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Mormon Conference Scriptural Index

On the site they describe the service as follows:

"Welcome to the LDS General Conference Scriptural Index. This index links from scriptures to the general conference talks that cite those scriptures. So, for example, suppose you want to know who has cited 1 Ne. 3:7 in general conference; click on the Book of Mormon link at the left and scroll down to 1 Ne. 3; there you'll find the answer. Who has quoted Matt. 5:48? Use the New Testament index to find out."

We were quite excited about the prospect of having such a service to hand for research. The Mormons are traditionally a record-keeping people and this practice is often their downfall since, while on the one hand they diligently follow this tradition and commandment to keep records, on the other hand they are too good at it and find their own records often discriminatory. We decided to try it out, looking up key texts.

2 Nephi 30:6 from the Book of Mormon seemed a good place to start. This is the text that originally promised that the "darkened" Lamanites (American Indians) who turned to Christ would find their skin colour changing from black, indicating a curse, to "white and delightsome" (the original wording in the text). There was no teaching on the subject.

Abraham 4 in the Pearl of Great Price, which relates the story of "the Gods" creating the earth, and "the Gods" making man in "their" own image was our next text. There was nothing on the subject.

Surely Doctrine and Covenants 132, in which the "new and everlasting covenant" of plural marriage, essential to godhood, is revealed? Again we found no teaching on the subject.

Finally, we went to Joseph Smith – History 1:19. Where God makes clear in no uncertain terms that all other churches are wrong. Again nothing!

One of the problems, of course, is that, so far, records are only available back to 1971, and the service is still being built up. Still, one would have expected something on these key issues within the last 33 years.

What was especially surprising was how scant was the teaching from Biblical texts in 33 years. What little there is, is not Biblical exposition so much as proof-texting. Of course, this may reflect the incomplete status of the service, or the selection process of those who built it. However, taking Romans as an example, we find that what Christians often regard as the church’s first systematic theology has only a handful of entries:

Romans 1 – three entries

Romans 8 – three entries

Romans 9 – one entry

Romans 10 – eleven entries

There are 18 entries in all on a book that lays out the essential details of the theology of the apostle to the Gentiles.

What’s so special about Romans 10? Its hard to say since all but two references predate 1971, all but three are from 1964 (the odd one is 1951) and all, without exception, are from Bruce R McConkie. The two we can access are Romans 10:17, "And how can they preach unless they are sent…" and this, inevitably, becomes a talk about authority, which only Mormons have of course.

The other is Romans 10:13-14, which concentrates on "How shall they preach unless they be sent?", another authority talk, rather than the theme of the chapter, which includes these verses, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (v.13). The whole chapter is an exposition of grace, God’s undeserved love towards sinners and it will be interesting to see what the presently inaccessible records will reveal on the subject. Meanwhile, it would be helpful if others tried the service and reported what they found. It may yet be a useful witnessing tool, helping us compare the teachings of Mormonism with the truth of the gospel.

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