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The Journey we call Faith


Selah l aka Maggie



Last Updated: 6/30/2009

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Gender: Female
Status: Married
Age: 27
Sign: Cancer

City: LAS VEGAS - aka GRACE City
State: Nevada
Country: US
Signup Date: 4/11/2006

Who Gives Kudos:


Tuesday, August 29, 2006 

Current mood:  contemplative
Category: Religion and Philosophy

The most COMMON anti-Mormon tatic used is this verse:

Rev  22:18-19
 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.

 

I've bolded the most forgotten part of this as well....

First - if we read this we understand that John the Beloved was NOT refering to the whole Bible - BUT the Book of Revelation instead. That's why he is specific here, "THIS book of prophecy".  Now, for some, I know that's not good enough. So we will continue.

Now, why couldn't John have meant the whole Bible? Well for one, the Bible was NOT cannonized yet. When was it canonized? There was an era of seven councils that began to cannonize the Bible. The earliest record begins in 300 AD with Eusebius of Caesarea. At this time he recorded the following, "1... First then must be put the holy quaternion of the Gospels; following them the Acts of the Apostles... the epistles of Paul... the epistle of John... the epistle of Peter... After them is to be placed, if it really seem proper, the Apocalypse of John, concerning which we shall give the different opinions at the proper time. These then belong among the accepted writings" For more on what he wrote about this go here.

Again - this was in 300 AD, when was the Book of Revelation written? Ah, well that's going to get messy as well. See, orginally some felt that the Book of Revelation was written around 95 or 96 AD - but after further research, it has been discovered that it was written aound 68 or 69 AD (for more information on this feel free to visit here p 2.

So did John forget his own words or was he committing blasphemy? Actually, neither. The scroll or book of Revelation meant ONLY the Book of Revelation. Not the whole Bible.

To go further with this, (if I still have not satisified you) IF this were true we've got problems (some I've touched on, some I haven't).

1. The first and most obvious problem is that this is NOT the first time that this type of passage has appeared in the Bible, let's look at a few others:

Deut 4:2
 2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish [ought] from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Deut 12:32
 32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

 Proverbs 30:6

      6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

So what would happen if we assumed that these verses meant the same thing as so many assume Rev 22:18-19 mean - well then, we wouldn't have the Bible....

2. IF Revelation 22:18-19 meant the whole Bible then we would have to throw out the Epistles of John as well as the Gospel of John because they ALL came AFTER he wrote Revelation...

3. IF Revelation 22:18-19 meant the whole Bible then we would have to throw out the following translations NIV (New International Version), NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), REB (Revised English Bible), NWT (New World Translation),  NAB (New American Bible) because they all ommit atleast ONE verse (although I've heard of others).

Acts 8:37

And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Now some will augue that it doesn't change the message - but that is NOT the point, the point is that the Bible in these versions has had something taken out. Thus, they are accursed according to Rev. 22:19 (of course that is IF Revelation 22:18-19 means the WHOLE Bible).

4. Finally, the authority that declared the Trinity in the Nicene Creed, the authority that assembled the Books of the Bible and cannonized it and then closed the canon that ALL protestants accept - was the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church cannonized 73 Books in the Bible in both councils (Carthridge - 397, Hippo - 393). It was actually the Protestants that changed and took out 7 books from the Bible. So the entire Protestant Bible would be changed - they did this AFTER Revelation 22:18-19 was written....

 

It becomes clear that Revelations 22:18-19 mean ONLY the Book of Revelation and not the whole Bible which would not be cannonized for over 200 more years.

 

THIS MYTH HAS BEEN BUSTED!

 

Sources:

Biblical Canon

Adding or taking away

FAIRLDS

Biblical Studies on the web

 

I did want to add - that the first attempt at canon was actually by Marcion of Sinope circa 150 AD - I didn't include this because he has since been denounced as a heretic. Of him and his followers, the Catholic Church said, "they were perhaps the most dangerous foe Christianity has ever known." - Catholic Encyclepedia topic "Marcionites"

(Steve_Hommel)
Steve Hommel

 
You said:
>Acts 8:37
>
>And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and >said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
>
>Now some will augue that it doesn't change the message - but that is NOT the point, the >point is that the Bible in these versions has had something taken out. Thus, they are >accursed according to Rev. 22:19 (of course that is IF Revelation 22:18-19 means the >WHOLE Bible).

Here's a thought. Removing this verse DOES change the message as it clearly states that Jesus was the SON of God and not GOD Himself. Removing this verse lends to ambiguity and confusion on the subject of the Trinity.

Further, opponents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints typically use Rev 22:18 and 19 against the Church. I assert that although the presentation of Christ's teachings is in a forum that is unfamiliar to those who aren't members of the Church, the teachings are still the same. The Gospel found in the Book of Mormon IS the same Gospel found int he New Testament. The bottom line: Jesus dies for our sins, God and Jesus love us all, and Jesus wants us to love God and one another.

All in all, a brilliant Blog. Triple Kudos to you if MySpace will allow it!
 
Posted by (Steve_Hommel) on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 3:32 AM
[Reply to this
Selah l aka Maggie

 
Some great thoughts baby! :) I never realized that that could change the message. However, it still should not be ommitted.
 
Posted by Selah l aka Maggie on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 4:35 AM
[Reply to this
Mani
Mani Afsari

 

To not add or take away is also a recurring theme in Islam and is a grave sin.  It is undeniable that the bible has been altered through out time.  I still classify mormons as Christians and only wish you all the best.  Your research, should be (but unfortunantly isn't) common knowledge.  If people stepped outside their comfort zone and did some unbiased research they'd see that most of their beliefs are those spawned by men.  Not a creation of God.  Some of religious doctrine is never referred to in holy text, with regards to many religions.  It is a sad, but undeniable truth that every religion has these additions and subtractions that were founded by not men, and not God.

 

Great post.  double kudos.


 
Posted by Mani on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 1:59 PM
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