Beautiful words of love coming from God above

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. When possible on Sundays, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. With respect to your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here.

According to the eighth Article of Faith:

 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.

Since the Bible as we know it was compiled by a council of people under the direction of a king, rather that a religious leader, we recognize that there may be errors in translation or scriptures that could have been included that were not. It's also gone through revisions and translations since then. Even now, many different denominations use different editions/translations/versions of the Bible.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses the King James Bible, as explained by the title page:

Containing the Old and New Testaments Translated out of the Original Tongues: and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised, by His Majesty’s Special Command  Authorized King James Version  With Explanatory Notes and Cross References to the Standard Works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We do believe it to be inspired word of God and are instructed to study it as such. Right now Blake and I are reading the Old Testament together every night. While one of us is traveling, we still use Skype to read together. Since I didn't pack a Bible this last trip, I would have used the scriptures on my phone, but then I was using my phone to Skype. So, I had the idea to grab the Bible left by the Gideons in my room to read with Blake.

Apparently the version they distribute is the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Here are some of the verses, Deuteronomy 28: 25-29, we read one night in that version:

Here's how they read in ours:

25 The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 

 26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. 

 27 The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. 

 28 The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: 

 29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

Basically, the tone of the Gideons' version is a little less formal, more colloquial, possibly even more approachable. It reminded me of when I've read the same verses in English and Spanish. I understand the gist of the verse either way and the spirit of the message is still present.

Ultimately, we still read the scriptures, whichever version, something that's been a daily priority for us since sometime while we were dating. If you want to know more about our scriptures, you can read them online here. You can also request a free copy here.

As always, if I can answer any questions, please ask!