The Bible and Mormons

Dearest LDS friends/family,

As you may know, I grew up in the LDS church and I believed and loved its teachings. Today I have a profoundly different idea of Jesus’ gospel, and I have become a born again Christian! You can read about my conversion here: http://eph1-17.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-journey-to-jesus-part-one.html. God has given me a heart for sharing his gospel with others, especially with the Latter-day Saints. The message I want to share with my LDS friends and family today is this: YOU can trust the Bible!

The Bible is one of the standard works of the LDS church, along with the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. But the Bible has a different status from the other books. As LDS Article of Faith #8 says, “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.” (Emphasis added). The Book of Mormon says that the Bible does not contain the fullness of the gospel, but that it is missing many “plain and precious truths” (1 Nephi 13). The LDS bible dictionary says, “The Church reveres and respects the Bible but recognizes that it is not a complete nor entirely accurate record.” (See link for full reference: http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/bible?lang=eng&letter=b.) Whereas the Book of Mormon is proclaimed to be “the most correct of any book on earth,” the clause regarding the Bible as true “as far as it is translated correctly” has allowed the church to depart from what the Bible teaches and revise or downplay its teachings.

Joseph Smith recorded his own “Joseph Smith Translation” (JST) of the Bible, which altered and added to the text. You can see a selection of these changes provided by the LDS church here: http://www.lds.org/scriptures/jst?lang=eng. Many of these changes are minor, but some change the message that the Word of God conveys. For example, the John 1:1 that most Christians are familiar with declares Jesus’ status as the one true God, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). (We know “The Word” means Jesus, because verse 14 says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and goes on to describe his earthly ministry). Joseph Smith changed these words to say, “In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God.”…Quite a difference! This is just one example of many changes which the LDS church justifies by saying the Bible is inaccurate.  

What did Jesus say about his word?

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33)

Woah! Let that sink in for a moment… If we trust what Jesus says here, that means his words are even more permanent than heaven and earth! Everything you see around you, the trees and mountains, the skyscrapers and highways, will all pass away… But his words shall not pass away. Would you read the Bible differently if you truly believed that?

Here is another example where the scriptures promise the permanence of God’s Word:

“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” (1 Peter 1:24-25)

The Bible is the word of God. LDS friends and family, I urge you to take this point seriously, because it may have eternal consequences. The Bible warns that spirits appearing as angels and apostles would preach “another gospel” to lead people away from what Jesus taught. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). How do you know if you’re following the true gospel or “another gospel” unless you know “that which we [the apostles] have preached unto you”? The only way to know that is to have a standard against which to judge new information. That standard is God’s word (the Bible). In fact, Isaiah stated that if spirits (and people visited by spirits) “speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). The Bible is the standard that keeps us from deception, so be careful how you regard it!

I urge you to read the Bible, not as a mish-mash of partially inspired and partially corrupted words, but as Jesus says we should read it: as His Word, which shall never pass away. Pray that God will open your eyes and ears to understand what HE wants you to know from the Bible, even if it differs from what men in your church want you to think. In the next blog post, I will explain what the Bible means to me now as a born again Christian. God bless you as you read his word!