Do Mormons "Really" Believe in the Bible?
Isaiah 41:21 - Set Forth your case
I Peter 3:15 - Be prepared, always
Ezekiel 33:6 - Watchman
The credibility of a religious claim rest upon its ability to verify
its terms. In the year of 1800, the French Institute in Paris issued a
list of 82 "errors' that it had found in the Bible and felt would destroy
Christianity in short order. In 1804, not one of the alleged errors
remained! In the year 1901, the American Society of Archeology claimed
that the Biblical account of a peoples called the Hittites was false. In
1933, archeologist found conclusive proof of the existence of the Hittites
and other peoples that the Bible had claimed existed!
The primary question for this text is: "Why are we discussing the
matter of the Bible and its completeness? Doesn't the Mormon
church accept the Bible as the Word of God?" To respond, let me quote from
the sources of the Mormon church:
8th Article of Faith -
"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated
correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God.'
Joseph Smith, in Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 327, stated
"Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt
priest committed many errors.' and the mormon apostle Mark E. Peterson states
in his book, As Translated Correctly - page 4, "Many insertions were made,
some of them "slanted' for selfish purposes, while at times deliberate
falsifications and fabrications were perpetrated.'
Orson Pratt further made a comment in his book, Divine
Authenticity of the Book of Mormon - pages 45 & 47, thus: "If it be
admitted that the apostles and evangelist did write the books of the
New Testament, that does not prove of itself that they were divinely
inspired at the time they wrote ... Add all this imperfection to the
uncertainty of the translation, and who, IN HIS RIGHT MIND could for one
moment suppose the Bible in its present form to be a perfect guide?
Who knows that even one verse of the Bible has escaped pollution, so as to
convey the same sense now that it did in the original?'
The Book of Mormon, II Nephi 29:6 states "Thou fool, that shall say a
Bible, we have got a Bible and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a
Bible save it were by the Jews?' Can you note the FOOLS are the only one
who trust in the Bible? Read verse 10. Here, the Book of Mormon declares the
need for more revelation and makes way for its own existence!
A point of interest - turn to I Nephi 13:26: "a great and abominable
church - has taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which
are plain and precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken
away.' The Book of Mormon tells us that this is 600 B.C.! Do you know
what B.C. means - BEFORE CHRIST! So we are told that the gospel of the Lamb
has been polluted six hundred years before the Lamb or His Gospel was
recorded in the New Testament and given at the Passover!
IS THE BIBLE INFALLIBLE?
The Bible was composed over a period of 1,500 years by more than 40
different authors from the full range of humanity: from military generals
(Joshua) to prime ministers (Daniel) to cupbearers (Nehemiah) to fishermen
(Peter) to tax collectors (Matthew) to kings (David). The books were written
in many different places: the wilderness (Moses), prison (Paul), and
exile (John on the Island Patmos). On three different continents (Africa,
Asia and Europe) and in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic
and Greek).
The contents, yet, remain constant in its unfolding of the plan
of salvation through Christ Jesus. The Old Testament reveals itself to be the
story of the preparation of the arrival of the Messiah or Christ. The
Gospels of the New Testament are the manifestation of the Christ in the
person of Jesus of Nazareth. Acts is the propagation of the message. The
Epistles give the explanation and the Revelation of John provides the
consumation of the Kingdom of God in Christ Jesus or Lord! The entire Bible
is about Jesus (Luke 24:27 - 44 and John 5:39,46,47). I challenge any
Mormon to take any ten people, and you can even get them from the same
heritage - education - language and culture and ask them separately to
give you their opinion of the meaning of life - you will get opinions of
such variety, yet the Bible consist of over 40 authors or more than one
generation with very little similarity and is in total unity! Complete
harmony!
In discussion of the matter of infallibility of the Bible we need,
first to look at the process that we use to arrive at this conclusion:
PREMISE # 1 - The Bible is basically a reliable and trustworthy document.
PREMISE # 2 - On the basis of this reliable document, We have sufficient
evidence to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
PREMISE # 3 - Jesus Christ, being the Son of God, is an infallible authority.
(Luke 24:27,44; John 5:39; Hebrews 10:7)
PREMISE # 4 - Jesus Christ teaches that the Bible is MORE than generally
trustworthy. He teaches that it is the very Word of God.
PREMISE # 5 - The WORD, in that it comes from God, is utterly trustworthy
because GOD is utterly trustworthy!
PREMISE # 6 - On the basis of the infallible authority of Jesus Christ, the
Bible is infallible. II Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is inspired
II Peter 1:21 - No prophesy was ever by act of Human
II Timothy 2:13 declares that God "cannot deny Himself' and
Galatians 1:8,9 tells us that we should be wary of any teaching of any other
Gospel than that which Paul preached, which by the declaration of Paul in Romans
15:19 states that "I have fully preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ.'
The Mormon church is unable to provide any proof that Paul taught such
doctrines as celestial marriage, no hell, wearing of sacred underwear, or
godhood to be obtained. It is proper to state that if Paul never taught
such doctrines, then Galatians 1:8-9 CONDEMNS them! The claim that the LDS
makes that more scripture is necessary is groundless.
In II Peter 1:3, we are told that "His divine power hath given unto us
ALL things that pertain to life and godliness.' Paul further explained in
Colossians 2:10 that "Ye are COMPLETE in Him.' If these, just these two
statements are true, what possible use could additional scripture be? Granted
that nowhere in the Bible does it state that "This is the end of
Scripture;' However, with the above statements, anything else could ONLY
be redundant. It is obvious from the text of the New Testament that the
writers were "eyewitnesses' of the ministry and presence of Jesus Christ.
(II Peter 1:15-18 and I John 1:1-5). Acts 22:14-15 and I Corinthians
11:23 show that the Apostle Paul was specially chosen by the Lord as a
witness while the other Apostles were alive. What Paul testified of was
identical to that of the other Apostles - what He had seen, heard and
taught of the Lord Jesus was identical to all previous teachings and in
accord with the Old Testament teachings. Much more could have been
written (John 20:30 and 21:25); However, there was no need as there
already existed "all things that pertain to life and godliness' (II
Peter 1:3 and John 20:31). How many of us, Mormon or Christian have read and
digested all of the meat of the Holy Bible - completely? Can there really
be a need for something more when the original item is still unplumbed for
the depths it contains?
We have the following possibilities:
Either the Bible was written by (1) Good Men or Angels or (2) Evil Men
or Demons or (3) of God.
Good Men or Angels could not have written it a they could not write
"Thus saith the Lord' when it was a lie or an invention of their own
minds.
Evil men or demons could not have written the Bible as they would not
have written a book that commands all duty, forbids all sin, and condemns
all evil to Hell! We thus have GOD as the only source of the Bible.
In the ancient Israel, a class of servants in the Temple were called
Scribes. This was a lifelong calling and one of great importance to the
continuance of the Law and Prophets of Israel. I will demonstrate the LEGAL
method of making a copy of a document according to the laws of Israel at
this time and according to the great traditions of the Talmud.
The possibility for incorrect copy is almost non-existent. Combine this with
the facts as proven by archeology. Prior to the Dead Sea Scroll copy of
the Book of Isaiah, the best copy of that Book was over 1000 years newer!
In comparing the two copies that covered this gap of a thousand years,
there was found only ONE CHARACTER changed, and that was an article that
"possibly' could have lost the accent mark of the character to make it 100%
identical to the dead sea scroll version! Imagine - 1000 years of
copies and NO CHANGE in the versions! Now the basis to make copies of the
New Testament were as strict. We find many incidences of the same phenomena
of clarity and correctness. Out of all the many thousands of pieces and text,
not ONE DOCTRINE has been added to or changed or modified in ANY MANNER!
1. 1500 YEARS IN WRITING
2. 40 DIFFERENT AUTHORS
MILITARY GENERALS
PRIME MINISTERS
CUPBEARERS
FISHERMEN
TAX COLLECTORS
KINGS
3. THREE DIFFERENT CONTINENTS
ASIA
EUROPE
AFRICA
4. DIFFERENT PLACES
WILDERNESS
PRISON
KING'S RESIDENCE
EXILE
5. DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
HEBREW
ARAMAIC
GREEK
BUT REMAIN HARMONIOUS IN ALL RESPECTS
OLD TESTAMENT = PREPARATION FOR THE ARRIVAL OF THE MESSIAH
GOSPELS = MANIFESTATION OF JESUS OF NAZARETH AS THE CHRIST
ACTS = PROPAGATION OF THE MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST
EPISTLES = PROVIDE EXPLANATION FOR LIFESTYLE CHRISTIANITY
REVELATION = CONSUMATION OF THE TIMES AND THE MESSAGE
We suggest that you now read the file on the Computer Analysis of the Bible
in the Christian Download Section
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