The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his075/lds6.lzh/LDS6.TXT

Text File | 1991-07-08 | 9KB | 173 lines

CUL: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