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Monday, June 5, 2017

Every Word is Important - Please Don't Edit My Book of Mormon

Have we inquired of the Lord if he wants us to do all this editing and changing? Are we under condemnation because we haven't accepted the Book of Mormon as Joseph gave it to us? Every word may have significance that we don't understand.

For example: I was reading in 3 Nephi 6 of the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon and it says, “Beware of false prophets, who come in you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” I wondered if “in” should be changed to a “to”. I went and checked the LDS version and saw it was written the way I remembered, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” [emphasis added].

I heard the Lord saying, “Hold on Jennifer, don't be too quick to think that word needs to be changed. Where is the kingdom of God?”

I said, “In me.”

He asked, “Where is the kingdom of the devil?”

I answered, “I guess that would be in me also.”

“So where are the false prophets?”

I replied, “They would be in me.”

“And what is the context of this verse?”

“Lord, you just taught, 'And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull the mote out of thine eye; and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast the beam out of thine own eye: and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye.'”

You see, the LDS church altered one preposition and the meaning of the scripture was changed. The Lord wants me to look inside my heart for the false prophets that deceive me. He wants me to look at my false beliefs that are disguised in sheep's clothing. He wants me to know that I have power to cast the ravening wolves out of my own heart. He teaches against criticizing, condemning, and judging my brother, so those people out there must not be the false prophets that concern him.

Note: I stand corrected. It was the RE that changed the word from the original version not the LDS church.  The conversation I had with God was real and has impacted the way I see false prophets, but the scripture is read correctly in the LDS version. This leads to another interesting thought . . . How can God use an error in scripture and teach a true principle?  

5 comments:

  1. What is your feelings about Denver Snuffer's Alma 34:34 change?

    https://seekingyhwh.com/2017/05/20/denver-snuffers-alma-3434-change/

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    Replies
    1. Steve, I don't know what I think about that. I would like to put more thought into that before giving an opinion.

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    2. Fair enough. Thanks for responding.

      Delete
  2. Hey, I looked into this change between the two words and would like to share what I found.

    Original Manuscript: not extant for this chapter.
    Printer's Manuscript: says "to"
    1830 BoM: says "to"
    1837 BoM: says "to"
    1840 BoM: says "to"
    1841 BoM: says "to"

    It appears that the RE edition uniquely has this error in which "in" is used instead of "to." So I believe it was an error on their part. While Joseph was living the word was "to," and as far as I can tell, "in" is a recent error that should have never been included in the Book of Mormon. Still though, I like your post and think there is much to be learned from it. I've never articulated before that the most harmful false things in this world are the ones inside of us, rather than the ones outside of us. Thanks for your thoughts.

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  3. Yes, you are right. I went and checked that from the facsimiles. Looks like I got the preposition backwards. But I learned a great lesson as I considered changing a word. I have noticed that I am harmed much more from the false spirits in me than the false spirits outside of me. Every word counts in scripture, and I am extremely cautious of haphazardly changing things.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for posting