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It is not uncommon for people to believe that the Mormons have their own Bible. Usually people have in mind the Book of Mormon when they refer to the "Mormon Bible", either because they feel that the Book of Mormon replaces the Bible (a moot point in any discussion with a Mormon), or because they can't remember that it is called the Book of Mormon. The Mormons we usually meet, those based in Salt Lake City, actually use the King James, or Authorised, Bible. In 1979 they published their own "Authorised King James Version with explanatory notes and cross references" to other Mormon works of scripture. However, it is still the King James Bible.
The Joseph Smith Translation
Interestingly, there are footnotes which reference something called the "Joseph Smith Translation" (JST), along with a collection at the back of the book of "excerpts too lengthy for inclusion in the footnotes", again taken from the JST. What is the Joseph Smith Translation and, if Joseph Smith did produce his own translation of the Bible, why do Mormons continue to use the King James Version?
The Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Independence, Missouri Mormons printed the first edition of the so-called Inspired Version (JST) in 1867. This is the biggest break way group following the death of Joseph Smith, although they would protest that the Salt Lake Church is the breakaway group.
In the foreword to the JST much is made of 1 Nephi 13:28-29 from the Book of Mormon (BOM). In the RLDS BOM it is 1 Nephi 3:168-169 according to the same foreword because, of course, they have a different numbering system for most Mormon "scripture". I will use the commonly available Salt Lake City BOM for the purpose of this article. This BOM reference is one of the earliest Mormon references to a corrupt and inadequate Bible.
"Wherefore, thou seest that 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; and after it goeth forth
unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many
waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone
forth out of captivity, thou seest--because of the many plain
and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which
were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according
to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God--because of these
things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an
exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath
great power over them."
The book referred to is the Bible, a fact made plain in earlier verses:
"The book that thou beholdest is a record
of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he
hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many
of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like
unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there
are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the
Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore,
they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.
And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that
the book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it
proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness
of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record;
and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb
of God.
Wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity unto
the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God.
And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of
the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation
of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable
above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from
the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious;
and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.
And all this have they done that they might pervert the right
ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the
hearts of the children of men." - (1 Nephi 13:23-27)
The JST foreword further quotes the BOM (2 Nephi 3:12) in promising that,
"The fruit of thy loins shall write; and the
fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall
be written by the fruit of thy loins (the BOM) and also that which
shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah (the Bible),
shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and
laying down of contentions…" (Words in brackets added)
Restoration Promises
Anyone familiar with Mormonism at all will be aware that their fundamental claim is that, through the prophet Joseph Smith, God restored lost truths and re-established the true church. Joseph Smith started with the Book of Mormon, which he claimed was "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion…" (1) , and a Bible having had "many parts which are plain and most precious" taken away (2). If the promise of 2 Nephi 3:12, that these two works shall "grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions…" is to be fulfilled then surely something must be done about the corrupt Bible. It seems wrong to think of confounding false doctrines with a Bible suspected of teaching false doctrines because of errors in translation.
In the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) 6:27 we read:
"And now I command you, that if you [Oliver
Cowdrey] have good desires - a desire to lay up treasures for
yourself in heaven - then shall you assist in bringing to light,
with your gift, those parts of my scriptures which have been hidden
because of iniquity"
It seems, then, that there should be a restoration of the plain
and precious truth, which was taken away, and that this restored
truth should be "to the confounding of false doctrines".
Further on in D&C 35:20 (which is referenced in the footnote to
6:27) we read:
"And a commandment I give unto thee [Sidney Rigdon] - that thou
shalt write for him; and the scriptures shall be given, even as
they are in mine own bosom, to the salvation of mine own elect."
In the footnotes here it is made clear that it is the Bible that
is being referred to and the Bible for which Sidney Rigdon is
called to be scribe (3). There is, then, to be a restoration
of the Bible in the grand work of Joseph Smith and, indeed, after
giving specific instructions regarding what is to be taught in
the church we read in D&C 42:15:
"And all this ye shall observe to do as I have commanded concerning
your teaching, until the fulness of my scriptures is given"
Later in the same section we read the following:
"Thou shalt ask, and my scriptures shall be
given as I have appointed, and they shall be preserved in safety;
And it is expedient that thou shouldst hold thy peace concerning
them, and not teach them until ye have received them in full.
And I give unto you a commandment that then ye shall teach them
unto all men; for they shall be taught unto all nations, kindreds,
tongues and people. Thou shalt take the things which thou hast
received, which have been given unto thee in my scriptures for
a law, to be my law to govern my church; And he that doeth according
to these things shall be saved, and he that doeth them not shall
be damned if he so continue. If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive
revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou
mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things--that which bringeth
joy, that which bringeth life eternal." (Vv.56-61)
There is a clear intention here for the Lord to give scriptures
in their fullness (v 57); preserve them safely (v 56); that they
should then be "taught unto all nations, kindreds,
tongues and people"; and that they should be "for a law, to be
my law to govern my church". Most dire consequences follow
for those who do not do these things (v 60).
Restoration Fails
It seems that there was every intention that the JST should replace
the King James Bible. It is difficult to imagine anyone reading
the above quotes and coming to any other conclusion. There is
the argument that so long as truth is restored it doesn't matter
where we find it, i.e. in other Mormon scriptures. We would certainly
all agree that truth is truth. But the issue here is the clear
mandate to restore the scriptures, "even as
they are in mine own bosom, to the salvation of mine own elect"
(4).
There can be no ambiguity concerning the intention of Joseph Smith since he clearly started the work he claimed God had given him, i.e. to translate scripture and restore it to its pristine wholeness. So where is the Mormon Bible? The work seemed to have every bit the urgency of the Book of Mormon in the need to have it translated (the translation work began as early as June 1830). How else would the "fullness" be sent out to the nations if the work is shelved? How could the plain and precious truth, which was lost, be restored? How could leaders hope to avoid damnation if the work is not completed (v 60)? And yet the Salt Lake Church has no restored Bible.
What adds to the puzzle is the way the Mormon Church continually
downgrades our Bible, from the 8th article of faith (5),
through the rabid anti-biblical polemics of early Mormon leaders
(6), to the extensive list of biblical faults and failings
Mormons are eager to discuss with Christians today. They suspect
it and yet happily use it; whatever might be missing, whoever
might have compiled it and however many corrupt hands it may have
passed through. As it stands Mormons are attempting to confound
false doctrines and lay down contentions with the aid of a book
that itself according to Mormon teaching, propounds false doctrines
and causes contentions. This is a bizarre state of affairs for
a church that has always claimed to be God's solution to these
problems.
I have heard Mormons insist that the prophet is the solution. But surely it was the prophet Joseph Smith who began, with some urgency, the "translation" of the Bible in order that the promise of 2 Nephi 3:12 should be fulfilled. Even the prophet of the restoration recognised that here there is a clear promise of restored Scripture and not restored prophets. Mormon missionaries use a familiar illustration designed to show how the Book of Mormon supports the Bible:
"Suppose you wanted to hang a door. Why would
you want to use two hinges instead of only one? How do the two
hinges, working together, make the door more stable? In the same
way, the Bible and the Book of Mormon unite to teach the gospel
of Jesus Christ. They firmly establish the truth. Both
support the truth of the gospel and the divine nature of Jesus
Christ."
Again we are back with 2 Nephi. However, what the prospective
Mormon is not told is that one of those hinges is unsafe and incapable
of firmly establishing anything; it will, in fact,
be replaced by a prophet. One hinge is the Book of Mormon but
the other is not the Bible but the prophet. I have
heard many Mormons give an impassioned testimony to their trust
in the Bible but in the next breathe they have faulted it. Indeed
their attitude to Scripture is made plain in the fact that they
have replaced the Bible referred to in 2 Nephi 3:12 with a prophet.
Where God has apparently promised that the Bible and BOM would
grow together to the confounding of false doctrines, etc. they
have the BOM and the prophet.
It seems that Christians have a great deal more faith in God's
Word than the average Mormon since Mormons do not regard even
their own Scriptures to be that much more reliable than the Bible.
Of course every Mormon is encouraged to follow the prophet
but if even Mormon Scripture is not entirely reliable, and since
in Mormonism it is the prophet who makes Scripture, what hope
is there for anyone? Perhaps the honest thing to do is to inform
investigators that neither hinge is guaranteed to hold. That the
door might end up flattening anyone unfortunate enough to be under
it when it falls.
Mormons will tell us that the work was not finished before Joseph
Smith's death in a gunfight in a Carthage jail. However Thomas
S Monson, the current Mormon president, is acknowledged as a Prophet,
Seer and Revelator. He supposedly carries the mantle of Joseph
Smith. Furthermore, there have been no less than fifteen such
prophets from the time of Joseph to the present. Could none of
them complete this work? What happened to the promise that, "If
thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation,
knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries
and peaceable things--that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth
life eternal."? (7) Surely, in light of such a promise,
there should be no corrupt Bible in the Mormon Church today?
The simple answer to the puzzle is that the family of Joseph Smith led the breakaway group in Independence, Missouri. His widow, Emma, claimed that in law she and her family owned the JST, and the law agreed with her. Today the Independence group, the Reorganised Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, owns and publishes the Mormon Bible (JST). The Salt Lake Church pays the Independence Church for the right to reproduce parts of that work in their own King James Bible.
Trusting God's Word
Of course, the issue here is not simply one of which Bible we use. There is the more fundamental question of which Bible we trust. For all the criticism levelled against the Bible it simply stands, and continues to stand, unassailable, irreplaceable, bringing countless millions to faith for generations. Surely this book that has stood the test of time deserves more respect and is worthy of our trust. The miracle of its preservation and incredibly accurate transmission down to the present generation is itself testimony to its trustworthiness as an instrument of God in bringing men and women to faith. The questions for every Mormon are, if the Bible is as corrupt and unreliable as they claim why do Mormons continue to use it? On the other hand, if the Bible is all Christians claim it to be shouldn't I think again about the truths Christians claim it teaches?
If indeed the Bible is so reliable surely its truths, as understood by generations of Christians, and rejected by 180 years of Mormonism, should be re-evaluated. Our very eternal destiny hangs on getting this right and so we must, surely, get beyond the arguments about what Mormonism has failed to do, i.e. restore the Bible, and look at what the Christian Church has miraculously succeeded in doing, i.e. preserved the Bible.
The focus of Bible critics, such as the Mormon Church, is on entirely the wrong aspect of Bible translation/transmission. Mormons make much of profane translators and wicked priests but the wonder is not simply that we have a Bible but that we have such an accurate and trustworthy Bible despite the failings, even of the best intentioned men down the years. The miracle is God's in preserving it and not man's in transmitting it. It is a question of having the faith to believe in God's providential work in preserving his word and not in man's competence.
To Mormons it seems that God had to wait for the right man to come along, Joseph Smith, to achieve his ends. To Christians God is capable of working with and through the most unpromising materials (disciples who betrayed and denied him, followers who failed him) and yet achieve his ends; which raises another question of trust. Every Mormon should ask, not just do I trust the Bible, but is my trust placed in a God who can preserve his Word? For surely only a God who can preserve his Word can preserve our lives. For if he cannot save his Word from the universal failings of fallen mankind, how can we trust him to save us from ourselves?
Footnotes
(1) Joseph Smith, History of the Church, vol.4, p.461
(2) 1 Nephi 13:26
(3) The footnote reads "The Prophet was at this time engaged in a revelatory translation of the Bible, to which Sidney Rigdon was called as scribe".
(4) D&C 35:20
(5) 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.
(6) Mormon apostle, Orson Pratt, in speaking of the Bible's shortcomings declared, "Add all this imperfection to the uncertainly 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?" (The Bible an Insufficient Guide, p.47)
(7) D&C 42:61
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