God, we were told the great key in how to properly learn of God and be a true disciple.

 

"17    Verily I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way? 

18    And if it be by some other way it is not of God. 

19    And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the Spirit of truth or some other way? 

20    If it be some other way it is not of God. 

21    Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know, that he that receiveth the word by the Spirit of truth receiveth it as it is preached by the Spirit of truth? 

22    Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." (D&C 50:17-22)

 

Notice that when we receive truth it MUST be by the Holy Spirit or it is not of God. No exceptions. Receiving by the Spirit entails first having the Spirit's presence readily felt. If we don't feel the Spirit's presence then we are not in a position to receive truth. From there the most basic way to receive truth is by closely monitoring the presence of the Spirit as you read, listen, or watch. Since the Spirit will NEVER testify of a falsehood we can observe the presence of the Spirit, or lack thereof, to distinguish truth. If the Spirit's presence begins diminishing then so also did the truth and we should know that it is only a partial truth. If the presence withdraws then we know that what we just read, heard, or watched was false and that we should not believe it. Of course if we personally did something offensive to the Spirit (such as entertain an angry or negative thought) then that, too, will cause the Spirit to withdraw but it wasn't because we witnessed a falsehood.

Like I said, that method is the basic method. It takes practice to be able to constantly monitor the Spirit while reading or hearing something. And it can get tricky, too. I was once in a Gospel Doctrine class and was feeling the Spirit very strong. The instructor began and the Spirit began witnessing sentence after sentence. Bam, bam! But at one point the instructor paused for about 2 seconds and the Spirit fled. I was beside myself wondering what happened. The next statement the instructor gave was a falsehood. The Spirit knew what she was going to say and was not going to testify of it because it was false. The Spirit began testifying to me AND her as she was formulating how she would say it. After the instructor moved away from the falsehood the Spirit came back and again began testifying. If we are not being mindful we will miss which statements the Spirit testified of and which ones were rejected. 

 

It is that simple to recognize truth from falsehood but we must first intimately know the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 gives a list of feelings that are associated with the Spirit and in order for it to be the Spirit every single one of those feelings must be felt at the same time. If even one feeling is missing then it is not the Spirit.

 

Of course there's other ways the Spirit reveals, too. The Spirit may speak to us directly. The Spirit may enlighten our understanding (and the presence WILL be felt if it is from the Spirit). Or we may receive full-blown revelations which give perfect clarity at all angles.

 

The problem with resorting to books outside the scriptures is that it is not known whether they were written under the influence of the Spirit or not. I'm referring to books on doctrine or insights, not books on a person's spiritual journey or recounting of blessings and miracles. If the book was not written under the influence of the Spirit then it is not God's word (D&C 50:17-18) but rather man's. We likely will not be getting closer to God through them. Being motivated by what one says is not nearly as life changing as being inspired by God. 

 

We KNOW the scriptures were written under the influence of the Spirit and so the first criteria for receiving truth has already been met, now it's only up to us to receive it by the Spirit. By sticking with writings that are known to have been written under the influence of the Spirit you'll be able to better hone the skills of receiving by the Spirit. Looking to books as a source for God is a risky proposition when first starting out.

 

One of the problems we humans have is that we think we can learn God as we learn the sciences. That simply is not so. When we rely on our own conclusions, even when based on the scientific method, that is "some other way" and is not of God. If we believe something merely because it makes sense to us then that is also "some other way" and also is not of God. If it was just because it tugged at the heart strings and caused tears then that is "some other way" and is not of God. Too many get busy studying the doctrines as they do the sciences and it turns against them. Believe me - I had to undo 40+ years of learning what I thought was truth to actually begin rebuilding a foundation on truth.

 

Learning from the Spirit as I suggested is the BEST way to learn! Once the Spirit speaks the gospel becomes simple. If you try learning the gospel as the sciences then you'll miss the glorious insights that can only be obtained through the Spirit. Even worse, the simplicity of the gospel suddenly begins to become complex. Notice the promise:

 

"And this is my gospel-repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom." (D&C 39:6)

 

I promise you you that if you actively and diligently strive to have the Spirit with you always then you'll reach the point of receiving the Baptism of Fire (that's a totally new subject) and you'll gain witnesses of truths that are profoundly more interesting than what is offered in books. 

 

As as a final suggestion, if you want to know if you are receiving by the Spirit then study the Isaiah prophecies. Don't read what others say they say! Almost all of those commentators didn't go by the Spirit, either, so just make it a you-and-the-Spirit study session. If you feel the power and see the color of his words then you're getting it by the Spirit. If his words are confusion then keep working on honing the skills of learning to receive by the Spirit. If Isaiah can't be understood then it is unlikely that truth from partial truth to outright falsehoods will be detected when reading other books.

Edited by Sadliers
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