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by M K on April 2nd, 2004

M K

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Did Joseph Smith make alterations to the Bible?

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  • by Anonymous on September 19th, 2005

    Anonymous

    Yes. The result is commonly known as the Joseph Smith Translation, though it is more accurate to use the other name, the Inspired Version, because Joseph (like the earlier translators) didn't actually have an original manuscript to work with. No original manuscripts were known to exist when the Bible was compiled (at the end of the 4th Century), and none have been found since that time.

    Instead, Joseph relied on inspiration from the Lord to do his work with the Bible, filling in some spaces which cropped up over the centuries of hand-copying.

    At the time, the King James Version was the only available English-language Bible. Recent versions have shown a number of errors in the KJV, leading to a low-level war between KJV traditionalists (who want to believe that the KJV is perfect and complete) and proponents of the newer versions.

    The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses the KJV as its English-language version of the Bible because it is the most familiar to English-speaking members and investigators, and because it is not necessary to the Lord's purpose that the Bible be word-for-word perfect, so long as we know that it is not.

    As to the question of why it took God so long to inspire the changes to be made, I suggest that you ask HIM, because my answers would be A), because God does things in GOD'S own time, and B), because it wasn't important to him that the changes be made until recently.

    Comments

    • so...why did God wait so long to inspire someone to make the corrections?

      Grandma Roses - my avatar is my real dog

      by Grandma Roses - my avatar is my real dog on October 18th, 2005

    • GR, what happened to people who challenged the orthodoxy? It wasn't until JS that conditions were right for a restoration.

      Glenn Blaylock

      by Glenn Blaylock on October 30th, 2005

    • Some of the modern translations such as the NIV are poor translations. JS did a far better work than the writers of the NIV

      innoway

      by innoway on February 25th, 2006

    • Really, he couldn't even get the Book of Mormon right, or D & C, formly know as Book of Commandments.

      Weird Science

      by Weird Science on June 9th, 2007

    • Actually there WERE copies of the ancient manuscripts in the forth century. The LATIN VULGATE was translated from the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts in 396 AD.

      mark.r.masters

      by mark.r.masters on January 31st, 2011

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