We believe the Bible to be the Word of God

I'm gonna go a little out of the norm of my usual posts today. Things have been on my mind lately and I felt this was a good outlet for them.

Lately, I've been blog-hopping, and I've found some interesting blogs frequented by those who are LDS (Mormons) and those who consider themselves Evangelicals or born-again Christians. A lot of these blogs are forums for open dialogue, seeking to truly understand one another. Of course, though, the dialogue always reaches an impasse, as both sides believe that their way is the correct way to be truly "saved."

I noticed in my perusal of these blogs that a lot of the mainstream Christian justification of dismissing the LDS religion as non-Christian stems from our 8th Article of Faith, which is that we, as Latter-day Saints, "believe the Bible to be the Word of God, as far as it is translated correctly"--the latter part being the focus. They argue that Mormons simply cannot be Christian because we do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. True Christians, they claim, believe the Bible to be the Absolute Truth, that it was written under the Spirit of the Lord and as such contains no errors. As Mormons, we see that there are contradictions in the Bible, and we know that any writings by man will contain some errors due to the fallibility of humankind and so we rely on latter-day revelation to help us understand and clarify some of the Bible teachings.

In light of all of this, I read an article on CNN's website last night that I found highly intriguing. It is entitled "Oldest known Bible goes online." Basically, a Bible was discovered in 1844 and is the oldest one known in existence, dating back 1,600 years. It's now going to be put online for the general public to see. For a full text of the article, click here.

The parts I would like to emphasize are as follows: "...the handwritten Codex Sinaiticus includes two books that are not part of the official New Testament and at least seven books that are not in the Old Testament. The New Testament books are in a different order, and include numerous handwritten corrections -- some made as much as 800 years after the texts were written...The changes range from the alteration of a single letter to the insertion of whole sentences...Juan Garces, the British Library project curator, said it should be no surprise that the ancient text is not quite the same as the modern one, since the Bible has developed and changed over the years."

Interesting, is it not? The Bible has changed over the years! The books are in a different order (I wonder where Revelation is placed)! There are whole sentences added! I'm really interested to see this Bible when it is actually put online. What is the nature of these changes and alterations, and who made them? This, to me, is yet another bit of support for our beliefs that the Bible is not inerrant and that we need continuing revelation to understand and know God's will. I'd be interested to see what others, both inside and outside the Church, will make of this as well.

Let me make perfectly clear: the Bible is one of my favorite books. I'm so grateful that we have it--it is the only written record we have of the Savior's mortal ministry. Without the Bible, Joseph Smith would probably not have gone into that grove and prayed almost 200 years ago. I am currently reading the Old Testament with my husband and am enjoying it immensely. I have a great love for the Bible. It's just humbling to know that things can have errors and still be from God. Look at us--we are God's greatest creations, and we sin all the time. That doesn't change the fact that He made us and that we are His children. It's comforting to know that God has not left us alone, that we are not forced to rely solely on a book written 2,000 years ago (and then some), and that He speaks to us today.