The eighth article of the Articles of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states:

"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."

           This official statement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints is implying that the Bible has not been properly translated and cannot be trusted completely. In the words of its founder, note what Article 8 means to the LDS Church:

Joseph Smith also declared, "I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors" (Translation of Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 327).

Apostle Mark E. Peterson said referring to the authenticity of our modern Bible, "Many insertions were made, some of them 'slanted' for selfish purposes, while at times deliberate falsifications and fabrications were perpetrated" (As Translated Correctly, p. 4).

Apostle Orson Pratt stated: "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?" (Divine Authority of the Book of Mormon, pp. 45, 47)

LDS Apostle Orson Pratt further proclaimed, "The Bible has been robbed of its plainness; many sacred books having been lost, others rejected by the Romish Church, and what few we have left, were copied and re-copied so many times, that it is admitted that almost every verse has been corrupted and mutilated to that degree that scarcely any two of them read alike" (The Seer, p. 213)

           The Bible we have today is the same Bible God gave by inspiration to the prophets, apostles and those whom God used to reveal His word to us. Among knowledgeable Bible students and scholars it is well known that our modern King James Bible is an accurate translation of the original "autographs" (The original copies of the Bible). How do we know this? There exist many copies of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, Old and New Testament manuscripts (mss) from which we can compare the modern translations. For the New Testament we have close to 6,000 Greek manuscripts and manuscript portions, 10,000 Latin Vulgate, 9,300 other versions, plus 36,000 early (100-300 A.D.) patristic quotations of the New Testament—such that all but a few verses of the entire New Testament could be reconstructed from these alone. In addition to these ancient manuscripts of the Bible there exists approximately 2000 lectionaries that contain over 86,000 scripture quotes. Lectionaries are early church service books containing selected Scripture readings usually from the Gospels and sometimes from Acts or one of the Epistles. It is easy to compare these early Scripture quotes of various New Testament passages, written as early as the first century, to our modern Bibles. What is found by this comparison is that our modern Bibles reflect accurately the ancient and original text. It clearly shows that nothing has been lost and we can fully trust that the original text is preserved in our modern English King James Bible.

           Joseph Smith and the later LDS authorities were not men who had studied the Bible in their original languages and knew little or nothing about translations. The fact is, that then as well as now, many people were ignorant of the facts of how God preserved His word and of the existence of the literally thousands of ancient Bible manuscripts dating back to 200 BC. It is a simple task to compare the ancient texts with our modern English translations. There are minor differences in the manuscripts which are called "variants". However, these variant readings in the ancient manuscripts have been thoroughly documented and compared leaving no doubt as to how the origin text read word for word. 99 percent hold virtually no significance whatsoever. Many of these variants simply involve a missing letter in a word; some involve reversing the order of two words (such as "Christ Jesus" instead of "Jesus Christ"); some may involve the absence of one or more insignificant words. When all the facts are considered, only about 50 of the variants have any real significance, and even then, no doctrine of the Christian faith or instruction from God is involved. In more than ninety-nine percent of the cases the original text can be reconstructed to a practical certainty.

            The United Bible Society published in 1966, 1968, and 1975 a copy of the Greek Westcott-Hort New Testament, referred to as the Minority or Eastern text on which all modern English translations are based. Zane C. Hodges and Arthur L. Fastad, published another Greek text, "The Greek New Testament according to the Majority Text, Second Edition," in 1985 which is called the Majority text, Western or Bystantine text.

            Hodges and Fastad's Greek Majority text reflects the text according to over 5000 ancient Greek manuscripts and incorporates the Textus Receptus on which our King James Bibles is based.

           Both these Greek New Testaments show in detail the variants reading between these two families of manuscripts and the variants within the families. These two Greek texts list the variant readings in footnotes showing all the variant readings and in what manuscripts they are found. For example below is a copy of Luke 9:51-58 from the "The Greek New Testament" by Aland, Black, Martini, Metzger, Wikgren.

           For example:

           ⁷ Verse 54 shows the Greek word autous ends the verse in the Greek manuscripts p45, 75, ("p" stands for papyri manuscripts) ALEPH, B, L, 700, 1241 and a total of twenty two manuscripts. However, other Greek texts read autous ws kai Hlias epoinsen and this reading is found in manuscripts designated as A, C, D, K, W, etc for a total of thirty one manuscripts plus twenty six non biblical manuscripts. It even shows that manuscript 892 omits the word kai[and] which is a minor detail.

          Now lets look at the verse in English and see what this means. The verse in our English King James Bible reads "And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?" The phrase "even as Elias did"? is found in over 50 ancient manuscripts. However, in only 16 manuscripts the text ends with the word "them" and omits "even as Elias did?." Plainly, some scribe omitted the statement about Elias when copying from a manuscript that had that reading. There is no doctrinal problem whether the phrase was in the orginial or not because clearly as 2 Kings 1:12-14 states Elijah did bring fire down from heaven. Not doctrinal teaching of the Bible is effected.

          Another example:

"The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text"
Zane C. Hodges, Arthur L. Farstad, Nashville:Thomas Nelson, 1985.

           Clearly anyone who states that our modern Bible does not reflect the original manuscripts and that it has been changed, parts lost or misstranslated shows their ignorance of the facts. We have the proof in the form of these manuscripts by which we can compare ancient texts and modern translations. The text of the original is clearly know and every variant reading or difference between manuscripts has been thoroughly studied and documented.

          The truth is that the LDS Church's Eighth Article is in error, and God has preserved His word to us, and nothing has been lost or changed. The manuscripts of the Majority text has only very minor differences and not one of the variant readings deals with any doctrinal teaching. The majority of the variant reading only involve the spelling of words and punctuation.

           The bottom line is that our modern King James English Bible is shown by the evidence to be an accurate and complete translation of the extant (existing) manuscripts. The one who reads its text can be assured that it is accurate, complete, trustworthy and is the very word of God.

           The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in teaching that the Bible cannot be trusted is incorrect and is based on their founder's ignorance of the Greek text and process on which our English Bible was translated. Further modern LDS scholars, who are well versed in the matter, are being dishonest by not correcting this gross error made by their founder. By examining the manuscripts we can show that our modern KJV English Bible is accurate and complete. Further we can compare LDS teachings what the Bible says and show that the god and teachings of Mormonism is false because it is unbiblical.

           Herein then lies the problem. The LDS church's teachings are clearly contrary to what the Bible teaches and wherefore we can surmise that the Eighth Article of Faith of the LDS church was a deliberate attempt to cast a shadow over the Bible and direct LDS church members to their prophets for their religious teachings instead of the Bible. When a curious member of the LDS church examines the Bible and finds the many overwhelming contradictions that exist between what it states and what is Mormon teaching, their leaders can say the Bible cannot be trusted. Article Eight of the LDS church is a clear attempt at distorting God's word and misleading its members into accepting a false Gospel and a false church

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

*"All rights reserved" - January 23, 2003- This article may not be copied or stored in any form without the written permission of the author. The author gives limited permission for the article to be copied in small quantities for use in classes or Bible studies. Under no circumstances may this article be sold.