"The primary purpose of reading the Bible is not to know the Bible but to know God"
--- James Merritt (Southern Baptist religious leader; 1952 - Present)
The Bible is a common thread of all Christianity. It is a book of holy scripture as written by prophets with the intent of pointing us towards Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a Christian faith that also believes in the Bible to be the word of God. Nevertheless, we believe that God can give more scripture as He wants to in addition to the Bible. Furthermore, there is more than one translation of the Bible that Christians use. For these reasons, this blog points aims at addressing the coming forth of the Bible and the potential for more communication from God, our loving Heavenly Father.
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WHAT IS THE BIBLE?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believes in the Bible much like any Christian church. We use the King James version. We believe that it is the word of God. The name Bible comes from the Latin Ta Biblia meaning “the books”. Simply put, the bible has many authors stretched over the course of many years; most of it was written by prophets led by the Holy Ghost (See "Prophets and Callings to Serve" and "A Still, Small Voice"). Consequently, the bible also includes some valuable regional history although it does not give a complete world history. It is evident that the world in which the authors lived was changing, just as the world today continues to change but the eternal truths and principles taught therein remain constant. Although the physical records were liable to change as it was handed down, God’s word (not only written but spoken) was not to pass away, that is to say that God's word is eternal. (Matt. 24:35)
GOD SPEAKING MORE
When John the Beloved was exiled to the Isle of Patmos in the Aegean Sea by those persecuting the church under the Roman rule of Domitian, he had some of the more familiar visions we commonly call “The Book of Revelation” (singular), formally called, “The Revelation of St. John the Divine”. In Spanish, it is called “Apocalipsis” which comes from the Koine Greek apokalypsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation" which is the first word in his book. He concludes his book—his chapters, with, “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book…” (Rev. 22:18-19) and so forth. Critics of the Book of Mormon believe this to mean that there can be no other scripture beyond the Bible because of these concluding verses of the Bible, but this idea is untrue (See "Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ"). The Bible wasn’t even the Bible until a few hundred years after this revelation was given to John, and certainly, John wasn’t the one to add his vision to the collection, and therefore this scripture has no reference to the Bible. Who was John writing to? The Book of Revelation was written as letters to the “seven churches of Asia”, rebuking them for miscellaneous follies while comforting the faithful amid persecution. Furthermore, in the world of academia, there is still uncertainty as to the acclaimed author of the letters (although the Book of Mormon confirms the author as John the Beloved in 1 Nephi 14) and there are skeptics who do not accept this book as part of their scripture canon. Martin Luther called it "neither apostolic nor prophetic" in the 1522 preface to his translation of the New Testament during the Protestant Reformation. It was the only book on which John Calvin did not write a commentary, and it’s still not read during services in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Furthermore, the same is said in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish out from it…” (Deut. 4:2-3). If that was to be taken literally, that there could be no more “added word”, we would have no scripture beyond Deuteronomy 4, including the New Testament. We'd only have 5 books of scripture instead of the 66 in the Bible. What is really meant by those scriptures is that God adds His word through His servants the prophets and man should not add their own word or worldly philosophies as gospel. John was not referring to the Bible as “this book” in those verses, rather he was referring to his own writings, the Book of Revelation.
Why should God communicate for so many thousands of years and decide to stop after the late second century when we need it more than ever? He would not and does not. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so it is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believes in an open canon of scripture, and ongoing dialogue between Heavenly Father and living prophets and Apostles. We use ancient scripture, but we welcome more as more is given.
TRANSLATIONS
I, for one, have a great love for those brave people who sacrificed much so that we can have the Bible today. Despite its ancient origins, the bible wasn’t completely translated and published in English until the 1500s. The translator, William Tyndale, suffered the death penalty for it. Before then, it was written in languages such as Hebrew, some Biblical Aramaic, and much Greek and Latin (as a consequence of the church being taken to the Gentiles by Peter, Paul, and others).
The overall message of the Bible is generally the same although there are hundreds of versions; one reason being the countless translations were the result of a long game of telephone; what goes in isn’t always what comes out the other end. Translators modified words or scriptures to fit possible interpretations to the best of their ability. But the vast translations only quantify vast interpretations. By the end, the bible had been changed and doctrines disappeared in said translation and interpretation. The process by which it changed was not ill-intended; the translators did their best to help people understand the Bible (which is no easy feat) in terms easier to understand than what was always written. But that is one of the reasons why many Christian doctrines differ despite sharing the Bible and contributed to the Apostasy that lasted so long. (See "Apostasy and Restoration")
Ponder Question: Why would it be important to have a correct translation of something? For example, this blog also has a Spanish translation that was derived from this original English. Do "perfect translations" even exist? In what way can it help us to have more scripture in addition to ancient scripture?
Like I said from the beginning, my purpose is not to prove or to criticize but to let you decide and I feel like stating specific biblical incongruences here would not help anyone. The Bible is not bad and should not be an object of criticism or a weapon to use in debate despite a few inconsistencies. The important thing to know is that we believe in the bible and that it is inspired by God. If my word wasn’t convincing enough, that we wholeheartedly use and love the Bible (though it should be evident in my references to many scriptures), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has produced wonderful “Bible Videos” reenacting the New Testament; I highly recommend them. They are accessible on YouTube and the church’s websites. We believe in the Bible. That simple. We have nothing against it. Now we have Book of Mormon videos too.
For a long time, the Bible was inaccessible to the public. In those first days, books were harder to produce and were generally more expensive because of the lengthy process to produce books by hand before the printing press was invented in the mid-1400s. Illiteracy was at an all-time high because books were uncommon; there was no need to learn to read and the Bible was not always available in the people’s language. One could effectively say “It says ‘blank’ in the bible” and nobody could prove or deny it; it astounds me how many today still quote things not found in scripture.
The educated upper class had control over what was taught because they had the education money could afford. Christian persecution, first from the Jews and then from the Romans, persisted until the early fourth century when the Roman Government under Emperor Constantine made Christianity the religion of his realm and Christianity became the surest path to imperial favor. Political power fused with religion, which is the complete opposite of secularism today. The Roman Empire took control of the church out of the hands of authorized priesthood leadership and from thereon went Christianity, both preserved after the Apostles' deaths but also filtered out of it, precious saving covenants and ordinances (See "More Than Good" and "Priesthood" and "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism"). The spirit of the pure gospel was removed.
Despite changes in doctrine and ordinances, we are in debt to those who dedicated time and laid their lives on the line to ensure that the Bible was passed down and present today. Although the Roman Empire did some damage early on, the world is rightly grateful to Rome for the preservation of Christianity and continuing good they do today to support righteous values. The world without the Bible would be a strange world indeed. But to believe that the Bible would remain unscathed throughout the thousands of years since its start and through Christian persecution and endless translation, to me is hard to believe. It would make it through but not without a few dents. That is why we need more of God’s word to clarify the foggy saving essence behind the remaining truth. Not to replace what the Bible says, but to give us inspired understanding.
THE LAW OF WITNESSES
We believe the Bible to be the word of God so far as it is translated correctly, we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. The Book of Mormon helps clarify what is a bit inconclusive in the Bible. The two go hand-in-hand as equals.
The Bible puts forth a doctrine known as “The Law of Witnesses”. This is that “in the mouth of two or three individuals shall every word be established” (Deut. 19:15; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19). This is what certain Jews were referring to when they ridiculed Jesus, “Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true” (John 8:13). But prophets always have and always will add their witnesses of Christ. So do the members of the Godhead bear witness of one another (John 5:31-37; 3 Ne. 11:32), so do the different books of scripture speak with one voice declaring the divinity and purpose of God over the earth (2 Nephi 29:8-13).
A witness gives personal verification of or attests to the reality of an event. It’s similar to that definition in a courtroom. The Bible illustrates that God often works with mankind through two or more witnesses (Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6; 19:15; Matt. 18:15-16). The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is self-explanatory in its title as far as this topic goes. And then we have the testimonies of eleven special witnesses at the front of the Book of Mormon who were given the blessing of seeing and handling the gold plates upon which the records were engraved. The Lord has always worked through multiple witnesses and doesn’t stop. He will not stop until we all become witnesses ourselves of Christ at the last day.
Consider for a moment a library or a bookstore. See the displays, the topics, the best sellers, the novels, the history books, and the instructional books. Marvel at the diversity of the subjects. Now consider the Library of Congress that was built in 1800 in Washington D.C in the United States, the largest library in the world with over 16 million books and 120 million other items and collections in over 450 languages. A faculty that's so extensive that it requires three buildings to contain everything, named after the three prominent political figures responsible for its creation (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison). It is named the Library of Congress because it serves as a research center for members of the United States Congress. Even with all its millions of contents, it does not house the entirety of what there is out there to know. More books will be written and added to the collection as they come to light, not to replace the old, but to enrich the whole. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ works in the same way.
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