It was providential that I would fall in love with the Bible before moving to Utah, where I encountered Mormonism head on. As a Catholic who was living in Utah, it was essential to understand the Bible well, because it is an example of common ground between our two religions. When I met with Mormon missionaries, the Bible was always the guide in our conversations.
On the surface, Mormons value the Bible just as much as Catholics do. However, some digging will uncover a fundamental difference between a Catholic approach to the Bible and a Mormon approach.
Overall, the LDS Bible may appear to be similar enough to Catholic Bibles. However, there are certain changes that have been made to the LDS Bible which have produced a completely different work. Let me explain why.
The LDS teach that the Bible in its original form was corrupted. They reason that as time has progressed since the books of the Bible were written 2,000 years ago, contradictions and omissions crept in. The LDS website teaches,
As the Bible was compiled, organized, translated, and transcribed, many errors entered the text. The existence of such errors becomes apparent when one considers the numerous and often conflicting translations of the Bible in existence today. Careful students of the Bible are often puzzled by apparent contradictions and omissions.
The LDS believe that these errors were revealed to Joseph Smith in the 1800s. In an appendix to their Bible, there is a section with changes made by Joseph Smith. The LDS believe that Joseph Smith was given direct revelations about certain verses of the Bible and that he corrected them. In fact, at the bottom of the page in LDS Bibles, the footnotes starting with JST (meaning Joseph Smith Translation) indicate changes and “corrections” he made to the biblical text.
Let’s take Matthew 4:1-12 as an example. The King James Version (KJV) is the official English translation used by the LDS. According to the KJV, Jesus was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil three times. First, the devil tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread because Jesus was starving from his extended fast. When this temptation failed, the devil took Jesus to the pinnacle of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and told him to cast himself down from its height and that God would send his angels to rescue him. Jesus again refused. Third, the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and told Jesus that he would give him all the power they represented if Jesus would only bow down and worship him. Jesus refused to worship anyone, or anything, other than God. Lastly, in Matt 4:11, the devil left Jesus, and angels came and ministered to him (meaning to Jesus). In the very next verse, Matt 4:12, we are told that Jesus heard that John the Baptist was imprisoned.
Now that we understand the account of Matthew 4:1-12 according to the KJV, we will look at how the Joseph Smith Translation (JST) is different.
Rather than Jesus being led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, instead, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be with God. That is a huge change. Then, in verse 2, the KJV tells us that when Jesus “had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred”—that is an old English way of saying Jesus was hungry! But Joseph Smith inserts into this verse two additional phrases: “And when he [Jesus] had fasted forty days and forty nights and had communed with God, he was afterwards an hungred, and was left to be tempted of the devil.” Of course, Jesus did commune with our heavenly Father throughout the Gospels when he prayed. But Joseph Smith is inserting new words into these specific verses.
If we continue in our reading of Matthew 4:1-12 we will find an even more pronounced change that Joseph Smith made. In Matthew 4:11, the KJV says that after Jesus had passed through his three temptations from the devil, the devil left him, and angels came and ministered to him (meaning to Jesus). Here is the exact wording; “Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.” The following verse then tells us that Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been imprisoned, and so Jesus left for Galilee. Joseph Smith, though, changed Matthew 4:11 to say that Jesus sent angels to minister to John the Baptist. The Joseph Smith Translation (JST) reads, “And now Jesus knew that John [the Baptist] was cast into prison, and he sent angels, and, behold, they came and ministered unto him [meaning John the Baptist]. And Jesus departed into Galilee.”
LDS missionaries bring the Bible with them when they come to our doors. They break open the Bible and defend LDS teachings with it. It seems fair to assume that our Bibles are similar enough, and the average Catholic or Protestant dialoguing with LDS missionaries would never know that there are footnotes at the bottom of the page in LDS bibles with these “corrections.” In all of my conversations with LDS missionaries, nobody ever mentioned it.
One may object that the changes Joseph Smith made above are not that important. It’s not as though they teach something theologically different. But though the changes mentioned here are not that important in themselves, the way in which the changes were made introduces a fundamental difference between the Catholic approach and the LDS approach to the Bible. For Catholics, on the one hand, there are no errors in the Bible precisely because the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit faithfully worked through the human authors of the Bible, so too has the Holy Spirit faithfully preserved what they wrote throughout time. A Catholic who studied the Bible a thousand years ago as well as Catholics today can have the certainty that their Bibles are accurate because of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, LDS claim that Joseph Smith had the authority to correct the Bible because it had been corrupted.
As we can see here, Joseph Smith’s changes didn’t have to be big. Small changes like this one have a big impact on the way we read the Bible. Hopefully this knowledge will help us Catholics to have accurate conversations with LDS missionaries in the future.