The Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine & Covenants teach such different doctrines than the Book of Mormon that the more one believes one the less they can logically believe the other.
Let me give you my theory as to how that happened. Full disclosure, I believe the Book off Mormon is exactly what it claims to be, the Word of God. Its teachings exactly fit the doctrine of the Bible, which I believe being translated, if not totally correctly, is close enough to prove the Book of Mormon true and close enough that the Book of Mormon proves the Bible true.
Joseph Smith was given one spiritual gift and task only which was to find, translate and publish and stand and bear testimony of the Book of Mormon. I read the Book of Commandments where it says (changed in the printing of the Doctrine and Covenants for obvious reasons):
Book of Commandments (1833), Chapter 4, Page 10
2 And now, behold this shall you say unto him: -- I the Lord am God, and I have given these things unto my servant Joseph, and I have commanded him that he should stand as a witness of these things, nevertheless I have caused him that he should enter into a covenant with me, that he should not show them except I command him and he has no power over them except I grant it unto him; and he has a gift to translate the book and I have commanded him that he shall pretend to no other gift, for I will grant him no other gift.
The Book of Mormon went on sale March 26, 1830. 12 days later, April 6, Joseph and others established, officially, the Church of Christ. A revelation Joseph received that day says,
Doctrine and Covenants 21:1 BEHOLD, there shall be a record kept among you; and in it thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church through the will of God the Father, and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ,
And off we went!
LDS author Jana Reiss wrote "Early Mormons rarely quoted from the book in their speeches and writings; in one nineteenth-century LDS periodical, Elders’ Journal, the Bible was cited forty times more often than the Book of Mormon. Although early Mormons believed that the book was an authentically ancient record and that its miraculous appearance signaled that they were living in the “latter days,” they didn’t strongly emphasize its teachings. When the book was cited, it was usually to support the belief that the LDS Church was the restoration of Israel. It wasn’t until 1961 that a year-long course in the Book of Mormon became required for freshman students at Brigham Young University, and it was the 1980’s before the Book of Mormon was cited regularly in General Conference talks by church leaders.”
LDS Professor Grant Hardy stated "Joseph Smith did not refer to passages from the book in his writings or sermons, nor was it cited very often by early church leaders”.
Even though the revelation has the Lord saying, "I have commanded him that he should stand as a witness of these things", we see that almost immediately Joseph occupied himself in other pursuits as a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church.
In a Revelation, Joseph and, indeed, the Church were severely chastised for taking the Book of Mormon so lightly.
Doctrine and Covenants 84
54. And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received--
55. Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.
56. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.
57. And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written--
In 1986, the First President of the Church indicated that, after all those years of doctrinal development aside from, ignoring and treating lightly the Book of Mormon, the Church remained still under that condemnation. After citing Section 84, President Benson continued,
"I reaffirm those words to you this day. Let us not remain under condemnation, with its scourge and judgment, by treating lightly this great and marvelous gift the Lord has given to us". (The Book of Mormon—Keystone of Our Religion, October 1986).
Now back to the question, "How do the Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine & Covenants compare to the Book of Mormon?". The fact is that the system of Salvation is completely different between the two, even contradictory. This is admitted by scholars of the Church.
LDS Professor Terryl L. Givens insisted of the Book of Mormon, "It has often been pointed out, however, that those beliefs most commonly associated with Mormonism are nowhere to be found in that text. Those expecting an exposition of peculiarly Mormon doctrine will be disappointed".
LDS Professor Richard L. Bushman noted, "Despite the effort that went into the translation, Joseph Smith did not make the book [of Mormon] the foundation of the church".
Finally, Book of Mormon Scholar J.N. Washburn stated, "The book under consideration bears no necessary relation to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They could exist quite independently of each other".
So now we observe that the Church has to struggle with the wide discrepancy between the two systems of Salvation. They, of course, will stick with the Living Oracles and their ever-evolving doctrine and cast aspersions on the Book of Mormon.
In one moment of transparency, one Quora Scholar said, "Much of what was recorded by those prophets was based on an Old Testament misunderstanding of God and his Son and ancient Israelite views of heaven, hell, and God’s plan of salvation. Many of these misunderstandings were corrected later in the Book of Mormon when the resurrected Lord appeared to the Nephites. One concept that doesn’t seem to have been clarified is what is revealed in Doctrine and Covenants 76 and 88 regarding degrees of glory in heaven. The ancient Israelite/Jewish/Christian heaven-hell dichotomy still seems to be reflected in the Book of Mormon. Other similar teachings such as an understanding of the Spirit World, the pre-mortal existence of man, baptism by proxy for the dead, the unity of the Godhead, and many modern doctrines, are not discussed”.
To insist that the Book of Mormon reflects "an Old Testament misunderstanding of God and his Son and ancient Israelite views of heaven, hell, and God’s plan of salvation" basically is a rejection of the Book of Mormon Plan of Salvation.
Others have said they believe the Book of Mormon as far as it is translated correctly! Still others insist that the Book of Mormon’s teachings are limited to faith, repentance, baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end and that’s all! Others will tell you that God reveals thing “line upon line, precept upon precept” in a way that a new precept can contradict and old one in such development. Finally, others will promote the idea that if we understood the Nephite language and culture, all the contradictions would disappear. All these efforts to come up with these approaches confirms my belief that these people are dealing with the contradiction which they perceive but wish to explain away.
I conclude that the Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine & Covenants are irreconcilable with the Book of Mormon. The Church developed independent of the Book of Mormon almost in total ignorance of its teaching. Now that they wish to use the Book of Mormon, it is discovered the wide differences.
Created on March 03, 2025