Which is the true version of the Bible?

Unfortunately, there are several answers to this question. Some versions out there pretend to be the Word of God, but clearly are not. For example:

Jefferson’s Bible: Thomas Jefferson (that’s right, our Thomas Jefferson!) did not believe in the Resurrection of Christ, feeling that anything written in the Bible after the Resurrection could not be true, so he deleted such "corrupt" text. His version is only the four gospels, without any mention of facts occurring after the crucifixion of Christ.

New Kingdom Version: Jehovah’s Witnesses put out a very unorthodox translation of the Bible, intended to back up their peculiar doctrine. They claimed that this version was more true to the original Greek. Many Greek scholars around the world challenged them on this and they finally backed down, making several changes to their version to make it more true to the original Greek. But, if it could be changed so easily, we have to wonder if what remains may also be "changeable."

Joseph Smith’s Bible: The founder of Mormonism rewrote the Bible. He tried to get a rich woman in his day to publish it. She asked to see the manuscript first. After he handed it to her, she responded, "Now, if this is truly from God, you should be able to reproduce it." Smith could not pass this test, and this "inspired scripture" fell out of the hands of the main (SLC) branch of Mormonism. The Reorganized branch of Mormonism acquired this manuscript, and published it. The SLC branch rejected the "inspired version" for many years, claiming that it was outside their control, so they could not verify it. Therefore, the Bible for the SLC branch was the King James Version, although they maintained it was "not translated correctly." Recently, the SLC branch agreed to endorse the Reorganized publication, which they now support.

Most of the remaining versions of the Bible (formally called "translations") are good-faith attempts at translating the Scriptures from ancient languages. As a result, as far as the "Salvation Message" is concerned, you can find out how to be saved with any of these "good-faith" translations of the Bible.

However, one of the main weaknesses of the Church today is its inability to minister in Power Evangelism. Power Evangelism does not rest mainly upon the words and arguments of the believer, but in the manifest power of God that accompanies that message (e.g., healing, signs and wonders, etc.). Unfortunately, it's hard to move in power when the source of that power, the Bible, has faith-destroying notes at the bottom saying, "Better translations say…" and "This was added by later transcribers."

It's difficult to give a quick history of the transcription of the Bible since the early Church, but I will try:

• Thomas Jefferson is not unique as a corrupter of Scripture. Many men throughout history have wanted to bend Scripture to their private interpretation. Eusebius (A.D. 264-340), bishop of Caesarea and Church historian, wrote that so many were corrupting Scripture in his day, claiming to "correct" it, that agreement between copies was hopeless. We can trace a line of Gnosticism (the belief that man's logic is greater than the revealed truth of Scripture) and paganism through Justin Martyr, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen. Justin Martyr was born the year John the Apostle died and wrote the Diatessaron (a combination of the four Gospels into one account) which had to be later destroyed by authorities in the fledgling Church because many treated it as Gospel. His errors were passed to Tatian, his student, who taught Clement, who taught Origen. Origen turned all Bible events into allegories from which he interpreted new doctrine, saying, "The Scriptures are of little use to those who understand them as they are written." He taught 1) the soul was eternal before birth, 2) reincarnation based upon works (similar to modern Hinduism), 3) devils could be saved, and 4) stars and planets had souls and were heading to the same "Nirvana" of perfect wisdom that mankind was striving for. Many famous theologians after him were strongly influenced by his teachings. Two main Greek text-groups exist today, the Textus Receptus (called the "Majority Text" because this is the most widely used in Christendom) and the Eusebio-Origen text (This division is based upon Hort, who replaced the Textus Receptus with the EO text as the source for most English-language translations since his work on the 1881 Revised Standard Version).
• The main "better manuscripts" you see referred to in the notes and translator's comments in your Bibles are the following:
• The Sinaitic, or Codex Aleph, was rescued by Tischendorf from a waste basket as the monks were feeding it to the fire to keep warm. This costly book made of the finest antelope skins (2 pages per skin) has been defaced by at least 10 different scribes throughout the centuries, some of the comments "systematically spread over every page." Apparently, it has long been treated as scratch paper (making us wonder if its many owners knew more about its worth than the theologians today).
• The Vatican MS or Codex B. In numerous places, the original scribe wrote the same word or sentence twice in succession. One of the most significant omissions is Mark 16:9-20. The original scribe was so uncertain about this omission, that he left space for the entire omission, should he later change his mind. These same verses are recognized for centuries before this scribe's indecision:

• In the 2^nd Century, by the Old Latin and Syriac Versions; by Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Tertullian
• In the 3^rd Century, by the Coptic and the Sahidic Versions; by Hippolytus, Vincentius at the 7^th council of Carthage, by the 'Acta Pilati' and by the 'Apostolical Constitutions' in two places
• In the 4^th Century by Cureton's Syriac and the Gothic versions, besides the Syriac Table of Canons, Eusebius, Marcarius Magnes, Aphraates, Didymus, the Syriac 'Acts of the Apostles' , Epiphanius, Leontius, Ephraem, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Jerome and Augustine.

• A few other manuscripts also factored into the changes to the Greek supporting the King James, but these two (Vatican and Sinaitic) were responsible for 90% of the 36,000 changes to the King James. The five Old Uncials (Aleph, A, B, C and D) composing the "better manuscripts" are so disorganized, that no two can agree on how to record the 45 words of the Lord's Prayer, except that, in one case, two agree on the omission of a single article.