BYU conference extols, explains King James Bible

PROVO — Many scholars believe there's no such thing as perfect Bible translation, yet despite the flaws in the King James Version of the Bible, it remains the version treasured by much of the world, including members of the LDS Church. During a three-day symposium sponsored by BYU in honor of the KJV's 400th anniversary this year, scholars shared insights about the translation's connection with the LDS faith, its historical background, textual distinctions and literary influence.

Robert Millet, a professor of ancient scripture in BYU's Religious Education Department, pointed out that because Mormons believe in an open canon, others often suggest that Mormons don't revere the Bible, or have even replaced it with their 'own Bible,' referring to the Book of Mormon.

Yet, Millet quoted Elder M. Russell Ballard who emphasized that Mormons love the Bible as one of the "pillars of our faith" and a powerful witness of Jesus Christ.

"The more we read and study the Bible and its teachings, the more clearly we see the doctrinal underpinnings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ," Ballard said in LDS General Conference, April 2007. "We tend to love the scriptures that we spend time with. We may need to balance our study in order to love and understand all scripture."

While Mormons believe the Bible, specifically the King James Version, to be the word of God, such belief doesn't mean that every sentence contains an exact replica of God's words, Millet explained.

When God spoke to prophets, they didn't become mindless ventriloquists but instead were enlightened and filled with intelligence and truth, then able to convey the word of God, he said.

"Clearly, many factors impacted the prophetic message," Millet said. "Personality, experience, vocabulary. The word of the Lord as spoken through Isaiah is quite different than as spoken through Luke, and both are different from Jeremiah or Mark. The LDS concern … is not the perfectness with which such messages were recorded, but the inspiration behind the message," he finished.

Thus, scriptures for Latter-day Saints are not the ultimate source of knowledge, but often precede the ultimate source — revelation.

Yet some translators have gotten caught up in specific words, such as the Greek "baptizo," which literally translated means "immersion." However, that didn't mesh well with some translators' belief in sprinkling, explained BYU professor of ancient scripture Kent Jackson. Thus some translators simply transliterated the word as "baptism" rather than "immersion."