Not so long ago LDS missionaries freely taught investigators that the Bible we have today is not trustworthy. A very important part of their message was that plain and precious parts had been lost from the ancient biblical text; the Book of Mormon had been given by a merciful God, in part, to restore those truths which had been lost. Their revered first prophet, Joseph Smith, taught that designing and corrupt priests had purposefully altered the text of the Bible.1
LDS missionaries used to teach this, but of late have seemed disinclined to do so.
In a recent meeting with LDS missionaries, the elders claimed they had never noticed a passage in the Book of Mormon which speaks of the corruption of the Bible (1 Nephi 13:26-32). However, they assured me, the passage meant precious doctrines had been "lost" due to misinterpretation--not manipulation--of the text. When asked about the footnote attached to this passage which directed the reader to Lost Scriptures in the LDS Topical Guide, the Elders reluctantly admitted that they believe (and their Church teaches) the Bible is indeed corrupt.
While the LDS Church may be softening it's approach--whether to avoid offending investigators or avoid difficult questions--it's doctrinal teachings regarding the Bible remain the same.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states in its eighth 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." The first half of this statement could be misunderstood as a parallel to the Christian proclamation, "The Bible is inerrant and infallible in its original manuscripts." But notice the definite distinction between the way the LDS Church views the reliability of the Bible and the reliability of the Book of Mormon. While the Bible is conditionally received as the Word of God, the Book of Mormon is unconditionally accepted as is. Yet the eighth Article of Faith is but a tip of the LDS doctrinal iceberg.
Mormonism begins its slander against the Bible by questioning the Canon and its formation. In 1850 LDS Apostle Orson Pratt wrote, "The gathering together of the few scattered manuscripts which compose what is now termed the Bible, was the work of uninspired man…Among the vast number of professedly inspired manuscripts, scattered through the world, man, poor, weak, ignorant man, assumed the authority to select a few, which, according to his frail judgment, he believed or conjectured were of God, but the balance not agreeing, perhaps, with his peculiar notions of divine inspiration, were rejected as spurious. The few, selected from the abundance, were finally arranged into one volume, divided into chapter and verse, and named the Bible."2
Contrary to Apostle Pratt's claims, "poor, weak, ignorant man" did not create the Canon. In response to heresy the early Christian church formally recognized the books that bore the marks of canonicity. They were already in use and accepted as authoritative within the church.
Another accusation Mormonism levels against the Bible is that it is incomplete. An article in the February 1995 Ensign magazine stated, "Through the Prophet Joseph Smith,…we learn that the Bible does not contain all that God revealed anciently, nor did it arrive in our day without inaccuracies."3
LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie maintained the same idea. He wrote, "Thereafter the many plain and precious parts were taken away by the servants in the house of that great church which is not the Lord's Church. Thus our present Bible contains only a fraction of the holy word that once was compiled with and included in it as the acceptable word of the Lord."4
The LDS Bible Dictionary states, "The so-called lost books of the Bible are those documents that are mentioned in the Bible in such a way that it is evident they were considered authentic and valuable, but that are not found in the Bible today. " The LDS Bible Dictionary goes on to list 15 "missing" books, prophecies, sayings, visions, and epistles and concludes, "The foregoing items attest to the fact that our present Bible does not contain all of the word of the Lord that he gave to his people in former times, and remind us that the Bible, in its present form, is rather incomplete."5
While the Bible mentions writings which are not found within it,6 there is no evidence to suggest these writings were ever regarded as Scripture. Neither the LDS Church nor its modern day prophets have attempted to restore any of these allegedly lost books. In fact, when Joseph Smith produced his Inspired Version of the Bible he ended up with 65 books instead of 66, deleting the Song of Solomon.
The LDS Church also insists that the biblical text which is available today has been purposefully corrupted. Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote, "…the Book of Mormon remains secure, unchanged and unchangeable, …But with the Bible it was not and is not so…it was once in the sole and exclusive care and custody of an abominable organization, founded by the devil himself, likened prophetically unto a great whore, whose great aim and purpose was to destroy the souls of men in the name of religion. In these hands it ceased to be the book it once was."7
Former LDS Prophet Ezra Taft Benson commented in 1986 on the superiority of the Book of Mormon, stating it is "Unlike the Bible, which passed through generations of copyists, translators and corrupt religionists who tampered with the text…"8
Like all the others, this argument against the Bible stems from the necessity of it being true for the sake of Mormonism, not from any historical or textual evidence. There have been no discoveries of early biblical manuscripts which cast doubt on the text we have today.
Many Latter-day Saints believed that, once translated, the Dead Sea Scrolls would restore the truths which had allegedly been lost from the Bible. However, BYU professor Stephen E. Robinson said, "So far, the plain and precious things have not been restored to us in the Dead Sea Scrolls. If Latter-day Saints would just get a good English translation of all the [already] published scrolls, they would discover that the people of Qumran are not [Latter-day] Saints of former days."9 In actuality, the Dead Sea Scrolls, like every new scriptural manuscript discovery, increases our assurance of the reliability of the biblical text as we have it.
Taking the foregoing imagined problems into account, Apostle Orson Pratt wrote, "What shall we say then, concerning the Bible's being a sufficient guide? Can we rely upon it in its present known corrupted state, as being a faithful record of God's word? We all know that but a few of the inspired writings have descended to our times,…What few have come down to our day have been mutilated, changed, and corrupted, in such a shameful manner that no two manuscripts agree….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 whole Bible has escaped pollution, so as to convey the same sense now that it did in the original?"10
Pratt may have first learned of the insufficiency of the Bible from the Book of Mormon. Second Nephi 29:3 and 6 say, "…many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there can not be any more Bible… Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible."
In 1820 Joseph Smith believed the Bible to be useless in determining which church was right and pleasing to God. He wrote, "…the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible."11
In this century, Joseph Fielding Smith, tenth LDS prophet claimed, "There is not one principle pertaining to the salvation of men that is so clearly stated in the Bible, as it has come down to us, that men do not stumble over--not one thing. There is not one principle they can be united on that has been so clearly stated that they do not find their interpretations of it conflicting."12
If the LDS Church really believes all these things about the Bible, why does it insist, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God…"? Why would Church membership do a cursory study of the Bible two of every four years on a rotating schedule? How can LDS General Authorities appeal to the Bible in their conference addresses and public devotionals? One would think the wholesale corruption of the Bible, as expressed by LDS leaders, would render it worthless. Evidently not.
On the first day of 1994 the LDS Church News contained the following clarifier in regard to that year's Sunday School study of the Old Testament: "The Old Testament is the word of God, and even though translations have dimmed some of its meaning, and many 'plain and precious parts' have been deleted, it still is an inspired and miraculous guide to all who will read it. When augmented by modern scripture…it can direct us into the paths of eternal salvation."13
Joseph Fielding Smith advised, "Guided by the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Spirit of the Lord, it is not difficult for one to discern the errors in the Bible."14 Therefore, the Bible is included in the LDS Standard Works with the directive that members understand it only as explained by "modern scripture."
This modern scripture includes Joseph Smith's "translation" of the Bible, part of which is found in the form of footnotes and a 17 page section appended to the LDS edition of the King James Bible. In February of 1995 a BYU professor stated, "With the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible, the Prophet restored truth lost through the corruption of ancient texts and gave us the scriptures 'even as they are in [God's] own bosom, to the salvation of [his] own elect' (D&C 35:20)."15 With Joseph Smith's corrections, the Bible may be useful after all. But useful for what?
Elder Charles Didier, then general president of LDS Sunday School stated, "Let's consider missionary work. The New Testament often is the only common ground we have for teaching some investigators…The New Testament is really a preparation for the Book of Mormon,…" 16
Here is the heart of the matter: Publicly declaring a belief in the Bible as the word of God allows the LDS Church the appearance of Christianity; privately denigrating it allows disregard for anything in the text which does not conform to Mormonism.
An essential truth of the Christian faith is that the Bible is the sufficient, reliable Word of God. Theologian R.C. Sproul explains, "Christians affirm the infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible because God is ultimately the author of the Bible. And because God is incapable of inspiring falsehood, His word is altogether true and trustworthy…If the Bible is inspired and superintended by God, then it cannot err."17
The Westminister Confession of Faith, I:IV reads, "The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man, or church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God."
And finally the testimony of Scripture itself: "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."18
Mormonism warns: "Today [the devil] centers his powers on…using [the Bible] to prove such false doctrines as that God is a Spirit or that we are saved by grace alone without works."19 But then at the same time this Church acknowledges some worth: "Because of the New Testament, Joseph Smith was inspired to pray. And because he prayed, the gospel was restored in its fulness and we now have the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ."20
It is tragic that members of the LDS Church are taught the Bible is untrustworthy. As Paul said, the Holy Scriptures are able to make one wise unto salvation. If there is no basis for faith in the Scriptures there is no reason to search them; no source for the truth; no hope of knowing the one true God.
Mormonism's attitude toward the Bible demonstrates once again the inferiority of the god it serves. He is one who is at the mercy of designing priests and corrupt religionists. He is not able to preserve his word forever.
But Christians trust and rejoice in the promise of Almighty God, "…for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God…The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord abides forever."