ARTICLE 8. 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.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints accepts the Bible as the first and foremost of the standard
works, chief among the books which have been proclaimed as her written guides
in faith and doctrine. In the respect and sanctify with which the Latter-day
Saints regard the Bible, they are of like profession with Christian denominations
in general; differing from them only in the additional acknowledgement of
certain other scriptures as authentic and holy, which others are in harmony
with the Bible and serve to support and emphasize its facts and doctrines.
There is, therefore, no specifically “Mormon” treatment of the Bible to be
presented. The historical and other data upon which is based the current
Christian faith as to the genuineness of the Biblical record, are accepted as
unreservedly by the Latter-day Saints as by the members of any sect; and in literalness
of interpretation of this church probably excels. Nevertheless, the church
announces a reservation in the cases of erroneous translation, which may occur
as a result of human incapacity; and even in this measure of caution, we are
not alone, for Biblical scholars generally admit the presence of errors of the
kind, many of them self-apparent.) (Florence Pierce, Gospel Messages [N.
P.: Florence Pierce, 1951], 426-27)
