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Do Mormons "Really" Believe in the Bible?
Isaiah 41:21 - Set Forth your case
I Peter 3:15 - Be prepared, always
The credibility of a religious claim rests 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, archeologists 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 priests 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 evangelists 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 ones 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 content, yet, remains constant in its unfolding of the plan of
salvation through Christ Jesus. The Old Testament reveals itself to be
the story of the preparation for 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 consummation 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
consists of over 40 authors of 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 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 of the LDS 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 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. Paul's testimony 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: the Bible was written by
either (1) Good Men or Angels, (2) Evil Men or Demons, (3) God.
Good Men or Angels could not have written it as 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!
Computers for Christ - San Jose
For more information see below:
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