Acceptance of the Bible by the Mormon Church is qualified by a statement credited to Joseph Smith and which now appears in article eight of the Mormon Articles of Faith, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly." Joseph Smith is also quoted as saying, "I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors."1 Proclaiming belief in the Bible as originally written, as opposed to a corrupt contemporary version,...