Canonicity of the Book of Mormon

MORMON CLAIMS OF REVELATION

According to the Mormon defense of their history, God sent Joseph Smith, Jr. as his prophet to restore the gospel in our age.^[19] Smith was assisted with the addition of three new “scriptures” to God’s revelation given in the Bible earlier, maintaining that there are four standard works which are revelations from God.^[20] Together they supposedly form the basis for all Mormon doctrine which are The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, and the Bible.^[21] However, they consider the Bible as being imperfect, having lost many great and precious truths.^[22]

There are thirteen statements of Mormon creed written by Joseph Smith known as the Articles of Faith. They may be found in the pages of the Pearl of Great Price, one of the standard works of the Mormon Church. The eighth Article of Faith boldly 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.” Mormonism teaches that there are flaws in translations of the Bible which corrupt its reliability.

Orson Pratt, one of Smith’s chosen apostles, illustrates the true spirit of Mormon inspiration.^[23] He wrote in Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon:

How does the Protestant world know that the compilers of the Bible, in hunting up the sacred manuscripts which were widely scattered over the world,one in one place, and another in another, found all that were of divine origin? How do they know that the compilers of the Bible found even the one hundredth part of the manuscripts that were sacred? ^[24]

Advocates of Mormon theology argue that since no original Biblical manuscripts have been found, the translators are questionable since their skill or intentions can not be checked and they have not been given any miraculous powers.^[25] Mormons make such attacks upon the Bible because unless the Bible can be brought into disrepute, there can not be any room for The Book of Mormon.^[26]