Chris
I was listening to an October 2016 General Conference address given by LDS Apostle David Bednar.
Elders lets look at a talk given by Apostle David Bednar at the October 2016 General Conference.
Elder Smith
Is that the one titled, “I never knew you?”
Chris
That’s the one. Elder Bednar began his talk with a passage taken from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:21-23. His point was to emphasize that, the Lord’s statement in the King James Version, “I never knew you,” was changed in the Joseph Smith Translation to read “Ye never knew ME.”
Then Elder Bednar recites in the King James Bible the Parable of the Ten Virgins found in Matthew 25:1-12, where Jesus tells the foolish virgins “I know ye not.” And again, Elder Bednar explains that the King James Version was changed in the Joseph Smith Translation to read, “Ye know ME not.”
At the end of his talk found on lds.org or ChurchofJesusChrist.org – under references – you’ll find the footnotes to these JST passages.
Elder Young
That’s why we believe Joseph Smith to be an inspired prophet of God.
Chris
Yeah well, it’s interesting the Lord inspired Joseph Smith to revise the word of God by taking out the incorrect wording and replacing it with what should have been in there. But Elder Bednar makes a critical mistake in using the Joseph Smith Translation to prove his point.
Elder Smith
How so?
Chris
If we turn to the Book of Mormon – which is claimed to be the “most correct book,” – we find the Sermon at the temple in Bountiful, where Jesus supposedly appeared to the Nephites following His resurrection. Would you please read 3 Nephi 14:23?
Elder Smith
“And then will I profess unto them: I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Chris
Notice anything there?
Elder Young
3 Nephi 14:23 is word-for-word the same as it is in the King James Version of Matthew 7:23.
Chris
Exactly, including the same phrase “I never knew you.”
Elder Smith
Look, here in the footnote of 3 Nephi 14:23. It cross-references another Book of Mormon passage, Mosiah 26:27 “And then I will confess unto them that I never knew them; and they shall depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Chris
Do you see the mistake Elder Bednar made in using the Joseph Smith Translation?
Elder Young
It seems that the Book of Mormon agrees the King James Version and not the Joseph Smith Translation. That’s confusing.
Chris
I think it’s very clear. You not only have two verses in the King James Bible – but also two verses in the Book of Mormon – which was supposedly translated by the gift and power of God – that differ with the Joseph Smith Translation.
Elder Smith
I wonder why – If it was good enough for the Lord to be quoted in the Bible and substantiated in the Book of Mormon – why did Joseph Smith feel it necessary to change the Lord’s words in his Inspired Version?
Chris
And what was Elder Bednar thinking? Why, is the footnote in Elder Bednar’s talk only referencing Matthew 7 and not, 3 Nephi 13 and Mosiah 26?
Elder Young
I don’t know.
Chris
Is it because Joseph Smith copied the “Sermon at the temple” in 3 Nephi from the King James Bible “Sermon on the Mount?”
Look Elders – If you have a modern-day apostle telling its members in a world-wide General Conference that the Bible is wrong and the Joseph Smith Translation is inspired – in spite of what was just pointed out in the Book of Mormon – as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what do you do with that information?
