MISUNDERSTOOD

The Bible Misused (From the Book, Gospel Symbolism, pages 232 to 244 by Joseph Fielding McConkie)(Only a small part is given here).

"The Bible is the most misused and misunderstood book ever written. It has been used to justify all manner of impropriety, wickedness, and falsehood. Every spiritual fraud ever perpetrated in the history of Judaism or Christianity has claimed support from the Bible. It has been quoted as often by devils as it has by Saints. It has served as an instrument of suppression as often as it has served as a source of inspiration.

The Bible makes no claim to infallibility. The infallibility of the Bible is a fundamental doctrine among Bible cultists, though by their own admission they cannot find a book, chapter, or verse within the Bible to sustain this doctrine. Infallibility and mortality are incompatible. We no more have infallible books than we have infallible men. Such a belief quickly leads to the ridiculous. It was in the name of infallibility that Galileo was condemned by the church in Rome for saying that the earth moved around the sun. The idea, it was held, contradicted scriptural passages that spoke of the sun's rising and setting.

The Book of Mormon, which is a much more perfect translation than the Bible, not only makes no pretense of infallibility but specifically addresses the inevitability of errors existing in it. 'Whoso receiveth this record,' Moroni said, 'and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these.' He also said, 'If there be faults they be the faults of a man.' (Mormon 8:12, 17.) This principle and spirit apply to the reading of all scripture.

The Bible makes no claim to having been supernaturally dictated. It is not inerrant. Whoever was the first dogmatist to make the terms 'the Bible' and 'the Word of God' synonymous, rendered to the cause of truth and of religion an immense disservice. The phrase in that sense has no shadow of Scriptural authority.

'It occurs from three to four hundred times in the Old Testament, and about a hundred times in the New; and in not one of all those instances is it applied to the Scriptures.'  (Farrar, Frederic W. History of Interpretation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House Co., 1961, p. 396.)

By disposing of the divine dictation fraud we can also dispose of the unfortunate idea that everything in the scriptures is of equal worth. It is hard to imagine that the Song of Solomon, even if someone can concoct some meaningful allegory, could be thought of as having equal value with the Sermon on the Mount. And it is difficult to suppose that the account of the Levite cutting the dead body of his wife into twelve pieces and sending them to the tribes of Israel to arouse their anger against those who killed her (Judges 19) is of the same spiritual merit as the Savior's bread of life discourse. Leviticus is hardly as valuable to us as the Gospel of John, and the Nephite wars as recorded by Alma hardly compare with the visit of Christ in 3 Nephi.

'All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness' (2 Timothy 3:16), but all is not of equal worth. The Proverbs, for all their wisdom, do not compare with the knowledge received in the vision on the degrees of glory (D&C 76) or with the vision of the redemption of the dead (D&C 138).

The Bible makes no claim that its prophets are infallible. James wrote of Elijah, one of the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, that he was 'a man subject to like passions as we are' (James 5:17). Paul corrected Peter (Galatians 2:11-14), and Peter said of Paul that he wrote things 'hard to be understood' (2 Peter 3:16). Jonah misunderstood his own prophecy (Jonah 4); Jeremiah got so discouraged that he said the Lord had 'deceived me' and swore that he would speak in the name of the Lord no more (Jeremiah 20:7, 9); and Noah got drunk (Genesis 9:21). Balaam had his head turned by the promise of riches and was destroyed with the wicked (Numbers 31:8); Judas, a member of the Twelve, betrayed the Son of God…

The Bible makes no pretense to having answers to all the questions needing answers, nor does it pretend to be a composite of all revelation ever given. In fact, the Bible continually directs its readers to implore the heavens for knowledge and understanding beyond what it contains, and often quotes statements and books that are now lost to it. Further, nowhere does the Bible purport to give its readers either authority or commission to preach the gospel or to perform gospel ordinances.

One of the greatest of Bible frauds is the idea that the canon of scripture is complete and that revelation has ceased. Again, the announcement cannot be sustained by the Bible itself…

The New Testament church was led by Apostles and prophets and governed by the spirit of revelation. The life-giving force of the Church was the Holy Ghost, not some scriptural record that no member of that church ever read. The New Testament did not exist until some considerable time after the apostasy was complete.

The plain and obvious meaning of any passage can be rejected and lost by declaring it to be figurative or allegorical. This is a dangerous affliction, the only antidote for which is honesty, a commodity particularly hard to find among people priding themselves on their objectivity. Those most susceptible to this error of interpretation are usually defending some scientific theory or unusual and speculative view.

There is also a danger, especially among those whose minds are already made up, of squelching the spirit of revelation. The counsel to 'deny not the spirit of revelation' (D&C 11:25) was given to the faithful, not to the unbelievers in the world. It was not intended that we have all the answers… Revelation marks the path, but the journey must still be one of faith."