193 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
193 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
Do Mormons "Really" Believe in the Bible?
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Isaiah 41:21 - Set Forth your case
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I Peter 3:15 - Be prepared, always
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The credibility of a religious claim rests upon its ability
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to verify its terms. In the year of 1800, the French Institute in
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Paris issued a list of 82 "errors' that it had found in the Bible
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and felt would destroy Christianity in short order. In 1804, not
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one of the alleged errors remained!
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In the year 1901, the American Society of Archeology claimed
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that the Biblical account of a peoples called the Hittites was
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false. In 1933, archeologists found conclusive proof of the
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existence of the Hittites and other peoples that the Bible had
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claimed existed!
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The primary question for this text is: "Why are we
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discussing the matter of the Bible and its completeness? Doesn't
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the Mormon church accept the Bible as the Word of God?" To
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respond, let me quote from the sources of the Mormon church:
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8th Article of Faith - "We believe the Bible to be the word
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of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the
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Book of Mormon to be the Word of God."
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Joseph Smith, in Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page
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327, stated "Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or
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designing and corrupt priests committed many errors.' and the
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mormon apostle Mark E. Peterson states in his book, As Translated
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Correctly - page 4, "Many insertions were made, some of them
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"slanted' for selfish purposes, while at times deliberate
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falsifications and fabrications were perpetrated.'
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Orson Pratt further made a comment in his book, Divine
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Authenticity of the Book of Mormon - pages 45 & 47, thus: "If it
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be admitted that the apostles and evangelists did write the books
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of the New Testament, that does not prove of itself that they
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were divinely inspired at the time they wrote ... Add all this
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imperfection to the uncertainty of the translation, and who, IN
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HIS RIGHT MIND could for one moment suppose the Bible in its
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present form to be a perfect guide? Who knows that even one verse
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of the Bible has escaped pollution, so as to convey the same
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sense now that it did in the original?"
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The Book of Mormon, II Nephi 29:6 states "Thou fool, that
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shall say a Bible, we have got a Bible and we need no more Bible.
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Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?" Can you note
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the FOOLS are the only ones who trust in the Bible? Read verse
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10. Here, the Book of Mormon declares the need for more
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revelation and makes way for its own existence!
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A point of interest - turn to I Nephi 13:26: "a great and
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abominable church - has taken away from the gospel of the Lamb
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many parts which are plain and precious; and also many covenants
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of the Lord have they taken away." The Book of Mormon tells us
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that this is 600 B.C.! Do you know what B.C. means - BEFORE
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CHRIST! So we are told that the gospel of the Lamb has been
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polluted six hundred years before the Lamb or His Gospel was
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recorded in the New Testament and given at the Passover!
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IS THE BIBLE INFALLIBLE?
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The Bible was composed over a period of 1,500 years by more
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than 40 different authors from the full range of humanity: from
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military generals (Joshua) to prime ministers (Daniel) to
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cupbearers (Nehemiah) to fishermen (Peter) to tax collectors
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(Matthew) to kings (David). The books were written in many
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different places: the wilderness (Moses), prison (Paul), and
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exile (John on the Island Patmos). On three different continents
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(Africa, Asia and Europe) and in three different languages
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(Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek).
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The content, yet, remains constant in its unfolding of the
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plan of salvation through Christ Jesus. The Old Testament reveals
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itself to be the story of the preparation for the arrival of the
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Messiah or Christ. The Gospels of the New Testament are the
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manifestation of the Christ in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
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Acts is the propagation of the message. The Epistles give the
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explanation and the Revelation of John provides the consummation
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of the Kingdom of God in Christ Jesus or Lord! The entire Bible
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is about Jesus (Luke 24:27 - 44 and John 5:39,46,47). I challenge
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any Mormon to take any ten people, and you can even get them from
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the same heritage - education - language and culture and ask them
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separately to give you their opinion of the meaning of life - you
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will get opinions of such variety, yet the Bible consists of over
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40 authors of more than one generation with very little
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similarity and is in total unity! Complete harmony!
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In discussion of the matter of infallibility of the Bible we
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need, first to look at the process that we use to arrive at this
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conclusion:
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PREMISE # 1 - The Bible is basically a reliable and trustworthy
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document.
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PREMISE # 2 - On the basis of this reliable document, we have
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sufficient evidence to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of
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God.
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PREMISE # 3 - Jesus Christ, being the Son of God, is an
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infallible authority. (Luke 24:27,44; John 5:39; Hebrews 10:7)
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PREMISE # 4 - Jesus Christ teaches that the Bible is MORE than
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generally trustworthy. He teaches that it is the very Word of
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God.
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PREMISE # 5 - The WORD, in that it comes from God, is utterly
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trustworthy because GOD is utterly trustworthy!
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PREMISE # 6 - On the basis of the infallible authority of Jesus
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Christ, the Bible is infallible.
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II Timothy 2:13 declares that God "cannot deny Himself" and
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Galatians 1:8,9 tells us that we should be wary of any teaching
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of any other Gospel than that which Paul preached, which by the
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declaration of Paul in Romans 15:19 states that "I have fully
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preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
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The Mormon church is unable to provide any proof that Paul
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taught such doctrines as celestial marriage, no hell, wearing of
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sacred underwear, or godhood to be obtained. It is proper to
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state that if Paul never taught such doctrines, then Galatians
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1:8-9 CONDEMNS them! The claim of the LDS that more scripture is
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necessary is groundless.
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In II Peter 1:3, we are told that "His divine power hath
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given unto us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness."
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Paul further explained in Colossians 2:10 that "Ye are COMPLETE
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in Him." If just these two statements are true, what possible use
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could additional scripture be? Granted that nowhere in the Bible
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does it state that "This is the end of Scripture"; However, with
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the above statements, anything else could ONLY be redundant. It
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is obvious from the text of the New Testament that the writers
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were "eyewitnesses" of the ministry and presence of Jesus Christ.
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(II Peter 1:15-18 and I John 1:1-5)
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Acts 22:14-15 and I Corinthians 11:23 show that the Apostle
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Paul was specially chosen by the Lord as a witness while the
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other Apostles were alive. Paul's testimony was identical to that
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of the other Apostles - what He had seen, heard and taught of the
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Lord Jesus was identical to all previous teachings and in accord
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with the Old Testament teachings. Much more could have been
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written (John 20:30 and 21:25); However, there was no need as
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there already existed "all things that pertain to life and
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godliness." (II Peter 1:3 and John 20:31)
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How many of us, Mormon or Christian have read and digested
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all of the meat of the Holy Bible - completely? Can there really
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be a need for something more when the original item is still
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unplumbed for the depths it contains?
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We have the following possibilities: the Bible was written
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by either (1) Good Men or Angels, (2) Evil Men or Demons, (3)
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God.
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Good Men or Angels could not have written it as they could
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not write "Thus saith the Lord" when it was a lie or an invention
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of their own minds.
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Evil men or demons could not have written the Bible as they
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would not have written a book that commands all duty, forbids all
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sin, and condemns all evil to Hell!
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We thus have GOD as the only source of the BIble.
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In the ancient Israel, a class of servants in the Temple
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were called Scribes. This was a lifelong calling and one of great
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importance to the continuance of the Law and Prophets of Israel.
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I will demonstrate the LEGAL method of making a copy of a
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document according to the laws of Israel at this time and
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according to the great traditions of the Talmud. The possibility
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for incorrect copy is almost non-existent. Combine this with the
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facts as proven by archeology. Prior to the Dead Sea Scroll copy
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of the Book of Isaiah, the best copy of that Book was over 1000
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years newer! In comparing the two copies that covered this gap of
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a thousand years, there was found only ONE CHARACTER changed, and
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that was an article that "possibly" could have lost the accent
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mark of the character to make it 100% identical to the dead sea
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scroll version! Imagine - 1000 years of copies and NO CHANGE in
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the versions! Now the basis to make copies of the New Testament
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were as strict. We find many incidences of the same phenomena of
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clarity and correctness. Out of all the many thousands of pieces
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and text, not ONE DOCTRINE has been added to or changed or
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modified in ANY MANNER!
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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Another file downloaded from: NIRVANAnet(tm)
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& the Temple of the Screaming Electron Jeff Hunter 510-935-5845
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Burn This Flag Zardoz 408-363-9766
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realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510-527-1662
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Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 415-583-4102
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My Dog Bit Jesus Suzanne D'Fault 510-658-8078
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New Dork Sublime Demented Pimiento 415-566-0126
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