"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain". These famous words from the classic tale "The Wizard of Oz" portray the end of an illusion. The story the protagonists have been lead to believe begins to fall apart when one unassuming little dog pulls on a single piece of red fabric. In our world, we have many grand old wizards, with their voices booming, and their followers singing high praises for them. Each of these wizards, regardless of the demands they make, the castles they live in, or the people who bow before them, have one common message: Pay no attention to the words behind the cover. "The cover of what?", you ask. The cover of the Bible.
The Bible, according to its own words, is profitable for "...doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" (2 Timothy 3:16). Of course, being inspired by God Himself rather helps it in that aim. But many Churches, though they are in much need of reproof and correction, are quite keen to avoid it. To that end, they forbid their followers from studying it independently, and rather than using scripture to judge their doctrines, they command their doctrines be used to interpret the Bible, even if the interpretation makes no logical sense what so ever. Let's look at three examples.
Roman Catholicism
First, let us look at the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church portrays itself as the one true Church established by Christ, which they claim brings with it the responsibility of guarding scripture, and interpreting it for believers. In 1546, the Council of Trent declared "Furthermore, in order to restrain petulant spirits, It decrees, that no one, relying on his own skill, shall,--in matters of faith, and of morals pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine, --wresting the sacred Scripture to his own senses, presume to interpret the said sacred Scripture contrary to that sense which holy mother Church,--whose it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy Scriptures,--hath held and doth hold; or even contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers; even though such interpretations were never (intended) to be at any time published. Contraveners shall be made known by their Ordinaries, and be punished with the penalties by law established." (1)
As the Reformation effectively neutered the Catholic Church, legally punishing people for owning a Bible, or not believing the Catholic Church's interpretations of it, is no longer possible, and in response to this, the Catholic Church has become friendlier towards "Protestants", even to the extend of calling us "separated brethren". But the command to interpret scripture according to the traditions of the Catholic Church remains to this day.
But the best way to turn a Catholic into "Protestant" is to get them reading the Bible. Numerous ex-Catholic testimonies go somewhere along those lines. One of the most common elements seems to be the 10 commandments. The Catholic Church has a different set than Jews and Christians would typically present. Although the ordering is not necessarily important, Jews and Christians would have the second commandment as "you shall not make graven images. You shall not bow down to them or serve them." Given the rampant idolatry in the Catholic Church, which includes bowing to statues of Mary, this would not be the ideal commandment to teach. Therefore, in the Catholic Church's teaching of the 10 commandments, it removes the part about graven images all together, separating what is typically the 10th commandment into two halves as 9 and 10.
The Catholic Church's fear of independent Bible study stems from the knowledge that Catholicism is not Biblical. If the Catholic Church was Biblical, it would not need to fear independent Bible study, because the Bible would present Catholic theology, and those who study scripture with integrity would come to Catholic conclusions. Because the Catholic Church is not Biblical, it needs to tell people what it says, and discourage them from reading it to find out if it's true.
The Watchtower
Just as the Catholic Church, the Watchtower organisation officially teaches that the Bible should not be studied by individuals, but rather, it is the property of the Church as an organisation, and that individuals actually cannot study it for themselves with any degree of success. In October of 1967, their official magazine stated "Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible." (2).
What that effectively translates to is "Look, I know you sincerely believe you can interpret the Bible, but we're telling you, the words you can see with your own two eyes are not what the Bible actually says. We tell you what it says." Not only is this illogical, but is also very telling. In fact, the greatest irony is that the Watchtower has produced its own "translation" of the Bible, the New World Translation, which has been specifically altered to support Watchtower doctrine. Yet still it fears Jehovah's Witnesses will read it and apostatise. This is almost certainly because they would, and often do. Even the NWT preserves enough of the Gospel that it is beyond clear the Watchtower, which does not affirm the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, is not a Christian organisation.
Mormonism
The Mormon Church takes all of the above and makes it look like child's play. While other organisations may be content to suggest a pure form of the Bible exists, but cannot be adequately understood, the Mormon Church gives lip service to the Bible while simultaneously trashing it on a level similar to Islam. Mormons believe "...believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly;..." and "...also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." (3). Already, a contrast can be seen.
Suffice to say for now, Christians do not believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God, much less to the extent where the Bible needs clarification "only if it's translated correctly", but the Book of Mormon, apparently, is worthy of solid affirmation without qualification. But we would certainly affirm the Bible is the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. Of course, unless you're a KJV Onlyist, you probably don't believe there is a perfect translation of the Bible (or that it is super important that a translation is perfect), but it cannot be denied that we do have reliable Bibles today. Therefore, when you hear Mormons say "we believe the Bible is the word of God as far as it is translated correctly", you think you agree.
Unfortunately, not so. When Mormons say they believe the Bible as far as it is translated correctly, what they actually mean is that there are very few places in which it is translated correctly. Orson Pratt even taught "Who knows that even one verse of the Bible has escaped pollution, so as to convey the same sense now that it did in the original?" (4).
With this in mind, while Mormons give lip service to the Bible, it is a fundamental part of their religion to believe that it is corrupt to the extent of not being the word of God. This makes Mormonism somewhat unique among the religions we have discussed today, as whereas they must say "it may appear to contradict us, but you must believe us when we say it doesn't", Mormons can simply say "yes, this disagrees with us, but that's due to some error in transmission or translation". Disparity between scripture and Mormon doctrine can be solved by interpreting scripture according to Mormon tradition, whereas in reality, Mormon tradition should be interpreted according to scripture.
It is worth noting that Brigham Young, the second Mormon prophet, actually agreed. "Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter Day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test." (5). And indeed, although there is much in the Book of Mormon that is contrary to scripture, it is actually closer to scripture than many Mormon doctrines which evolved later. This means that a lot of the "corruptions" were considered true by Smith in spite of being considered corrupt by Smith later.
In claiming that the Bible has been corrupted, and that's why it seems to disagree so vehemently with Mormon doctrine, Mormonism flat out admits that it does disagree with Mormon doctrine. Therefore, when we show the overwhelming evidence that the Bible has been reliably transmitted and translated throughout history, we show that the Mormon religion is simply not true. The word of God, uncorrupted, shows that the Book of Mormon is not the word of God.
Conclusion
Today, we have looked at three very prominent, nominally Christian organisations, all of which declare themselves to be the one true Church of God. Each one suffers with a fatal flaw. Though they claim to have authority from God, they don't want you reading the words they wholly acknowledge were inspired by Him. The reason for this is obvious. When you do read the scriptures, you soon see that these organisations do not match up with the scriptures at all. When it comes to both trivial doctrines that do not affect salvation and even to vital issues that change the Gospel itself, these organisations fall short. Not only that, they stand in such stark contrast to the truth of scripture that one is forced to choose between God and the Church in question.
The solution to this problem is to simply disobey the Satanic commands of these Churches. When God speaks, it is the duty of man to obey, and when man speaks, it is the duty of other men to ensure their speech is in line with God's before obeying. No one claiming to be Christian should be so foolish as to say man's authority exceeds God's. Indeed, these men always claim authority from God, a firm admission that God is higher. Therefore, the Bible, as the word of God, holds more authority than even a true Church. Not even an Apostle, nor even an angel from Heaven, has the authority to alter the Gospel (Galatians 1:8). Therefore, do as the fair minded Bereans did: Search the scriptures daily to see if your Church tells you the truth (Acts 17:11). If they do not? Discard them immediately.
References
1. Council of Trent - Fourth Session Decree, CONCERNING THE EDITION AND USE OF THE SACRED BOOKS, April 1546 (link)
2. The Watchtower, Oct. 1, 1967, p. 587
3. Pearl of Great Price, Articles of Faith, verse 8
4. Pratt, Orson - Divine Authenticity of Book of Mormon, No. 3, “The Bible and tradition, without further revelation, an insufficient guide,".
5. Young, Brigham - Journal of Discourses, vol 16, p. 46