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This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.

Criticism

The Church insists on using the Authorized ("King James") Version as its official Bible, even though more modern translations are easier to read, are more accurate, and include more recent manuscript discoveries.

Source(s) of the criticism

Anti-Mormon books or web sites where the criticism originated

Response

Responses could include:

• No original manuscript of the New Testament has been found, so critics cannot prove that other versions or translations are more accurate. Most likely that inspired KJV translators restored some text the way they were suppost to be. John 7:53-John 8:1-11is not in the earliest manuscripts, but most Christians believe that event happen.
• A large number of early manuscripts and discoveries (such as the Gnostic Gospel of Judas) are in error, so it is not a good idea to use the earliest manuscripts to try to prove that a Bible version is more accurate
• Even early manuscripts such as Codex Sinaiticus came from "copies of copies".
• We continue to use the KJV because of its linguistic similarity to the Book of Mormon and other LDS scriptures. (This needs evidence.)
• There is nothing preventing Latter-day Saints from using other Bible translations in their personal study of the scriptures.
• Some modern translations are affected by the beliefs of the translators, who render certain passages differently depending on their theological biases. One example is Ezekiel 37:16 which some translators(such in the NIV) translated the scripture adding the words "of wood".

Conclusion

A summary of the argument against the criticism.

Further reading

FAIR web site

• Links to articles on the FAIR web site; Topical Guide entries go first

External links

• Links to external web pages

Printed material

• Printed resources whose text is not available online