“The Bible, as it has been transmitted over the centuries, has suffered the loss of many plain and precious parts. ‘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.’ (The A of F 1:8.) Many versions of the Bible are available today. Unfortunately, no original manuscripts of any portion of the Bible are available for comparison to determine the most accurate version. However, the Lord has revealed clearly the doctrines of the gospel in these latter days. The most reliable way to measure the accuracy of any biblical passage is not by comparing different texts, but by comparison with the Book of Mormon and modern-day revelations.” (Presidents Ezra Taft Benson, Gordon B. Hinckley, and Thomas Monson, “Letter Reaffirms use of King James Version Bible,” Church News, June 20, 1992, p. 3)
Now in this post I have used a quote not found in Thomas S. Monson’s book but never less it is scripture because he said it or wrote it.
“Those who listen to and follow the counsel of living prophets and apostles will not go astray. The teachings of living prophets provide an anchor of eternal truth in a world of shifting values and help avoid misery and sorrow” (Preach My Gospel, 2004, p. 75).
But in his book I was only able to find one spot that he talks about The Bible and that was in the section about scripture on pages 275-276. Now I do have to say the quote in his book on the bible was a very great quote and one I believe in as well. I know this seems strange that I would be saying this but read the quote and tell me what you think.
The Holy Bible is an inspiration to me. This sacred book has inspired the minds of men and has motivated readers to live the commandments of God and to love one another. It is printed in greater quantities, is translated into more languages, and has touched more humans hearts than any other volume. (“My Brother’s Keeper,” Ensign, May 1990, 46) (“Teachings of Thomas S. Monson,”2011, 276)
See what I mean, that is a good quote but it seems to go ageist the fist quote that I posted today. Anyone who has study the LDS church or is LDS you know that the bible is said to have mistakes and is only good as far as it’s translated correctly. Between the Bible and the Book of Mormon, which one is more reliable?
Let us look at the know manuscripts for the Bible:
Manuscript Evidence for the New Testament
There are more than 24,000 partial and complete manuscript copies of the New Testament. These manuscript copies are very ancient and they are available for inspection now. Bottom line: the New Testament has an overwhelming amount of evidence supporting its reliability.
Manuscript Evidence for the Old Testament
The Dead Sea Scrolls prove the accuracy of the transmission of the Bible.
In fact, in these scrolls discovered at Qumran in 1947, we have Old Testament manuscripts that date about a thousand years earlier (150 B.C.) than the other Old Testament manuscripts then in our possession (which dated to A.D. 900).
The significant thing is that when one compares the two sets of manuscripts, it is clear that they are essentially the same, with very few changes.
The fact that manuscripts separated by a thousand years are essentially the same indicates the incredible accuracy of the Old Testament's manuscript transmission.
A full copy of the Book of Isaiah was discovered at Qumran.
Even though the two copies of Isaiah discovered in Qumran Cave 1 near the Dead Sea in 1947 were a thousand years earlier than the oldest dated manuscript previously known (A.D. 980), they proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95 percent of the text.
The 5 percent of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling."
From manuscript discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls, Christians have undeniable evidence that today's Old Testament Scripture, for all practical purposes, is exactly the same as it was when originally inspired by God and recorded in the Bible.
Combine this with the massive amount of manuscript evidence we have for the New Testament, and it is clear that the Christian Bible is a trustworthy and reliable book.
The Dead Sea Scrolls prove that the copyists of biblical manuscripts took great care in going about their work.
These copyists knew they were duplicating God's Word, so they went to incredible lengths to prevent error from creeping into their work.
The scribes carefully counted every line, word, syllable, and letter to ensure accuracy (http://home.earthlink.net/~ronrhodes/Manuscript.html)
Now that seems pretty good for the bible not changing. It has also been noted that when changes are found in the manuscripts they are very very small and no significance. Things like “Jesus Christ to Christ Jesus” and so one.
But to be fair let’s take a look at the early manuscripts for the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon= None
The first printing and sale of the Book of Mormon was in 1830 and before then Joseph Smith calmed that he was shown where some golden plates which had the history written on them in reformed Egyptian. Then he returned the plates to the angel.
1st No manuscripts/ No golden plates
2nd there is no languages as Reformed Egyptian
Now I know that Mormons clam that reformed just means changed and that it’s a forum of Egyptians written by the people in the book of Mormon but again there is no other proof of this, just what Joseph Smith claimed.
Mormons would have to agree with me that it would be nice to have some evidence of your book to be true, you know like God gave evidence with the Bible. Cities, people, wars, coins and so one, I’m just saying.
Let me end with this, when looking to see which book is true or translated right it is easy to look at the evidence but you must also believe it as well.
END OF LINE…
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