Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

By Mormon Readers

Q: You quote the Bible a lot, but the Bible has been mistranslated so many times through the centuries that the things you quote could be completely wrong. We believe the Bible to be true as far as it is translated correctly, but we believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

A: The Bible is readily available in the original Hebrew and Greek languages. I, myself, have an interlinear Hebrew and Greek Bible with cross references of every word to a Hebrew and Greek dictionary. The Bible does not have translational errors in the Hebrew and Greek because it is available for you to read in Hebrew and Greek right now. The remarkable accuracy of the most reliable Hebrew and Greek manuscripts has been demonstrated by the Dead Sea Scrolls--as well as other strong evidence. The Bible can be trusted. If you think there is a problem in a particular passage, the problem is almost certainly you, not the Bible. If any English translation is inaccurate in places, there is no excuse, because it is not difficult to check out the original language with all the reference books, dictionaries, etc that are available even to the layman.

By contrast, the Book of Mormon has over 4,000 changes in it since it was first published, ranging from minor to major changes. That means that either the first edition was false, or the current edition is false, or both. Which is it?

Tearing down the Bible does not strengthen your case. You need to remember that Mormonism relies heavily upon the Bible. No place else do you have a detailed description of the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus. If you throw out parts of the Bible, then you will have discredited the most powerful testimony to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have quoted very clear passages that directly refute LDS doctrine and you assume that these passages are "mistranslated." Will you just as easily say that the passages testifying of Christ are also mistranslated?

Sixty-six books of scripture, including four gospel accounts, (far more scripture than all the rest of your "standard works" put together) testify of Jesus Christ. If you do not believe that these accurately bear witness of Him and that you need your Book of Mormon to do so, then you would not have believed anyway.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Your friend,

Mark Champneys