What Mormons Think of the Bible

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[delacoert]

Official Mormon Statements about the Bible:

The Mormon church teaches that the Bible has been corrupted and does not contain the fullness of the gospel. This is reflected in one of their Articles of Faith which states: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly" (Pearl of Great Price).

• Joseph Smith stated: "it was apparent that many important points touching the salvation of men, had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.10); "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" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 327).
• When: "the book [Bible] proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew...it contained the fullness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record" (1 Nephi 13:24), but afterwards "thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church...after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God. And after these plain and precious things were taken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles" (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 13:26,28). See also Doctrines of Salvation, vol.3, p.190-191.
• "many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible...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" (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 29:3,10).
• When his "revelation" about Adam being God was disputed, Brigham Young stated: "You believe Adam was made of the dust of this earth. This I do not believe...I have publicly declared that I do not believe that portion of the Bible as the Christian world do. I never did, and I never want to. What is the reason I do not? Because I have come to understanding, and banished from my mind all the baby stories my mother taught me when I was a child" (Journal of Discourses, vol.2, p.6).
• Orson Pratt's lack of confidence in the Bible is obvious: "...and who, in his right mind, could for one moment, suppose the Bible in its present form to be a perfect guide? No one can tell whether even one verse of either the Old or New Testament conveys the ideas of the original author" (Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p. 28).
• Apostle Bruce McConkie: "Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors, many plain and precious things were deleted, in consequence of which error and falsehood poured into the churches. One of the great heresies of modern Christendom is the unfounded assumption that the Bible contains all of the inspired teachings now extant among men" (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 82,83).
• McConkie continues: The Bible of the Old World has come to us from the manuscripts of antiquity - manuscripts which passed through the hands of uninspired men who changed many parts to suit their own doctrinal ideas. Deletions were common, and, as it now stands, many plain and precious portions and many covenants of the Lord have been lost. As a consequence, those who rely upon it [the Bible] alone stumble and are confused... (The Ensign, December 1985, p 55).
• Mormon Apostle Mark E. Petersen accused manuscript copyists of deliberately tampering with the Bible: "Many insertions were made, some of them slanted for selfish purposes, while at times deliberate falsifications and fabrications were perpetrated" (As Translated Correctly, p.4).

Comparisons made by Mormon Leaders between the Bible and Book of Mormon. In contrast to the Bible, Mormons believe the Book of Mormon is perfect because it was translated perfectly (miraculously) as reflected in the second half of the same Article of Faith: "...we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God [but without any qualifications as to translation accuracy]" (Pearl of Great Price).

• President Ezra Taft Benson stated: "Unlike the Bible, which passed through generations of copyists, translators, and corrupt religionists who tampered with the text, the Book of Mormon came from writer to reader in just one inspired step of translation" ("The Keystone of Our Religion", The Ensign, January 1992, page 5).
• Joseph Smith claimed: "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was more correct than any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.194).
• An official and widely read LDS publication reads: "Men can get nearer to the Lord, can have more of the spirit of conversion and conformity in their hearts...can gain a better understanding of the doctrines of salvation through the Book of Mormon than they can through the Bible...there will be more people saved in the kingdom of God - ten thousand times over - because of the Book of Mormon than there will be because of the Bible" (The Ensign, November 1984, p. 7).
• A letter from the First Presidency (Presidents Benson, Hinckley, and Monson) to all members of the Church states: "The most reliable way to measure the accuracy of any biblical passage is not by comparing different texts, but by comparison with the Book of Mormon and modern-day revelations". (Church News, June 20, 1992, page 3, letter dated May 22, 1992).

[Elsie]

Thanks! I had the impression that the papyri in question had been lost at some point after scholars first examined them but apparently not.

You are correct. It WAS lost for a while.

(My take is that is was saved by GOD to be revealed later how BOGUS MORMONism is.)

[Uncle Chip]

Several hundred years of modern textual criticism of the Greek New Testament have demonstrated thousands of variants in the various manuscripts.

But those variants exist in the Alexandrian manuscripts as the differ from the Byzantine manuscripts that underly the KJV which Mormons ascribe to. Incidentally those Alexandrian manuscripts come from the same place as "Reformed Egyptian" --

[Godzilla]

Just like you tried to switch the discussion to another Christian denomination. LOL, duck and weave

[TheDon]

But those variants exist in the Alexandrian manuscripts as the differ from the Byzantine manuscripts that underly the KJV which Mormons ascribe to.

That's probably why Mormons have as an article of faith:
"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly"

Is there anyone who believes differently?

[CommerceComet]

My take is that is was saved by GOD to be revealed later how BOGUS MORMONism is.

I totally agree. God has left Mormons without excuse. When one of your sacred texts is shown to be completely false, how can you trust in any of the others? The Book of Abraham papyri completely shatters any credibility that Joseph Smith had to anyone who looks into the issue.

Is it any wonder that Joseph Smith could be later fooled by the Kinderhook Plates?

[delacoert]

Thank you for pitching in on this thread.

I had never thought about how the Rosetta Stone fit into the history of Joseph Smith's fraudulent translation of the funerary scrolls. I am glad you drew my attention to this bit of history.

[delacoert]

I has to a particularly painful kind of denial to be confronted with straightforward evidence that your founding father is fraud. Standing publicly and saying I still believe that that which is proven to be a lie is true has a couple of benefits I suppose, but I think the main reason is that it is too difficult to face the alternative — that everything you have believed in is a lie.

[varmintman]

The LSD church is a religious equivalent of something which is too big to die at this point. It needs to somehow be made into a more normal Christian church and get rid of the 1830’s vision of science fiction theology along with the fictitious books including the book of Mormon.

[SZonian]

...as far as it is translated correctly."

Translated by whom is the question. Mormonism requires you to put your faith in a man of extremely questionable character and morals. A man who has been found to have been fooled by the papyri and the kinderhook plates. If he was inspired of God, how does a man make so many errors in the bom? A man who has been shown time and time again to be in error.

If the bom is supposedly the most correct book on the face of the planet and js was doing God's work, why then did God allow him to be killed? Why wasn't he allowed to finish the work?

When confronted with these facts, how then, can one believe that the js version of the Bible is anywhere near accurate and or translated correctly?

The qualifier statement at the beginning of this post was used on me years ago, and I will admit, I was easy pickin’s for the missionaries because I didn’t have a religious background. Now that my cynicism of the many things mormon have been shown to be correct, my problem is to get to know the Lord and put my faith in Him, not a man. Not only that, I must somehow show and prove to my wife that what she’s believed for over 40 years is false.

Everything about the lds church, bom and js vers. of the Bible requires one to build their entire faith on the back of one man.

Regarding translating, I’ll take a biblical scholar over js anyday. Regarding salvation, I'll take Jesus over js.

SZ

[Tennessee Nana]

What Mormons Think of the Bible
_________________________________________

They dont think much of it at all...

They try to replace it with Joey Smith’s fictious tale..

Joey Smith plagarized a story, embellished it with some Bible verses, and had it published in order to make some money..

Later, in order to make it more paletable, others claimed it was “restored” or added to the “testimony” of their mormon jesus...

There is no evidence that Joey Smith intended to replace the Bible when He first had the book of mormon published in 1830...

He was just going for a quick buck..

Now however, in order to sell Joey’s homemade religion, the mormons devalue the original Bible, and claim that Joey Smith the charlatan “restored” Christianity singlehanded after the Jesus of the Bible goofed, and thus saved the world..

Praise to the man who communed with Fanny Alger...

[Uncle Chip]

That's probably why Mormons have as an article of faith: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly"

Then why don't they believe the King James Bible, the translation that they say they ascribe to???

[TheDon]

We do believe it. What would make you think otherwise?

[TheDon]

Regarding salvation, I'll take Jesus over js.

Amen!

[the long march]

Nothing stated to prove your assertion. Fact is there is a difference between being translationally accurate and obliterating the book altogether. Just where did J. Smith offer ANY textual analysis of the NT? Yeah, that’s what I thought. He stole a manuscript written by another man, a preacher and scholar at that. Smith was uneducated and a scam artist ( sorry facts are a hard thing). Be a Mormon if you wish but please do not try and suggest the bOM is the same thing as the scripture of those who follow the Messiah

[the long march]

I do not then make the claim that the only correctly translated book is BOM. Look Smith is a fraud and charlatan. The post about the facsimile translation was unaddressed by you. Smith claimed to have translated those very characters in that many. Known scholars have since, through use of the Rosetta Stone, proven him wrong -—not as a variant but flat out wrong. Deal with it

[the long march]

Yeah just like Scientology....

[TheDon]

I do not then make the claim that the only correctly translated book is BOM.

So you agree with the Mormon article of faith regarding the Bible? It is funny that some criticize Mormons for this article of faith, but they do not disagree with it. Go figure.

[LiteKeeper]

:-)

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***But those variants exist in the Alexandrian manuscripts as the differ from the Byzantine manuscripts that underly the KJV which Mormons ascribe to.***

***That’s probably why Mormons have as an article of faith:
“We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly”***

From the Translators to the Reader Preface KJV 1611

...• Now to the latter we answer, that we do not deny, nay, we affirm and avow, that the very meanest translation of the Bible in English, set forth by men of our profession, ..... containeth the Word of God, nay, is the Word of God.
• 2 As the King’s Speech which he uttered in Parliament, being translated into French, Dutch, Italian, and Latin, is still the King’s Speech, though it be not interpreted by every translator with the like grace, nor peradventure so fitly for phrase, nor so expressly for sense, everywhere.

It would do you well to read the entire preface to the original KJV. You will see there is nothing seriously mistranslated about it.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***... I think the main reason is that it is too difficult to face the alternative — that everything you have believed in is a lie.****

Many years ago in the early 1990’s Madaline Murray O’Hair was on Larry King Live. She made the statement that the best atheists were former Mormons and Catholics.

I have been called to task several times about this but I remember seeing the show and remember what was discussed.