During spring LDS General Conference, M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, delivered a message entitled “The Miracle of the Holy Bible”.

Here are some portions of his message printed in Ensign (May 2007):

My brothers and sisters, the Holy Bible is a miracle!  It is a miracle that the Bible’s 4,000 years of sacred and secular history were recorded and preserved by the prophets, apostles, and inspired churchmen.

It is a miracle that we have the Bible’s powerful doctrine, principles, poetry, and stories.  But most of all, it is a wonderful miracle that we have the account of the life, ministry, and words of Jesus, which was protected through the Dark Ages and through the conflicts of countless generations so that we may have it today. . . .

It is not by chance or coincidence that we have the Bible today.  Righteous individuals were prompted by the Spirit to record both the sacred things they saw and the inspired words they heard and spoke.  Other devoted people were prompted to protect and preserve these records.  Men like John Wycliffe, the courageous William Tyndale, and Johannes Gutenberg were prompted against much opposition to translate the Bible into language people could understand and to publish it in books people could read.  I believe even the scholars of King James had spiritual promptings in their translation work.

The Dark Ages were dark because the light of the gospel was hidden from the people.  They did not have the apostles or prophets, nor did they have access to the Bible.  The clergy kept the scriptures secret and unavailable to the people.  We owe much to the many brave martyrs and reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Huss who demanded freedom to worship and common access to the holy books.

William Tyndale gave his life because he believed so deeply in the power of the Bible.  He said, “The nature of God’s word is, that whosoever read it, or hear it reasoned and disputed before him, it will begin immediately to make him every day better and better, till he be grown into a perfect man” (in S. Michael Wilcox, Fire in the Bones:  William Tyndale—Martyr, Father of the English Bible [2004], xv).

In Ballard’s opening introduction of glowing testimony to the Bible, I must interject a few things.  I took my wife to the very place where Church authorities burned John Huss at the stake.  Wasn’t it at the Council of Constance in1415 that Wycliffe was declared a heretick and for his bones to be dug up and burned?  The Church despised the Lollards and burned the Wycliffe English translations from the Vulgate as fast as they could be hand-copied.  No matter.  Forty years later, 1455, God introduced the greatest invention of the past millennium – moveable type in a press.  But let me try to clarify what the LDS apostle did not—Gutenberg shared no fundamentals theologically in common with either Wycliffe or Huss.  In fact, as Gutenberg invented for the Church (well, mainly for his own pleasure), this same Church later rejected Luther’s belief in Scripture and imprisoned Tyndale for 500 days, garroted him, and then burned his lifeless body.

Secondly, Ballard highlights Tyndale’s view on the sufficiency of the Bible to make man perfect.  I appreciate this.  But does Ballard share the same conviction?  I am assuming he doesn’t.  So why does he share this quote?

 

Defensively, Ballard declares (please read the whole message in Ensign),

We do have additional sacred scripture, including the Book of Mormon, but it supports the Bible, never substituting for it.  Jesus taught that we should “search the scriptures; for . . . they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39).  These words provide insight and inspiration to all who sincerely seek to know and understand the truth about Jesus Christ.  The scriptures are rich in history, doctrine, stories, sermons, and testimonies, all of which ultimately focus on the eternal Christ and His physical and spiritual mission to Heavenly Father’s children.

 

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16).  We love the Bible and other scriptures.  That may be surprising to some who may not be aware of our belief in the Bible as the revealed word of God. . . .

 

And those who think that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not believe in Jesus Christ or in the Bible should take time to understand the Church, the significance of its name, and the power of its message.

 

I am puzzled by any who would question this Church’s belief in the Bible and our position as Christians.  The name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  In our last general conference, here in this building, our Church leaders quoted from the Bible nearly 200 times.  This Church is organized and functions like the Church that Christ and His Apostles established in the New Testament.  Seated on the stand today are the prophet and the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Honestly, why would I question? . . .  It is because this modern-day LDS apostle has not fully explained to the millions in his audience how or to what extent he agrees with what the apostle Paul is sharing in II Timothy 3:13-17 to Timothy, a pastor/elder in the early New Testament Church. 

 

I desire to take the time to fully understand Ballard’s defense.  But he must allow questions, not “foolish and unlearned questions” (II Timothy 2:23), but questions directly related to the text he has quoted so that we can understand.  What encompasses the “holy scriptures” of verse 13?  “All scripture” in verse 16?  What does “inspiration of God” mean?  Do the scriptures accessed by Paul give this end result:  “That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”  Does Ballard believe that Paul had enough scripture to be equipped in performing every good work?  Is Paul’s scripture in the first century AD able to do the same for us in 2007?  What is the “word” to preach (II Tim. 4:2)?  What is the “sound doctrine” (II Tim. 4:3)?  Does Mormonism have a carefully laid out doctrine that they must “continue in”?  Has any LDS apostle attempted to define that doctrine?  The biblical questions could go on and on.  Are there any links to Ballard’s exegesis on II Timothy 3-4?  Or would he just quickly discredit my heart questions as nothing more than a futile exercise of “Bible bashing” with the Baptist preacher in Southeastern Idaho?

 

Since LDS apostle, M. Russell Ballard, did not explain his interpretation on any of the baby sized bits of Holy Bible he quoted, I am still puzzled.  I hate to be bamboozled, especially when the speech originates from a proclaimed “apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ” who implies he is functioning like Paul in the New Testament.

 

One more thing to squeeze in . . . Ballard has opened my eyes to the expression, “Feasting on the Word,” the title of a LDS scriptural blog.  Ballard elucidates [the following emphasis is mine], “Each of these three testaments [OT, NT, and BoM] is a part of the great, indivisible whole of the Lord’s revealed word to His children.  They contain the words of Christ, which we have been admonished to feast upon as a means of qualifying for eternal life (see 2 Nephi 31:20).”  So is this the contrast?  I feast because I know I have eternal life.  Yet some feast in hopes of qualifying to reach the same goal?  I humbly confess that I qualified for the grace-filled banquet of unparalleled feasting on the Word because of my sinful unworthiness.  God plucked me up from one of those filthy corners amidst the highways and byways.  I have to blink my eyes to see if my position at the feast is real.  Most often, I am just too overwhelmed.